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May 12 2022

Classics: A Very Short Introduction by Mary Beard

We are all classicists--we come into touch with the classics on a daily basis: in our culture, politics, medicine, architecture, language, and literature. What are the true roots of these influences, however, and how do our interpretations of these aspects of the classics differ from their original reality? This introduction to the classics begins with a visit to the British Museum to view the frieze which once decorated the Apollo Temple a Bassae. Through these sculptures John Henderson and Mary Beard prompt us to consider the significance of the study of Classics as a means of discovery and enquiry, its value in terms of literature, philosophy, and culture, its source of imagery, and the reasons for the continuation of these images into and beyond the twentieth century. Designed for the general reader and student alike, A Very Short Introduction to Classics challenges readers to adopt a fresh approach to the Classics as a major cultural influence, both in the ancient world and twentieth-century--emphasizing the continuing need to understand and investigate this enduring subject. About the Series: Combining authority with wit, accessibility, and style, Very Short Introductions offer an introduction to some of life's most interesting topics. Written by experts for the newcomer, they demonstrate the finest contemporary thinking about the central problems and issues in hundreds of key topics, from philosophy to Freud, quantum theory to Islam....

May 12 2022

UML and C++: A Practical Guide to Object-Oriented Development by Richard C. Lee

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Written by two researchers at Lucent Technologies' prestigious Bell Labs, UML and C++: A Practical Guide to Object-Oriented Development is a thorough guide to object-oriented design using C++. This text uses the Unified Modeling Language (UML) for all diagrams (though an overview of UML isn't included).The book begins with a critique of today's software (which is expensive and often delivered behind schedule). The authors tour the history of software engineering, from early structured analysis to object-oriented techniques. Several sections of this book cover the ins and outs of defining objects, including identifying each object's responsibilities, static, and dynamic behavior (where the UML statechart, collaboration, and use case diagrams are used to document its behavior and iterations.) Interestingly, the authors introduce the notion of "rules"--code executed with events--used with C++. (One of the authors has even developed a language enhanced with rules for C++ called R++.) The remainder of the book looks at how to design and implement objects, specifically in C++. The case study is a Breakout type of video game. Though not especially concerned with the details of UML, there's some considerable C++ expertise on display in this intelligently written title. --Richard Dragan...

May 12 2022

Classical Mythology: A Very Short Introduction by Helen Morales

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From Zeus and Europa, to Diana, Pan, and Prometheus, the myths of ancient Greece and Rome seem to exert a timeless power over us. But what do those myths represent, and why are they so enduringly fascinating? Why do they seem to be such a potent way of talking about ourselves, our origins, and our desires? This imaginative and stimulating Very Short Introduction goes beyond a simple retelling of the stories to explore the rich history and diverse interpretations of classical mythology. It is a wide-ranging account, examining how classical myths are used and understood in both high art and popular culture, taking the reader from the temples of Crete to skyscrapers in New York, and finding classical myths in a variety of unexpected places: from Arabic poetry and Hollywood films, to psychoanalysis, the Bible, and New Age spiritualism....

May 12 2022

Visual C++ .net: How to Program by Harvey M. Deitel

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The first thing I noticed about this text is the absence of the familiar colour coding used throughout the other volumes. Could this be a sign of publisher wariness, or simply cost cutting?The book has much in common (including examples) with the other Deitel and Deitel .Net (C#, VB) volumes. Chapter development and layout is very similar. The standard of the material is mostly very good as one would expect, but topic coverage leaves something to be desired.Firstly, it's a personal opinion, but I am not convinced that the several hundred pages devoted to web services is what students of C++ (and new professionals) need or want. Consequently, I ask myself whether this space should be shunted into a separate book. Secondly, there is a very small amount of space devoted to data structures, roughly 53 pages. Much smaller than needs be given the overall size of the book. Moreover, the reader only gets to data structures after 1000 pages of text. This apparent underemphasis on data structures raised a variety of questions in my mind about the software engineering philosophy of the text. Thirdly, the book explicitly avoids dealing with ActiveX and COM. Attributes, a new feature in Visual C++ are mentioned in passing, and ATL is not mentioned at all. Overall, I am less positive about this book than their earlier programming in C++ text. It seemed to me from reading the book, that there is a formula at play and material is shoehorned to fit accordingly. I fully acknowledge that much of the material is excellent and competently explained, but as an overall learning text on VC++.Net I think improvements are required....

May 12 2022

Christianity: A Very Short Introduction by Linda Woodhead

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Exploring the cultural and institutional dimensions of Christianity, and tracing its course over two millennia, Linda Woodhead provides a fresh, lively, and candid portrait of Christianity's past and present. Addressing topics including the competition for power between different forms of Christianity, the churches' use of power, and its struggles with modernity, this new edition includes up to date information on the growth and geographical spread of Eastern Christianity, reflecting the global nature of Christianity in our ever-shifting contemporary culture. At a time when Christianity is flourishing in the Southern hemisphere but declining in much of the West, this <I>Very Short Introduction</I> offers an important overview of the world's largest religion....

