Product Description

The subject of the book is the development of physics in the 18th century centred upon the fundamental contributions of Leonhard Euler to physics and mathematics.Classical mechanics will be reconstructed in terms of the program initiated by Euler in 1736 and its completion over the following decades until 1760.

It is of particular interest to study how Euler made immediate use of his mathematics for mechanics and coordinated his progress in mathematics with his progress in physics. The interplay between physics and mathematics which appeared in the 18th century will be compared to the development of physics in the 20th century, especially to the development of quantum mechanics between 1900 and 1930. The method of investigation can be used for didactic purposes to demonstrate the relations between classical and quantum mechanics as well as the application of the calculus in physical theories.

Customer Reviews (1)

Euler by Suisky
This is an interesting book dealing with the transition from mechanics à la Newton to its modern version, to which Euler made most important contributions.
Suisky is certainly well prepared to deal with a subject that requires a solid knowledge of both physics and history. It is very unfortunate, however, that the book is marred with grammatical and typographical errors. It is hard to believe that Springer did not have the text revised by a native English speaker, as this makes the book unnecessarily difficult to read.


... Read more

Product Description
The book contains seven refereed research papers on locally compact quantum groups and groupoids by leading experts in the respective fields. These contributions are based on talks presented on the occasion of the meeting between mathematicians and theoretical physicists held in Strasbourg from February 21 to February 23, 2002.

Topics covered are: various constructions of locally compact quantum groups and their multiplicative unitaries; duality theory for locally compact quantum groups; combinatorial quantization of flat connections associated with SL(2,c); quantum groupoids, especially coming from Depth 2 Extensions of von Neumann algebras, C*-algebras and Rings. Many mathematical results are motivated by problems in theoretical physics. Historical remarks set the results presented in perspective.

Directed at research mathematicians and theoretical physicists as well as graduate students, the volume will give an overview of a field of research in which great progress has been achieved in the last few years, with new ties to many other areas of mathematics and physics. ... Read more

Product Description
Student, collaborator and lifelong friend of Enrico Fermi, Emilio Segrè presents a rich, well-rounded portrait of the scientist, his methods, intellectual history, and achievements. Explaining in nontechnical terms the scientific problems Fermi faced or solved, Enrico Fermi, Physicist contains illuminating material concerning Fermi's youth in Italy and the development of his scientific style. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (7)

Andrew Ullrich Enrico Fermi review2
Overall, the book "Enrico Fermi Physicist" was very informative and interesting.The long time friend and first graduate of Fermi, Mr. Emilo Segre, stood by Fermi's side for many years.Mr. Serge also wrote the book, and was able to do so in a very all-inclusive manner.Not only does the book teach us everything that Fermi's has accomplished through his long and illustrious career as a physicist, but it also shows us a very human side of this brilliant mind.There are stories about Enrico's childhood dispersed intermittently throughout the book, so we can look at Fermi as a regular person, rather than as a series of brilliant mathematical laws and experiments.Due to the chronological design of the book, we see Enrico grow from a young and furtive mind, with an unrestrained sense of enthusiasm for math and science, into an old and wise master of physics.
I think that Emilio Segre was compelled to write his book on Fermi for several reasons.By reading the book it is very clear that Segre has the utmost respect and appreciation for Fermi because when he describes the man it is in a tone of awe.He spends almost a page later on in the book talking about how impressed everyone was by Fermi, and how the man's brilliant mind warranted respect form all who could see him work.I also think that Segre felt some type of duty, almost a responsibility, to share Fermi's story with the rest of the world because he knew he was better qualified for the task than anyone, thanks to his close relationship with Fermi.
By reading this book one learns of Fermi's classical experiments, which would eventually come to yield the atomic pile, and later help foster the construction of the atom bomb to be dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in World War II.There is also a myriad of additional scientific details in the book, depicted in confusing and esoteric jargon.Personally, I think the book could have been more simplistic in the explanations of Fermi's work, instead of spending so much time with detailed information of little significance to the average reader.Overall, the book was engrossing, but excess scientific information gets a bit cumbersome later on in the book.
Science buffs who also like a bit of history and want to learn about a scientist's life should read this story.As far as scientists go, I found Enrico Fermi to be one of the more fascinating scientists to ever live.Through reading the book, Fermi is revealed not only as a scientific and mathematical genius, but also a fun loving kid, who was almost expelled from school for a prank he pulled.

