Molecular Physics Books

Shadows of the Mind: A Search for the Missing Science of Consciousness

Roger Penrose

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 22 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

Physics of the mind 3 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

Penrose, while more famous, does not do as well at popularizing the heady physics and mathematics in this area as Barrow in Pi in the Sky: Counting, Thinking, and Being and Tipler in The Physics of Immortality: Modern Cosmology, God and the Resurrection of the Dead (see my reviews there). His reasoning is too tortured and formula-heavy for me, and I consider myself an advanced popular reader.

However, he does reach the deep conclusion that "whatever brain activity is responsible for consciousness . . . It must depend upon a physics that lies beyond computational simulation (p. 411)." Instead of resorting to the mind as mystical or mysterious, Penrose postulates that consciousness, while incalculable, is still physical, perhaps in an interaction in the brain between classical physics and quantum physics not yet discovered or understood. Penrose points to the possibility of "microtubules" (part of the cytoskeleton that exist even in single-cell paramecium--and seem to give that cell some level of understanding!) that form neurons at the quantum level being the answer to this current quandary:

"Accordingly, the neuron level of description that provides the currently fashionable picture of the brain and mind is a mere shadow of the deeper level of cytoskeletal action--and it is at this deeper level where we must seek the physical basis of mind!"

That Penrose only gets to this statement on p. 376 of this heavy tome is part of the problem with this book.

Editorial Review:

The bestselling author of The Emperor's New Mind offers another exhilarating look at modern science as he mounts an even more powerful attack on artifical intelligence. Shadows of the Mind points the way to a new science, one that may eventually explain the physical basis of the human mind. 49 illustrations.

Particle Physics: A Very Short Introduction

Frank Close

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

Not boring to read 5 out of 5 stars.
14 of 14 people found this review helpful.

This book is excellent for anyone who would like to learn fundamentals of particle physics, or refresh his or her basic knowledge in the area. Particles are on the forefront of physics, with new ones discovered or proven to exist not long ago, with new theories emerging, or old ones confirmed or found inconsistent, chances are what we know about particles today is somewhat different than what you may have learned in school back.

Interesting facts and easy to understand comparisons make this book captivating. It explains the structure of atoms, and subatomic particles, as well as methods and instruments used to study them. Sometimes the book is repetitive, but repetition is one of the key aspects of learning.

Overall, this very short introduction feels very fresh and light to a reader, and the last chapter that focuses on current high priority theories to be proven, gives an excellent outlook of what may await us in the future, giving this book balanced perspective.

Editorial Review:

In Particles: A Very Short Introduction, best-selling author Frank Close provides a compelling and lively introduction to the fundamental particles that make up the universe. The book begins with a guide to what matter is made up of and how it evolved, and goes on to describe the fascinating and cutting-edge techniques used to study it. The author discusses particles such as quarks, electrons, and the neutrino, and exotic matter and antimatter. He also investigates the forces of nature, accelerators and detectors, and the intriguing future of particle physics. This book is essential reading for general readers interested in popular science, students of physics, and scientists at all levels.

Atom: Journey Across the Subatomic Cosmos

Isaac Asimov, D.F. Bach

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 13 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Excellent 5 out of 5 stars.
9 of 11 people found this review helpful.

This is an excellent book for students of almost all ages (14 up). I was 14 when I read it, with no education in atoms, and I understood it perfectly. Asimov writes in a way that is extremely provocative and very informative. I highly recommed this book.

True Asimov style 5 out of 5 stars.
7 of 7 people found this review helpful.

This book is an excellent summation of the progress made in discovering sub-atomic particles, It may not now be up to date (it was printed in 1991), but I would not forgo the learning within, or the Asimov method of presenting it. Isaac Asimov specialty was explaining difficult subjects to his readers. He did an admiral job keeping the subject matter interesting. Each short chapter is dedicated to a particle, ex. mesons, quarks, bosons. Each chapter also gives a little historical background of the search and discovery behind each particle and how it fits within the sub-atomic world. Nuclear physicists may have progressed far beyond this by now, but this is still a good book for piecing together the subatomic puzzle of particles.

Editorial Review:

The legendary Isaac Asimov starts what is perhaps the finest of all his books with a simple query: How finely can a piece of matter be divided? But like many simple questions, this one leads readers on a far-flung quest for a final answer, a search that encompasses such fascinating phenomena as light and electricity and their components--strange but real bits of matter that challenge our assumptions about the very nature of time and space. 40 illustrations.

