The Rings of Saturn, W.G. Sebald's most recent novel, has been an international sensation. Its ten strange and beautiful chapters, with their curious archive of photographs, consider dreams and reality. A fictional account of a walking tour through England's East Anglia, Sebald's home for more than twenty years, The Rings of Saturn explores Britain's pastoral and imperial past. On his pilgrimage a company of ghosts, like conductors between the past and present, keep him company: Thomas Browne, Swinburne, Chateaubriand, Borges. Sebald tells of far-off China and the introduction of the silk industry to Norwich. He visits the godforsaken harbor where Conrad first set foot on English soil, and the site of the once-great city of Dunwich, now sunk in the sea, where schools of herring swim. The author hears of the furious coastal battles of two world wars and meets lonely eccentrics inhabiting tumble-down mansions. And as Sebald catalogs the transmigration of whole worlds, the mesmerized reader is led along, viewing with him survival and memories, change and oblivion.

Model theory deals with a branch of mathematical logic showing connections between a formal language and its interpretations or models. This is the first and most successful textbook in logical model theory. Extensively updated and corrected in 1990 to accommodate developments in model theoretic methods — including classification theory and nonstandard analysis — the third edition added entirely new sections, exercises, and references.
Each chapter introduces an individual method and discusses specific applications. Basic methods of constructing models include constants, elementary chains, Skolem functions, indiscernibles, ultraproducts, and special models. The final chapters present more advanced topics that feature a combination of several methods. This classic treatment covers most aspects of first-order model theory and many of its applications to algebra and set theory.

This book is a modern introduction to model theory which stresses applications to algebra throughout the text. The first half of the book includes classical material on model construction techniques, type spaces, prime models, saturated models, countable models, and indiscernibles and their applications. The author also includes an introduction to stability theory beginning with Morley's Categoricity Theorem and concentrating on omega-stable theories. One significant aspect of this text is the inclusion of chapters on important topics not covered in other introductory texts, such as omega-stable groups and the geometry of strongly minimal sets. The author then goes on to illustrate how these ingredients are used in Hrushovski's applications to diophantine geometry. David Marker is Professor of Mathematics at the University of Illinois at Chicago. His main area of research involves mathematical logic and model theory, and their applications to algebra and geometry. This book was developed from a series of lectures given by the author at the Mathematical Sciences Research Institute in 1998.

An Introduction to Proof Theory provides an accessible introduction to the theory of proofs, with details of proofs worked out and examples and exercises to aid the reader's understanding. It also serves as a companion to reading the original pathbreaking articles by Gerhard Gentzen. The first half covers topics in structural proof theory, including the Gödel-Gentzen translation of classical into intuitionistic logic (and arithmetic), natural deduction and the normalization theorems (for both NJ and NK), the sequent calculus, including cut-elimination and mid-sequent theorems, and various applications of these results. The second half examines ordinal proof theory, specifically Gentzen's consistency proof for first-order Peano Arithmetic. The theory of ordinal notations and other elements of ordinal theory are developed from scratch, and no knowledge of set theory is presumed. The proof methods needed to establish proof-theoretic results, especially proof by induction, are introduced in stages throughout the text. Mancosu, Galvan, and Zach's introduction will provide a solid foundation for those looking to understand this central area of mathematical logic and the philosophy of mathematics.

Focusing on Gentzen-type proof theory, this volume presents a detailed overview of creative works by author Gaisi Takeuti and other twentieth-century logicians. The text explores applications of proof theory to logic as well as other areas of mathematics. Suitable for advanced undergraduates and graduate students of mathematics, this long-out-of-print monograph forms a cornerstone for any library in mathematical logic and related topics.
The three-part treatment begins with an exploration of first order systems, including a treatment of predicate calculus involving Gentzen's cut-elimination theorem and the theory of natural numbers in terms of Gödel's incompleteness theorem and Gentzen's consistency proof. The second part, which considers second order and finite order systems, covers simple type theory and infinitary logic. The final chapters address consistency problems with an examination of consistency proofs and their applications.

This introduction to the basic ideas of structural proof theory contains a thorough discussion and comparison of various types of formalization of first-order logic. Examples are given of several areas of application, namely: the metamathematics of pure first-order logic (intuitionistic as well as classical); the theory of logic programming; category theory; modal logic; linear logic; first-order arithmetic and second-order logic. In each case the aim is to illustrate the methods in relatively simple situations and then apply them elsewhere in much more complex settings. There are numerous exercises throughout the text. In general, the only prerequisite is a standard course in first-order logic, making the book ideal for graduate students and beginning researchers in mathematical logic, theoretical computer science and artificial intelligence. For the new edition, many sections have been rewritten to improve clarity, new sections have been added on cut elimination, and solutions to selected exercises have been included.

