Book reviews for Operations Research Letters

ORL publishes two types of reviews, namely short ones and long ones. A short review is typically about a single, recent book and its length is about a single ORL-page (that is, about 800-1000 words). A long review is typically about a topic on which a number of recent books have appeared, or devoted to a special occasion; the length of a long review is about six to eight ORL-pages, i.e. a regular ORL paper.

Guidelines:

A short review should give a balanced view of the book mentioning its strengths but also its weaknesses. Praise should be used with care (ORL-pages are not a way to promote sales!). A review should be complimentary when possible, and critical when necessary (see for instance Laporte's review in ORL 32, 394-397, 2004). Keep in mind that readers of ORL are not necessarily experts on the specific field of the review.

A review is not the same as a summary. A summary merely conveys what is in a book, while a review also includes the writer's opinion about, say, the relevance, the organization, or any other feature, of topics covered in the book.

A long review is more than a series of short reviews, that is, it should give an overview of the topic and its developments. In that sense, a long review is more like a regular ORL-paper (see for instance Gerhard Woeginger's recent review entitled: Combinatorial approximation algorithms: a comparative review).

Do not be afraid to write the truth. A good book should be called good, and a bad book should be called bad. Calling a bad book good is in fact a disservice to all the good books that have been written (and to the reader as well!). This is not to mean that a review should not be respectful; it should. Behind the author's name on the book, there is a person who had every intention to get it right, and this person should deserve credit for that intention in the review.

Finally, original, perhaps slightly provoking, reviews are the most fun to read (and write!).

Reviewed (long):

Gerhard Woeginger reviewed: Ausiello, G., Crescenzi, P., Gambosi, G., Kann, V., Marchetti-Spaccamela, A., Protasi, M. (2002), Complexity and Approximation • Combinatorial Optimization Problems and Their Approximability Properties, Springer; Vazirani, V. (2002), Approximation Algorithms, Springer; Hromkovic, J. (2003), Algorithmics for Hard Problems, Springer (see ORL 33, 210-215).
Uriel Rothblum reviewed: Hoffman, A. (2003), Selected Papers of Alan J. Hoffman, World Scientific (see ORL 32, 591-594).
Tamas Kis reviewed: Demeulemeester, E.L., Herroelen, W.S. (2002), Project Scheduling, A Research Handbook, Kluwer; Dorndorf, U. (2002), Project Scheduling with Time Windows - From Theory to Applications, Springer; Neumann, K., Schwindt, C., Zimmermann, J. (2003), Project Scheduling with Time Windows and Scarce Resources - Temporal and Resource-Constrained Project Scheduling with Regular and Nonregular Objective Functions, Springer (see ORL 33, 105-110).
Laszlo Lovasz reviewed: Schrijver, A. (2003), Combinatorial Optimization: Polyhedra and Efficiency, Springer (see ORL 33, 437-440).
Bert Zwart reviewed: Asmussen, S. (2003), Applied Probability and Queues, Springer; Chen, H., Yao, D. (2003), Fundamentals of Queueing Networks, Springer; Whitt, W. (2002), Stochastic-Process Limits, Springer (see ORL 33, 544-550).

Reviewed (short):

Rudolf Müller reviewed: Dietrich, B., R. Vohra, P. Brick (editors) (2002) Mathematics of the Internet • E-Auction and Markets, Springer (see ORL 32, 390).
Gilbert Laporte reviewed: Hall, R.W. (editor) (2003), Handbook of Transportation Science, Volume 56, Kluwer (see ORL 32, 393).
Nesim Erkip reviewed: Gershwin, S.B., Y. Dallery, C.T. Papadopoulos, J. MacGregor Smith (2002), Analysis and Modeling of Manufacturing Systems, Volume 60 (see ORL 33, 219).
Adam Letchford reviewed: Toth, P., D. Vigo (editors) (2001), The Vehicle Routing Problem (see ORL 32, 392).
Alberto Caprara reviewed: Jünger, M., D. Naddef, (editors) (2001), Computational Combinatorial Optimization • Optimal or Provably Near-Optimal Solutions (see ORL 32, 496).
David Hartvigsen reviewed: Jungnickel, D. (2002), Graphs, Networks and Algorithms (2nd edition), Springer (see ORL 32, 391).
Gerhard Reinelt reviewed: Gutin, G. , A. Punnen, (editors) (2002), The Traveling Salesman Problem and Its Variations, Kluwer (see ORL 32, 497).
Vitaly Strusevich reviewed: Kellerer, H., Pferschy, U., Pisinger, D. (2004), Knapsack Problems, Springer (see ORL 33, 217).
Ton Volgenant reviewed: Korte, B., Vygen, J. (2002), Combinatorial Optimization • Theory and Algorithms (see ORL 33, 216).
Ruud Koning reviewed: Butenko, S., J. Gil-Lafuente, P. Pardalos, (editors) (2004), Economics, Management and Optimization, Springer (see ORL 33, 652).
Bo Chen reviewed: Faigle, U., W. Kern, G. Still, (2002), Algorithmic Principles of Mathematical Programming, Springer (see ORL 33, 653).
Jean Derks reviewed: Peleg, B., P. Sudholter, (2004), Introduction to the Theory of Cooperative Games, Springer (see ORL 34, 239).
Willy Gochet reviewed: Gass, S., A. Assad, (2004), An Annotated Timeline of Operations Research: An Informal History, Springer (see ORL 34, 478).
Wieslaw Kubiak reviewed: Pinedo, M. (2005), Planning and Scheduling in Manufacturing and Services, Springer (see ORL 34, 599-600).
Rüdiger Schultz reviewed: Marti, K. (2005), Stochastic Optimization Methods, Springer (see ORL 34, 719-720).
Philippe Baptiste reviewed: Schwindt, C. (2005), Resource Allocation in Project Management, Springer (see ORL 35, 139-140).
Stephen Graves reviewed: Muckstadt, J. (2005), Analysis and Algorithms for Service Parts Supply Chains, Springer (see ORL 35, 416-418).
Thomas Erlebach reviewed: Roughgarden, T. (2005), Selfish Routing and the Price of Anarchy, MIT Press (see ORL 35, 418-419).
Diethard Klatte reviewed: Brinkhuis, J., V. Tikhomirov, (2005), Optimization: Insights and Applications, Princeton University Press (see ORL 35, 419-420).
Rene Henrion reviewed: Mordukhovich, B. (2006), Variational Analysis and Generalized Differentiation, Vols. I and II, Springer (see ORL 35, 558-559).
Franz Rendl reviewed: Ruszczynski, A. (2006), Nonlinear Optimization, Princeton University Press (see ORL 35, 559-560).
Samuel Fiorini reviewed: Aardal, K., G. Nemhauser, R. Weismantel (editors) (2006), Handbooks in Operations Research and Management Science, Vol. 12, Discrete Optimization, Elsevier (see ORL 35, 823-824).
Kirk Pruhs reviewed: Nisan, N. T. Roughgarden, E. Tardos, V. Vazirani (editors) (2007), Algorithmic Game Theory, Cambridge University Press (see ORL 36, 656).