Absorption and Scattering of Light by Small Particles (Wiley science paperback series)

Craig F. Bohren, Donald R Huffman

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Total reviews: 5 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Absorption and Scattering of Light by Small Particles
Treating absorption and scattering in equal measure, this self-contained, interdisciplinary study examines and illustrates how small particles absorb and scatter light. The authors emphasize that any discussion of the optical behavior of small particles is inseparable from a full understanding of the optical behavior of the parent material-bulk matter. To divorce one concept from the other is to render any study on scattering theory seriously incomplete.
Special features and important topics covered in this book include:
* Classical theories of optical properties based on idealized models
* Measurements for three representative materials: magnesium oxide, aluminum, and water
* An extensive discussion of electromagnetic theory
* Numerous exact and approximate solutions to various scattering problems
* Examples and applications from physics, astrophysics, atmospheric physics, and biophysics
* Some 500 references emphasizing work done since Kerker's 1969 work on scattering theory
* Computer programs for calculating scattering by spheres, coated spheres, and infinite cylinders

Why Things Break: Understanding the World By the Way It Comes Apart

Mark Eberhart

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Total reviews: 18 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

Did you know—

• It took more than an iceberg to sink the Titanic.
• The Challenger disaster was predicted.
• Unbreakable glass dinnerware had its origin in railroad lanterns.
• A football team cannot lose momentum.
• Mercury thermometers are prohibited on airplanes for a crucial reason.
• Kryptonite bicycle locks are easily broken.

“Things fall apart” is more than a poetic insight—it is a fundamental property of the physical world. Why Things Break explores the fascinating question of what holds things together (for a while), what breaks them apart, and why the answers have a direct bearing on our everyday lives.

When Mark Eberhart was growing up in the 1960s, he learned that splitting an atom leads to a terrible explosion—which prompted him to worry that when he cut into a stick of butter, he would inadvertently unleash a nuclear cataclysm. Years later, as a chemistry professor, he remembered this childhood fear when he began to ponder the fact that we know more about how to split an atom than we do about how a pane of glass breaks.

In Why Things Break, Eberhart leads us on a remarkable and entertaining exploration of all the cracks, clefts, fissures, and faults examined in the field of materials science and the many astonishing discoveries that have been made about everything from the explosion of the space shuttle Challenger to the crashing of your hard drive. Understanding why things break is crucial to modern life on every level, from personal safety to macroeconomics, but as Eberhart reveals here, it is also an area of cutting-edge science that is as provocative as it is illuminating.

“An engaging personal account not just of the physics and chemistry of materials but of the ethics, economics, and politics of innovation, with delightful bonuses on topics from the origins of ‘ghostly’ noises in old houses to the amazing coevolution of armor and armor-piercing projectiles. If it ain’t broke, Mark Eberhart can tell you why—and explain equally well why a shatterproof world remains beyond our reach.”
—Edward Tenner, author of Our Own Devices and Why Things Bite Back

“I don’t remember a book that has taught me so much, nor previously encountering a teacher like the marvelous Mark Eberhart, who in Why Things Break provides enlightening and thoroughly captivating scientific explanations of subjects ranging from the structural failures leading to the sinking of the Titanic to everyday, no-less-fascinating topics such as the reason why, even at the same temperature, winter days always seem so much colder in Boston than in Denver.”—Richard Restak, M.D., author of Mozart’s Brain and The Fighter Pilot

“Eberhart brings his insights to the reader by weaving personal anecdotes—from his childhood fear that cutting a stick of butter would release the energy of the atoms within to his arrival in Boston for an interview with MIT without a suitable winter coat—into a fascinating discussion of the forces that hold atoms and molecules together. A lively, unvarnished look at chemistry on the cutting edge.”
—Kirkus Reviews

Numerical Methods in Astrophysics: An Introduction (Astronomy and Astrophysics)

Peter Bodenheimer, Gregory P. Laughlin, Michal Rozyczka, Harold. W Yorke

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Total reviews: 2 Average rating: 3.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Numerical Methods in Astrophysics: An Introduction outlines various fundamental numerical methods that can solve gravitational dynamics, hydrodynamics, and radiation transport equations. This resource indicates which methods are most suitable for particular problems, demonstrates what the accuracy requirements are in numerical simulations, and suggests ways to test for and reduce the inevitable negative effects.

