Author: Jeffry A. Borror
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781434829016
Category : Programming languages (Electronic computers)
Languages : en
Pages : 478
Book Description
Learn the powerful q programming language used in the kdb+ database system developed by Kx Systems, Inc. Based on courses taught by the author at major financial institutions, this tutorial is a tested way to learn the features of q. It assumes no specific programming knowledge and presents this complex language with understandable explanations and many hands-on examples. You will be able to read and write q programs when you finish this book.The q language is both a functional programming language and a vector programming language derived from APL. It is particularly well suited to processing very large time series data.Topics covered include: data types; operations and functions; the basic data structures, lists and dictionaries; tables and keyed tables; joins and queries; commands. There is a special section demonstrating typical queries against trade data. There is also a complete reference to all the built-in functions.
Q for Mortals
Author: Jeffry A. Borror
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781434829016
Category : Programming languages (Electronic computers)
Languages : en
Pages : 478
Book Description
Learn the powerful q programming language used in the kdb+ database system developed by Kx Systems, Inc. Based on courses taught by the author at major financial institutions, this tutorial is a tested way to learn the features of q. It assumes no specific programming knowledge and presents this complex language with understandable explanations and many hands-on examples. You will be able to read and write q programs when you finish this book.The q language is both a functional programming language and a vector programming language derived from APL. It is particularly well suited to processing very large time series data.Topics covered include: data types; operations and functions; the basic data structures, lists and dictionaries; tables and keyed tables; joins and queries; commands. There is a special section demonstrating typical queries against trade data. There is also a complete reference to all the built-in functions.
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781434829016
Category : Programming languages (Electronic computers)
Languages : en
Pages : 478
Book Description
Learn the powerful q programming language used in the kdb+ database system developed by Kx Systems, Inc. Based on courses taught by the author at major financial institutions, this tutorial is a tested way to learn the features of q. It assumes no specific programming knowledge and presents this complex language with understandable explanations and many hands-on examples. You will be able to read and write q programs when you finish this book.The q language is both a functional programming language and a vector programming language derived from APL. It is particularly well suited to processing very large time series data.Topics covered include: data types; operations and functions; the basic data structures, lists and dictionaries; tables and keyed tables; joins and queries; commands. There is a special section demonstrating typical queries against trade data. There is also a complete reference to all the built-in functions.
Q for Mortals Version 3
Author: Jeffry Borror
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780692573679
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 586
Book Description
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780692573679
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 586
Book Description
Machine Learning and Big Data with kdb+/q
Author: Jan Novotny
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 1119404754
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 640
Book Description
Upgrade your programming language to more effectively handle high-frequency data Machine Learning and Big Data with KDB+/Q offers quants, programmers and algorithmic traders a practical entry into the powerful but non-intuitive kdb+ database and q programming language. Ideally designed to handle the speed and volume of high-frequency financial data at sell- and buy-side institutions, these tools have become the de facto standard; this book provides the foundational knowledge practitioners need to work effectively with this rapidly-evolving approach to analytical trading. The discussion follows the natural progression of working strategy development to allow hands-on learning in a familiar sphere, illustrating the contrast of efficiency and capability between the q language and other programming approaches. Rather than an all-encompassing “bible”-type reference, this book is designed with a focus on real-world practicality to help you quickly get up to speed and become productive with the language. Understand why kdb+/q is the ideal solution for high-frequency data Delve into “meat” of q programming to solve practical economic problems Perform everyday operations including basic regressions, cointegration, volatility estimation, modelling and more Learn advanced techniques from market impact and microstructure analyses to machine learning techniques including neural networks The kdb+ database and its underlying programming language q offer unprecedented speed and capability. As trading algorithms and financial models grow ever more complex against the markets they seek to predict, they encompass an ever-larger swath of data – more variables, more metrics, more responsiveness and altogether more “moving parts.” Traditional programming languages are increasingly failing to accommodate the growing speed and volume of data, and lack the necessary flexibility that cutting-edge financial modelling demands. Machine Learning and Big Data with KDB+/Q opens up the technology and flattens the learning curve to help you quickly adopt a more effective set of tools.
