The main goal of the book is to extend Marr's paradigm. In his book, David Marr (Vision, Freeman, 1982) presents the vision problem as a problem of information processing. He presents a general three-level paradigm, in which any machine carrying out an information-processing task must be understood. The three levels are:1. Computational theory: What is the goal of the computation, why is it appropriate, and what is the logic of the strategy by which it can be carried out?

Integration of Visual Modules: An Extension of the Marr Paradigm

Computers & Technology

Shulman, David

Aloimonos, John

Computer Science

Academic Pr

God Inside Out: Śiva's Game of Dice

This book offers a new exploration of the mythology of the Hindu god Siva, who spends his time playing dice with his wife, to whom he habitually loses. The result of the game is our world, which turns the god inside-out and changes his internal composition. Hindus maintain that Siva is perpetually absorbed in this game, which is recreated in innumerable stories, poems, paintings, and sculptural carvings. This notion of the god at play, arguee Handelman and Shulman, is one of the most central and expressive veins in the metaphysics elaborated through the centuries, in many idioms and modes, around the god. The book comprises three interlocking essays; the first presents the dice-game proper, in the light of the texts and visual depictions the authors have collected. The second and third chapters take up two mythic "sequels" to the game. Based on their analysis of these sequels, the authors argue that notions of "asceticism" so frequently associated with Siva, with Yoga, and with Hindu religion are, in fact, foreign to Hinduism's inherent logic as reflected in Siva's game of dice. They suggest an alternative reading of this set of practices and ideas, providing startling new insights into Hindu mythology and the major poetic texts from the classical Sanskrit tradition.

Religion & Spirituality

Handelman, Don

Hinduism

Oxford University Press

This book offers a new exploration of the mythology of the Hindu god Siva, who spends his time playing dice with his wife, to whom he habitually loses. The result of the game is our world, which turns the god inside-out and changes his internal composition. Hindus maintain that Siva is perpetually absorbed in this game, which is recreated in innumerable stories, poems, paintings, and sculptural carvings. This notion of the god at play, argue Handelman and Shulman, is one of the most central and expressive veins in the metaphysics elaborated through the centuries, in many idioms and modes, around the god. The book comprises three interlocking essays; the first presents the dice-game proper, in the light of the texts and visual depictions the authors have collected. The second and third chapters take up two mythic "sequels" to the game. Based on their analysis of these sequels, the authors argue that notions of "asceticism" so frequently associated with Siva, with Yoga, and with Hindu religion are, in fact, foreign to Hinduism's inherent logic as reflected in Siva's game of dice. They suggest an alternative reading of this set of practices and ideas, providing startling new insights into Hindu mythology and the major poetic texts from the classical Sanskrit tradition.

Literature & Fiction

History & Criticism

God on the Hill: Temple Poems from Tirupati

The devotional poems of Annamayya (15th century) are perhaps the most accessible and universal achievement of classical Telugu literature, one of the major literatures of pre-modern India. Annamayya effectively created and popularized a new genre, the short padam song, which spread throughout the Telugu and Tamil regions and would become an important vehicle for the composition of Carnatic music - the classical music of South India. In this book, Velcheru Narayana Rao and David Shulman offer translations of nearly 100 of Annamayya's poems. All of them are addressed to the god associated with the famous temple city of Tirupati -- Annamayya's home. This deity is sometimes referred to as "god on the hill" or "lord of the seven hills." The poems are couched in a simple and approachable language invented by Annamayya for this purpose and fall into two major categories, the erotic and the metaphysical. The erotic poems, usually in the female voice, sing of the complexities of the god's love life. The metaphysical poems are sung in the poet's own voice and explore the relationship between the poet and his god. Though a small sample of Annamayya's surviving corpus, the selection in this volume suggests the scope of both genres. Rao and Shulman's elegant and lyrical modern translations of these beautiful and moving verses are wonderfully readable as poetry in their own right. The Afterword enriches the reader's understanding, providing historical context and returning us to the poems themselves with a deeper appreciation.

Rao, Velcheru Narayana

Annamayya

The devotional poems of Annamaya (15th century) are perhaps the most accessible and universal achievement of classical Telugu literature, one of the major literatures of pre-modern India. Annamaya effectively created and popularized a new genre, the short padam song, which spread throughout the Telugu and Tamil regions and would become an important vehicle for the composition of Carnatic music - the classical music of South India. In this book, Rao and Shulman offer translations of 150 of Annamaya's poems. All of them are addressed to the god associated with the famous temple city of Tirupati-Annamaya's home-a deity who is sometimes referred to as "god on the hill" or "lord of the seven hills." The poems are couched in a simple and accessible language invented by Annamaya for this purpose. Rao and Shulman's elegant and lyrical modern translations of these beautiful and moving verses are wonderfully readable as poetry in their own right, and will be of great interest to scholars of South Indian history and culture.