May 12 2022

Customer Relationship Management by Graham Roberts-Phelps

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Peter Drucker said 25 years ago ‘The purpose of a business is to attract and retain a customer’. It sounds simple but too many businesses have forgotten it to their cost. In his latest book, Graham Robert-Phelps shows how every customer is in some way unique and explains how to segment customers by value, pattern and buying criteria. He suggests methods of creating an effective culture of creativity in your business and explains the techniques of ‘customerised selling’ to radically increase customer retention. He shares his innovative ideas for customer service skills and goes on to explain how to generate a customer culture through the right methods of recruitment, training and promotion. Graham also explores strategies and tactics for developing relationships with your customers, including customer surveys and opportunities for going direct to customers through advances in technology and distribution. As he demonstrates, brands may be global but customised marketing requires skill in responding to customers’ attitudes and expectations, whoever and wherever they are....

Apr 26 2022

Communism: A Very Short Introduction by Leslie Holmes

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If now in decline since the tumultuous events of 1989, communism was without doubt the great political movement of the twentieth century--at its peak, more than a third of the world's population lived under communist rule--and it is still a powerful force in many areas of the world, most notably in the People's Republic of China. What is communism? Where did the idea come from and what attracted people to it? Is there a future for communism? This Very Short Introduction considers these questions and more in the search to explore and understand this controversial political force.Explaining the theory behind its ideology, and examining the history and mindset behind its political, economic and social structures, Leslie Holmes considers the evolution of communism from Marx's time, to its practice in the Bolshevik Revolution, to its collapse in 1989-91. Holmes highlights the inner dynamics, crises, and demise of communism as a global system, and introduces the major players in the communist world, including Marx, Lenin, Stalin, and Mao.About the Series: Combining authority with wit, accessibility, and style, Very Short Introductions offer an introduction to some of life's most interesting topics. Written by experts for the newcomer, they demonstrate the finest contemporary thinking about the central problems and issues in hundreds of key topics, from philosophy to Freud, quantum theory to Islam....

Apr 26 2022

The Object Primer: Agile Model-Driven Development with UML by Scott W. Ambler

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Scott Ambler, award-winning author of Building Object Applications that Work, Process Patterns, and More Process Patterns, has revised his acclaimed first book, The Object Primer. Long prized in its original edition by both students and professionals as the best introduction to object-oriented technology, this book has all modeling notation rewritten in UML 2.0. All chapters have been revised to take advantage of Agile Modeling (AM), which is presented in the new chapter 2 along with other important modeling techniques. Review questions at the end of each chapter allow readers to test their newly acquired knowledge. In addition, the author takes time to reflect on the lessons learned over the past few years by discussing the proven benefits and drawbacks of the technology. This is the perfect book for any software development professional or student seeking an introduction to the concepts and terminology of object technology....

Apr 26 2022

The Cold War: A Very Short Introduction by Robert J. McMahon

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The Cold War dominated international life from the end of World War II to the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. But how did the conflict begin? Why did it move from its initial origins in Postwar Europe to encompass virtually every corner of the globe? And why, after lasting so long, did the war end so suddenly and unexpectedly? Robert McMahon considers these questions and more, as well as looking at the legacy of the Cold War and its impact on international relations today.The Cold War: A Very Short Introduction is a truly international history, not just of the Soviet-American struggle at its heart, but also of the waves of decolonization, revolutionary nationalism, and state formation that swept the non-Western world in the wake of World War II. McMahon places the 'Hot Wars' that cost millions of lives in Korea, Vietnam, and elsewhere within the larger framework of global superpower competition. He shows how the United States and the Soviet Union both became empires over the course of the Cold War, and argues that perceived security needs and fears shaped U.S. and Soviet decisions from the beginning—far more, in fact, than did their economic and territorial ambitions. He unpacks how these needs and fears were conditioned by the divergent cultures,ideologies, and historical experiences of the two principal contestants and their allies. Covering the years 1945-1990, this second edition uses recent scholarship and newly available documents to offer a fuller analysis of the Vietnam War, the changing global politics of the 1970s, and the end of the Cold War.ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable....

Apr 26 2022

Topological Algebras by V. K. Balachandran

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This book consists of nine chapters. Chapter 1 is devoted to algebraic preliminaries. Chapter 2 deals with some of the basic definitions and results concerning topological groups, topological linear spaces and topological algebras. Chapter 3 considered some generalizations of the norm. Chapter 4 is concerned with a generalization of the notion of convexity called p-convexity. In Chapter 5 some differential and integral analysis involving vector valued functions is developed. Chapter 6 is concerned with spectral analysis and applications. The Gelfand representation theory is the subject-matter of Chapter 7. Chapter 8 deals with commutative topological algebras. Finally in Chapter 9 an exposition of the norm uniqueness theorems of Gelfand and Johnson (extended to p-Banach algebras) is given....