Product Description
Those are not your grandfather's potato chips.

As debate rages over the costs and benefits of genetically engineered crops, noted agroecologist Miguel Altieri lucidly examines some of the issue's most basic and pressing questions:

* Are transgenic crops similar to conventionally bred crops?

* Are transgenic crops safe to eat?

* Does biotechnology increase yields?

* Does it reduce pesticide use?

* What are the costs to American farmers?

* Will biotechnology benefit poor farmers?

* Can biotechnology coexist with other forms of agriculture?

* What are the known and potential environmental and biological risks?

* What alternatives do we have to genetically modified crops? ... Read more

Product Description

Introduction to Agricultural Engineering Technology: A problem Solving Approach is an invaluable text for agriculture students at the introductory level. The third edition has been thoroughly updated and reorganized to meet the current units and standards of the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers (ASABE).

The book aims to:

• Familiarize students with a wide range of applications of engineering principles to agriculture
• Discuss a selection of independent but related topics
• Advance students’ problem solving abilities

Each chapter lists education objects, introductory material, and example problems where appropriate. In addition problems using ISO (metric) units, are now included.

Product Description
An introductory tour into the stranger-than-fiction world of genetic engineering, a scientific realm inhabited by eager researchers intent upon fashioning a prodigious medley of genetically modified (GM) organisms to serve human needs. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

An easier read than it looks!
Despite the difficult name and seemingly difficult genre, this book is easy to read and highly informative.It is a series of essays, each 2-5 pages long.They each address a different aspect of current work in biotechnology and genetic engineering.They are informative and leave the judgement to the end, finally telling whether each technology is something to provide hope for the future, something to be afraid of, or something that is probably impossible to achieve. ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (3)

Visions of how others made it with small organic farms.
This book tells the stories of ten small organic farms.Great books on how to grow veggies abound.But it's rare to hear how folks made their farms pay.We have been setting up a small organic farm for a year and find it ... humbling.But this book encourages me to keep at it.

I started with the chapter on Animal Farm because I know Gita, the founder.She sells at the Farmer's market with us.She knew next to nothing about gardening when she first planted at Animal Farm.More zucchini than the family could eat.Gita sold some to an elegant Houston restaurant.That chef became her best customer, asked her to grow this and that, and the farming grew.Now she has eight acres under cultivation and employs four people.

When Houston's first farmer's market started up in 2003, she sold there also.I laughed when the book said she doesn't enjoy selling.I still feel shy and tense at the market.

I studied the photo of Gita's hoop house (greenhouse). She has five of them adding up to 9000 square feet.Gita hopes to install a root cellar.I need something to store produce waiting for market.Would a root celler be more energy efficient and cheaper to than a walk-in cooler?

Home Sweet Farm started up fast.Within two years, they were supplying eighty five families through their CSA.Every week, Home Sweet Farm drops off their customers' food at various locations in the city.Why was it so quick for them while it has been harder for me? They had more experience to start with.

This book will help.

Love hearing about family farms
As a fan of Michael Pollan and Joel Salatin, I enjoy reading about those small farms that produce truly nutritious food.This book tells the stories of modern day family farmers in Texas and the issues they have to face.

Growing Good Things To Eat in Texas
I loved it! It was the culmination of my interest for the past nine years in organic and sustainable agriculture. What I love is, people like this who care about the food I eat. At least 3 of the bios have a direct connection to my food purchases. I envy their life style and appreciate their hard work ethics. Her style was very precise and informative as well as entertaining to me. ... Read more

Product Description

For senior-level undergraduate and first and second year graduate systems engineering and related courses. Systems Engineering and Analysis, 5/e, provides a total life-cycle approach to systems and their analysis.

Customer Reviews (8)

Great Overview
The book does a great job of giving the reader an overall sense of what goes into systems engineering.Although not detailed to the nth degree, it has enough info so that the concept is understood and when possible, linked with examples.A little wordy at times, but otherwise exceptional.

