Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game

Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game
Author: Michael Lewis
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
Total Pages: 337
Release: 2004-03-17
Genre: Sports & Recreation
ISBN: 0393066231
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Michael Lewis’s instant classic may be “the most influential book on sports ever written” (People), but “you need know absolutely nothing about baseball to appreciate the wit, snap, economy and incisiveness of [Lewis’s] thoughts about it” (Janet Maslin, New York Times). One of GQ's 50 Best Books of Literary Journalism of the 21st Century Just before the 2002 season opens, the Oakland Athletics must relinquish its three most prominent (and expensive) players and is written off by just about everyone—but then comes roaring back to challenge the American League record for consecutive wins. How did one of the poorest teams in baseball win so many games? In a quest to discover the answer, Michael Lewis delivers not only “the single most influential baseball book ever” (Rob Neyer, Slate) but also what “may be the best book ever written on business” (Weekly Standard). Lewis first looks to all the logical places—the front offices of major league teams, the coaches, the minds of brilliant players—but discovers the real jackpot is a cache of numbers?numbers!?collected over the years by a strange brotherhood of amateur baseball enthusiasts: software engineers, statisticians, Wall Street analysts, lawyers, and physics professors. What these numbers prove is that the traditional yardsticks of success for players and teams are fatally flawed. Even the box score misleads us by ignoring the crucial importance of the humble base-on-balls. This information had been around for years, and nobody inside Major League Baseball paid it any mind. And then came Billy Beane, general manager of the Oakland Athletics. He paid attention to those numbers?with the second-lowest payroll in baseball at his disposal he had to?to conduct an astonishing experiment in finding and fielding a team that nobody else wanted. In a narrative full of fabulous characters and brilliant excursions into the unexpected, Michael Lewis shows us how and why the new baseball knowledge works. He also sets up a sly and hilarious morality tale: Big Money, like Goliath, is always supposed to win . . . how can we not cheer for David?

What AI Can Do

What AI Can Do
Author: Manuel Cebral-Loureda
Publisher: CRC Press
Total Pages: 459
Release: 2023-08-01
Genre: Computers
ISBN: 1000908992
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The philosopher Spinoza once asserted that no one knows what a body can do, conceiving an intrinsic bodily power with unknown limits. Similarly, we can ask ourselves about Artificial Intelligence (AI): To what extent is the development of intelligence limited by its technical and material substrate? In other words, what can AI do? The answer is analogous to Spinoza’s: Nobody knows the limit of AI. Critically considering this issue from philosophical, interdisciplinary, and engineering perspectives, respectively, this book assesses the scope and pertinence of AI technology and explores how it could bring about both a better and more unpredictable future. What AI Can Do highlights, at both the theoretical and practical levels, the cross-cutting relevance that AI is having on society, appealing to students of engineering, computer science, and philosophy, as well as all who hold a practical interest in the technology.

The Art of Cooking, Pie Making, Pastry Making, and Preserving

The Art of Cooking, Pie Making, Pastry Making, and Preserving
Author: Francisco Martínez Montiño
Publisher: University of Toronto Press
Total Pages: 678
Release: 2023-12-18
Genre: Cooking
ISBN: 1487549385
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In 1611 Francisco Martínez Montiño, chef to Philip II, Philip III, and Philip IV of Spain, published what would become the most recognized Spanish cookbook for centuries: Arte de cocina, pastelería, vizcochería y conservería. This first English translation of The Art of Cooking, Pie Making, Pastry Making, and Preserving will delight and surprise readers with the rich array of ingredients and techniques found in the early modern kitchen. Based on her substantial research and hands-on experimentation, Carolyn A. Nadeau reveals how early cookbooks were organized and read and presents an in-depth analysis of the ingredients featured in the book. She also introduces Martínez Montiño and his contributions to culinary history, and provides an assessment of taste at court and an explanation of regional, ethnic, and international foodstuffs and recipes. The 506 recipes and treatises reproduced in The Art of Cooking, Pie Making, Pastry Making, and Preserving outline everything from rules for kitchen cleanliness to abstinence foods to seasonal banquet menus, providing insight into why this cookbook, penned by the chef of kings, stayed in production for centuries.

