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Basic Algebra is the first volume of a new and revised edition of P.M. Cohn's classic three-volume text Algebra which is widely regarded as one of the most outstanding introductory algebra textbooks. For this edition, the text has been reworked and updated into two self-contained, companion volumes, covering advanced topics in algebra for second- and third-year undergraduate and postgraduate research students. In this first volume, the author covers the important results of algebra; the companion volume, Further Algebra and Applications, brings more advanced topics and focuses on the applications. Readers should have some knowledge of linear algebra and have met groups and fields before, although all the essential facts and definitions are recalled. The coverage is comprehensive and includes topics such as: - Groups - lattices and categories - rings, modules and algebras - fields The author gives a clear account, supported by worked examples, with full proofs. There are numerous exercises with occasional hints, and some historical remarks. ... Read more

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"To know someone here and there who thinks and feels withus, and though distant is close to us in spirit, this makes the earthfor us an inhabited garden" (Goethe).

Mr. Goethe’s Garden is the story of the friendship between an inquisitive young girl and her elderly neighbor, the world-famous playwright, artist and natural scientist Johann von Goethe. Set in the 1830s, the girl visits Mr. Goethe in his well-tended garden, where she is taught to draw and to look at the world of nature in a very special way.

"Like friends, plants tell you their secrets only when they know youcare. Just practice listening with your eyes, and one day when youleast expect it, you will see with your heart and be swept up intonature’s dance" (Goethe).

Set in the 1830s, this book was inspired by Goethe’s life and his botanical treatise "The Metamorphosis of the Plant." It contains exquisite, sensitive illustrations and elegant text that reveal the intricate wonders of the plant kingdom. As the bonds of friendship between the girl and her wise, kindly neighbor grow stronger, young readers experience with her a new way of seeing the natural cycle of the plant—from seed to flower to fruit and to seed again. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Mr. Goethe's Garden
I don't care for the illustrations.I would rather have had all the illustrations be of plants and nature, rather than trying to illustrate the human form.

The story however is very meaningful, and a nice introduction to Goethe.

Good for a child interested in art and flowers
This book celebrates nature and art, in particular the process of drawing flowers.The story introduces the reader to a real person, but only some basic and vague information about him.The focus of the book is on the girl's own growing interest in drawing nature.(There is biographical information in the back of the book to supplement the story).The illustrations are the strongest feature of the book.For parents of young and/or sensitive children: note that Mr. Goethe dies during the course of the story.It is handled gently and it's part of the girl's maturation process, but I myself was a bit shocked when reading it since shebecomes quite attached to him.My 5-year old daughter was OK with it.She enjoyed the book and we will probably read it from time to time, but I can't say it's a huge favorite.I almost chose 3 stars but leaned towards 4 because it is unique and thoughtful. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

This Life Metaphor Masquerades as an American Love Story
One measure of important fiction is the extent to which the characters and plot stimulate the reader to examine life within a cultural context. Although Paul Cohn's Shelee and Me has been describedas a book about "intimate discovery" and "an intellectual romp through the north woods,"it has more serious and significant cultural themes.

Paul Cohn conveyes in Shelee and Me an awareness of the complexity of relationships and communities. This book raises important questions about relationships--howwe build them and how we subvert them.

-Sara Goulde ... Read more

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Further Algebra and Applications is the second volume of a new and revised edition of P.M. Cohn's classic three-volume text "Algebra" which is widely regarded as one of the most outstanding introductory algebra textbooks. For this edition, the text has been reworked and updated into two self-contained, companion volumes, covering advanced topics in algebra for second- and third-year undergraduate and postgraduate research students.The first volume, "Basic Algebra", covers the important results of algebra; this companion volume focuses on the applications and covers the more advanced parts of topics such as:- groups and algebras- homological algebra- universal algebra- general ring theory- representations of finite groups- coding theory- languages and automataThe author gives a clear account, supported by worked examples, with full proofs. There are numerous exercises with occasional hints, and some historical remarks.