Great Resource
Added to library for work to keep on top of SE work.Getting old and forgetful as I move into management.

mixed bag
we used this book for undergrad se classes i taught.
unfortunately there are not a lot of alternatives.
(we *also* used buede for another class and mandel for project management etc).

the authors know their stuff, unfortunately some of it got lost in translation. perhaps because a lot of the material got translated from govt publications.

this is more like a handbook than a textbook.for the handbook user just get sage's tome.for a textbook -- well this is least worst for an intro to SE.for supporting areas other books are better.

what is good is excellent.but what is bad is frustrating.
they tried to cover way too much in one book and got confused with SE and OR and management techniques and quality and a whole bunch of other stuff that is really tangential to SE.

and the materialgets covered at uneven levels of detail so it is not a good handbook nor a good textbook just a good pile of notes on a lot of se related stuff.

previous editions had many errors and did not come with any answers to the problems, many of which were confusing as stated.

the first part of the book really introduces SE.The rest of the book is for review by someone who has specialised in the areas they cover.

The book would be much better if they concentrated on SE and left the other stuff to other books.i have not checked with the publisher for current availability,but previously there was no instructors guide and no answers to the questions.that is a big drawback for classroom use.

this would be best for an experienced person who wanted to review SE or get an introduction to a specialised topic relating to SE.

the dsmc/dau se handbook is (was?) free on the internet from various govt sites and does a great job of introducing SE.you should look at that resource before buying this book.indeed, unless you are using it in a class you might just want to borrow this from a library instead of buying it.

High-level view
Very much the 30,000 foot view of systems engineering. I picked this book up because I saw it referred to all over the place, and assumed that it was reasonably definitive. Sadly, it is not. What the book does do is give the reader a reasonably good high-level overview of systems engineering in general, and of some of the techniques involved in estimating the "ilities" of a given system design. However, the level of detail on any one subject area is very light, and the bias of the book is very much toward DoD-style systems engineering. A good book for systems engineering managers. System designers should also seek out Wymore's "Model-Based Systems Engineering" for a thorough understanding of requirements and design.

Great Introduction to Systems Engineering
I took a course in school that used this book and I really enjoyed the book and what it taught me about systems engineering.The authors do a great job of walking the student through the systems engineering process, and ginving a general overview of the steps.The later chapters expand upon this overview to give the detail needed to actually carry out the process.The last part of the book expands upon the "-ilities" of systems engineering which are the authors partiucalr areas of interest.I think anyone interested in systems engineering should get this book, its a great resource.A few things I didn't like was the constant referencing of graphs and figures from previous chapters, it really inhibits my learing when I have to keep flipping back and forth to follow a train of thought.There are also a few chunks of the book that are very, very hard to follow the logical train of thought and require meticulious attention to the detail, and often require rereading.I'm hoping the authors with put out an updated and expanded edition soon, that compensates for these shortfalls. ... Read more

Product Description
This book deals with the foundations for methods of teaching agriculture, applications of learning, the special needs of unique populations, and the procedures for evaluating teaching and learning. It is the only comprehensive exploration of the teacher preparation curriculum in agricultural education.This comprehensive survey provides clear explanations and examples of learning applications to provide an in-depth study of planning for successful teaching. Topics include decisions about teaching, planning, group teaching techniques, managing student behavior, teaching special populations, and evaluating learning.This book about professional development is a useful reference tool for university professors, teacher educators, and inservice program educators. ... Read more

Product Description
Rudolf Steiner, the often undervalued, multifaceted genius of modern times, contributed much to the regeneration of culture. In addition to his philosophical teachings, he provided ideas for the development of many practical activities including education—both general and special—agriculture, medicine, economics, architecture, science, religion, and the arts. Today there are thousands of schools, clinics, farms, and many other organizations based on his ideas.

Steiner's original contribution to human knowledge was based on his ability to conduct spiritual research, the investigation of metaphysical dimensions of existence. With his scientific and philosophical training, he brought a new systematic discipline to the field, allowing for conscious methods and comprehensive results. A natural seer from childhood, he cultivated his spiritual vision to a high degree, enabling him to speak with authority on previously veiled mysteries of life.

