Westerns Books

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This book does what it sets out to do: teach spreadsheet modeling. I'm only on the third chapter, but the author does a good job including step by step instructions on how to create winning models. The author is also very easy to understand. So if you're going to be doing optimization and modeling in your work, I highly recommend this book.

A good book for those studying decision making techniques or as a reference for managers looking to upgrade their skills

Ragsdale really makes spreadsheet modeling accessible to real-world business situations. It was a great asset to my MBA coursework. As a student, it came with a free student version of @RISK risk analysis software as well.

Excellent book; I am considering it as a textbook for a Managerial Sciences course. The examples are clear and real increasing the interest of the students.

It was a new book, so the condition were perfect!
It looks like Im getting an A on my class...

This book helped me to get an A in Microeconomics since my professor didn't have a formal textbook just a Power Point presentation that I couldn't refer to when I needed it. The book is not only great but they have a website to take quizzes or review the material. I recommend it!

This book is the standard for Microeconomics. Simple, good graphs and charts. I've seen other books and they just don't compare.

The author makes concepts that have historically been over mystified highly accessable to the reader. The use of current economic scenarios helps cement concepts and brings life to essential economic theories.

This book is a pretty good, straightforward, intro to microeconomics. It is sort of simplistic, yet the main points are crystal clear, and chapters are easy to read.

I received the book in the condition that was described. I think it took too long to arrive but every company I have used has taken a while to send books also. Thank you. I recommend using this company. I think the prices were fair also.

Book came brand new with all additional papers as promised! Thanks a bunch!

The person I bought this book for found it very useful for his studies and the attached Cd-ROM very useful with its chapter reviews and tests.

The book is far too easy for professionals and for university students. The blanks exercises are really stupid. If you are not experienced in mathematics or statistics you will probably like the book because there are no derivations of formules or demonstrations of theorems.

Because of the deep grade themes are studied. Basic for student and professionals...

I am not educated in philosophy, so I read this book slowly with the help of Sparknotes and ended up really enjoying the book, not only for its philosophy (not all of which I found agreeable, however, tremendously interesting) but also for its creativity, humor and its literary energy and complexity. It is always a treat to read writings of such a brilliant thinker of our time.

This is an amazing, but also sometimes amazingly difficult to access, work. It is unfortunate that Kauffman's is the most widely used translation, because his translation is clunky and ponderous. T. Wayne's translation, in contrast, is very lyrical and frequently simply makes more sense. In some places it does appear that Mr. Wayne tries too hard to distinguish his translation from that of Kauffman, meaning his difference in word choice does not improve the work but rather makes it worse. However, to be fair, that is rare and the vast majority of the differences mark a substantial improvement. The most disappointing thing about this edition is that the publishers/editors (Algora) did a pretty sloppy job, so there are a number stupid typographical errors that will hopefully be corrected if Algora ever re-publishes it.

Nietzsche was controversial (and reveled in it), but he was also grossly misunderstood. To pigeonhole his philosophy as simply about glorifying barbaric agresssion does a grave disservice to his quest for uplifting the human soul. Nietzsche was a man who absolutely ABHORRED mediocrity, and dedicated his work into helping man reclaim the "star" that he always potentially possesses, provided he is willing to free himself from the shackles of dogma and conventionality. "Thus Spoke Zarathustra" is Nietzsche's manifesto on how to get there.

The concept of the "last-man" is brilliant, and unbelievably prescient!! This smug. self-satisfied, herd-like man exists today in overwhelming abundance!! The "last-man," to quote Nietzsche "has no shepherd and one herd! Everybody wants the same, everybody is the same: whoever feels different goes voluntarily into a madhouse." When you look around and see the mindless banal dreck on televison, in newspapers, and throughout society in general, you see the deleterious effects of the contented "last-man" who can no longer have contempt for himself, therefore, he cannot and will not strive to advance himself!!

