UK-based publisher Routledge last month named Brock Professor Mohammed Dore’s book Dynamic Investment Planning a classic.
Publishing a book is accomplishment and honour enough. But having a publisher declare that book to be a “classic” 35 years later is a double round of achievement.
Department of Economics Professor Mohammed Dore knows that feeling well. Dore’s publisher, the UK-based Routledge, last month named his book Dynamic Investment Planning a classic under the company’s Routledge Revivals program.
“Are there elusive titles that you need and have been trying to source for years but thought that you would never be able to find?” says the “Show description” section of the Routledge Revivals webpage.
“Drawing from over 100 years of innovative, cutting-edge, publishing Routledge Revivals is an exciting new programme whereby key titles from the distinguished and extensive backlist of the many acclaimed imprints associated with Routledge will be re-issued.”
Titles in the revival series include books by Economics Nobel Laureates W. Arthur Lewis and Vernon Smith and prominent scholars such as Vaclav Havel, Simone Weil and Emile Durkheim.
Dore first published Dynamic Investment Planning in 1977 based on the doctoral thesis completed at the University of Oxford. He was awarded his PhD in 1976.
In his book, Dore draws upon Russian mathematician Lev Semenovich Pontryagin’s equation that is used in optimal control theory, which involves taking a dynamical system from one state to another.
Dynamical systems are mathematical objects used to model physical phenomena whose state (or instantaneous description) changes over time, such as the swinging of a clock pendulum or the flow of water in a pipe.
Factoring in the importance of timing in investment planning, Dore formulated a mathematical model and applied it to planning a steel industry in his country of origin, Zambia.
“By simplifying the mathematical notation, the author of this book seeks to make control theory a practical tool that can be applied to the problem of timing,” says his publisher.
Dore recalls how he carried out his research.
“This was before the advent of the personal computer. I worked on an old IBM (International Business Machines) computer where I used punch cards to punch in the data. The mathematical model was programed in Fortran.”
He says having his book described as a classic is “very gratifying.”
Dore has also just published a book, Global Drinking Water Management and Conservation, that examines making drinking water safe and free of contaminants, which is a huge concern for much of the world’s population.