Topics include: the evolving human being; cosmos as the source of life; plants and the living earth; farms and the realms of nature; bringing the chemical elements to life; soil and the world of spirit; supporting and regulating life processes; spirits of the elements; nutrition and vitality; responsibility for the future. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

mind opening
When I first read this book several years ago, I couldn't stop laughing it seemed so absurd. For example, the passage on gnomes as living beings that are imprisoned in the earth but in love with the cosmos. I still do not know what to think. One of my skeptical psychiatrist friends,who nonetheless appreciates the depth of his insight,accuses Steiner of "overspiritualizing".
However, if you accept another more gnostic oriented view of reality, it no longer seems absurd at all. That the material world we look at can also be seen as more of a surface structure underlying "more real" reality. Does Steiner's ability to see the various spiritual entities at work in nature mean that he can see through the matrix and you can't? The thought is worth considering.

From a practical point of view, the book itself was of limited use for me as a gardener. For the actual practical application of bio-dynamics, I would recommend other books such as Thun's , biodynamic calendar or just about anyone who has built on the foundations Steiner laid. It is not a "how to" book. But I value this book for the understaning imparted of the principles behind bio-dynamics.

Steiner has influenced the manner in which I look at my garden,which seems much more a place full of mystery and poetry. I was also intrigued enough to do further research and apply their astrological calendar and utilize their various sprays and treatments which I purchased from a place called the Josephine Porter Institute.

And my garden the past few years has indeed been much more productive and this year more than ever. Was it just luck or weather? Or can I thank the spiritual and cosmic forces that were brought down from the heavens in concentrated form into the vortex which formed whileI was mixing the various sprays?

I have read some critics who refer to Steiner as a crackpot due to some of his apparently whackier ideas. However, I personally plan to do more bio-dynamically inspired zodiac planting next year, and I intend to use the horned silica and their various sprays.I will also be scattering the ashes of Japanese beetles and other pests when the stars and planets indicate thaat it is an auspicious time astrologically for the proper alchemical interactions with the group souls of these beings so that their intrusion into my gardening space can be deterred.


Yes, go ahead and laugh. But personally,I am also pleased to see that more and more stores such as Whole Foods and many farmer's markets are selling more bio-dynamic products.

Can we thank the gnomes, sylphs and undines for this success?

Agriculture and Nutrition
This book contains a wide range of topics relevant to the subject of agriculture and nutrition.
What interests me greatly includes the chapters on nutrition and vitality. In response to a question concerning people's lack of will and progress in spiritual activites despite Rudolf Steiner's guidance, Rudolf's answer pointed to the problem of nutrition at that time which did not supply the strength necessary for those spiritual activities. I have also came across other articles which said that highly processed food, most of them grown chemically (using chemical fertilizers and pesticides) have a negative impact on the mind's will power and can lead to conflicts among human beings.
Another point I like to highlight is the topic on the nutrition of animals as discussed in this book. In 1923, Rudolf had already warned that if the ox would to consume meat, it's body would produce all kinds of harmful substances such as uric acid and urates. The urates would enter the brain and the ox would go crazy. These remarks had great relevance to the modern history of mad cow disease.

organic farmer POV
The only reason I haven't given 5 stars is because Steiner's writing is not the easiest to read and most translations are somewhat clumsy.

As to Christian values from an earlier review, I suggest that dogma and doctrine which disallow plants and animals from God's kingdom are not what the Bible says. We are all part of God's creation (Genesis books 1 and 2) and all beings are worthy of respect and sympathetic care.

To be able to grow food and raise animals without depleting the earth's resources has been my family's work for generations. Biodynamic agriculture is the equivalent of homeopathy for the soil. It not only doesn't damage the soil but replenishes it. It stops pests without chemicals.

Conventional agriculture methods compress the soil, lock up nutrients and destroy friability. It' chemical add salts and residues that continue to damage for years.

We will be paying the price for their use in lower nutrition and higher health costs.

The future standard of feeding the world
I very much disagree with the previous reviewer. Saying that Steiner's methodology is incompatible with Christian values makes me think that the reviewer has absolutely no idea about how Christianity relates to agriculture.

