Reviews for Liapunov functions and stability in control theory

The average rating for Liapunov functions and stability in control theory based on 2 reviews is 4 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2020-11-11 00:00:00 YUTAKA NAGASAKI ”Any man’s death diminishes me, because I am Involved in Mankind,” as John Donne had said, and Banks knew exactly what he meant.” Detective Chief Inspector Alan Banks has never been the typical investigator. His unorthodox style has brought him in constant conflict with his superiors including Chief Constable Jeremiah Riddle. Banks has been assigned to the Eastvale Regional Headquarters, a bit different from his London assignment where any given street might give him a ”whiff of villainy”. To go with his quaint surroundings is his small, but adequate cottage with a ghost/spirit in the kitchen. His academic head doesn’t really believe in those sorts of things, but there is no denying the feelings of something there that raises the hair on the back of his neck. ”In the end, he accepted, even embraced, whatever the presence was, and came to believe it was some sort of spirit of the house, the way places are said to have spirits. He had read a little about the subject and named his spirit Haltia, after the Finnish, generally believed to be the spirit of the first person to lay claim to a site either by lighting a fire on it, by building a house on it, or even, in some cases, the first person to die there.” The presence doesn’t in any way, shape, or form replace the wife he still carries a torch for. She has not only left him, but moved in with some other bloke. Banks drinks too much Laphroaig Scotch Whisky, a bit steep for his pocketbook, but it brings a slice of amber heaven into what could be a gloomy existence. His two children are grown, his son’s band is about to press their first CD, and his daughter, as he discovers, would rather go to Paris with her boyfriend than her father. *Sigh* they are most certainly getting on with their lives while his seems to be steadily sliding backwards. Banks reads almost every evening, at least when work isn’t keeping him on a case. He is a big fan of Graham Greene which certainly gives me a point of reference with him. He also listens to Jazz from Duke Ellington to Miles Davis. The GG Jazz club of Banks and Keeten could be in the works. He is more than a bit put off, after settled into a good book and pouring himself a few fingers of Scotch, when he gets the call from Riddle needing to see him right away. It is storming, Riddle is an acknowledge foe intent on ruining his career, but the detective in Banks is intrigued by Riddle, of all people, reaching out to him for help. It seems, Riddle needs the very skills he abhors in Banks to help him find his daughter. Emily Riddle, sixteen going on thirty, ran away from home after leaving her parents in disarray. She made demands of them and then when they gave her what she wanted she loathed them all the more for it. Banks finds her living with a thug named Barry Clough, but he has had other names. Clough is a gangster with a rock star image of himself and a penchant for underage girls. Banks extracts the girl, dodges a rather embarrassing and potentially career ending temptation, and returns the girl to her parents. ”Tall and long-legged, she also had that anorexic, thoroughbred look of a professional model. Heroin-chic. She was wearing denim capris that came halfway up her calves, and a loose cable-knit sweater. She walked barefoot, he noticed, showing off her shapely ankles and slim feet, the toenails painted crimson. For some reason, Coleridge’s line from ‘Cristabel’ flashed through Banks’s mind: “...her blue-veined feet unsandalled were.” It had always seemed an improbable erotic image to him, ever since he first came across the poem at school, and now he knew why.” Dusting of the hands, pour a glass of Laphroaig, put on some music, and open a good book...job well done and all that Banks. Not quite. Little does Banks know, but he is now entwined with the Riddle family and will find himself further drawn into the drama of that dysfunctional family. Banks has another issue, an ongoing one, with the dynamic and sometimes enigmatic Annie Cabbot. She is a police officer working under (well not literally anymore) Banks. She broke off her relationship with Banks, but the snaring pheromones are still dancing the tango between the two of them. Because of their history they have difficulty being totally honest with each other that leads to misunderstandings which leads to a very unhappy investigating team. The twist and turns of the plot are excellent. People seemingly without motive are revealed to be so much more than they seem to be. Bodies continue to be found, taking some much sought after truth to the grave, and adding more layers to an already complex web of deceit. Banks continues to doggedly sort out the truth from the lies and eventually makes some soul crushing revelations that leave all parties involved stunned and reeling from the implications. I didn’t need a great plot from Peter Robinson to enjoy this book. I was quite content to hang around with Alan Banks and watch him find missing cats or guard a watermelon patch, but a great character coupled with an interesting plot certainly makes it a book I can recommend to those that enjoy a great mystery and well drawn characters. A mystery that can be called literature. ”He realized with a shock that the loss of innocence never stopped happening, that he was still losing it, that it was like a wound that never healed, and he would probably go on losing it, drop by drop, until the day he died.”

Review # 2 was written on 2016-07-11 00:00:00 Michael Jamison [ Banks agrees to, as a private person, rather than police, go to London to find and talk to his Chief constable's estranged daughter who's gone there immediately following her 16th birthday. Banks and the Chief does not see eye to eye about anything, but the latter acknowledges Banks' abilities. The Chief cannot go himself because the moment the daughter gets wind of her father's looking for her, she's bound to go into (deeper) hiding. Banks cannot go in his capacity as a policeman, so what does he do in the course of his inquiries? He tells all and everyone that he's the girls... father!? (hide spoiler)]