Physics Books - Page 5

The Complete Idiot's Guide to String Theory (Complete Idiot's Guide to)

George Musser

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 6 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Still An Idiot 5 out of 5 stars.
7 of 9 people found this review helpful.

I am still basically an idiot on this subject, but now with a little enlightenment. I have been out of school for some30++ years and this
stuff is a bit out there for me. But, it is written clearly and I am
very happy with the read.

wide ranging 5 out of 5 stars.
7 of 8 people found this review helpful.

A chunk of the book covers relativity.
Quantum mechanics is presented with its incompatibilities.
With these formalities over with, string theory is discussed.

There are some difficulties here.
Profound conclusions are presented without much background.
The conflicting view points get tiresome.
There is not much of a climax at the end.
But these problems are inherent to the subject matter.

The digressions and historical bits are always interesting.
The endless analogies to everyday life are better than you would expect.
There is a joy about the audacity of the subject which comes through.

Editorial Review:

Everything is connected…

We’re living in the midst of a scientific revolution that’s captured the general public’s attention and imagination. The aim of this new revolution is to develop a “theory of everything”—a set of laws of physics that will explain all that can be explained, ranging from the tiniest subatomic particle to the universe as a whole. Here, readers will learn the ideas behind the theories, and their effects upon our world, our civilization, and ourselves.

13 Things That Don't Make Sense: The Most Baffling Scientific Mysteries of Our Time

Brooks, Michael

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 11 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Quantifying Ignorance...the fractal nature of knowledge 5 out of 5 stars.
9 of 9 people found this review helpful.

"I believe that knowledge is fractal in nature. No matter how much we learn, what remains how seemingly small is infinitely complex."
Isaac Asimov

In detailing 13 mysteries at the edge of modern science Michael Brooks expertly lays bare fertile domains for scientific progress. But much more than that, referencing history and historical shifts in perspective that accompanied scientific advance (as for example, when the church attempted to suppress the writings of Galileo and was ultimately unsuccessful in doing so) Brooks also suggests that shifts in perspective may be necessary for us to gain the advance we seek.

But enough about generalities...let's take glimpse at the mysteries surveyed by Brooks:

1) The search for the missing mass in the universe: Today's physicists believe they can only fully explain four percent of what constitutes the universe. The remaining 96 percent has been supposedly divided into dark matter and dark energy owing to qualities about some of it that seem to behave more like matter and others that seem to behave more like energy. However, another proposal is that our understanding of gravity itself is at fault and just as Einstein had to tweek Isaac Newton's concepts of gravity in relation to light we may also have to tweek them in relation to supposedly empty space...which relates to the next mystery:

2) The Pioneer anomaly: In the early 1970s the US sent out two Pioneer probes that are now both past Pluto. Yet amazingly both of them are off course and by the same degree than would be predicted under traditional notions of gravitational pull. Have our probes journeyed far enough to make contact with that missing universe aluded to in the first mystery? The answer to that question is related to our next mystery:

3) Varying Constants: The set strength of the various fundamental forces of nature may not be constant. For those whose appetite is whetted by this chapter, please read Oxford University Prof. John Barrow's book entitled simply "Constants of the Universe." In a rough way, this mystery relates to the next one:

4) Whether cold fusion is possible: Thanks to Einstein's famous E = MC2 huge amounts of energy can be produced by either nuclear fission (the division of nuclear particles) or alternatively fusion (the unification of certain nuclear particles). For those familiar with US A bomb and H bomb testing videos and Godzilla movies, this process is usually a very dramatic one. If cold fusion were possible it would bode significantly against global energy concerns. And while we still don't know for sure if it can be done, we do know that the US Navy is convinced enough to massively fund research in this area. From this mystery, we leap to our next one:

5) How did life originate: Wisely Brooks peppers this part of his book heavily with quotations from both Erwin Schroedinger whose 1944 essay of the same name is still in print and also Adelaide U prof Paul Davies fantastic book The Fifth Miracle. While personally, I believe life will ultimately be found to a fairly common emergent property on certain types of planets and moons, it's still interesting reading to see just how far current research has NOT come. This brings us to our next mystery:

6) Did Viking find evidence of life on Mars: On July 20 1976 the Viking lander did just that on Mars. In four then cutting edge tests (the fifth one failed to work properly) Viking's magic eight ball said: Probably not. But was that the final word? Itself probably not. Which brings us to the next mystery: did we alredy recieve an extra terrestrial signal?