Plants and animals are living creates and are aware of their surroundings and likely to be influenced by them as much as humans are. You can ask any pet owner if this is true.

Biodynamic farming maybe the only way out of a sick system of conventional (read: chemical) farming that is slowly poisoning the soil and it's crops and inevitably: ourselves. Much agricultural land (and there is not much of it. Think about it: Most of our earth is not suitable for agriculture) is absolutely depleted of any fertility and most of that is due to chemical farming. It is one reason for the global price insurge of basic foods (wheat, dairy, vegetables) this year.

In the future, knowing how to grow food maybe the most valuable commodity. This method is an introduction to growing food the most sustainable way and may save many lives in the days to come.

I burned this book
Before reading this book, I had been intrigued at the idea of Biodynamic Agriculture.My thought was to learn about Biodynamics from the source- Rudolph Steiner.
I couldn't even stomach reading this book.It is so New Age.It talks about plants and animals having spirits, and other things that are too dangerous to one's soul to read or mention.This book is incompatible with Christian values.I burned it. ... Read more

Product Description
In the tradition of Jared Diamond's Guns, Germs, and Steel, this gives the very early history of how human ingenuity overcame the risk of famine through productive agriculture.Starting with a layman's guide to the chemistry of nitrogen fixation, the book goes on to show how humans emerged from nomadic lifestyles and began developing towns and settlements.When they for the first time began planting the same fields year after year, they noticed quickly the need to ensure soil fertility.But how?The method they came up with is stillin use to this day. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

An important subject
This is an iconoclastic telling of the story of what we knew about nitrogen and when we knew it. The author tells the story of the development of the undrestanding of plant nutrition in farming, starting as far back as possible and traveling up to the modern industry of making fertilizer and explosives.
The information is entertainingly presented, but the authors quirks of presentation sometime overcome the information. Important for anyone who wants to understand the development of agriculture in history. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Best used for target practice
This book has lots of practice problems to solve. But no answers to any of them. There are very few examples for the student to work through and the concepts are introduced very poorly. I found the reading confusing and tedious with little explanation. Instead, it jumps, almost imediately, into equations without explaining what the section is about. Many hours of my time was wasted that didn't need to be due to this book and it probably cost me two letter grades. I haven't decided whether I will sell this book or just take it to a field and shoot it.

TO ALL INSTRUCTORS: DO NOT USE THIS BOOK!!!!!

Find another book to reference
At first glance this text appears to be comprehensive and informative. But if you are an instructor looking at this text for a class, please take the time to read the first three chapters completely, and then do the problems at the end. The text is often too generalized, and the examples are not helpful. Too little time is spent developing the basic concepts, and the advanced concepts are presented matter of factly.The problems do not have solutions, and are difficult to solve, leaving you with more questions than comfort. Example problems were typically very easy to solve, and problems were more complex, and often misleading. The preface states no prior knowledge of electronics or electrical theory are required....I wonder who wrote the preface. I have extensive practice in simple circuit analysis, Thevenin, Norton, Superposition, and Source Transformation. This text confused issues rather than supported them.The subjects were written in such a modular framework, that the relationships between theories were missed.I found previous texts on circuits and other information to use as references.

Pretty bad
This book is absolutely not recommended for self-instruction.Without answers, how can one know if you're doing the problems right?If there is a solution manual, it should come with the book.

Not a book for beginners
The book would be completely deserving of a 5 star rating if there would have been answers to chapter questions in the back of the book.A few samples are worked out in the book, but the lack of a significant number ofproblems with solutions(or answers) leaves the reader unsure of progress. This book is definitely not recommended for self-instruction or for use asan introductory college text. ... Read more