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 1119404754
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 640
Book Description
Upgrade your programming language to more effectively handle high-frequency data Machine Learning and Big Data with KDB+/Q offers quants, programmers and algorithmic traders a practical entry into the powerful but non-intuitive kdb+ database and q programming language. Ideally designed to handle the speed and volume of high-frequency financial data at sell- and buy-side institutions, these tools have become the de facto standard; this book provides the foundational knowledge practitioners need to work effectively with this rapidly-evolving approach to analytical trading. The discussion follows the natural progression of working strategy development to allow hands-on learning in a familiar sphere, illustrating the contrast of efficiency and capability between the q language and other programming approaches. Rather than an all-encompassing “bible”-type reference, this book is designed with a focus on real-world practicality to help you quickly get up to speed and become productive with the language. Understand why kdb+/q is the ideal solution for high-frequency data Delve into “meat” of q programming to solve practical economic problems Perform everyday operations including basic regressions, cointegration, volatility estimation, modelling and more Learn advanced techniques from market impact and microstructure analyses to machine learning techniques including neural networks The kdb+ database and its underlying programming language q offer unprecedented speed and capability. As trading algorithms and financial models grow ever more complex against the markets they seek to predict, they encompass an ever-larger swath of data – more variables, more metrics, more responsiveness and altogether more “moving parts.” Traditional programming languages are increasingly failing to accommodate the growing speed and volume of data, and lack the necessary flexibility that cutting-edge financial modelling demands. Machine Learning and Big Data with KDB+/Q opens up the technology and flattens the learning curve to help you quickly adopt a more effective set of tools.
Q Tips
Author: Nick Psaris
Publisher:
ISBN: 9789881389909
Category : Database design
Languages : en
Pages : 314
Book Description
Learn q by building a real life application. Q Tips teaches you everything you need to know to build a fully functional CEP engine. Advanced topics include profiling an active kdb+ server, derivatives pricing and histogram charting. As each new topic is introduced, tips are highlighted to help you write better q.
Publisher:
ISBN: 9789881389909
Category : Database design
Languages : en
Pages : 314
Book Description
Learn q by building a real life application. Q Tips teaches you everything you need to know to build a fully functional CEP engine. Advanced topics include profiling an active kdb+ server, derivatives pricing and histogram charting. As each new topic is introduced, tips are highlighted to help you write better q.
Four Thousand Weeks
Author: Oliver Burkeman
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
ISBN: 0374715246
Category : Self-Help
Languages : en
Pages : 140
Book Description
AN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER "Provocative and appealing . . . well worth your extremely limited time." —Barbara Spindel, The Wall Street Journal The average human lifespan is absurdly, insultingly brief. Assuming you live to be eighty, you have just over four thousand weeks. Nobody needs telling there isn’t enough time. We’re obsessed with our lengthening to-do lists, our overfilled inboxes, work-life balance, and the ceaseless battle against distraction; and we’re deluged with advice on becoming more productive and efficient, and “life hacks” to optimize our days. But such techniques often end up making things worse. The sense of anxious hurry grows more intense, and still the most meaningful parts of life seem to lie just beyond the horizon. Still, we rarely make the connection between our daily struggles with time and the ultimate time management problem: the challenge of how best to use our four thousand weeks. Drawing on the insights of both ancient and contemporary philosophers, psychologists, and spiritual teachers, Oliver Burkeman delivers an entertaining, humorous, practical, and ultimately profound guide to time and time management. Rejecting the futile modern fixation on “getting everything done,” Four Thousand Weeks introduces readers to tools for constructing a meaningful life by embracing finitude, showing how many of the unhelpful ways we’ve come to think about time aren’t inescapable, unchanging truths, but choices we’ve made as individuals and as a society—and that we could do things differently.