One may not agree with everything in "Thus Spoke Zarathustra," but it is unquestionably a brilliant work that will open up new vistas of the mind and have you examining man's spiritual condition in an utterly profound way. And Nietzsche's writing style is, at its best, almost lyrical!!

"But by my love and hope I beseech you: do not throw away the hero in your soul! Hold holy your highest hope!" ~ Friedrich Nietzsche from "Thus Spoke Zarathustra"

You ready for some Nietzsche? Let's start with how you say the guy's name shall we? You can pronounce "Nietzsche" either "knee-chee" or "knee-cha." (I prefer the latter...sounds cooler, don't you think? ;)

With that behind us, you're ready for a warning: Be warned: The man, as they say, delivers his philosophy with a hammer. As Walter Kaufmann brilliantly articulates in the foreword, Nietzsche "is a dedicated enemy of all convention, intent on exposing the stupidity and arbitrariness of custom."

In "Thus Spoke Zarathustra," we meet the enlightened hero, Zarathustra, who has come down from the mountaintop to deliver a series of scathing rants on everything from his famous proclamation that "God is dead!" to admonitions to forget loving thy neighbor and instead learn to love the farthest.

It's written in a mock-Biblical style and features Nietzsche's undying commitment to our potential. If you're new to Nietzsche and thinking about reading the book, you'll definitely want a quiet space to read but don't be intimidated. Once you get into it, it flows.

Thus Spoke Zarathustra (originally Also Sprach Zarathustra) is considered by some (myself included) to have been the crowning work of the nineteenth century German philosopher Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (1844-1900). Unlike most modern philosophical works, Zarathustra's format harkens back to the Bible and to the ancient Greek works such as Plato's dialogues. In it, Zarathustra wanders the landscape, talking to people, drawing out the fallacies of what they believe and propounding Nietzsche's philosophy.

Overall, I found this to be one of the most challenging works I have ever read. Nietzsche's use of paradox and ambiguity tends to obscure his teachings, while at the same time challenging the reader to read closely and understand what he is saying in spite of the ambiguity. But, it is well worth the effort.

In his seminal work, The End of History and the Last Man, Francis Fukuyama argues that the last philosophy standing that can possibly challenge the reigning philosophy of the West is that of Friedrich Nietzsche. And so, I do believe that it is worth understanding Nietzsche. Is this the best book to read to understand the great philosopher? I can't say. But, it is the book I started with. It is a challenging read, but definitely well worth the effort. I have had a copy of this book since college, and to this day I still periodically take it off the shelf and read it again.

The first time I tried to take economics, I gave up. The teacher was no good, and the textbook we were using didn't help. So I put the course off for two years until I couldn't wait any longer.

But things have changed, thank God! The second time around I had a much better teacher, but more than that, we used this textbook instead, and I swear it helped me do well in the class. It is SO clearly written, with great examples and great stories. I admit I was intimidated by economics at first, but this book has a way of explaining the concepts that makes you think, "Hey, I actually get this." The authors give you credit for being an intelligent person, and they provide really clear analysis while walking you through the tougher parts step by step.

As for the review here that talks about the authors' political agenda, I have to come to the authors' defense. I consider myself very middle of the road politically, and believe me, there is nothing objectionable here. The authors are very careful to present both sides of various debates, and those debates are always framed as two sides of a story - and they don't take either side, they just report the controversy and let the reader decide for himself.

After reading this book and taking this course, I feel that I understand the newspaper and TV news much better. So, thanks Robert Hall and Marc Lieberman, I got an A in principles of econ when I thought the best I could hope for was a D.

Easy and fun to use. Excellent blend of academia and real-life examples. Charts, graphs, and illustrations were colorful and easy to understand. Also, authors Hall and Liberman provide readers access to their macroecon website for additional study. I used this text at the postgraduate level - great for undergrads, too.

I was required to use this book for a college macro course. I found this to be one of the worst business textbooks I've seen so far. I think it fails its job at giving the average college student a good understanding of the macro economy.