Thomas Pynchon brings us to New York in the early days of the internet
It is 2001 in New York City, in the lull between the collapse of the dot-com boom and the terrible events of September 11th. Silicon Alley is a ghost town, Web 1.0 is having adolescent angst, Google has yet to IPO, Microsoft is still considered the Evil Empire. There may not be quite as much money around as there was at the height of the tech bubble, but there’s no shortage of swindlers looking to grab a piece of what’s left.
Maxine Tarnow is running a nice little fraud investigation business on the Upper West Side, chasing down different kinds of small-scale con artists. She used to be legally certified but her license got pulled a while back, which has actually turned out to be a blessing because now she can follow her own code of ethics—carry a Beretta, do business with sleazebags, hack into people’s bank accounts—without having too much guilt about any of it. Otherwise, just your average working mom—two boys in elementary school, an off-and-on situation with her sort of semi-ex-husband Horst, life as normal as it ever gets in the neighborhood—till Maxine starts looking into the finances of a computer-security firm and its billionaire geek CEO, whereupon things begin rapidly to jam onto the subway and head downtown. She soon finds herself mixed up with a drug runner in an art deco motorboat, a professional nose obsessed with Hitler’s aftershave, a neoliberal enforcer with footwear issues, plus elements of the Russian mob and various bloggers, hackers, code monkeys, and entrepreneurs, some of whom begin to show up mysteriously dead. Foul play, of course.
With occasional excursions into the DeepWeb and out to Long Island, Thomas Pynchon, channeling his inner Jewish mother, brings us a historical romance of New York in the early days of the internet, not that distant in calendar time but galactically remote from where we’ve journeyed to since.
Will perpetrators be revealed, forget about brought to justice? Will Maxine have to take the handgun out of her purse? Will she and Horst get back together? Will Jerry Seinfeld make an unscheduled guest appearance? Will accounts secular and karmic be brought into balance?
Hey. Who wants to know?

With clarity, precision and economy, Paul Patton synthesizes the full range of Deleuze's work. He interweaves with great dexterity motifs that extend from his early works, such as Nietzsche and Philosophy, to the more recent What is Philosophy? and his key works such as Anti-Oedipus and Difference and Repetition. Throughout, Deleuze and the Political demonstrates Deleuze's relevance to theoretical and practical concerns in a number of disciplines including philosophy, political theory, sociology, history, and cultural studies. Paul Patton also presents an outstandingly clear treatment of fundamental concepts in Deleuze's work, such as difference, power, desire, multiplicities, nomadism and the war machine and sets out the importance of Deleuze to poststructuralist political thought. It will be essential reading for anyone studying Deleuze and students of philosophy, politics, sociology, literature and cultural studies.

Best-known for his seminal sf novel Neuromancer, William Gibson is actually best when writing short fiction. Tautly-written and suspenseful, "Burning Chrome" collects 10 of his best short stories with a preface from Bruce Sterling, now available for the first time in trade paperback. These brilliant, high-resolution stories show Gibson's characters and intensely-realized worlds at his absolute best, from the chip-enhanced couriers of "Johnny Mnemonic" to the street-tech melancholy of "Burning Chrome."

This work contains Steven Shapin's historical exploration into the origins of the modern scientific worldview. What historians have traditionally called the Scientific Revolution was, in Shapin's view, a diversity of practices and ideas that developed over the course of nearly two centuries. Rejecting the idea that there is anything like an "essence" of early modern science, the author shows that the Scientific Revolution in reality lacked the jarring abruptness and cataclysmic nature implied by its "revolutionary" name.

The four short works in Untimely Meditations were published by Nietzsche between 1873 and 1876.They deal with such broad topics as the relationship between popular and genuine culture, strategies for cultural reform, the task of philosophy, the nature of education, and the relationship between art, science and life. They also include Nietzsche's earliest statement of his own understanding of human selfhood as a process of endlessly 'becoming who one is'. As Daniel Breazeale shows in his introduction to this new edition of R. J. Hollingdale's translation of the essays, these four early texts are key documents for understanding the development of Nietzsche's thought and clearly anticipate many of the themes of his later writings. Nietzsche himself always cherished his Untimely Meditations and believed that they provide valuable evidence of his 'becoming and self-overcoming' and constitute a 'public pledge' concerning his own distinctive task as a philosopher.