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
ISBN: 0374715246
Category : Self-Help
Languages : en
Pages : 140
Book Description
AN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER "Provocative and appealing . . . well worth your extremely limited time." —Barbara Spindel, The Wall Street Journal The average human lifespan is absurdly, insultingly brief. Assuming you live to be eighty, you have just over four thousand weeks. Nobody needs telling there isn’t enough time. We’re obsessed with our lengthening to-do lists, our overfilled inboxes, work-life balance, and the ceaseless battle against distraction; and we’re deluged with advice on becoming more productive and efficient, and “life hacks” to optimize our days. But such techniques often end up making things worse. The sense of anxious hurry grows more intense, and still the most meaningful parts of life seem to lie just beyond the horizon. Still, we rarely make the connection between our daily struggles with time and the ultimate time management problem: the challenge of how best to use our four thousand weeks. Drawing on the insights of both ancient and contemporary philosophers, psychologists, and spiritual teachers, Oliver Burkeman delivers an entertaining, humorous, practical, and ultimately profound guide to time and time management. Rejecting the futile modern fixation on “getting everything done,” Four Thousand Weeks introduces readers to tools for constructing a meaningful life by embracing finitude, showing how many of the unhelpful ways we’ve come to think about time aren’t inescapable, unchanging truths, but choices we’ve made as individuals and as a society—and that we could do things differently.
SQL Queries for Mere Mortals
Author: John L. Viescas
Publisher: Pearson Education
ISBN: 0321992474
Category : Computers
Languages : en
Pages : 792
Book Description
The #1 Easy, Common-Sense Guide to SQL Queries--Updated for Today's Databases, Standards, and Challenges SQL Queries for Mere Mortals ® has earned worldwide praise as the clearest, simplest tutorial on writing effective SQL queries. The authors have updated this hands-on classic to reflect new SQL standards and database applications and teach valuable new techniques. Step by step, John L. Viescas and Michael J. Hernandez guide you through creating reliable queries for virtually any modern SQL-based database. They demystify all aspects of SQL query writing, from simple data selection and filtering to joining multiple tables and modifying sets of data. Three brand-new chapters teach you how to solve a wide range of challenging SQL problems. You'll learn how to write queries that apply multiple complex conditions on one table, perform sophisticated logical evaluations, and think "outside the box" using unlinked tables. Coverage includes -- Getting started: understanding what relational databases are, and ensuring that your database structures are sound -- SQL basics: using SELECT statements, creating expressions, sorting information with ORDER BY, and filtering data using WHERE -- Summarizing and grouping data with GROUP BY and HAVING clauses -- Drawing data from multiple tables: using INNER JOIN, OUTER JOIN, and UNION operators, and working with subqueries -- Modifying data sets with UPDATE, INSERT, and DELETE statements Advanced queries: complex NOT and AND, conditions, if-then-else using CASE, unlinked tables, driver tables, and more Practice all you want with downloadable sample databases for today's versions of Microsoft Office Access, Microsoft SQL Server, and the open source MySQL database. Whether you're a DBA, developer, user, or student, there's no better way to master SQL. informit.com/aw forMereMortals.com
Publisher: Pearson Education
ISBN: 0321992474
Category : Computers
Languages : en
Pages : 792
Book Description
The #1 Easy, Common-Sense Guide to SQL Queries--Updated for Today's Databases, Standards, and Challenges SQL Queries for Mere Mortals ® has earned worldwide praise as the clearest, simplest tutorial on writing effective SQL queries. The authors have updated this hands-on classic to reflect new SQL standards and database applications and teach valuable new techniques. Step by step, John L. Viescas and Michael J. Hernandez guide you through creating reliable queries for virtually any modern SQL-based database. They demystify all aspects of SQL query writing, from simple data selection and filtering to joining multiple tables and modifying sets of data. Three brand-new chapters teach you how to solve a wide range of challenging SQL problems. You'll learn how to write queries that apply multiple complex conditions on one table, perform sophisticated logical evaluations, and think "outside the box" using unlinked tables. Coverage includes -- Getting started: understanding what relational databases are, and ensuring that your database structures are sound -- SQL basics: using SELECT statements, creating expressions, sorting information with ORDER BY, and filtering data using WHERE -- Summarizing and grouping data with GROUP BY and HAVING clauses -- Drawing data from multiple tables: using INNER JOIN, OUTER JOIN, and UNION operators, and working with subqueries -- Modifying data sets with UPDATE, INSERT, and DELETE statements Advanced queries: complex NOT and AND, conditions, if-then-else using CASE, unlinked tables, driver tables, and more Practice all you want with downloadable sample databases for today's versions of Microsoft Office Access, Microsoft SQL Server, and the open source MySQL database. Whether you're a DBA, developer, user, or student, there's no better way to master SQL. informit.com/aw forMereMortals.com