When explaining simple concepts that should be easy to grasp, the book loads the reader down with obscure mathematical equations and other gobblygook. On rather complicated topics where additional details would help, they try to condense the topics making it difficult to see the big picture. To figure out what I was supposed to learn, I had to use other sources to help me out (i.e. websites and other business books). I also think the authors are poor at making comprehensible analogies.

Perhaps the most annoying aspect was the author's injected liberal opinion. In a few chapters, they innuendo their griefs about how businesses are unfair to poor people and that successful individuals should have their winnings reallocated to the less privileged. They also gripe about how not everyone can find a job in a capitalist society. It seems that the authors have little understanding of concepts like competition and motivation to be successful.

If you are a course coordinator considering this book for a macroeconomics class, please do your students a favor and seek a different book. As a student, it is more helpful to have a book free of opinions. A book that uses clear explanations rather than confusing lines and charts. If the websites and other sources I used can clearly state the material, so can a textbook!

This is a good comprehensive overview of 'science' from prehistory to pre-Scientific Revolution though the content of the book is heavily weighted toward the medieval period. I found the coverage of the more ancient period to be much more fascinating compared to the more boring medieval period.

One thing I hoped to gain from this book is an understanding of pre-Copernican astronomy. While it is covered in some depth, I did not end up fully grasping the rather complex mechanisms of Ptolemy's celestial description. I think more figures would have been useful. Overall, I would prefer to have more in depth coverage of the details but I can't blame the book since that is not its intent.

On an aside, an interesting tidbit was mentioned by the author concerning Plato's Academy. I had learned that the Byzantine Emperor Justinian shut it down in 529 AD (read as oppressive Christian persecuting open minded pagans). However the author here points out that first of all the Academy was not continuously running from Plato to the 6th century but had been refounded in the 5th century and lasted till 560.

I really liked the last chapter of the book where he talks about historians have viewed science of the middle ages - is it continuous with the early modern period or is there a sharp divide when people really started doing something wholly different than what they were doing before? I wish the author would have brought up this theme more thoughout the book instead of briefly at the end.

The tone of the book is sympathetic to the Medieval culture and the Church by extension. He takes a very non-judgmental approach to the point where he is frequently asking his readers to not judge the culture of the past by our current standards. I don't mind the lesson once, but he repeates it ad nauseum.

I had to read this book because I'm currently taking a history of science class taught by the author at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and I just want to say it's excellent. It is clear, concise and (best of all from a student's point of view) not boring. It teaches you so much about looking at things in context. This is a great book from a great professor.

As good of a book as you will ever find on the subject of the history and origin of science.

I read the Beginnings of Western Sceince as a student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison where I had the extreme priviledge of taking two history of science courses from the author, who is also an absolutely outstanding professor. (And also one of the two or three most knowledgeable people in the world in the history of medieval science) This is by far the most comprehensive text on the history of ancient and medieval science that is out there. You might not believe it, but there aren't even a lot of other texts that cover half of what is discussed here period, let alone any that are this polished and concise. This book not only covers the development of western science from ancient times throught the Middle Ages, but it also considers the religious, and philosophical roots of this development. This book is masterfully written in that it provides a tremendous amount of detail, and yet is accessible to anyone that is an educated and interested reader. I cannot recommend this text highly enough.

Also Recommended: The Structure of Scientific Revolutions by Thomas Kuhn

In his book The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, Thomas Kuhn discusses the importance of history and its relationship to science, the changing views of how historians view past scientific achievements, the role of scientific method in science, and the nature and foundations of scientific revolutions.

I have read many, many histories of science, but this is far and away the best I have read.

Bill Bryson has written so many hilarious books that it's hard to say which is the funniest, but when I meet someone who is new to Bryson's work, again and again I find myself recommending this one.

The one-liners ("Italians park as if they've just spilled a beaker of hydrocloric acid in their laps") are funny no matter how well-travelled (or non-travelled) you are, and the prose is so descriptive and wonderful that you learn as you go along.