As can be seen, the issues (and the ones listed were just a sampling are fascinating reading for both the questions they answer and the others they beckon us...their inheritors...to answer.

Editorial Review:

Science starts to get interesting when things dont make sense. Michael Brooks reveals thirteen anomalies that defy the scientific theory of today and forecast tomorrows breakthroughs.

Linked: How Everything Is Connected to Everything Else and What It Means

Albert-Laszlo Barabasi

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 94 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Great overview for the non-scientist 4 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

This is the first book I've ever read tackling this subject. I've had some science, but physics wasn't my strong suit. This was a great intro, and it made me want to dig deeper.

Inspiring 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

Reminds of "The World is Flat". It covers lots of ground really quickly. It was an interesting subject, something I've speculated a lot on my own and it was reinforcing to have a professional discuss lots of patterns (biology, physics, society, information networks) in a short-form context. It inspired me to write some graphics code based on the diagrams in the book and for that it was worth reading.

Editorial Review:

A cocktail party. A terrorist cell. Ancient bacteria. An international conglomerate.

All are networks, and all are a part of a surprising scientific revolution. Albert-László Barabási, the nation's foremost expert in the new science of networks, takes us on an intellectual adventure to prove that social networks, corporations, and living organisms are more similar than previously thought. Grasping a full understanding of network science will someday allow us to design blue-chip businesses, stop the outbreak of deadly diseases, and influence the exchange of ideas and information. Just as James Gleick brought the discovery of chaos theory to the general public, Linked tells the story of the true science of the future.

The Art of Electronics

Paul Horowitz, Winfield Hill

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 126 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

NOT a Beginners Guide to Electronics 3 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

I've always been particularly fascinated by electronics, circuits, and the whole realm in general, and I bought this book with the hopes of expanding that interest into a constructive hobby.

I have had basic experience with electronics in the past, and taken classes in Differential Equations, Calc 1-3, Linear Algebra, Physics, even some intro Electrical/Computer Engineering courses (all a long time ago though), but WOWee is this book complicated. It's 1300 pages and EVERY SINGLE PARAGRAPH is filled with mind crushing complexity.

Maybe it's all just above me, but from a complete beginners standpoint, this was far too difficult a first step.

I'll try to forge ahead (the author says don't get discouraged by the complex Math), but I have a feeling I will understand less and less the more I read.

Editorial Review:

This is the thoroughly revised and updated second edition of the hugely successful The Art of Electronics. Widely accepted as the authoritative text and reference on electronic circuit design, both analog and digital, this book revolutionized the teaching of electronics by emphasizing the methods actually used by circuit designers -- a combination of some basic laws, rules of thumb, and a large bag of tricks. The result is a largely nonmathematical treatment that encourages circuit intuition, brainstorming, and simplified calculations of circuit values and performance. The new Art of Electronics retains the feeling of informality and easy access that helped make the first edition so successful and popular. It is an ideal first textbook on electronics for scientists and engineers and an indispensable reference for anyone, professional or amateur, who works with electronic circuits.

MY INVENTIONS: The Autobiography of Nikola Tesla

Nikola Tesla

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 25 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

Good quick life story 3 out of 5 stars.
3 of 4 people found this review helpful.

I'm really a fan of Tesla and this book was a good view into him as a person. Although the exact same pages of this book can be found in the end portion of the book "The Nikola Tesla Treasury" and I highly suggest that book over this one.

A shoddy edition of a text deserving of better 1 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

The presentation of Nikola Tesla's fascinating life and work is manhandled in this edition of his autobiography, My Inventions.

The text is full of typographical errors; the letter "i" (referring to Tesla in the first-person) is rarely ever capitalized, and there are numerous misspellings of simple words. Paragraph breaks seem to have been inserted at random and, when compared to other editions, do not correspond with the others' layouts or chapters.

