Arts & Sciences

Newsletter
Spring 1995 Vol.16 No.2

Books by Faculty

Multigrid Methods, Pitman Research Notes in Mathematics Series (John Wiley and Sons, 1993), by James Bramble (mathematics) concerns the rates of convergence of multigrid iterations, among the most efficient methods for the solution of linear systems which arise in many large-scale scientific calculations.

A Witness Forever: Ancient Israel's Perception of Literature and the Resultant Hebrew Bible (Occasional Publications of the Department of Near Eastern Studies and the Program of Jewish Studies, Cornell University, Vol. 1, CDL Press, 1993), edited by Ross Brann and David I. Owen (Near Eastern studies) is the last work of the late Isaac Rabinowitz (Near Eastern studies) and a summary of his life's research.

Noncommutative Algebra (Springer-Verlag, 1993), by Keith Dennis (mathematics) and Benson Farb '89, is an introduction to the theory of non-commutative algebra and its relations to other areas of mathematics. It is based on lecture notes by Dennis for Math 532 and influenced by K. Brown, S. Chase, and S. Sen (all of mathematics).

The Essentials of Probability (Duxbury Press, 1993), by Richard Durrett (mathematics), is designed for a one-semester probability course for students who know calculus. The several hundred examples include standard and less common chestnuts: paternity testing using blood type information, resolving disputed elections, Joe DiMaggio's hitting streak, and how to play blackjack.

The Fifth Branch: Science Advisers as Policymakers (Harvard University Press, 1990, paperback 1994), by Sheila Jasanoff (science and technology studies) was "written in response to a crisis of confidence surrounding not only political but scientific authority." The Fifth Branch criticizes two commonly accepted paradigms for controlling the use of science by regulatory agencies-the "technocratic" approach and the "democratic" approach-and argues for a richer and more realistic role of expertise in public decisions.

Representing the Holocaust: History, Theory, Trauma (Cornell University Press, 1994), a series of essays by Dominick LaCapra (history), brings history and theory together to explore problems in grasping the Holocaust. Among other things, LaCapra shows how psychoanalysis, usually considered a psychology of the individual or the basis of therapy, is "an inherently historicized mode of thought . . . bound up with social, political, and ethical concerns."

Rights, Welfare, and Mill's Moral Theory (Oxford University Press, 1994), six essays by David Lyons (philosophy), take their starting points from the work of Jeremy Bentham, Herbert Hart, and John Stuart Mill. "Rights play a leading role in moral thinking but present puzzles to moral theory: What is it to have a right? Are rights compatible with steadfast service to the general welfare?"

Anioma: A Social History of the Western Igbo People (Ohio University Press, 1994) by Don C. Ohadike (Africana studies), illustrates "how certain decentralized (or small-scale) African societies like the Igbos functioned in the precolonial periods, how their settlements grew . . . how they admitted and integrated outsiders, . . . and how they made the transition from the traditional to the `modern' market economy."

The Golem: what everyone should know about science (Cambridge University Press, 1994), by Harry Collins and Trevor Pinch (science and technology studies) likens science to the gentle, helpful creature from Jewish mythology who may run amok at any moment. The authors examine a series of experiments about subjects ranging from relativity and cold fusion to memory in worms, to show that science is fallible and untidy, that its "certainties" do not come from experimental method, but from the way ambiguous results were interpreted.

The Pale Blue Dot: a Vision of the Human Future in Space (Random House, 1994) is Carl Sagan's (astronomy) sequel to Cosmos. Sagan shows how science has revolutionized our understanding of where we stand and who we are and urges us to use our knowledge well.

Political Parties and the State: the American Historical Experience (Princeton University Press, 1994), is a collection of articles by Martin Shefter (government). Exemplifying the approach called "new institutionalism," the essays address three questions: Under what conditions will strong party organizations emerge? What influences the character of parties? In what circumstances will the parties that formerly dominated politics in a nation or city come under attack? The final chapter examines party organizations as instruments of political control in New York City.

A Guide to Distribution Theory and Fourier Transforms (CRC Press, 1994) by Robert Strichartz (mathematics), notes that distribution theory was one of the two great revolutions in mathematical analysis in the 20th century. It can be thought of as the completion of differential calculus. The guide's purpose is to make the techniques and ideas of the theory accessible to a wide range of users of mathematics.

Algorithms in Invariant Theory (Springer Verlag, 1993), by Bernd Sturmfels (mathematics), is a textbook and a research monograph. The Groebner bases method is the main tool by which the central problems in invariant theory become amenable to algorithmic solutions.

Power in Movement: Social Movements, Collective Action and Politics (Cambridge University Press, 1994), by Sidney Tarrow (government), addresses three major puzzles: Under what conditions do ordinary people, who mainly accept their fates, rise up? Is there a common dynamic in the careers of social movements which links their enthusiastic births to peaks of contention to their disillusioned ends? Do movements have an impact beyond the short-lived mobilizations that fill the evening news?

Books by Alumnae/i

Dennis Altman, M.A. '66, associate professor of politics at La Trobe University, Melbourne, writes on social and political change, gay politics, and AIDS. Power and Community: Organizational and Cultural Responses to AIDS (Taylor and Francis, 1994), one of the series Social Aspects of AIDS, illustrates what led affected individuals and communities worldwide to organize, challenge, and redefine the initial government responses to AIDS.