Handbook for Mortals
Author: Lani Sarem
Publisher: Geeknation Press
ISBN: 9781545611456
Category : Young Adult Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 432
Book Description
"Zade Holder has always been a free-spirited young woman, from a long dynasty of tarot-card readers, fortunetellers, and practitioners of magick. Growing up in a small town and never quite fitting in, Zade is determined to forge her own path. She leaves her home in Tennessee to break free from her overprotective mother Dela, the local resident spellcaster and fortuneteller. Zade travels to Las Vegas and uses supernatural powers to become part of a premiere magic show led by the infamous magician Charles Spellman. Zade fits right in with his troupe of artists and misfits. After all, when everyone is slightly eccentric, appearing 'normal' is much less important. Behind the scenes of this multimillion-dollar production, Zade finds herself caught in a love triangle with Mac, the show's good-looking but rough-around-the-edges technical director and Jackson, the tall, dark, handsome and charming bandleader. Zade's secrets and the struggle to choose between Mac or Jackson creates reckless tension during the grand finale of the show. Using Chaos magick, which is known for being unpredictable, she tests her abilities as a spellcaster farther than she's ever tried and finds herself at death's door. Her fate is left in the hands of a mortal who does not believe in a world of real magick, a fortuneteller who knew one day Zade would put herself in danger and a dagger with mystical powers"--Amazon.com
Publisher: Geeknation Press
ISBN: 9781545611456
Category : Young Adult Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 432
Book Description
"Zade Holder has always been a free-spirited young woman, from a long dynasty of tarot-card readers, fortunetellers, and practitioners of magick. Growing up in a small town and never quite fitting in, Zade is determined to forge her own path. She leaves her home in Tennessee to break free from her overprotective mother Dela, the local resident spellcaster and fortuneteller. Zade travels to Las Vegas and uses supernatural powers to become part of a premiere magic show led by the infamous magician Charles Spellman. Zade fits right in with his troupe of artists and misfits. After all, when everyone is slightly eccentric, appearing 'normal' is much less important. Behind the scenes of this multimillion-dollar production, Zade finds herself caught in a love triangle with Mac, the show's good-looking but rough-around-the-edges technical director and Jackson, the tall, dark, handsome and charming bandleader. Zade's secrets and the struggle to choose between Mac or Jackson creates reckless tension during the grand finale of the show. Using Chaos magick, which is known for being unpredictable, she tests her abilities as a spellcaster farther than she's ever tried and finds herself at death's door. Her fate is left in the hands of a mortal who does not believe in a world of real magick, a fortuneteller who knew one day Zade would put herself in danger and a dagger with mystical powers"--Amazon.com
The Lincoln Highway
Author: Amor Towles
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 0735222363
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 593
Book Description
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER More than ONE MILLION copies sold A TODAY Show Read with Jenna Book Club Pick A New York Times Notable Book, a New York Times Readers’ Choice Best Book of the Century, and Chosen by Oprah Daily, Time, NPR, The Washington Post, Bill Gates and Barack Obama as a Best Book of the Year “Wise and wildly entertaining . . . permeated with light, wit, youth.” —The New York Times Book Review “A classic that we will read for years to come.” —Jenna Bush Hager, Read with Jenna book club “Fantastic. Set in 1954, Towles uses the story of two brothers to show that our personal journeys are never as linear or predictable as we might hope.” —Bill Gates “A real joyride . . . elegantly constructed and compulsively readable.” —NPR The bestselling author of A Gentleman in Moscow and Rules of Civility and master of absorbing, sophisticated fiction returns with a stylish and propulsive novel set in 1950s America In June, 1954, eighteen-year-old Emmett Watson is driven home to Nebraska by the warden of the juvenile work farm where he has just served fifteen months for involuntary manslaughter. His mother long gone, his father recently deceased, and the family farm foreclosed upon by the bank, Emmett's intention is to pick up his eight-year-old brother, Billy, and head to California where they can