.. The Manga Guide to Statistics will teach you everything you need
to know about this essential discipline, while entertaining you at the
same time. With its unique combination of Japanese-style comics called
manga and serious educational content, the EduManga format is already
a hit in Japan.
In The Manga Guide to Statistics, our heroine Rui is determined to
learn about statistics to impress the dreamy Mr. Igarashi and begs her
father for a tutor. Soon she's spending her Saturdays with geeky,
bespectacled Mr. Yamamoto, who patiently teaches her all about the
fundamentals of statistics: topics like data categorization, averages,
graphing, and standard deviation.
After all her studying, Rui is confident in her knowledge of
statistics, including complex concepts like probability, coefficients
of correlation, hypothesis tests, and tests of independence. But is it
enough to impress her dream guy? Or maybe there's someone better,
right in front of her? ..."
I'm buying this as soon as possible. Go here for more. Hat tip to Kuldeep.
Showing posts with label Books. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Books. Show all posts
Thursday, August 21, 2008
Wednesday, February 06, 2008
On hungering for books
We live in a world where "busy" is arguably the most commonly used word. We spend hours at work. We spend hours in meetings and on email. We spend hours watching TV, or reading blogs or just surfing the net. We spend hours in bars, busy in meaningless conversation with people we will likely never meet again. We barely have time to acknowledge the existence of a world around us, let alone live in it.
There is another world where people desperately struggle for an education, for access to books. In that world, education is more important than food. Here, in the words of someone far more eloquent than I, is an introduction to that world.
Doris Lessing's Nobel lecture.
There is another world where people desperately struggle for an education, for access to books. In that world, education is more important than food. Here, in the words of someone far more eloquent than I, is an introduction to that world.
Doris Lessing's Nobel lecture.
Friday, July 13, 2007
Escape to the Eiger
Hinterstoisser Traverse. Swallow's Nest. Death Bivouac. Traverse of the Gods. Higher, past these hazards, the White Spider awaits the next climber. This is one of the most feared faces in the world, the North Face of the Eiger. Considered unclimbable for a century, it holds a very special place in climbing lore.
I saw it for the first time exactly a year ago. Directly below the North Wall stand the four or five buildings that make up the village of Kleine Scheidegg. One of these buildings is the Restaurant Eigernordwand (literally, Eiger North Wall), while another is the grand old Scheidegg Hotel. Once upon a time, a telescope sitting on the patio of the restaurant was the only relatively reliable way to keep track of climbers on the Face. Sitting on that patio, reading White Spider and seeing that Face looming over me every time I looked up, is one of the most unforgettable experiences I've ever had. A great memory and to me, one that would not have been possible without "being there" reading.
If you're a "being there" reader, please leave a comment and share your stories.
More reading: Guardian's Great Escapes, Part 1, Guardian's Great Escapes, Part 2.
Related posts: White Spider.
I saw it for the first time exactly a year ago. Directly below the North Wall stand the four or five buildings that make up the village of Kleine Scheidegg. One of these buildings is the Restaurant Eigernordwand (literally, Eiger North Wall), while another is the grand old Scheidegg Hotel. Once upon a time, a telescope sitting on the patio of the restaurant was the only relatively reliable way to keep track of climbers on the Face. Sitting on that patio, reading White Spider and seeing that Face looming over me every time I looked up, is one of the most unforgettable experiences I've ever had. A great memory and to me, one that would not have been possible without "being there" reading.
If you're a "being there" reader, please leave a comment and share your stories.
More reading: Guardian's Great Escapes, Part 1, Guardian's Great Escapes, Part 2.
Related posts: White Spider.
Thursday, December 28, 2006
A very cool holiday season...
It's been a pretty cool holiday season so far. It all started a few days before Christmas, when I lost my cell phone. Luckily, it turned out that it had fallen out of my pocket in the cab. The cabbie drove back to my office and returned the phone to me, and refused to charge me for the extra trip. A nice feel good holiday season gesture.
Then I tried to make last minute plans for Xmas week. After a small amount of searching, we found a fantastic dog-friendly B&B in Napa. Not only did we get welcomed with cookies, mulled wine, dog biscuits and open arms, we had a very relaxing few days there. They went out of their way to accommodate requests, Mocha had an enclosed yard to play in, they made restaurant recommendations and reservations for us (dog-friendly places all, I may add) and in general let us relax. On the day after Christmas, full of good wine, good food and good cheer we sadly left Beazley House. But not before making plans to go back there soon :)
And to top it all off, I have just discovered Librarything. Just what my Monica gene has been craving, ever since I started trying to catalog my books last summer. This weekend, I will be happily cataloging my books and buying a life membership. Many thanks to Sashi D for leading me to Librarything.