Richard Anthony D'Aveni '75, associate professor of strategy at Amos Tuck School of Business, Dartmouth College, develops a new paradigm for managing in Hypercompetition: Managing the Dynamics of Strategic Maneuvering (The Free Press, 1994).

Arnold O. Benz, Ph.D. '72, is professor at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) in Zurich. Plasma Astrophysics, Kinetic Processes in Solar and Stellar Coronae (Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1993) introduces plasma physics to undergraduates and first-year graduate students in astronomy.

David L. Ellison '57, associate professor of medical sociology at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, has published Healing Tuberculosis in the Woods: Medicine and Science at the End of the Nineteenth Century (Greenwood Publishing Group, Inc. 1994, Number 41 in Contributions in Medical Studies). Using the career of Edward Livingston Trudeau (1848-1915), a leader in the American crusade against tuberculosis, Ellison examines the development of medical science.

Adam C. Engst '89 is TidBITS Editor-ace@tidbits.com-info@tidbits.com. Internet Starter Kit for Macintosh (Hayden, second edition, 1994), Internet Starter Kit for Windows (with Corwin Low and Michael Simon, Hayden, 1994), and Internet Explorer Kit for Macintosh (with William Dickson, Hayden, 1994) are intended to help novices get started with and love the Internet.

Heather Fowler-Salamini '62, professor of history at Bradley University, and Mary Kay Vaughan '64, associate professor of Latin American studies at the University of Illinois, Chicago, have edited Women of the Mexican Countryside, 1850-1990: Creating Spaces, Shaping Transitions (University of Arizona Press, 1994).

M. Robert Gardner '45 is a practicing psychoanalyst and member of the faculties of the Psychoanalytic Institute of New England and Harvard University. Trying to Teach (The Analytic Press, 1994) examines dilemmas of teaching, play between student and teacher, and individual students' developmental imperatives.

Roy Gardner, Ph.D. '75, is professor of economics and university honors at Indiana University. Games for Business and Economics (John D. Wiley, 1995) applies game theory to everyday decisions in business and to broad issues in economics.

Sidney Goldstein '52, M.D. '56, is professor of medicine and head of the Division of Cardiovascular Medicine at Case Western Reserve University. Sudden Death and Cardiovascular Disease (with A. Bayes de Luna and J. Guindo-Soldevila, Futura Publishing Company, 1994), discusses the mechanisms and approaches to prevention of sudden cardiac death.

Robert M. Kellman '73 is associate professor of otolaryngology and pediatrics and director of maxillofacial surgery at SUNY Health Science Center at Syracuse. Atlas of Craniomaxillofacial Fixation (with L. J. Marentette, Raven Press, 1994) is a guide for surgeons.

M. William Krasilovsky '47 is a lawyer in New York City. More About This Business of Music (fifth edition, Billboard Books, 1994) supplements This Business of Music (which Krasilovsky coauthored). The two books encompass the economics and law of the business of all kinds of music.

Marvin Moser '45 is a physician in White Plains, New York, and a clinical professor of medicine at Yale University School of Medicine. Week by Week to a Strong Heart has been reprinted in paperback by Avon Books, and Lower Your Blood Pressure and Live Longer is also now available in paperback (Berkeley Books).

Janice Moulton '63 and George M. Robinson '66 portray living in contemporary China in Scaling the Dragon (Cross Cultural Publications). They study the Chinese art of indirectness and cultivate a network of "connections." They learn how Chinese bear responsibility not only for their own actions but for those of family, friends, and colleagues and how interfering in the personal lives of others is expected.

Milton Osborne, Ph.D. '68, was head of the Asia Branch of the Australian government's Office of National Assessments until mid-1993 and is now a freelance writer and consultant on Asian issues. Sihanouk: Prince of Light, Prince of Darkness (University of Hawaii Press, 1994) is the first full-length biography of Cambodia's longtime ruler.

Adam Potkay '82 is assistant professor of English at the College of William and Mary. The Fate of Eloquence in the Age of Hume (Cornell University Press, 1994), one of the series Rhetoric and Society, edited by W. A. Rebhorn, takes Hume's philosophy as key to the literature of the mid-eighteenth century. It explains the sense of urgency that the concept of eloquence evoked among British readers who perceived their own political community in danger of disintegration and recalled Demosthenes' exhorting Athenian citizens to oppose tyranny.

Steven E. Rhoads, M.P.A. '65, Ph.D. '72, is a member of the Woodrow Wilson Department of Government and Foreign Affairs at the University of Virginia. Incomparable Worth (Cambridge University Press, 1993) argues that jobs are truly incomparable and cannot be evaluated or assigned wages objectively and that the principles of comparable worth are not reconcilable with those of a market economy.

Miron Stano, Ph.D. '71, professor of economics and management at Oakland University, wrote The Economics of Health and Health Care (with S. Folland and A. Goodman, Macmillan, 1993).

Martin H. Steinberg '58 is professor of medicine and associate chief of staff for research at the University of Mississippi Medical Center. Sickle Cell Disease (edited by Steinberg, S. Embury, R. Hebbel, and N. Mohandas, Raven Press, 1994) is the first comprehensive book on the disease.