start their lives anew. But when the warden drives away, Emmett discovers that two friends from the work farm have hidden themselves in the trunk of the warden's car. Together, they have hatched an altogether different plan for Emmett's future, one that will take them all on a fateful journey in the opposite direction—to the City of New York. Spanning just ten days and told from multiple points of view, Towles's third novel will satisfy fans of his multi-layered literary styling while providing them an array of new and richly imagined settings, characters, and themes. “Once again, I was wowed by Towles’s writing—especially because The Lincoln Highway is so different from A Gentleman in Moscow in terms of setting, plot, and themes. Towles is not a one-trick pony. Like all the best storytellers, he has range. He takes inspiration from famous hero’s journeys, including The Iliad, The Odyssey, Hamlet, Huckleberry Finn, and Of Mice and Men. He seems to be saying that our personal journeys are never as linear or predictable as an interstate highway. But, he suggests, when something (or someone) tries to steer us off course, it is possible to take the wheel.” – Bill Gates
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 0735222363
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 593
Book Description
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER More than ONE MILLION copies sold A TODAY Show Read with Jenna Book Club Pick A New York Times Notable Book, a New York Times Readers’ Choice Best Book of the Century, and Chosen by Oprah Daily, Time, NPR, The Washington Post, Bill Gates and Barack Obama as a Best Book of the Year “Wise and wildly entertaining . . . permeated with light, wit, youth.” —The New York Times Book Review “A classic that we will read for years to come.” —Jenna Bush Hager, Read with Jenna book club “Fantastic. Set in 1954, Towles uses the story of two brothers to show that our personal journeys are never as linear or predictable as we might hope.” —Bill Gates “A real joyride . . . elegantly constructed and compulsively readable.” —NPR The bestselling author of A Gentleman in Moscow and Rules of Civility and master of absorbing, sophisticated fiction returns with a stylish and propulsive novel set in 1950s America In June, 1954, eighteen-year-old Emmett Watson is driven home to Nebraska by the warden of the juvenile work farm where he has just served fifteen months for involuntary manslaughter. His mother long gone, his father recently deceased, and the family farm foreclosed upon by the bank, Emmett's intention is to pick up his eight-year-old brother, Billy, and head to California where they can start their lives anew. But when the warden drives away, Emmett discovers that two friends from the work farm have hidden themselves in the trunk of the warden's car. Together, they have hatched an altogether different plan for Emmett's future, one that will take them all on a fateful journey in the opposite direction—to the City of New York. Spanning just ten days and told from multiple points of view, Towles's third novel will satisfy fans of his multi-layered literary styling while providing them an array of new and richly imagined settings, characters, and themes. “Once again, I was wowed by Towles’s writing—especially because The Lincoln Highway is so different from A Gentleman in Moscow in terms of setting, plot, and themes. Towles is not a one-trick pony. Like all the best storytellers, he has range. He takes inspiration from famous hero’s journeys, including The Iliad, The Odyssey, Hamlet, Huckleberry Finn, and Of Mice and Men. He seems to be saying that our personal journeys are never as linear or predictable as an interstate highway. But, he suggests, when something (or someone) tries to steer us off course, it is possible to take the wheel.” – Bill Gates
Of Gods and Mortals
Author: Andrea Sfiligoi
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1780968507
Category : Games & Activities
Languages : en
Pages : 66
Book Description
Two armies prepare for war. Thor, surrounded by crackling lightning, leads the assault of a horde of Viking berserkers. Preparing to receive this charge stands a wall of grim-faced, determined Spartan hoplites, commanded by Ares himself... Of Gods and Mortals is a skirmish wargame that gives players the opportunity to command the greatest heroes, warriors and monsters of legend – and the gods and goddesses that ruled over them. Whether you want to lead the forces of Greek, Egyptian, Celtic or Norse mythology to battle, or build your own pantheon, Of Gods and Mortals presents everything you need. Each player takes control of a god, a handful of legendary characters and a number of mortal troops, forming a warband that must work in harmony to succeed. Although the gods are incredibly powerful, they are only as strong as the faith of the mortals who follow them – if their worshippers are cut down, gods become weaker, and if a deity is vanquished in combat, its followers may flee the field of battle. Success lies in employing a strategy that uses all your troops, from the mightiest to the most humble, as effectively as possible.