As far as I'm concerned Bill Bryson is the finest non-fiction writer of our time.

Reading Neither Here Nor There made me think that I won't die happy if I don't get to see Capri, and I determined that there were several other cities I don't ever wish to visit. I also learned that a certain brand of travelers' checks is terrible, and I won't be using them in this lifetime.

It is interesting to read this book in it's Communist-era, pre-Euro context. Empty shops in Bulgaria and discussion of purchasing things with dinars and schillings was very interesting. Unfortunately, reading the book even as I did, spreading the chapters out over several days, I still got that "If it's Tuesday, this must be Belgium" feeling. I began to lose track of where Bill saw the beautiful sunset, or where his pocket was picked.

I was also disappointed by Bryson's alarming views towards animals and cavalier comments about hating them and wanting them killed. Dogs hate him, and this fact has provided much humor in his writing over the years, but the tangents he went on regarding his loathing of companion animals were over the top and distinctly unfunny. So was his anti-Arabic rant during one of his many visits to queues for financial situations. I may be more sensitive to such things in light of recent world events, as comments about the guttural nature of German language or the expense of traveling in Switzerland didn't bother me, but this did.

The funniest anecdotes were the ones Bryson shared about his previous travels through Europe with his friend Katz. Katz provided a hugely politically-incorrect thread of humor in the book, and at times I thought he would have made a more interesting traveling companion. Heresy, I know.

All in all, I'm very glad I read the book, and I got many laughs out of it, but it was no Walk in the Woods.

I really enjoy Bill's relaxed style in his travels. He doesn't edit out the less complimentary aspects of his travels or of his own personality. Europe has such a rich history and varied cultures as well as climates are a treat as background for his dialogue. This is my 3rd Bryson read and thus far my favorite.

Bryson brings his characteristic humor to his explorations of Europe. While his observations can sometimes be a bit mean-spirited, he also pokes fun at himself, and many of his observations are quite funny, if clearly exaggerated. Starting in the artic north of Norway, and continuing in a zigzag pattern across the continent, Bryson explores many of the most famous of Europe's cities, as well as some more obscure locals. While he notes the changes in Sofia that occurred after his visit, his descriptions of Yugoslavia are even more dated (starting with the fact that Yugoslavia doesn't exist anymore!). Fans of Bryson's humor won't be disappointed, but if you're looking for a guide to traveling in Europe, this probably won't be your best resource.

Neither Here Nor There is probably more for the novice than the experienced traveller, but it is entertaining and has a usefully broad scope. Bill Bryson, an American resident in London, takes his readers from the Arctic Circle to Istanbul in something like a couple of months, mixing in parts of Scandinavia, the Benelux, France, Germany and Italy among others before passing through the Balkans.

Inevitably a lot is about finding hotels and places to eat, misplaced reservations and the pitfalls of communicating with strangers. This is travel writing, after all. And inevitably there tends to be quite a few clichés and national stereotyping. The commentary ranges from insightful (e.g. different perceptions of Amsterdam) to expected but fun (the police episode in Florence), to downright vulgar ("Quick restaurants - as in quick, pass the bucket!"). I found the first and last chapters, set in northern Norway, then Yugoslavia and Bulgaria, the most interesting. Bryson has more to say in out-of-the-way settings. And having travelled to the latter two at about the same time, I thought his observations both original and to the point. Nor does the book, written in the early 1990s, generally feel out-of-date.

Bryson's style combines a wide descriptive vocabulary with a matter-of-fact, colloquial tone. It drips with irony and evinces plenty of sniggers. The same note is held too long, though, which may explain why one doesn't laugh as much as one would expect: the jokes and witticisms eventually lose an essential element of surprise.

Perhaps not unusually for the genre, the book ends up saying as much about the observer as the observed. It provides a snapshot of how an educated and informed American views the European continent.

