Search results for ""Author Christopher Gardner""

A unique window on the floral wonders of the Mediterranean world The Mediterranean – a land of blue skies, warm sunshine, rugged mountains and azure seas. Yet this familiar image conceals another Mediterranean – a secret landscape populated by a dazzling variety of wild flowers and plants, from spectacular orchids and ancient olive trees to delicate snowdrops and hardy cacti. Following on from their widely acclaimed Flora of the Silk Road, Chris and Basak Gardner present a stunning selection of 600 of the finest wild flowers that grow in the Mediterranean regions of the world. Travelling across five continents – Europe, North America, Africa, South America and Australia – the authors reveal the rich botanical profusion that makes up the flora of the Mediterranean regions of the world. For each region, a succession of the most outstanding flowers is featured, from the spectacular and exotic to the beautiful yet familiar, with each plant presented in its natural habitat. Beginning with the countries of the Mediterranean Basin, the reader is taken along the rugged Atlas Mountains, through Andalucía and Italy, to arrive at the amazing botanical richness of Greece, southern Anatolia and Jordan. In California and Chile the journey is through flowering deserts, snow-capped peaks and towering forests of redwood and monkey puzzle trees, beside a coast lapped by the Pacific Ocean. The ancient landscapes of Southern Australia provide a truly remarkable assemblage of astonishing flora, whilst the Western Cape of South Africa is home to an unimaginable diversity of flora. The accompanying text provides descriptions of the species, plant families and their distribution, as well as offering guidance to those wishing to photograph plants in the wild. With 600 stunning colour photographs, and presenting a breadth of flora never before brought together in a single volume, the authors offer a unique window on the floral wonders of the Mediterranean world.

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"Fletcher and Gardner have created a comprehensive resource that will be of interest not only to those working in the field of finance, but also to those using numerical methods in other fields such as engineering, physics, and actuarial mathematics. By showing how to combine the high-level elegance, accessibility, and flexibility of Python, with the low-level computational efficiency of C++, in the context of interesting financial modeling problems, they have provided an implementation template which will be useful to others seeking to jointly optimize the use of computational and human resources. They document all the necessary technical details required in order to make external numerical libraries available from within Python, and they contribute a useful library of their own, which will significantly reduce the start-up costs involved in building financial models. This book is a must read for all those with a need to apply numerical methods in the valuation of financial claims." –David Louton, Professor of Finance, Bryant University This book is directed at both industry practitioners and students interested in designing a pricing and risk management framework for financial derivatives using the Python programming language. It is a practical book complete with working, tested code that guides the reader through the process of building a flexible, extensible pricing framework in Python. The pricing frameworks' loosely coupled fundamental components have been designed to facilitate the quick development of new models. Concrete applications to real-world pricing problems are also provided. Topics are introduced gradually, each building on the last. They include basic mathematical algorithms, common algorithms from numerical analysis, trade, market and event data model representations, lattice and simulation based pricing, and model development. The mathematics presented is kept simple and to the point. The book also provides a host of information on practical technical topics such as C++/Python hybrid development (embedding and extending) and techniques for integrating Python based programs with Microsoft Excel.

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An illustrated guide to the most spectacular floral region on earth The Silk Road - a name that has enchanted for centuries. Yet a well kept secret, even today, is that this fabled route linking Europe with Asia is also the most spectacular floral region on earth. Chris and Basak Gardner offer a unique pictorial celebration of the plants and scenery to be found along its 5,000 miles. Embracing Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Iran, Central Asia and China, more than five hundred of the finest wild flowers are depicted together with the beautiful landscapes in which these botanical paradises are found. With an accompanying text giving descriptions of the species, plant families and their distribution, as well as information on photographing plants in the wild, this unique book will amaze and delight not only those with an interest in the spectacular and legendary landscapes that form the Silk Road but also plantsmen and horticulturalists worldwide.

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