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1780968507
Category : Games & Activities
Languages : en
Pages : 66
Book Description
Two armies prepare for war. Thor, surrounded by crackling lightning, leads the assault of a horde of Viking berserkers. Preparing to receive this charge stands a wall of grim-faced, determined Spartan hoplites, commanded by Ares himself... Of Gods and Mortals is a skirmish wargame that gives players the opportunity to command the greatest heroes, warriors and monsters of legend – and the gods and goddesses that ruled over them. Whether you want to lead the forces of Greek, Egyptian, Celtic or Norse mythology to battle, or build your own pantheon, Of Gods and Mortals presents everything you need. Each player takes control of a god, a handful of legendary characters and a number of mortal troops, forming a warband that must work in harmony to succeed. Although the gods are incredibly powerful, they are only as strong as the faith of the mortals who follow them – if their worshippers are cut down, gods become weaker, and if a deity is vanquished in combat, its followers may flee the field of battle. Success lies in employing a strategy that uses all your troops, from the mightiest to the most humble, as effectively as possible.
Mortals
Author: Norman Rush
Publisher: Vintage
ISBN: 0307789365
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 738
Book Description
The greatly anticipated new novel by Norman Rush—whose first novel, Mating, won the National Book Award and was everywhere acclaimed—is his richest work yet. It is at once a political adventure, a social comedy, and a passionate triangle. It is set in the 1990s in Botswana—the African country Rush has indelibly made his own fictional territory. Mortals chronicles the misadventures of three ex-pat Americans: Ray Finch, a contract CIA agent, operating undercover as an English instructor in a private school, who is setting out on perhaps his most difficult assignment; his beautiful but slightly foolish and disaffected wife, Iris, with whom he is obsessively in love; and Davis Morel, an iconoclastic black holistic physician, who is on a personal mission to “lift the yoke of Christian belief from Africa.” The passions of these three entangle them with a local populist leader, Samuel Kerekang, whose purposes are grotesquely misconstrued by the CIA, fixated as the agency is on the astonishing collapse of world socialism and the simultaneous, paradoxical triumph of radical black nationalism in South Africa, Botswana’s neighbor. And when a small but violent insurrection erupts in the wild northern part of the country, inspired by Kerekang but stoked by the erotic and political intrigues of the American trio—the outcome is explosive and often explosively funny. Along the way, there are many pleasures. Letters from Ray’s brilliantly hostile brother and Iris’s woebegone sister provide a running commentary on contemporary life in America. Africa and Africans are powerfully evoked, and the expatriate scene is cheerfully skewered. Through lives lived ardently in an unforgiving land, Mortals examines with wit and insight the dilemmas of power, religion, rebellion, and contending versions of liberation and love. It is a study of a marriage over time, and a man’s struggle to find his way when his private and public worlds are shifting. It is Norman Rush’s most commanding work.
Publisher: Vintage
ISBN: 0307789365
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 738
Book Description
The greatly anticipated new novel by Norman Rush—whose first novel, Mating, won the National Book Award and was everywhere acclaimed—is his richest work yet. It is at once a political adventure, a social comedy, and a passionate triangle. It is set in the 1990s in Botswana—the African country Rush has indelibly made his own fictional territory. Mortals chronicles the misadventures of three ex-pat Americans: Ray Finch, a contract CIA agent, operating undercover as an English instructor in a private school, who is setting out on perhaps his most difficult assignment; his beautiful but slightly foolish and disaffected wife, Iris, with whom he is obsessively in love; and Davis Morel, an iconoclastic black holistic physician, who is on a personal mission to “lift the yoke of Christian belief from Africa.” The passions of these three entangle them with a local populist leader, Samuel Kerekang, whose purposes are grotesquely misconstrued by the CIA, fixated as the agency is on the astonishing collapse of world socialism and the simultaneous, paradoxical triumph of radical black nationalism in South Africa, Botswana’s neighbor. And when a small but violent insurrection erupts in the wild northern part of the country, inspired by Kerekang but stoked by the erotic and political intrigues of the American trio—the outcome is explosive and often explosively funny. Along the way, there are many pleasures. Letters from Ray’s brilliantly hostile brother and Iris’s woebegone sister provide a running commentary on contemporary life in America. Africa and Africans are powerfully evoked, and the expatriate scene is cheerfully skewered. Through lives lived ardently in an unforgiving land, Mortals examines with wit and insight the dilemmas of power, religion, rebellion, and contending versions of liberation and love. It is a study of a marriage over time, and a man’s struggle to find his way when his private and public worlds are shifting. It is Norman Rush’s most commanding work.