Keywords: Algebra, PI-rings, Skew fields, Universal algebra

Contents: Conventions on Terminology.- Preface.- Universal Algebra.- Homological Algebra.- Further Group Theory.- Algebras.- Central Simple Algebras.- Representation Theory of Finite Groups.- Noetherian Rings and Polynomial Identities.- Rings without Finiteness Assumptions.- Skew Fields.- Coding Theory.- Languages and Automata.- Bibliography.- List of Notations.- Author Index.- Subject Index ... Read more

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Most parts of algebra have undergone great changes and advances in recent years, perhaps none more so than ring theory. In this volume, Paul Cohn provides a clear and structured introduction to the subject. After a chapter on the definition of rings and modules there are brief accounts of Artinian rings, commutative Noetherian rings and ring constructions, such as the direct product. Tensor product and rings of fractions, followed by a description of free rings. The reader is assumed to have a basic understanding of set theory, group theory and vector spaces. Over two hundred carefully selected exercises are included, most with outline solutions. ... Read more

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This Book Is In German. ... Read more

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This scarce antiquarian book is a selection from Kessinger Publishing's Legacy Reprint Series. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment to protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature. Kessinger Publishing is the place to find hundreds of thousands of rare and hard-to-find books with something of interest for everyone! ... Read more

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Publisher: London, NelsonSubjects: World War, 1914-1918 -- Personal narrativesVaux, FortNotes: This is an OCR reprint. There may be numerous typos or missing text. There are no illustrations or indexes.When you buy the General Books edition of this book you get free trial access to Million-Books.com where you can select from more than a million books for free. You can also preview the book there. ... Read more

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This is an EXACT reproduction of a book published before 1923. This IS NOT an OCR'd book with strange characters, introduced typographical errors, and jumbled words.This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book. ... Read more

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This Book Is In German. ... Read more

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In 1485 the Portuguese Crown and Catholic Church began to kidnap Jewish children, forcibly convert the young conscripts, and ship them to São Tomé Island off the African equator to work the government sugar plantations. The collision of slavery, sugar agriculture, and discovery of The Americas transformed this island colony into the nidus of the wholesale black slave trade that infected Africa and Western commerce for the next 350 years. Sao Tome reveals the Medieval Church's complicity in the business of human bondage.

This little-known chapter of the Diaspora tells the story of young Marcel Saulo and his sister Leah abducted with other children from their synagogue in Lisbon and shipped by caravel 4,000 miles to the West-African island where they bear witness to the holocaust of African slavery. This is a historical novel that chronicles one man's courageous struggle against religious and racial persecution, torture, and disease, and explores the abyss of Inquisition, Portuguese and Spanish world expansion, and the blight of slavery fueled by the calamitous growth of sugar commerce.

Now published in Portuguese, October 15, 2008, entitled "Rapto em Lisboa" (Kidnapping in Lisbon) ... Read more

Customer Reviews (24)

Junk, pure and simple
This book is terrible. The writing is awful, the characters are not fleshed out properly and the story doesn't hold together. It's barely worth my time to write it up. Don't read it.

Testament to the human spirit
Cohn's Sao Tome is a heart-breaking story about one of the darkest periods of human history and yet a wonderful testament to the resiliency of the human spirit.I thoroughly enjoyed it.

An intriguing and entertaining read, well worth considering
Evil really has little to hold it back. "Sao Tome" is a piece of historic fiction, using the little known piece of history of the Portuguese Monarchy going with the Catholic Church to kidnap Jewish children and force them to convert before sending them off to a plantation on Sao Tome Island off the coast of Africa. Marcel Saulo is the protagonist, telling a story of what many of these young Jews were faced with hundreds of years ago. "Sao Tome" is an intriguing and entertaining read, well worth considering.

A Front Row Seat
"Sao Tome" gives the reader a front row seat as it reveals the personalities, politics and intrigues of late-15th Century Portugal, Spain and Africa, as Church and Crown connive to dominate the commerce of sugar and slavery. The novel is the story seen through the eyes of its young protagonist, Marcel Saulo.It is exceptional from the very first page. Based on historical records of the kidnappings of Jewish children and their shipment to the Crown sugar plantations on Sao Tome Island, the story unwinds in tantalizing complexity, always surprising the reader with its deep-felt personal account.