Prince of Networks is the first treatment of Bruno Latour specifically as a philosopher. It has been eagerly awaited by readers of both Latour and Harman since their public discussion at the London School of Economics in February 2008. Part One covers four key works that display Latours underrated contributions to metaphysics: Irreductions, Science in Action, We Have Never Been Modern, and Pandoras Hope. Harman contends that Latour is one of the central figures of contemporary philosophy, with a highly original ontology centered in four key concepts: actants, irreduction, translation, and alliance. In Part Two, Harman summarizes Latours most important philosophical insights, including his status as the first secular occasionalist. The problem of translation between entities is no longer solved by the fiat of God (Malebranche) or habit (Hume), but by local mediators. Working from his own object-oriented perspective, Harman also criticizes the Latourian focus on the relational character of actors at the expense of their cryptic autonomous reality. This book forms a remarkable interface between Latours Actor-Network Theory and the Speculative Realism of Harman and his confederates. It will be of interest to anyone concerned with the emergence of new trends in the humanities following the long postmodernist interval. 'Graham Harman does for Bruno Latour what Deleuze did for Foucault. Rather than a recounting of Latours impressive sociological analyses, Harman approaches Latour as a philosopher, offering a new realist object-oriented metaphysic capable of sustaining contemporary thought well into the next century. What ensues is a lively and productive debate between rival, yet sympathetic, orientations of object-oriented philosophy between two of our most highly original, daring, and creative philosophers, giving us a text destined to have a major impact on contemporary philosophical thought and providing exciting avenues beyond reigning deadlocks that haunt philosophy today.' Professor Levi R. Bryant (Collin College), author of Difference and Givenness: Deleuze's Transcendental Empiricism and the Ontology of Immanence. 'Graham Harmans book Prince of Networks is a wonderfully eloquent exposition of the metaphysical foundations of Latours work. This is not an introduction to Latour. It is rather a skilful and penetrating interpretation of his work, as well as a insightful Heideggerian critique. At last somebody has taken Latour to heart and to task. I cannot imagine a more forceful, incisive and lucid analysis of the foundations of Latours work than this one.' Professor Lucas D. Introna (Lancaster University)

Fred Wallach had been shut away in a bare shed with no way out by window or door and yet he had disappeared. To David Mallin it was not an ideal case for their first as a partnership, but George Coe was enthusiastic. David quickly solved the mystery, revealilng the missing corpse. Unfortunately, he also uncovered another problem. The reaching of the end was a harrowing experience for David, who had to face himself before he faced the murderer.

The 1930s country house party packed with crooks, cops, and the usual suspects frame the perfect scene of the crime. This one assembles all the right ingredients--the theft of the fabled diamond necklace, the purloined antique pistols, the secret passage, the ravishing baroness with a past, the body in the lake.... What a pretty puzzle "Don't expect me to solve anything," Inspector Wilkens announces. But of course, he does: theft, espionage, impersonations (triple, at the very least), blackmail, murder. The suspects include a noble host and hostess, a jewel thief and foreign agents in disguise, bright young things, mysterious mature men, a Texas millionaire, and, of course, the butler. Crime connoisseurs will recognize the ingredients for a zany pastiche, a delightful romp paying tribute to the past while titillating the present. And what does the blood-stained egg cosy have to do with anything?

In this gigantic mystery story, Mr. Keeler has employed atavism in his plot, a thing that has probably never before been attempted in mystery fiction. Starting in pirate days with the bitter enmity between Captain Kidd and Captain Quarlbush whom Kidd marooned on a desert island for mutiny and thus deprived of a share in the spoils, Mr. Keeler conjures up in modern times a descendant of each of them and shows how in a mysterious way Quarlbush was finally avenged.
"Standing one day before a strange beautiful Chinese cabinet, in which he was seeking some priceless papers, Kidd's descendant falls dead. With many dramatic suspenses, Mr. Keeler tells the story of how Captain Quarlbush, bent upon revenge, secretly built the beautiful Chinese cabinet, which he plotted to fall into Kidd's hands. This is the basis of the primary plot to which are interlaced many other plots in this incomparable book

Jonathan Lowe argues that metaphysics should be restored to a central position in philosophy, as the most fundamental form of rational inquiry, whose findings underpin those of all other disciplines. He portrays metaphysics as charting the possibilities of existence, by idetifying the categories of being and the relations of ontological dependency between entities of different categories. He proceeds to set out a unified and original metaphysical system: he defends a substance ontology, according to which the existence of the world s one world in time depends upon the existence of persisting things which retain their identity over time and through processes of qualitative change. And he contends that even necessary beings, such as the abstract objects of mathematics, depend ultimately for their existence upon there being a concrete world of enduring substances. Within his system of metaphysics Lowe seeks to answer many of the deepest and most challenging questions in philosophy.