Cheers all, and wish you a wonderful 2007!
Then I tried to make last minute plans for Xmas week. After a small amount of searching, we found a fantastic dog-friendly B&B in Napa. Not only did we get welcomed with cookies, mulled wine, dog biscuits and open arms, we had a very relaxing few days there. They went out of their way to accommodate requests, Mocha had an enclosed yard to play in, they made restaurant recommendations and reservations for us (dog-friendly places all, I may add) and in general let us relax. On the day after Christmas, full of good wine, good food and good cheer we sadly left Beazley House. But not before making plans to go back there soon :)
And to top it all off, I have just discovered Librarything. Just what my Monica gene has been craving, ever since I started trying to catalog my books last summer. This weekend, I will be happily cataloging my books and buying a life membership. Many thanks to Sashi D for leading me to Librarything.
Cheers all, and wish you a wonderful 2007!
Friday, July 07, 2006
Review du jour: The Great Railway Bazaar
Here's that review, finally.
First of all, I *loved* the book. The Great Railway Bazaar has certainly earned its place in the "Best Travel Books of all Time" lists. Like all good travel writing, it is much more than a description of places, people and culture. There's a great deal of philosophy, bits of fantasy and most importantly, a great deal of humor. For instance, here's a description of the Pakhtoonistan issue which rocked Pakistan and Afghanistan in the 70s:
"...was a few villages of armed Pathan tribesmen, supported by Russia and Afghanistan, who were threatening to secede from Pakistan, declare a new state, and deriving their income from dried fruit, become a sovereign power; the liberated warriors would then compete in the world market of raisins and prunes".
Pithy, to the point, and (to me, anyway) hysterically funny. Most of this sort of humor dies down in the last quarter of the book. At that point, Theroux had been in a succession of trains for three months on end. By the time he gets to northern Japan and the Trans-Siberian railway, the writing has touches of the fantastic about it, and detached descriptions bordering on hallucination abound. For instance, there's the Russian railway conductor who pummels a local within an inch of his life and kicks the poor man out of the car, and returns with Theroux's soup, bowing obsequiously. Anyone other than an emotionally exhausted man would have remonstrated with the conductor, but the author quietly drinks his soup and walks back to his car and to bed.
I won't give away the best parts of the book except to say that Theroux skilfully conveys the flavors of each place he passes through. I read with avid interest his description of traveling through India and could not help laughing out loud at the caricatures he draws of various Indian characters. While there's certainly a bit of exaggeration in places, and he goes hopelessly wrong on a few cultural nuances, none of it is serious enough to detract from the sheer unputdownability of the book. In short, highly recommended.
First of all, I *loved* the book. The Great Railway Bazaar has certainly earned its place in the "Best Travel Books of all Time" lists. Like all good travel writing, it is much more than a description of places, people and culture. There's a great deal of philosophy, bits of fantasy and most importantly, a great deal of humor. For instance, here's a description of the Pakhtoonistan issue which rocked Pakistan and Afghanistan in the 70s:
"...was a few villages of armed Pathan tribesmen, supported by Russia and Afghanistan, who were threatening to secede from Pakistan, declare a new state, and deriving their income from dried fruit, become a sovereign power; the liberated warriors would then compete in the world market of raisins and prunes".
Pithy, to the point, and (to me, anyway) hysterically funny. Most of this sort of humor dies down in the last quarter of the book. At that point, Theroux had been in a succession of trains for three months on end. By the time he gets to northern Japan and the Trans-Siberian railway, the writing has touches of the fantastic about it, and detached descriptions bordering on hallucination abound. For instance, there's the Russian railway conductor who pummels a local within an inch of his life and kicks the poor man out of the car, and returns with Theroux's soup, bowing obsequiously. Anyone other than an emotionally exhausted man would have remonstrated with the conductor, but the author quietly drinks his soup and walks back to his car and to bed.
I won't give away the best parts of the book except to say that Theroux skilfully conveys the flavors of each place he passes through. I read with avid interest his description of traveling through India and could not help laughing out loud at the caricatures he draws of various Indian characters. While there's certainly a bit of exaggeration in places, and he goes hopelessly wrong on a few cultural nuances, none of it is serious enough to detract from the sheer unputdownability of the book. In short, highly recommended.
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