The Chess Mysteries of Sherlock Holmes : Fifty Tantalizing Problems of Chess Detection by Raymond M. Smullyan - Paperback

Join the master sleuth as he and Dr. Watson examine interrupted chess matches at clubs and country homes, examining the pieces' current positions to identify previous moves. Rather than predicting the outcome of these games, the Baker Street duo focus on past events, using the same variety of logical reasoning that unlocks the secrets to their ever-popular mysteries. Holmes instructs Watson (and us) in the intricacies of retrograde analysis in order to deduce on which square the white queen was captured, whether a pawn has been promoted, and which piece has been replaced by a coin. The mysteries grow increasingly complex, culminating in a double murder perpetrated by the devious Professor Moriarty.

Philosopher and logician Raymond Smullyan brilliantly recaptures the mood of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's tales. Readers need only a knowledge of how the pieces move; the first puzzles explain all of the concepts that arise later on. These witty and challenging problems will captivate chess aficionados, puzzle enthusiasts, Sherlock Holmes fans, and everyone who relishes mysteries, crime stories, and tales of detection.

Daisy Miller is a fascinating portrait of a young woman from Schenectady, New York, who, traveling in Europe, runs afoul of the socially pretentious American expatriate community in Rome. First published in 1878, the novella brought American novelist Henry James (1843–1916), then living in London, his first international success. Like many of James' early works, it portrays a venturesome American girl in the treacherous waters of European society — a theme that would culminate in his 1881 masterpiece, The Portrait of a Lady.

On the surface, Daisy Miller unfolds a simple story of a young American girl's willful yet innocent flirtation with a young Italian, and its unfortunate consequences. But throughout the narrative, James contrasts American customs and values with European manners and morals in a tale rich in psychological and social insight. A vivid portrayal of Americans abroad and a telling encounter between the values of the Old and New World, Daisy Miller is an ideal introduction to the work of one of America's greatest writers of fiction.

My Ántonia evokes the Nebraska prairie life of Willa Cather's childhood, and commemorates the spirit and courage of immigrant pioneers in America. One of Cather's earliest novels, written in 1918, it is the story of Ántonia Shimerda, who arrives on the Nebraska frontier as part of a family of Bohemian emigrants. Her story is told through the eyes of Jim Burden, a neighbor who will befriend Ántonia, teach her English, and follow the remarkable story of her life.

Working in the fields of waving grass and tall corn that dot the Great Plains, Ántonia forges the durable spirit that will carry her through the challenges she faces when she moves to the city. But only when she returns to the prairie does she recover her strength and regain a sense of purpose in life. In the quiet, probing depth of Willa Cather's art, Ántonia's story becomes a mobbing elegy to those whose persistence and strength helped build the American frontier.

This superb text by David Bohm, formerly Princeton University and Emeritus Professor of Theoretical Physics at Birkbeck College, University of London, provides a formulation of the quantum theory in terms of qualitative and imaginative concepts that have evolved outside and beyond classical theory. Although it presents the main ideas of quantum theory essentially in nonmathematical terms, it follows these with a broad range of specific applications that are worked out in considerable mathematical detail.

Addressed primarily to advanced undergraduate students, the text begins with a study of the physical formulation of the quantum theory, from its origin and early development through an analysis of wave vs. particle properties of matter. In Part II, Professor Bohm addresses the mathematical formulation of the quantum theory, examining wave functions, operators, Schrödinger's equation, fluctuations, correlations, and eigenfunctions.

Part III takes up applications to simple systems and further extensions of quantum theory formulation, including matrix formulation and spin and angular momentum. Parts IV and V explore the methods of approximate solution of Schrödinger's equation and the theory of scattering. In Part VI, the process of measurement is examined along with the relationship between quantum and classical concepts.

Throughout the text, Professor Bohm places strong emphasis on showing how the quantum theory can be developed in a natural way, starting from the previously existing classical theory and going step by step through the experimental facts and theoretical lines of reasoning which led to replacement of the classical theory by the quantum theory.