Landes provides an interesting and credible explanation of the differences in income/capita (now about 400:1, about 5:1 250 years ago) between the richest and poorest nations. En route, Landes also provides a useful perspective on today's globalization debate.

Most of the differential is attributable to cultural values. Some, however, is geographical. If one marks off a belt a couple thousand miles in width circling the earth at the equator, one finds within it no developed countries. Year-round heat encourages proliferation of disease and parasites. Poor soils and extreme dry areas are added problems, as well as the debilitating heat's effect on workers.

From about 750-1100, Islamic science and technology far surpassed those in Europe - then something went wrong and science became denounced as heresy by religious zealots. Similarly, state control allowed Chinese innovations to fall into disuse. China's flotillas far surpassed Europe's. The biggest ships were about 400' long and 160' wide (Columbus' Santa Maria was about 85' long), and the fleet totaled 317 vessels and 28,000 men. Then new leadership brought an emphasis on agriculture and all ocean-going ships were destroyed in 1525.

Europe enjoyed a monopoly on corrective lenses for 3-400 years, beginning in the 1300s, more than doubling the availability of skilled craftsmen and allowing the further development of microscopes and telescopes around 1600.

Cotton from India proved capable of multiple washings (vs. wool), thereby transforming standards of cleanliness and health.

"Easy money" (eg. gold from Spanish colonies, Holland's discovery of North Sea natural gas) makes for a lazy economy that fails to develop the talents of its people.

The Protestant Reformation gave a big boost to literacy, and spawned dissents that are at the heart of scientific endeavor. Data show a much greater percentage of scientists from Protestant vs. Catholic backgrounds. Unfortunately, after Luther, cleanliness became a particular cause for suspicion of heresy, and smuggling non-approved books led to the death penalty. Thus, the fate of Catholic southern Europe was sealed for 300-some years. Sicily also suffered from intolerance and superstition of Jews, forced them out, and imposed a backwardness in trade on itself.

Landes then goes on to ask "Why did the Industrial Revolution occur in England?" Protestants were persecuted and expelled from France. Weavers from the southern Netherlands sought refuge in England and brought trade secrets with them, while Jews from Spanish persecutions brought networks of trade connections. England also had a much better system of roads, along with an emphasis on transport speed and time in general. Meanwhile, France was undergoing the upheaval of the French Revolution, India's craftsmen avoided using iron and steel (had made no progress in scientific knowledge for centuries), while Russia was hobbled by serfdom's tying peasants to the land to do forced labor. China and Japan had walled themselves off from the rest of the world - in fact, China lost many of its early innovations through disuse.

Another problem for Russia was that serfdom left so much wealth in the hands of the nobility that overall consumer demand was limited. Russia's poor industry was only able to produce inferior rifles, resulting in enormous losses in the Crimean War (1854-56), the war with Japan (1904-05), and WWI. Finally, the Baltic states remained poor because they were tangled in an endless struggle for freedom.

Regardless, once started, the Industrial Revolution proved difficult to copy because division of labor complicated industrial espionage. Across the Atlantic, scarcity of labor in the early U.S. led to high wages and a push for innovation. Thus, European devices were copied and imported, and skilled European craftsmen encouraged to move to high American wages. (Side Note: By the time of the Civil War, firearms production in the North vs. Confederacy was 32:1 due to the South's emphasis on agriculture.)

The Spanish in South America kept Protestants and Jews out; independence came not because of the settlers' strength, rather Spain's weakness. Spain also brought a macho society attitude that adulthood brought males complete independence and idleness; South American immigrants were also less educated than those in North America and the immense landownings lent themselves to simple ranching enterprises. (American immigrants created a squatters' rights culture, with small landownings and a high motivation for self-sufficiency.)

China and Japan both resisted foreigners; the latter persecuted Christians and their converts after being told these groups were part of Spain's control mechanism. Following a period of anti-foreigners, Japan committed to learning from and copying the U.S. and Europe. (The Chinese did also, but much, much later.)

