A product of the Scottish Enlightenment, William Playfair (1759–1823) worked as a statistician, economist, engineer, banker, land speculator, scam artist, and political propagandist. It has been claimed – erroneously – that Playfair was a spy for the British government and ran a forging operation to print the paper money of the French Revolution. The Flawed Genius of William Playfair offers a complete account of Playfair’s life, richly contextualized in the economic, political, and cultural history of the French Revolution and Napoleonic Wars. The book explores the many peaks and troughs of Playfair’s career, ranging from moderate prosperity to bankruptcy and imprisonment. Through careful analysis, David R. Bellhouse shows that Playfair was neither a spy nor a forger, but perhaps briefly a one-time courier for a government minister. Bellhouse pieces together as complete a picture as possible of the forging operations supported by the British government and illuminates Playfair’s lasting contributions in economics and statistics, where he is known as the father of statistical graphics. Disputing the misinformation about the man, The Flawed Genius of William Playfair highlights that the truth about Playfair’s life is often more intriguing than the fictions that surround him.

This book shares the life story of William Playfair, the father of statistical graphics, who experienced extreme ups and downs in his various careers, including as a statistician, economist, and fraudster.

An exploration of infographics and data visualization as a cultural phenomenon, from eighteenth-century print culture to today's data journalism. Infographics and data visualization are ubiquitous in our everyday media diet, particularly in news—in print newspapers, on television news, and online. It has been argued that infographics are changing what it means to be literate in the twenty-first century—and even that they harmonize uniquely with human cognition. In this first serious exploration of the subject, Murray Dick traces the cultural evolution of the infographic, examining its use in news—and resistance to its use—from eighteenth-century print culture to today's data journalism. He identifies six historical phases of infographics in popular culture: the proto-infographic, the classical, the improving, the commercial, the ideological, and the professional. Dick describes the emergence of infographic forms within a wider history of journalism, culture, and communications, focusing his analysis on the UK. He considers their use in the partisan British journalism of late eighteenth and early nineteenth-century print media; their later deployment as a vehicle for reform and improvement; their mass-market debut in the twentieth century as a means of explanation (and sometimes propaganda); and their use for both ideological and professional purposes in the post–World War II marketized newspaper culture. Finally, he proposes best practices for news infographics and defends infographics and data visualization against a range of criticism. Dick offers not only a history of how the public has experienced and understood the infographic, but also an account of what data visualization can tell us about the past.

William Playfair is best known as an ingenious Scot of questionable repute who happened to invent "statistical graphics"--the line, bar, and pie charts we use today. Some are also aware he developed theories explaining international trade and investment, made contributions to concepts like price indexes and measures of national power, and pioneered strategic analysis. Yet even those familiar with his work will be surprised to learn that Playfair was, in fact, a secret agent, carrying out espionage and subversion against France on behalf of Great Britain. Many of his contributions to economics and statistics were a direct result of his most audacious operation, the first full-scale campaign to collapse a nation's currency, as the French First Republic turned radical. Playfair had a remarkable knack for appearing at--or propelling--the major events of his era. He's at James Watt's side for the birth of the Industrial Revolution. He is on the scene during the storming of the Bastille. He even helps trigger the first major political scandal in the newly formed United States, a land speculation gone bad involving Washington, Hamilton, and Jefferson. This is the first book to uncover the full, true account of this remarkable, colorful man--undeniably brilliant, hopelessly flawed, and fundamentally important. Part biography, part history, and part detective story, its pages reveal the astounding inventions and adventures of this larger-than-life swashbuckler, rogue, genius, and patriot. Distributed for George Mason University Press

Harvard psychologist and philosopher William James' The Varieties of Religious Experience: A Study in Human Nature explores the nature of religion and, in James' observation, its divorce from science when studied academically. After publication in 1902 it quickly became a canonical text of philosophy and psychology, remaining in print through the entire century. "Scientific theories are organically conditioned just as much as religious emotions are; and if we only knew the facts intimately enough, we should doubtless see 'the liver' determining the dicta of the sturdy atheist as decisively as it does those of the Methodist under conviction anxious about his soul. When it alters in one way the blood that percolates it, we get the Methodist, when in another way, we get the atheist form of mind."

"A superb book.…Mearsheimer has made a significant contribution to our understanding of the behavior of great powers."—Barry R. Posen, The National Interest The updated edition of this classic treatise on the behavior of great powers takes a penetrating look at the question likely to dominate international relations in the twenty-first century: Can China rise peacefully? In clear, eloquent prose, John Mearsheimer explains why the answer is no: a rising China will seek to dominate Asia, while the United States, determined to remain the world's sole regional hegemon, will go to great lengths to prevent that from happening. The tragedy of great power politics is inescapable.

Volume 5, Deep Maneuver: Historical Case Studies of Maneuver in Large-Scale Combat Operations, presents eleven case studies from World War II through Operation Iraqi Freedom focusing on deep maneuver in terms of time, space and purpose. Deep operations require boldness and audacity, and yet carry an element of risk of overextension - especially in light of the independent factors of geography and weather that are ever-present. As a result, the case studies address not only successes, but also failure and shortfalls that result when conducting deep operations. The final two chapters address these considerations for future Deep Maneuver.

"This is an engaging and informative book on the modern practice of experimental design. The authors' writing style is entertaining, the consulting dialogs are extremely enjoyable, and the technical material is presented brilliantly but not overwhelmingly. The book is a joy to read. Everyone who practices or teaches DOE should read this book." - Douglas C. Montgomery, Regents Professor, Department of Industrial Engineering, Arizona State University "It's been said: 'Design for the experiment, don't experiment for the design.' This book ably demonstrates this notion by showing how tailor-made, optimal designs can be effectively employed to meet a client's actual needs. It should be required reading for anyone interested in using the design of experiments in industrial settings." —Christopher J. Nachtsheim, Frank A Donaldson Chair in Operations Management, Carlson School of Management, University of Minnesota This book demonstrates the utility of the computer-aided optimal design approach using real industrial examples. These examples address questions such as the following: How can I do screening inexpensively if I have dozens of factors to investigate? What can I do if I have day-to-day variability and I can only perform 3 runs a day? How can I do RSM cost effectively if I have categorical factors? How can I design and analyze experiments when there is a factor that can only be changed a few times over the study? How can I include both ingredients in a mixture and processing factors in the same study? How can I design an experiment if there are many factor combinations that are impossible to run? How can I make sure that a time trend due to warming up of equipment does not affect the conclusions from a study? How can I take into account batch information in when designing experiments involving multiple batches? How can I add runs to a botched experiment to resolve ambiguities? While answering these questions the book also shows how to evaluate and compare designs. This allows researchers to make sensible trade-offs between the cost of experimentation and the amount of information they obtain.

Includes the Aerial Warfare In Europe During World War II illustrations pack with over 200 maps, plans, and photos. This book is a comprehensive analysis of an air force, the Luftwaffe, in World War II. It follows the Germans from their prewar preparations to their final defeat. There are many disturbing parallels with our current situation. I urge every student of military science to read it carefully. The lessons of the nature of warfare and the application of airpower can provide the guidance to develop our fighting forces and employment concepts to meet the significant challenges we are certain to face in the future.