Detailed Work on a Most Interesting Character
I found this entire work to be well written and very informative on both the more personal life of Enrico Fermi, and on his various accomplishments and work regarding radioactivity and physics. Despite being written from a more personal view, as it was authored by a friend, the book maintains its commtittment to detailing the events in his life, including what influenced him and what he in turn influenced. A fascinating tale of a Nobel Prize Winner who worked on the infamous Manhattan Project, this book lists the many discoveries Fermi came upon and what his work later led to in the discovery of producing the fission needed for reactor and atomic weapons. I would recommend this book to anyone interested in this area of physics, and those interested in the people tied to the Manhattan project. As a scientist, Enrico Fermi was an accomplished individual, and this book is able to bring to light the depth of his character and efforts in his respective field. Written from his friend's perspective, the retelling of his life is very well planned and thought out, and I commend the detail Segre put into its creation. With various interviews and detailed accounts of his life, this book is an invaluable resource for understanding more about the atomic bomb and the people who helped bring it to life. One of the most important things books serves to do is to remind American citizens how lucky they are to have gotten such great physicists and scientists to come support this country and how invaluable they are today, as they gave us a chance for the future.

Great Story-Man on a Mission, TimeMagazine Top 20 of 20th Century
I've always been fascinated with Fermi's life and knew very little about him.I'm spending too much time reading on present day problems and people complaining about their rights being violated.Time Magazine rated Fermi one of the Top 20 scientists of the 20th century, including Einstein, Salk, Wright Brothers, Hubble and others.Fermi's wife was Jewish so in the late 1930's they left Italy to come to America (real lucky for us).Imagine adding Fermi to the Nazi research and subtracting him from our research.I think we would all be talking German today if Fermi assisted the Nazi's.I am not a scientific person (like the prior reviewer has so expertly depicted)but a realist.After America declared war on Italy, Germany and Japan, Fermi was declared an enemy alien, like many Italian Americans.Fermi's travel was limited and his mail read by the government. Did Fermi leave America, did he ask the Supreme Court to rule if his rights were violated, did he go to the newspapers, no he continued his work to help defeat the Nazi's and Imperial Japan.Imagine Fermi one of the greatest of the 20th century being restricted in his travel.Today, every two bit con artist complains today their human rights are being violated if their back packs are searched.I did not understand any of the scientific writing but the man was remarkable and history has judged him one of the best.Not many people real know his story, unless you are in the scientific community. I'm not sure why, history would be a lot different if Fermi had not come to America.If you do not understand the scientific part read the War Years and Professor at Chicago.With Salk, Einstein, Hubble, Fermi changed the world.Think where we would be today without him. Think about all the great scientist in the last cenury, only 20 picked, Fermi was one of them.

Very informative
I thought this book was great and did a great job of pacing the reader through Enrico's life, as well as superbly establishing a connection between the reader and Enrico. Emilio Serge did a great job of making it feel like you actually knew Enrico Fermi in real life which made the book that much more engaging and enjoyable. To be honest I found the beginning of the book the most interesting, more specifically Enrico's childhood experiences, influences and how he became interested in physics altogether. After checking multiple online sources, I found the book itself to be one of the most comprehensive sources for information on Fermi, as it includes the entire scope of his accomplishments, dreams, failures and life changing experiences. Written in a very simple yet elegant manner, Serge writes with an embedded loving friendship that still exists despite Enrico's untimely death at the young age of 53. Every page is filled with a seemingly endless number of intriguing facts about Enrico's life, whether it be his troubles and resistances along the way to success or the outcome that occurred after his development of the atomic bomb. Recommended.

From one physisict to another
This is an interesting biography for it is written by a friend with same interests and loyalty to each other. No jealosy, no envie but appreciation and loyalty how nice. This is the story of Fermi mostly about his intellectual and social life and not about his private life and that part is in fact covered very nicely by his wife in her beautiful book. Segre without any short cuts describe Fermi, his behaior, his mastery in physics with all important documents reproduced and day by day their successes and few dissappointments. There are certain scientific explanations about the experiments they conducted days in and days out and if you are not into Atomic physics those explanations are just words but even if you do not know what they are doing you still get the pleasure of visualising masters in action. descriptions are very vivid. Hard work is necessary but knowing what you are doing is more important and this book along with the biographies of other master Physisist shows the same. Prof Serge is exteremely good in writing biography, you do not get bored while reading the book. All the surroundings, social and political world conditions are clearly described, showing the conditions these people had to go through and yet was exteremely productive. ... Read more

Product Description
"Here is a book I wish I had when taking physics my senior year in high school!" —Book Report

A lively illumination of modern physics' marquee players, featuring:

• Albert Einstein
• Max Planck
• Ernest Rutherford
• Niels Bohr
• Werner Heisenberg
• Richard Feynman
• Murray Gell-Mann

"Brennan has a knack for explaining difficult technicalities simply. His essays give a useful summary of twentieth-century science." —Financial Times

"Highly recommended to expert and layperson alike." —ChoiceAmazon.com Review
Physics turned weird recently--really weird. Thatdoesn't necessarily mean that modern physicists are weird, though,does it? Well, yes and no, says science writer Richard P. Brennan,whose book Heisenberg Probably Slept Here chronicles the livesof seven great scientists of the 20th century--Einstein, Planck,Rutherford, Bohr, Heisenberg, Feynman, and Gell-Mann--as well as theirspiritual father, Isaac Newton. Fascinating and funny, eachbiographical sketch illuminates the man, his surroundings, and hisachievements with unusual clarity.

