143508329 This is a well-written book which from the start delivers on its promise:showing how to use Mathematica for real world applications, and not just solving problems from math classes. The first few chapters give a good, quick introduction to the basics of Mathematica, and between that and the references anyone with basic coding experience (as well as most people without any!) will have no trouble grasping the basics of the environment. The rest of the book goes through numerous applications to real world problems, highlighting features ranging from culling data to the web to image manipulation and data presentation. There are good, detailed explanations and a lot of code. I use Mathematica in many of my classes, and will be recommending this to my students.-Steven Miller, Professor of Mathematics, Williams College This text serves as a useful window and guide to the impressive computing power and data visualization capabilities of Mathematicaâ for researchers and students working in a wide range of fields (especially in the physical, biological, and social sciences, as well as mathematics and statistics). The technical levels of the text are multi-layered. The early chapters provide a user-friendly introduction to the ever-expanding utility of Mathematicaâ as a computational tool and as a powerful programming language. In addition to exposing the reader to a substantial universe of applications (e.g., astronomy, image processing, chemistry, geodata, financial mathematics, etc.), the author also devotes a chapter to elucidating The Beauty and Power of the Wolfram Language as a programming language with functional capabilities based on a symbolic paradigm. Even experienced users will likely gain new insights into ways to leverage this remarkable system. Later chapters serve as a helpful reference (with targeted step-by-step examples) for those seeking to access and analyze extensive sets of scientific and technical information. All chapters include a closing section containing additional resources, most of which can be accessed online. The author states that the main aim of the text "is to reduce significantly the amount of time required to master the tool." It is the opinion of this reviewer that, in the hands of an engaged reader, the text is squarely on target. -Kendall Richards, Southwestern University