AP Spanish Language and Culture All Access w/Audio

AP Spanish Language and Culture All Access w/Audio
Author: Veronica Garcia
Publisher: Research & Education Assoc.
Total Pages: 316
Release: 2014-02-21
Genre: Study Aids
ISBN: 0738685534
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All Access for the AP* Spanish Language Exam - Completely Revised for the New 2014 Exam! Book + Web + Mobile Everything you need to prepare for the Advanced Placement* exam, in a study system built around you! There are many different ways to prepare for an Advanced Placement* exam. What's best for you depends on how much time you have to study and how comfortable you are with the subject matter. To score your highest, you need a system that can be customized to fit you: your schedule, your learning style, and your current level of knowledge. This book, and the free online tools that come with it, will help you personalize your AP* Spanish Language prep by testing your understanding, pinpointing your weaknesses, and delivering flashcard study materials unique to you. REA's All Access system allows you to create a personalized study plan through three simple steps: targeted review of exam content, assessment of your knowledge, and focused study in the topics where you need the most help. Here's how it works: Review the Book: Study the topics tested on the AP* Spanish Language exam and learn proven strategies that will help you tackle any question you may see on test day. Test Yourself and Get Feedback: As you review the book, test yourself with three topic level quizzes. Score reports from your free online quizzes give you a fast way to pinpoint what you really know and what you should spend more time studying. Improve Your Score: Armed with your score reports, you can personalize your study plan. Review the parts of the book where you are weakest, and use the REA Study Center to create your own unique e-flashcards, adding to the 100 free cards included with the book. Visit The REA Study Center for a suite of online tools: The best way to personalize your study plan and truly focus on your weaknesses is to get frequent feedback on what you know and what you don't. At the online REA Study Center, you can access three types of assessment: our online audio component, quizzes, and two full-length practice tests. Each of these tools provides true-to-format questions and delivers a detailed score report that follows the topics set by the College Board. Audio Component: Our audio component provides excellent preparation for the exam's listening comprehension section. Topic Level Quizzes: Short, 15-minute quizzes are available throughout the review and test your immediate understanding of the topics just covered. Full-Length Practice Tests: After you've finished reviewing the book, take our two full-length practice exams to test yourself under exam-day conditions. Available both in the book and online, these tests give you the most complete picture of your strengths and weaknesses. We strongly recommend that you take the online version of the exams for the added benefits of timed testing, automatic scoring, and a detailed score report. Improving Your Score with e-Flashcards: With your score reports from the tests, you'll be able to see exactly which AP* Spanish Language topics you need to review. Use this information to create your own flashcards for the areas where you are weak. And, because you will create these flashcards through the REA Study Center, you'll be able to access them from any computer or smartphone. REA's All Access test prep is a must-have for students taking the AP* Spanish Language exam!

"Visual Propaganda, Exhibitions, and the Spanish Civil War "

Author: MiriamM. Basilio
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 341
Release: 2017-07-05
Genre: Art
ISBN: 1351537431
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Visual Propaganda, Exhibitions, and the Spanish Civil War is a history of art during wartime that analyzes images in various media that circulated widely and were encountered daily by Spaniards on city walls, in print, and in exhibitions. Tangible elements of the nation?s past?monuments, cultural property, and art-historical icons?were displayed in temporary exhibitions and museums, as well as reproduced on posters and in print media, to rally the population, define national identity, and reinvent distant and recent history. Artists, political-party propagandists, and government administrators believed that images on the street, in print, and in exhibitions would create a community of viewers, brought together during the staging of public exhibitions to understand their own roles as Spaniards. This book draws on extensive archival research, brings to light unpublished documents, and examines visual propaganda, exhibitions, and texts unavailable in English. It engages with questions of national self-definition and historical memory at their intersections with the fine arts, visual culture, exhibition history, tourism, and propaganda during the Spanish Civil War and immediate post-war period, as well as contemporary responses to the contested legacy of the Spanish Civil War. It will be of interest to scholars in art history, visual and cultural history, history, and museum studies.

Autobiography as Burla in the Guzmán de Alfarache

Autobiography as Burla in the Guzmán de Alfarache
Author: Nina Cox Davis
Publisher: Bucknell University Press
Total Pages: 172
Release: 1991
Genre: Humor
ISBN: 9780838752210
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This study analyzes the discursive and narratological articulations of subjectivity in Guzman de Alfarache -- the first picaresque novel of Spain's Golden Age. Davis's study demonstrates that while the Guzman appears to affirm the relationships of power and ideologies it represents, its composition underscores the contextual and mutable nature of discourses that structure society.