I do not know what Tesla's manuscript looked like or who is responsible for typesetting it for BNPublishing, but it is most telling that Amazon's link to look inside this book redirects to a different edition.

Editorial Review:

Tesla's autobiography, originally printed as a series of six magazine articles in The Electrical Experimenter magazine. Complete with all original plus 6 additional illustrations.

Hyperspace: A Scientific Odyssey Through Parallel Universes, Time Warps, and the Tenth Dimension

Michio Kaku

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Total reviews: 212 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

Already thoroughly familiar to the seasoned science fiction fan, Hyperspace is that realm which enables a spaceship captain to take his ship on a physics-defying shortcut (or "wormhole") to the outer shores of the Galaxy in less time than it takes a 747 to fly from New York to Tokyo. But in the past few years, physicists on the cutting edge of science have found that a 10-dimensional Hyperspace may actually exist, albeit at a scale almost too small to comprehend, smaller even than a quark; and that in spite of its tiny size, it may be the basis on which all the forces of nature will be united. This is the first book for a general audience on one of the latest, most exciting developments in modern science. In the past several years, theoretical physicists--the author among them--have discovered that the universe exists not merely in the four spacetime dimensions (3 of space + one of time) with which Einstein made us familiar, but rather as a ten-dimensional Hyperspace. Once the domain of the science fiction writer or the occultist, Hyperspace has recently been shown to be the only kind of space in which the laws of modern physics can be satisfactorily explained. Amazingly enough, many of the phenomena whose explanations have stymied 20th century physicists and cosmologists can now be perfectly clarified by using the ten dimensions of Hyperspace. Most importantly, Einstein's unfulfilled dream, the work on which he spent the last several decades of his life in vain--the unification of all the forces of nature--now sits waiting on the ten-dimensional doorstep of modern theoretical physicists. Michio Kaku--theoretical high-energy physicist, author, radio talkshow host, and nuclear disarmament activist--is one of the pioneers in the field of String Theory, which states that the basic constituents of our universe are not quarks or protons or electrons, but much smaller entities called "strings" or "superstrings", which vibrate--like violin strings--in 10 dimensional Hyperspace, and whose vibrations in different resonances are manifested in the elementary particles. In his book, Kaku takes the reader on a ride through Hyperspace to the edge of physics. On the way he gives crystal clear explanations of such formidable mathematical concepts as non-Euclidean Geometry, Kaluza-Klein Theory, and Supergravity, the everyday tools of the string theorist. Utilizing fascinating and often hilarious anecdotes from history, from art, and from science fiction, Kaku shows us that writers and artists--in addition to scientists--have been fascinated by multidimensional space for over a century. In fact, many of the weird effects created by such famous artists as Dali and Picasso can be explained and more appreciated with an eye on the fourth spatial dimension. Finally, Kaku shows us why the ability to master Hyperspace may be our only salvation from destruction at the end of space-time. This lively yet authoritative book is spiced with many whimsical illustrations in a style reminiscent of the late science writer George Gamow.

Leadership and the New Science: Discovering Order in a Chaotic World

Margaret J. Wheatley

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 46 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

You either get it or you don't 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

As I read this book I gain flashes of insight from almost every page. I am an engineer and, while not expert in the scientific fields Wheatley discusses, I had read quite a bit about them. As I venture into unfamiliar organizational territory, I find that we have been instinctively using Wheatley's approaches. They seem especially suited to what we are endeavoring to do. Reading her book has clarified and affirmed what we are doing and allowed me to more deeply understand the processes.
Reading the reviews here, I see that some people 'get' what Ms. Wheatley is saying and some people don't. The ones who 'get it' are going to change the world.

Editorial Review:

Leadership and the New Science launched a revolution by demonstrating that ideas drawn from quantum physics, chaos theory, and molecular biology could improve organizational performance. Margaret Wheatley called for free-flowing information, individual empowerment, relationship networks, and organizational change that evolves organically - ideas that have become commonplace. Now Wheatley updates her classic book based on her experiences with these ideas in a diverse number of organizations on five continents.

