Christopher J. Wild – författare

Why would René Descartes, the father of modern rationalist philosophy, choose "meditations"—a term and genre associated with religious discourse and practice—for the title of his magnum opus that lays the metaphysical foundations for his reform of all knowledge, including mathematics and sciences? Why did he believe that the immortality of the soul and the existence of God, which the Meditations on First Philosophy set out to demonstrate, can only be made self-evident through meditating? These are the question that Christopher Wild's book answers. Descartes discovered the "foundations of a marvelous science" through a dramatic conversion in southern Germany in the winter of 1619. The spiritual and cognitive exercises, derived from ancient philosophy and the Christian meditative tradition, which Descartes deployed in the Meditations, enable readers to discover metaphysical truths with the same degree of self-evidence with which Descartes did during his own conversion. Descartes' meditative turn, Wild argues, brings to a culmination a lifelong preoccupation with the practice or craft of thinking, known as Cartesian method. By joining meditation to method the Meditations becomes the founding document for a Cartesian "art of turning," a new practice of both thought and life.

Text combines lucid and statistically engaging exposition, graphic and poignantly applied examples, realistic exercise settings to take student past the mechanics of introductory-level statistical techniques into the realm of practical data analysis and inference-based problem solving.

WILEY-INTERSCIENCE PAPERBACK SERIES The Wiley-Interscience Paperback Series consists of selected books that have been made more accessible to consumers in an effort to increase global appeal and general circulation. With these new unabridged softcover volumes, Wiley hopes to extend the lives of these works by making them available to future generations of statisticians, mathematicians, and scientists.From the Reviews of Nonlinear Regression"A very good book and an important one in that it is likely to become a standard reference for all interested in nonlinear regression; and I would imagine that any statistician concerned with nonlinear regression would want a copy on his shelves."–The Statistician"Nonlinear Regression also includes a reference list of over 700 entries. The compilation of this material and cross-referencing of it is one of the most valuable aspects of the book. Nonlinear Regression can provide the researcher unfamiliar with a particular specialty area of nonlinear regression an introduction to that area of nonlinear regression and access to the appropriate references . . . Nonlinear Regression provides by far the broadest discussion of nonlinear regression models currently available and will be a valuable addition to the library of anyone interested in understanding and using such models including the statistical researcher."–Mathematical Reviews

WILEY-INTERSCIENCE PAPERBACK SERIES

The Wiley-Interscience Paperback Series consists of selected books that have been made more accessible to consumers in an effort to increase global appeal and general circulation. With these new unabridged softcover volumes, Wiley hopes to extend the lives of these works by making them available to future generations of statisticians, mathematicians, and scientists.

From the Reviews of Nonlinear Regression

"A very good book and an important one in that it is likely to become a standard reference for all interested in nonlinear regression; and I would imagine that any statistician concerned with nonlinear regression would want a copy on his shelves." –The Statistician

"Nonlinear Regression also includes a reference list of over 700 entries. The compilation of this material and cross-referencing of it is one of the most valuable aspects of the book. Nonlinear Regression can provide the researcher unfamiliar with a particular specialty area of nonlinear regression an introduction to that area of nonlinear regression and access to the appropriate references . . . Nonlinear Regression provides by far the broadest discussion of nonlinear regression models currently available and will be a valuable addition to the library of anyone interested in understanding and using such models including the statistical researcher." –Mathematical Reviews

Why would René Descartes, the father of modern rationalist philosophy, choose "meditations"—a term and genre associated with religious discourse and practice—for the title of his magnum opus that lays the metaphysical foundations for his reform of all knowledge, including mathematics and sciences? Why did he believe that the immortality of the soul and the existence of God, which the Meditations on First Philosophy set out to demonstrate, can only be made self-evident through meditating? These are the question that Christopher Wild's book answers. Descartes discovered the "foundations of a marvelous science" through a dramatic conversion in southern Germany in the winter of 1619. The spiritual and cognitive exercises, derived from ancient philosophy and the Christian meditative tradition, which Descartes deployed in the Meditations, enable readers to discover metaphysical truths with the same degree of self-evidence with which Descartes did during his own conversion. Descartes' meditative turn, Wild argues, brings to a culmination a lifelong preoccupation with the practice or craft of thinking, known as Cartesian method. By joining meditation to method the Meditations becomes the founding document for a Cartesian "art of turning," a new practice of both thought and life.