Symbols of Substance: Court and State in Nayaka Period Tamilnadu

The book looks at the three major Nayaka states--ruled from Senji, Tanjavur and Madurai, Tiruccirappalli--as well as at minor states located at their periphery. While these states had differing life-spans, developmental patterns, geo-ecological environments, and distinct forms of historical experience, they also shared salient structural and cultural features. At their height, in the early seventeenth century, they encompassed the greater part of the Tamil country. Early chapters set out the fundamental tensions of the period: the social flux caused by the resurgence of certain groups, which had either intruded into the area from the Telugu country, or entered the mainstream of Nayaka society from a marginal position. Related to this is the central paradox of Nayaka kingship-- the tension between inflated claims and the limited scale of kingship. Later sections set out these themes in some detail, and also delineate how such states were founded, what their resource base was, and how this base was portrayed and managed. The book's ambit extends considerably beyond the economic and political, to consider how the social flux of the epoch also found its counterpart in the central themes of Nayaka literature. Specifically, there is a focus on perceptions of the body and bodily mutilation and regeneration (here termed Nayaka anthropology), and on the parodic dialectic that underpins the rhetoric of kingship. Other chapters deal with contestation and war. The final chapter looks to the post-Nayaka transition, focusing once again on the kingdom that appears most of all to epitomize the Nayaka spirit: Tanjavur. What is distinctive about the Nayakas? How do they fit into the wider realities of their time? From what do they derive? How can we understand the emergence of new institutional patterns, of the striking artistic and especially literary creations at the Nayaka courts, of a novel historiography and culture? Supplementing standard sources by an imaginative use of Dutch, Portuguese, Tamil, Sanskrit, and Telugu sources, the authors show how the Nayakas witnessed, and partly produced, a profound shift in the conceptual and institutional bases of South Indian civilization.

History

Subrahmanyam, Sanjay

Asia

Looking at the three major Nayaka states--ruled from Senji, Tanjavur, and MAadurai/Tiruccirapalli--as well as at minor states located at their periphery, this volume deals with the political culture of the NaAyaka period in medieval South India, an era which extends from the early sixteenth century to the early eighteenth century. Supplementing standard sources by an imaginative use of Dutch, Portugese, Tamil, Sanskrit, and Telugu sources, the authors show how the Nayakas witnessed, and partly produced, a profound shift in the conceptual and institutional bases of South Indian civilization.

This groundbreaking cultural biography of Srinatha, arguably the most creative figure in the thousand-year history of Telugu literature., shows how the fourteenth- and fifteenth-century poet revolutionized the classical tradition and effectively created the classical genre of sustained, thematically focused, coherent large-scale compositions. Some of his works are proto-novellas: self-consciously fictional, focused on the development of characters, and endowed with compelling, fast-paced plots. Though entirely rooted in the cultural world of medieval south India, Srinatha is a poet of universal resonance and relevance. Narayana Rao and Shulman provide extended translations of Srinatha's major works and show how the poet bridged gaps between oral (improvised) poetry and fixed literary works; between Telugu and the classical, pan-Indian language of Sanskrit; and between local and trans-local cultural contexts. This wide-ranging and perceptive study reveals Srinatha place in a great classical tradition in a moment of profound cultural transformation.

Srinatha: The Poet who Made Gods and Kings

Biographies & Memoirs

Leaders & Notable People

Talking Sociology examines controversial social issues from libertarian, conservative, and social democratic points of view, demonstrating the philosophical basis of social life.

Talking Sociology (5th Edition)

Politics & Social Sciences

Fine,Gary Alan

Social Sciences

Pearson

Self and Society is a clearly written, up-to-date, and authoritative introduction to the symbolic interactionist perspective in social psychology and in sociology as a whole. Filled with examples, this book has been used not only in the classroom, but also cited in literature as an authoritative source. Self and Society is not a distillation of textbook knowledge, but rather, a thoughtful, well-organized presentation that makes its own contribution to the advancement of symbolic interactionism.

Self and Society: A Symbolic Interactionist Social Psychology

Health, Fitness & Dieting

Hewitt, John.

Psychology & Counseling

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Shulman, David. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Shulman, David

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Shulman, David. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Integration of Visual Modules: An Extension of the Marr Paradigm

God Inside Out: Śiva's Game of Dice

God Inside Out: Śiva's Game of Dice

God on the Hill: Temple Poems from Tirupati

God on the Hill: Temple Poems from Tirupati

Symbols of Substance: Court and State in Nayaka Period Tamilnadu

Symbols of Substance: Court and State in Nayaka Period Tamilnadu

Srinatha: The Poet who Made Gods and Kings

Talking Sociology (5th Edition)

Self and Society: A Symbolic Interactionist Social Psychology