Examkrackers: 1001 Questions in MCAT in Physics

Jonathan Orsay, Jordan Zaretsky

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Total reviews: 12 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Review of Examkrackers 1001 Questions in MCAT Physics by Jonathan Orsay 3 out of 5 stars.
4 of 5 people found this review helpful.

The book contains over 1001 practice questions for MCAT. The shear amount of practice from this book is guaranteed to help you prepare for MCAT one way or another.
How similar the questions are to actual MCAT physics questions is a whole another matter. And in truth not too similar. Firstly, actual MCAT physics questions are often based on a passage, all the physics questions from Examkrackers are standalone questions. Actual MCAT questions vary in topic from one question to the next, in this book questions are grouped together by topic. So if you're trying to simulate MCAT testing conditions while doing the exercises in this practice book it wouldn't be a realistic simulation. Secondly because all questions are standalone, it's hard to set time limits for a number of questions. Of course you're always trying to do the questions as fast as you can, being as careful as you can. But taking the MCAT requires a good sense of timing that you probably won't get from this book. Thirdly, the content of the questions in this book rely on what is extra to the MCAT. So there may be questions that require a bit of memorization and knowledge from other sciences. In itself this is not a bad thing, but it should dictate the way you use the book.
If you have time, I would recommend doing all the questions in there. And then moving on to more realistic practice from other books.
I hope this was a helpful review.

Editorial Review:

This book contains 1001 fully annotated physics questions in the MCAT format organized by topic. The range of difficulty is from easy to very difficult. There are questions on every physics topic that might appear on the MCAT.

What the Bleep Do We Know!?: Discovering the Endless Possibilities for Altering Your Everyday Reality

William Arntz, Betsy Chasse, Mark Vicente

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Total reviews: 71 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Gravity sometimes doesn't work.
Some things are both waves and particles. . .at the same time.
Electrons simply disappear . . . all the time.

If the universe is this wild and unpredictable, so full of possibility, why are your thoughts about your own life so limited?

Hundreds of years ago, science and religion split apart; they became antagonists in the great game of explanation and discovery. But science and religion are two sides of the same coin. They both help explain the universe, our place in the great plan and the meaning of our lives. In fact, they can only begin to do that adequately when they work together.

What the Bleep Do We Know?!^TM is a book of amazing science. With the help of more than a dozen research and theoretical scientists, it takes you through the looking glass of quantum physics into a universe that is more bizarre and alive than ever imagined. Then it takes you beyond, into the outer-inner edges of our scientific knowledge of consciousness, perception, body chemistry and brain structure. What is a thought made of? What is reality made of? And most importantly, how does a thought change the nature of reality?

This science leads not just to the material world, but deep into the realm of spirituality. If observation affects the outcome, we aren’t merely part of the universe, but participants in it. If thoughts are more than random neural firings, than consciousness is more than an anatomical accident. A higher power exists, but is it truly out there? Where is the dividing line between out there and in here?

This is not a book of definitive answers. This is a book of mind stretching questions. It is a book that shows you not the path, but the endless possibilities. Do you think you have to go to the same job every day, do the same errands, think the same thoughts, feel the same way? Well, think again.

Schaum's Outline of College Physics, 10th edition (Schaum's Outlines)

Frederick J. Bueche, Eugene Hecht

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Editorial Review:

Confusing Textbooks?

Missed Lectures?

Tough Test Questions?

Fortunately for you, there's Schaum's Outlines. More than 40 million students have trusted Schaum's to help them succeed in the classroom and on exams. Schaum's is the key to faster learning and higher grades in every subject. Each Outline presents all the essential course information in an easy-to-follow, topic-by-topic format. You also get hundreds of examples, solved problems, and practice exercises to test your skills.

This Schaum's Outline gives you

• Practice problems with full explanations that reinforce knowledge
• Coverage of the most up-to-date developments in your course field
• In-depth review of practices and applications

Fully compatible with your classroom text, Schaum's highlights all the important facts you need to know. Use Schaum's to shorten your study time-and get your best test scores!

Schaum's Outlines-Problem Solved.