Excerpted from the inside cover of the most recent Princeton University Press mathematics catalog:

We hope that the front cover picture of Rosie, the Princeton University Press ostrich, has caught your attention. Why, you may be asking, is an ostrich on the cover of a mathematics catalog? Quite simply, we feel that the rejuvenated PUP mathematics programme deserves your attention, and Rosie's enquiring expression has brought you thus far!

I would have looked through the catalog anyhow, but they were right. The ostrich is an excellent touch. How can you go wrong by combining Weyl's writings on symmetry groups with pictures of cute birds?

An ostrich on a mathematical book catalog, classic math texts in inexpensive paperback editions, and the ease of amazon ordering is a dangerous combination. As of about half an hour ago, I'm somewhat richer in my bookshelf and somewhat poorer in my wallet.

Currently waiting for:

• The Classical Groups by Hermann Weyl
• Symmetry by Hermann Weyl
• Mathematical Methods of Statistics by Harald Cramer
• Topology from the Differentiable Viewpoint by John Milnor
• The Geometry of Physics: An Introduction by Theodore Frankel
• Differential Forms and Connections by R.W.R. Darling
• Russka: The Novel of Russia by Edward Rutherfurd