Marcel Saulo is indeed a maverick and runs afoul of both State and Church from the beginning. Despite many trials, a couple of which are nearly fatal, he eventually succeeds as a sugar planter, secret Jew, and advocate against the growing African Slave trade. He raises a family, recovers from personal tragedy, and continues his struggle against injustice. The novel ends with the most unexpected event of all, yet one the reader has secretly hoped for throughout the narrative.

One reviewer called this novel "an extraordinary accomplishment." I agree. "Sao Tome" is a must read for anyone who appreciates a great story with well developed characters and a fine historical perspective about the origins of slavery.

A Tight, Suspenseful Read
This is a tense and at times, shocking story; but an important one nonetheless for the slice of history that it describes. The protagonist is truly heroic without coming off as a hero. Though an admittedly flawed man, he does the right thing despite impossible odds. Sao Tome is a story that will stick with you long after the final chapter. ... Read more

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This volume is produced from digital images created through the University of Michigan University Library's large-scale digitization efforts. The Library seeks to preserve the intellectual content of items in a manner that facilitates and promotes a variety of uses. The digital reformatting process results in an electronic version of the original text that can be both accessed online and used to create new print copies. The Library also understands and values the usefulness of print and makes reprints available to the public whenever possible. This book and hundreds of thousands of others can be found in the HathiTrust, an archive of the digitized collections of many great research libraries. For access to the University of Michigan Library's digital collections, please see http://www.lib.umich.edu and for information about the HathiTrust, please visit http://www.hathitrust.org ... Read more

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America faces its greatest threat since the Civil War.The worst fears of the Founders are being realized, as powerful corporate interests have taken over our culture and representative government.We the People now face a fundamental choice:take back our country . . . or do nothing, and become victims of tyranny and empire.

Thom Hartmann, the acclaimed author of Unequal Protection and The Last Hours of Ancient Sunlight, tells a compelling story -- of how a government of, by, and for the people has been replaced by corporate domination.Through brilliant analysis and imaginative illustrations, this fully graphic book illuminates the central dynamics of American politics.

He reveals the forgotten history of the Founders’ intent and the devious way that corporations came to possess "human" rights.He explains what the Boston Tea Party actually was, what constituted the Second American Revolution, and how "corporatists" disguised as conservatives are looting assets from We the People’s common ownership through privatization schemes.

Most importantly, the book issues a call to action from citizens who want to restore true democracy, and liberty and justice . . . for all. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (30)

Why You Need to Vote!
In my opinion this is a must read for anyone even remotely interested in the future of our country! The diagrams clearly explain the subject matter as well as make it easier to remember. Despite the seriousness and amount of information in "We the People: A Call to Take Back America", the book is a breeze to read so you'll have time to finish it before election day! We the People opened my eyes beyond just the candidates. I understand now the safety measures our founding fathers wrote into the Constitution, and how far America has strayed from why the Constitution was written in the first place - to protect us, the people.

Very Well Done
Thom Hartman uses a serious comic-book style to show the danger of giving up our freedoms, mega-corporate power, and having a corporate-controlled liar like G.W. Bush as President.Hartman shows a keen understanding of danerous historical trends, particularly the Alien-and-Sedition acts of the late 1790's, and the harmful stranglehold of railroads in the late 1800's.Now we have large corporations counting our votes on non-verifiable electronic machines - can you imagine a more evil scenario?Not that the author is 100 percent.His anti-NAFTA view seems foolish, and he lays off the egotistical jerk (Ralph Nader) that put Bush in office - no matter how much Nader denies it. Still, the rest of this book makes perfect sense and is surprisingly educational.

A government by and for the people
This book clearly lays out many interesting points on how our government works. In spite of its graphic format it contains a substantive overview of American government. It covers American history from its beginnings to the present, and it highlights threats to democracy. If you like other Thom Hartmann books, it is a safe bet you will enjoy this one.

Entertaining and Informative
I enjoyed reading Thom Hartmann's WE THE PEOPLE: A CALL TO TAKE BACK AMERICA. The comic book style made reading interesting and fun, as Hartmann takes the reader through a brief history of the USA and exposes how our government is being hijacked by big corporations.

Neo-Conservatives might find the book leaning too far to the left, but I think Hartmann takes a centrist stand. He does a good job explaining "corporate personhood," a corporation that claims to be a person therefore entitled to legal protections like a real person, and how corporations have slowly started taking more and more control over our government.