Product Description

Sustainable agriculture is a rapidly growing field aiming at producing food and energy in a sustainable way for humans and their children. Sustainable agriculture is a discipline that addresses current issues such as climate change, increasing food and fuel prices, poor-nation starvation, rich-nation obesity, water pollution, soil erosion, fertility loss, pest control, and biodiversity depletion. Novel, environmentally-friendly solutions are proposed based on integrated knowledge from sciences as diverse as agronomy, soil science, molecular biology, chemistry, toxicology, ecology, economy, and social sciences. Indeed, sustainable agriculture decipher mechanisms of processes that occur from the molecular level to the farming system to the global level at time scales ranging from seconds to centuries. For that, scientists use the system approach that involves studying components and interactions of a whole system to address scientific, economic and social issues. In that respect, sustainable agriculture is not a classical, narrow science. Instead of solving problems using the classical painkiller approach that treats only negative impacts, sustainable agriculture treats problem sources. Because most actual society issues are now intertwined, global, and fast-developing, sustainable agriculture will bring solutions to build a safer world. This book series gathers review articles that analyze current agricultural issues and knowledge, then propose alternative solutions. It will therefore help all scientists, decision-makers, professors, farmers and politicians who wish to build a safe agriculture, energy and food system for future generations.

Product Description
PLEASE PROVIDE COURSE INFORMATIONThis book develops and applies concepts, analytical methods, and descriptive information about agricultural finance. It focuses on planning, analyzing, and controlling business performance in agriculture and related financial markets. This edition includes new chapters on the management environment for financial institutions, financial intermediaries in agriculture, and legal aspects of finance. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Financial Management in Agriculture (6th Edition)
This a comprehensive rewiev financial Management of a farm. ... Read more

Product Description
4th Edition. The Dictionary of Mechanical Engineering provides clearly-written, easy-to-understand definitions for over 4,500 terms. In addition to covering the more traditional areas of the field, this new edition also defines the terminology of the rapidly advancing areas of 'small size' mechanical engineering: micromachining and nanotechnology. Nomenclature used in the manufacture of composites has also been added. Extensively cross-referenced, the Dictionary is an indispensable desk reference for mechanical engineers worldwide. Co-published by SAE with Butterworth-Heinemann. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Great Reference
I bought this in advance of my Professional Engineers Exam.It was one of the best decisions that I made in references.I used this on the exam for all of the background questions and several of the specific questions for definitions of terms that were somewhat less well used.I recommend this as a reference for anyone taking the Mechanical PE exam and as a general reference for practicing engineers. ... Read more

Product Description
In 1860 farmers accounted for 60 percent of the American workforce; in 1910, 30.5 percent; by 1994, there were too few to warrant a separate census category. The changes wrought by the decline of family farming and the rise of industrial agribusiness typically have been viewed through historical, economic, and political lenses. But as William Conlogue demonstrates, some of the most vital and incisive debates on the subject have occurred in a site that is perhaps less obvious--literature.

Conlogue refutes the critical tendency to treat farm-centered texts as pastorals, arguing that such an approach overlooks the diverse ways these works explore human relationships to the land. His readings of works by Willa Cather, Ruth Comfort Mitchell, John Steinbeck, Luis Valdez, Ernest Gaines, Jane Smiley, Wendell Berry, and others reveal that, through agricultural narratives, authors have addressed such wide-ranging subjects as the impact of technology on people and land, changing gender roles, environmental destruction, and the exploitation of migrant workers. In short, Conlogue offers fresh perspectives on how writers confront issues whose site is the farm but whose impact reaches every corner of American society. ... Read more

Product Description

Fatal Harvest takes an unprecedented look at our current ecologically destructive agricultural system and offers a compelling vision for an organic and environmentally safer way of producing the food we eat. It includes more than 250 profound and startling photographs and gathers together more than 40 essays by leading ecological thinkers including Wendell Berry, Wes Jackson, David Ehrenfeld, Helena Norberg-Hodge, Vandana Shiva, and Gary Nabhan. Its scope and photo-driven approach provide a unique and invaluable antidote to the efforts by agribusiness to obscure and disconnect us from the truth about industrialized foods.