After an introduction to the basic equations and derivations, the book focuses on practical applications of the numerical methods. It explores hydrodynamic problems in one dimension, N-body particle dynamics, smoothed particle hydrodynamics, and stellar structure and evolution. The authors also examine advanced techniques in grid-based hydrodynamics, evaluate the methods for calculating the gravitational forces in an astrophysical system, and discuss specific problems in grid-based methods for radiation transfer. The book incorporates brief user instructions and a CD-ROM of the numerical codes, allowing readers to experiment with the codes to suit their own needs.

With numerous examples and sample problems that cover a wide range of current research topics, this highly practical guide illustrates how to solve key astrophysics problems, providing a clear introduction for graduate and undergraduate students as well as researchers and professionals.

Binding and Kinetics for Molecular Biologists

James A. Goodrich, Jennifer F. Kugel

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Total reviews: 1 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

This handbook is a practical guide to the principles of quantitative analysis in biological experiments. The material is primarily aimed at working molecular biologists, but the scope and clarity of presentation make it equally suitable as an introduction for students. Topics covered range from the basics such as measuring the concentrations of macromolecules through considerations of binding constants and the kinetics of molecular interactions, and ends with a consideration of data analysis. This handbook is a practical guide to the principles of quantitative analysis in biological experiments. The material is primarily aimed at working molecular biologists, but the scope and clarity of presentation make it equally suitable as an introduction for students. Topics covered range from the basics such as measuring the concentrations of macromolecules through considerations of binding constants and the kinetics of molecular interactions, and ends with a consideration of data analysis.

From the Publisher
This title is part of a series of books, published by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press, aimed at postgraduates and researchers in the life sciences. The books provide key practical advice and data to make your life in the lab as easy as possible. The books are:
At the Bench (9780879697082);
At the Helm (9780879695835);
Binding and Kinetics for Molecular Biologists (9780879697365);
Experimental Design for Biologists (9780879697358);
Lab Dynamics (9780879697419);
Lab Math (9780879696344);
Lab Ref (9780879696306);
Lab Ref, Volume 2 (9780879698157)

More Related Titles: Basic Methods in Microscopy
Epigenetics
Imaging in Neuroscience and Development: A Laboratory Manual
Safety Sense: A Laboratory Guide, 2nd Edition

An Introduction to Modern Cosmology

Andrew Liddle

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 6 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

clear as crystal 4 out of 5 stars.
18 of 18 people found this review helpful.

This book is the most clearly written book I have ever read. Liddle has a knack for making difficult concepts easy to comprehend through his use of analogies and vividly accurate descriptions. The cosmological ideas are explained at an intuitive level and have been imprinted on my mind forever. This book is a great introduction for the less mathematically minded though also a great source of information for others. This book book covers a great amount of cosmology the big bang, nucloesynthesis, inflation, cosmological models etc and is set out in a very logical order. I would thoroughly recommend this as an introduction although for those interested in more mathematical rigour other text books may be necessary.

Well done Dr. Liddle ! A great achievement .............

Editorial Review:

A concise, accessible introduction to this exciting and dynamic subject.
* Adopts an approach grounded in physics rather than mathematics.
* Includes worked examples and student problems, along with hints for solving them and the numerical answers.
* Many reviewers have commented that this is one of the best 'introductory undergraduate level' texts on the subject and they would all welcome a Second Edition.

Molecular Theory of Capillarity

J. S. Rowlinson, B. Widom

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Editorial Review:

History of thought on molecular origins of surface phenomena offers a critical and detailed examination and assessment of modern theories, focusing on statistical mechanics and application of results in mean-field approximation to model systems. Emphasis on liquid-gas surface, with a focus on liquid-liquid surfaces in the final chapters. 1989 edition.

Quantum Optics (Oxford Graduate Texts)

Raymond Chiao, John Garrison

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Editorial Review:

Quantum optics, i.e. the interaction of individual photons with matter, began with the discoveries of Planck and Einstein, but in recent years, it has expanded beyond pure physics to become an important driving force for technological innovation. This book serves the broader readership growing out of this development by starting with an elementary description of the underlying physics and then building up a more advanced treatment. The reader is led from the quantum theory of the simple harmonic oscillator to the application of entangled states to quantum information processing.
An equally important feature of the text is a strong emphasis on experimental methods. Primary photon detection, heterodyne and homodyne techniques, spontaneous down-conversion, and quantum tomography are discussed, together with important experiments. These experimental and theoretical considerations come together in the chapters describing quantum cryptography, quantum communications, and quantum computing.