One thing I wish he did would've been to describe certain events like the "Alien and Sedition Acts," which comes up in the book. But Hartmann does provide website addresses to find out more info.

Even though the book was written in 2004 it's still very relevant to what is going on today. The illustrations by Neil Cohn are fun too.

Concise and informative
This is a simplified version of Thom's political and historical insight. It's done in cartoon style making it entertaining and a valuable learning aid for children or even adults who can gain knowledge about our nations democracy. ... Read more

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A stunning children's picturebook based on the real-life traditions of honey hunters
Entomologist Stephen Buchmann and award-winning children's book author Diana Cohn present The Bee Tree, a stunning children's picturebook based on the real-life traditions of honey hunters of Malaysia's indigenous people, who use special techniques to collect honey from dangerous, 1-inch long giant honeybees of the rainforest. Though fierce, the giant wild honeybees are also a critical link of the rainforest's ecology, and are deeply respected by the honey hunters. The Bee Tree recounts the legend of Hitam Manis, a servant girl who became transformed into a bee, and tells of the many precautions honey hunters take to avoid being stung (such as collecting honey only on moonless nights, and sending sparks to the ground to lure away guardian bees from the honeycomb), all through the eyes of a young boy being schooled in ancient ways. Illustrator Paul Mirocha made five trips to Malaysia to perfectly capture the color, life, and near-magical wonder of the Malaysian rainforest and its bees in this wonderful picturebook, supplemented at the end with a section of amazing facts about Malaysia's rainforests, bee trees with up to one hundred bee honeycombs, and honey hunters. Highly recommended. ... Read more

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"Human, All-Too-Human (Parts I and II)" is a collection of philosophical aphorisms by famed philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche. The first part, originally published in 1878, is a collection of 638 aphorisms in which Nietzsche discusses metaphysics, the Christian idea of good and evil, religious worship, the idea of divine inspiration in art, social Darwinism, the respective roles of men, women and children in society, the power of the state, and in a final section "Man Alone with Himself". In the second part we find what were originally published as parts II (1879) and III (1880), which contains 408 and 350 aphorisms respectively. Friedrich Nietzsche is widely regarded as one the most important philosophers of all time and that impact is ever apparent in this book, an accessible volume of thoughts upon social, religious, cultural, political and psychological issues. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (26)

The first book of aphorisms
Nietzche is one of the most strikingly original of the great aphorists. An interesting question is why the works of 'aphorisms' seem more appealing than the longer essay - works. Perhaps it is because each aphorism causes one to pause and meditate. And each aphorism like a small poem can be readily committed to memory and made part of one's own internal life.
There is however a downside to the aphoristic in Nietzsche. There is a violence of absolute certainty. This of course makes the work appealing to those who would have their truth whole, but less so to those who would see subtleties of reality. Nietzsche's misogyny is part of his own psychological illness. One understands why he commends those somehow weak and defective as source of a special kind of creativity. His love of the free spirit, the adventurer in mind, who has the courage to continually check and challenge his own assumptions is of course his not so hidden tribute to himself as highest kind of mind of all.
One of the horrible ironies of this individual of individuals was that his work was taken upon by the Nazis and distorted for their own evil ends. One of the most interesting passages in this work is his long paean to the Jewish people for their creative genius.
There is something enjoyable and stimulating about Nietzsche's writing. He moves us to think. He wakes us up. And this without our having to accept the fundaments of his analysis of the human situation.

My favorite version
This review is for the Stanford University Press (SUP) paperback edition. I really like the SUP edition by Gary Handwerk and consider this review as my vote for it without a detailed justification. I haven't personally compared it to the other translations but from what I heard from other more knowledgeable people this version reads better. I first came across a copy of this book checked out from the Stanford library and loved it so much that I decided to get my own copy. I only wish it came in hard cover.