The book's many photographs and essays offer graphic testimony to the tragic consequences of how our food is produced. Readers will come to see that industrial food production is indeed a "fatal harvest" - fatal to consumers, as pesticide residues and new disease vectors such as E. coli and "mad cow disease" find their way into our food supply; fatal to our landscapes, as chemical runoff from factory farms poison our rivers and groundwater; fatal to genetic diversity, as farmers rely increasingly on high-yield monocultures and genetically engineered crops; and fatal to our farm communities, which are wiped out by huge corporate farms.

As it exposes the ecological and social impacts of industrial agriculture's fatal harvest, the book also details a new ecological and humane vision for agriculture. It shows how millions of people are engaged in the new politics of food as they work to develop a better alternative to the current chemically fed and biotechnology-driven system. Designed to aid the movement to reform industrial agriculture, Fatal Harvest will inform and influence the activists, farmers, policymakers, and consumers who are seeking a safer and more sustainable food future. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (8)

Don't Confuse This Book with "The Fatal Harvest Reader"
This review is for "Fatal Harvest: The Tragedy of Industrial Agriculture" a huge book which is NOT "The Fatal Harvest Reader."

Square trade paperback, released with matte dustjacket with French flaps, 384 pp, 5.25 pounds. Color illustrations throughout.

Fatal Harvest
This is a very interesting book with excellent illustrations.However there is a very similiar book titled "Fatal Harvest Reader", which is not the same.Both have the same picture on the cover, the suttle difference is in the word "Reader".When ordering or considering either book, make sure which one you are actually ordering.The Fatal Harvest Reader does not have any photographs.

Kimbrell has done an amazing job
This book is beyond a book. It is like a movie on pages. The visuals are that powerful.
What is revealed in these pages is a secret that must be exposed. Andrew Kimbrell has done a wonderful job here. His work is pioneering a new awareness for the entire world.

Every person in America should read this book.
Like other reviewers, I was unable to put this book down once I opened it.Although I understood in sort of a theoretical way that corporate agriculture was not a good thing, the pictures in this book connected all the dots for me.There is something about the photography that is simply transfixing - which seems odd given that the photos are of agriculture - but true nevertheless.

After reading this book I could not bring myself to buy any more non-organic produce, so be forewarned - this is not a "coffee table book" in any ordinary sense.It should come with a warning label.

Buy one for yourself and one to share...
After reading this book, your views about agriculture will be forever altered.Presented in a high quality, high impact format, the photography offers the reader the chance to see the stark contrast between the products generated by 'power farmers' and that of the 'small farmer' - the true agrarian.Upon opening the book for the very first time, you will be completely engaged; you will be unable to put the book down until you have rummaged through all of the pages.The images will be etched on your brain with a subtle permanence and the accompanying text is just as powerful.

... Read more

Product Description

Written to meet the needs of both students and applied researchers, Design of Experiments for Agriculture and the Natural Sciences, Second Edition serves as an introductory guide to experimental design and analysis. Like the popular original, this thorough text provides an understanding of the logical underpinnings of design and analysis by selecting and discussing only those carefully chosen designs that offer the greatest utility. However, it improves on the first edition by adhering to a step-by-step process that greatly improves accessibility and understanding. Real problems from different areas of agriculture and science are presented throughout to show how practical issues of design and analysis are best handled.

Completely revised to greatly enhance readability, this new edition includes:

• A new chapter on covariance analysis to help readers reduce errors, while enhancing their ability to examine covariances among selected variables
• Expanded material on multiple regression and variance analysis
• Additional examples, problems, and case studies
• A step-by-step Minitab® guide to help with data analysis

Intended for those in the agriculture, environmental, and natural science fields as well as statisticians, this text requires no previous exposure to analysis of variance, although some familiarity with basic statistical fundamentals is assumed. In keeping with the book's practical orientation, numerous workable problems are presented throughout to reinforce the reader's ability to creatively apply the principles and concepts in any given situation.