Muslims (Ottoman Empire) cut themselves off from the mainstream of knowledge via banning the printing press - had a problem with a printed Koran. Another major limiter was their diminishment of women. (The Japanese did also, but to a much more limited extent - eg. girls were well educated, they worked until married, and continued to work afterwards if their income was needed.)

The Japanese realized they lost WWII because of greater U.S. industrial output. Landed attributes this to their support for a large, exporting auto industry - American occupiers saw no need for such an industry (comparative disadvantage). Japan's auto producing disadvantages (small market, lag in technology) were turned into advantages through the Toyota Production System.

Landes points out that today's comparative advantage rationality can easily become tomorrow's mistake. His example is Germany - the British economist John Bowring lamented that the foolish Germans wanted to make iron and steel instead of sticking to wheat and rye and buying their manufactures from Britain. Had they heeded him, they would have pleased the economists and ended up a lot poorer. Similarly, the Japanese.

Bottom Line: The most successful cures for poverty come from within. Educated, eyes-open optimism pays; pessimism only offers the empty consolation of being right. Gains from trade are unequal. Some activities are more lucrative and productive than others.

A good and informative read, more so, the second time around. Landes, raises many excellent points for debate between socio-economics and cultural influences of peoples and their leaders, more ofter imposed upon them, as opposed to chosen to lead.

The book chosen for an economics class just finished at Lund University, Lunds, Sweden. As, a retired American ex-patriot with a background in international finance, still interested in learning, this book is highly recommended for anyone seeking to gain a better understanding on the question "how did we get to where we are?" And divides the world's peoples into three catagories: those that spend billions yearly on losing weight; those that eat to live; and, those who don't know where their next meal is coming from! That our wealth (the West) is dependent on others less fortunate. What they can't make, they will take! That wealth is, in and of itself, a magnet for exporting of commodities or products, but when all else fails or is denied -- people (migration) will be the end product that swamps the west.

We'd better wake-up and understand our need to declare World War III, not nation on nation, region on region, or religion against another religion, but a unified "War on Poverty" led by the west.

Landes is the man, and this book pretty much sums it up. His primary thesis, that when humans are given the freedom to be innovative and pursue their own interest, is familiar from Adam Smith, but Landes does it better, it's a convincing argument. Culture is the determining factor in the success and failure of nations, not chance, not geography, not even resources, and Landes makes it obvious, it seems.

I had already read Guns, Germs and Steel so was braced for a lot of redundant concepts in "The Wealth and Poverty of Nations" by Professor Landes. 500+ pages later though, this is the clear winner on the subject. More reasonable and deeper in the theories, backed by many examples, interspersed with an easy reading of summarized histories that allow the reader to put it all together.

My recommendation to anyone out to read this book would be to take a "beginners' mindset," understand the hypotheses, and feel free to subsequently cross-reference on the historical data points if left unconvinced by some. All the nonsense propaganda that we are fed with in the early years of our lives makes this task that much more challenging, but that much more important as well.

I found this book very interesting but a little directionless. His basic premise that culture not geography (or evil Europeans) is a large factor in where a country stands today. Notice I said large factor not the only factor which his detractors claim he says. As to my complaint on the writing, I enjoyed all the information but I feel it could have been funnelled toward his basic point better it was a little scattershot. Most of the 10 or so detractors I read either used falsehoods or distortions for their complaints. The point about the chopsticks was a tiny point but true! Why do parents teach babies dexterity exercises with those toys. And to the guy who claimed that Landes said all Asians are frugal you must have read a different. He did say that throughout Asia Chinese are the middle class managers. Anyone who goes to that part of the world knows this to be true. One final point He did show the flaws in European (especially the Iberean Peninsula) thinking but horror of horrors when you are evaluating numerous cultures for 1 issue- economic- 1 is going to come out on top and say it loud and say it proud WESTERN CIV. provides the best overall life for human beings