Free Spirits
In these short comments and aphorisms, F. Nietzsche asks himself: `Cannot all values be overturned?' And, `Is Good perhaps Evil?' (3)
His answers to these provocative questions are rather boring and don't reach the same level of his biting, polemic, destructive shouting in his later work.
There are exceptions, like `Almost every politician needs an honest man so badly that, like a ravenous wolf, he breaks into a sheep pen: not in order to eat the ram he has stolen, but rather to hide behind its woolly back.' (470) Or, `Convictions are more dangerous enemies of truth than lies.' (483)

Of course, one can find here the seeds of his later philosophizing with a hammer, but they are rather meager one.

Good and Evil
`In the soul of the ruling clans and castes, the man who has the power to requite goodness with goodness, evil with evil, is called "good". The man who is unpowerful and cannot requite is taken for bad.' (45)

Religion
`Ruling persons and classes will be enlightened about the benefit provided by religion; they are using it as a tool.' The state needs (the priest's) most private, secret education of souls. Without the help of priests no power can become legitimate.' (472)

Christianity
`All psychological inventions of Christianity work toward the deep corruption of head and heart. Christianity wants to destroy, shatter, intoxicate.' (114)

Anti-democratic stance and contempt for the masses
`A higher culture can come into being where there are two castes of society: the caste of forced labor and the caste of free labor.' (439)
And, quoting Voltaire: `Once the populace begins to reason, all is lost.' (438)

`Pithy is nothing less than a disease.' (47)

Power and morality
`This is how the brutal, powerful man acts, the original founder of a state, who subjects to himself those who are weaker. Force precedes morality. (99)

The characteristics of his later works are still absent here: Christ is still the `noblest being', no misogyny and no war worship.

This book is not a good introduction to Nietzsche's work; better are `Genealogy of Morals' or `Beyond Good and Evil'.
Only for Nietzsche fans and scholars.

What book is this?
This copy of Human All Too Human was 50 pages total and nothing like any other translation. Don't bother with this one, many others are better.

Accessible, provocative writing/philosophy
(My comments on Nietzsche are hardly worth noting; his fame and notoriety, his value as a philosopher and writer, will not be affected by one Amazon reviewer.I intend my review to be a comment on my own sentiments in reaction to the work, and also to reflect on the make of the book itself.)

Nietzsche is fascinating and thought-provoking.This book is a great primer for anyone who eventually intends to tackle some of Nietzsche's more cryptic or "heavy" works.It lays out some of the thoughts he will develop more thoroughly later in his life, and is helpful for finding orientation within his philosophies.As a Christian, I strongly disagree with Nietzsche's opinions about religion, the freedom of the spirit, and so much more,--nevertheless his thoughts here cannot be ignored or easily brushed aside, and his style is so infectious, compelling, and mystifying that I cannot help but be haunted by those thoughts, cannot help but respond and react and expose deeply buried sentiments in myself.Furthermore, in reading Nietzsche's "psychological observations" (what he calls "reflection on the human, all too human") there is much insight gained into many of the prevalent European and American philosophies present today.I may disagree with him on a number of points, but he is clearly a penetrating and insightful beholder of the world whose thoughts have been steeped into our modern or post-modern culture.

(As I wrote above, my like or dislike has no bearing on his indispensable value in the history of philosophy and understanding the present-day philosophies.)

I would recommend Human, All Too Human, especially to someone who cannot commit an intense few weeks of serious study to one of Nietzsche's later works.The observations are arranged in aphoristic style, and there are many different themes throughout the work, making this one of those philosophical texts that can be opened at almost any page and read at leisure.Some of Nietzsche's observations would make more sense with a background in early Kantian philosophers, along with Rousseau, Pascal, and La Rochefoucauld, the Bible, and Greek philosophy and tragedy, and a handful of other works.But if experience here is lacking, most of Human, All Too Human can still be read an enjoyed.

The Cambridge Texts in the History of Philosophy soft-cover edition is right on par with all of their books.Solid binding, nice white pages, pleasant typeface, clean printing; if the reader likes to pencil in notes, he will find these pages treated very well to make erasing effective and clean.The introduction is weak, but that's to be expected from these editions.Introductions usually should be skipped anyway. ... Read more

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A contemporary account of events during the winter of 1916-17 which ended the German siege of Verdun. Bordeaux dedicated his work to General Petain. Very scarce. 4-3/4 x 7-1/4"; xiii + 301 pp ... Read more