Product Description
The starting point in the formulation of any numerical problem is to take an intuitive idea about the problem in question and to translate it into precise mathematical language. This book provides step-by-step descriptions of how to formulate numerical problems so that they can be solved by existing software. It examines various types of numerical problems and develops techniques for solving them. A number of engineering case studies are used to illustrate in detail the formulation process. The case studies motivate the development of efficient algorithms that involve, in some cases, transformation of the problem from its initial formulation into a more tractable form. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

An excellent Book on Optimization
This book covers a complete set of important aspects in applied optimization. It can be of great value to beginners as well seasoned optimization practitioners. I find the formulation of the problems comprehensive and very useful. The mathematical notation is clear and easy to follow and the presentation is excellent including the figures which assist the reader in gaining further insights of the algorithms and the presented problems. It covers simple optimization problems for illustration purposes to explain fundamental concepts as well as useful "real world" enginnering problems for readers who are interested in actual problems.

In a nutshell, I strongly recommend this book to everyone who is interesting in the magic of optimization.

Solid book on optimization but wordy
Applied Optimization, first edition, Cambridge University Press, 2006

This review is based on my fondness for the practical side things.

I feel that the title is somewhat misleading. When I read the words "Applied Optimization" I expected there to be several worked out examples of "real" problems, perhaps with many figures and illustrations explaining them.
However, the author mainly works with a few select quadratic problems. These problems are carried over from the first chapters to the last ones, and in doing so they are solved by all the methods explained in the book. This is actually one of the strong points of the book, since the selection of quadratic problems on two variables makes it possible to graph the contour sets and graphically look at the solution. However, I don't consider this to be "applied" enough; it is basically studying the same problem, or small variations of it, from different angles.

It does include "real" problems, like least-cost production, and optimal power flow, but I find the description of these poor. It's impossible to understand these problems without knowing the theory beforehand. Therefore, the author should avoid explaining the problems and focus only on the optimization aspects.

In an attempt to be explicative, the book is too wordy for my taste; sometimes a lot is being said without any real progress being made. For instance, the author clarifies that "Q" in power systems is not the same "Q" as in "LQ" or "QR" factorizations. The Kirchhoff laws of electric circuits are explained *with words*, instead of the more natural approach of using circuit diagrams and a few equations, like any book on circuit analysis would do. The explaining and proving of theorems is also a waste of space for a book under the "applied" banner.

The first three parts seem like a lot of introductory material (definitions, theorems, linear equations, Newton-Raphson, basic minimization), while the more interesting material (constrained minimization, Lagrange multipliers, interior-point algorithms, real problems) is in the last two parts.

The book is nearly 750 pages long, but it also includes appendices (mathematical background, definitions, proofs) that can be downloaded from the editor's website. In contrast, some books on optimization are 600 pages or less long, appendices included.

The bibliography section at the end of the book is pretty complete. The author constantly cites his references and you can take a look at the books mentioned there if this one does not satisfy you.

As for the layout, it is a beautiful book typeset in LaTeX. It has consistent mathematical notation and crisp clean figures made in Matlab. The only weird thing to note is that for some reason the sectional headings are centered instead of aligned to the left.

In summary:
In order for the book to be an introductory text (1) it should be less verbose, (2) it should be more concise, and (3) it should present more worked out examples.
In order for the book to be an advanced text (1) it should be less verbose, and (2) it should cover more material in the same number of pages.

"Optimization" and "Art of Optimization"
The book covers the most important topics in applied optimization. The main focus of this book is how to formulate and transform optimization problems so that they can be solved by well-developed software. This aim has been achieved magnificently and skillfully.

The most important problem in applied optimization, I believe, is problem formulation, that is to translate the intuitive ideas into rigorous mathematics. The book has done an excellent job in explaining the process of formulating an optimization problem. It provides step-by-step descriptions that are very helpful and useful. A lot of good examples and exercises are illustrated, which can be used as templates to formulate many real engineering problems with minor revisions.

The second major issue in applied optimization is to reformulate an original optimization problem to its standard form, so that it can be directly solved by known software. This part is tough because it involves a lot of mathematics. But the author succeeds to solve it in a magic way. Many abstract and complicated definitions and algorithms are visualized by beautiful and meaningful figures. The author also tries to avoid the unnecessary mathematics.Many theorems and proofs are deliberately rewritten to ease the understanding of this part.

Applied optimization has two sides: science and art. Most of the books in this field focus on the science side, but not so satisfactory in the art side. The book has done a very good job in balancing both sides. You can expect to obtain both "optimization" and "the art of optimization" from this book.

(Written by Chengtao Wen)

Helps you understand...
I came across this book recently when I was researching pricing mechanisms in deregulated electricity markets.Most of the books on optimization and numerical methods that I have studied focused on constructing algorithms for arbitrarily defined problems. Most of the time, the logic and the rationale are buried beneath the intimidating mathematical equations. This is one of such books where the authors do not shy from using elementary examples and simple English language to clarify fundamental concepts. Nowhere did I come across such easy-to-follow explanations supported by case-studies and examples as it was done in this book.


It would not take a genius to realize that in the real world constrained by time and computational power the perfect method is most often beyond the reach. Our world revolves around the so called "second best solutions". The "art" in optimization are formulation and approximation. For those of you, who intend to formulate, construct and solve optimization problems presented by the world around you (not just understand the theory), this book is a great asset. I know I benefited from it greatly.
... Read more

Product Description
Environmental stresses represent the most limiting factors foragricultural productivity worldwide. These stresses impact not onlycurrent crop species, they are also significant barriers to theintroduction of crop plants into areas that are not currently beingused for agriculture. Stresses associated with temperature, salinityand drought, singly or in combination, are likely to enhance theseverity of problems to which plants will be exposed in the comingdecades. The present book brings together contributions from many laboratoriesaround the world to discuss and compare our current knowledge of therole stress genes play in plant stress tolerance. In addition,strategies are discussed to introduce these genes and the processesthat they encode into economically important crops, and the effectthis will have on plant productivity. ... Read more

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As with other areas of human industry, it has been assumed that technological progress would improve all aspects of agriculture. Technology would increase both efficiency and yield, or so we thought. The directions taken by technology may have worked for a while, but the same technologies that give us an advantage also create disadvantages. It's now a common story in rural America: pesticides, fertilizers, "big iron" combines, and other costly advancements may increase speed but also reduce efficiency, while farmers endure debt, dangerous working conditions, and long hours to pay for the technology. Land, livelihood, and lives are lost in an effort to keep up and break even. There is more to this story that affects both the food we eat and our provisions for the future. Too many Americans eat the food on their plates with little thought to its origin and in blind faith that government regulations will protect them from danger. While many Americans might have grown up in farming families, there are fewer family-owned farms with each passing generation. Americans are becoming disconnected from understanding the sources and content of their food. The farmers interviewed in From the Farm to the Table can help reestablish that connection. Gary Holthaus illuminates the state of American agriculture today, particularly the impact of globalization, through the stories of farmers who balance traditional practices with innovative methods to meet market demands. Holthaus demonstrates how the vitality of America's communities is bound to the successes and failures of its farmers. In From the Farm to the Table, farmers explain how their lives and communities have changed as they work to create healthy soil, healthy animals, and healthy food in a context of often inappropriate federal policy, growing competition from abroad, public misconceptions regarding government subsidies, the dangers of environmental damage and genetically modified crops, and the myths of modern economics. Rather than predicting doom and despair for small American growers, Holthaus shows their hope and the practical solutions they utilize. As these farmers tell their stories, "organic" and "sustainable" farming become real and meaningful. As they share their work and their lives, they reveal how those concepts affect the food we eat and the land on which it's grown, and how vital farming is to the American economy.

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 From the author of the best-selling Contemporary Engineering Economics book, Fundamentals of Engineering Economics offers concise, but in-depth coverage of all fundamental topics of Engineering Economics. A four-part organization outlines an understanding of money and its management, how to evaluate business and engineering assets, .the development of project cash flows, and special topics in engineering economics. For individuals interested in the field of industrial, civil, mechanical and electrical engineering ... Read more

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Brief Summary
This Study Guide gives examples of quantitative concerns applicable in various aspects of your financial life. You would need to acquire the accompanying text book. Overall, the questions are very timely and applicable. ... Read more