Writing about the enormous driving force engendered in physics byWorld War II, with scientists on both sides striving to advance theirknowledge far enough to win a terrible war, Brennan shows us thedelicate contingencies that led to our current level ofunderstanding. What if the Nazis hadn't rejected "Jewish science"?What if the Allies had assassinated Heisenberg? More generally, hetells us stories of men working like maniacs to answer some of thehardest, most basic questions about our universe ever devised, only tofind more questions for the next century to ponder. We may hope that anew generation will be inspired by these stories to take weird20th-century science much further; perhaps some day quantum mechanicswill seem more quaint than abstruse. --Rob Lightner ... Read more

Customer Reviews (7)

Good bibliographies, not so good explanations
This book is really helpful for several reasons. If you are looking for a good story and you enjoy science, then this book is perfect. In addition, the stories are not too long, so those to tend to hyper focus will be able to take a break. This book tells of the often humorous lives of scientific legends. It shows the human behind these legends. For example, these physicists did stupid things in college, like take 6 aspirin and three cokes just to prove they could. They also had marital problems and arguments with their friends. After reading this, these physicists seem more like everyday people. (Granted, most fathers don't read bedtime stories from the encyclopedia.) Over all, this is a good book because it is about real people with real lives.
Another good reason for reading this book is for research on these physicists and their theories. There is plenty of information on their lives and their work for research projects, and the book is very understandable. If you are simply looking to gain a simple understanding of their theories, this book is a good source. However, if you are looking to have an in depth debate on the theories or do serious research, I would not recommend it. The author, while explaining the theories, has a tendency to contradict himself a little. He seems to understand the general concept of the theories, however, upon closer observation, he doesn't make much sense. For example, when he says that scientists "cannot detect" particles in motion and then, just two lines later, says that their calculations about them are accurate, something seems to be wrong with his explanation. This is a great book if you want a good story or a simple overview of the theories; however, if you are looking for "accuracy" then you probably need to refer to the physicists' actual papers on their theories.

High school physics on steroids
A lot of the material was similar to what I did in high school physics...but excellent presentation combined with insights into the lives of the phycisists made this a much more interesting text.

Heisenberg slept?!
First of all, the subtitle of this book, "The Lives, Times, and Ideas of the Great Physicists of the 20th Century," is a bit inaccurate.Among the 8 physicists depicted in Brennan's mini-biography is Sir Isaac Newton;obviously not a denizen of the 20th century.Granted, Newton had more influence on the present epoch of physics than anyone else up until the time of Einstein, so his presence in this work is not inappropriate.It's just that he's not a 20th century physicist.

On the other hand, a startling omission is Erwin Scroedinger.It is understood that one's selection of who's in & who's out can never please everyone in these types of books. However, I can't imagine someone assembling a roster of 20th century physicists without including the venerable Schroedinger.Just my opinion.

The content of the personages Brennan does write about is quite remarkable.Brennan does a reputable job of describing the major motifs of different biographical epochs of each physicist, then mixing in some nice anectdotes for good measure.He also does not get carried away & deify the scientists to make them look infallible.Rather, Brennan fairly integrates their faults into his text. As a bonus, there is also a brief synopsis of the history of Pre-Newtonian physics.

The most informative pages are those devoted to Heisenberg.I had always wanted to believe the stories about how he tried to sabatoge the Nazi bomb effort from the inside.Unfortunately, referencing British documents which were de-classified in 1992, Brennan nullifies those arguments as nothing but wishful thinking and ad-hoc propoganda engendered by H himself.

I would highly recommend this book as a prelude for those who wish to study the lives of these great physicists more deeply.As it is a quick read, it is an equally ideal book for physicists who have only a marginal interest in the great lives of their predecessors.

Fascinating and Well Written
I thouroughly enjoyed this book for several reasons.Richard Brennan doesa remarkable job of explaining each physicists' work in a manner alayperson can understand, but still involved enough that the readerappreciates the significance of each discovery.Brennan also manages tocapture the character and personality of each physicist with relatively ashort biography.He has also structured the book so that the implicationof each of the subjects' work on his successors is clear.In short, Ifound the physicists' personal stories compelling and the sciencefascinating.

The book had exquisite view of those great scientists
When I read the book at first time, Iwas attracted to the stories. They are not onlyan interesting narrative but also provide the correctattitude of life and research of science for us.When I finished readingthe book, I was deeply affected by the stories.I introduced the book tomy friends,and I stilly like reading the book now. ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (3)

Galileo to Gibbs
Emilio Segre wrote FROM X-RAYS TO QUARKS, which covers the development of physics from the 1890s to the 1970s, physics that was breaking news for his teachers and then for him.In FROM FALLING BODIES TO RADIO WAVES, Segre picks up the background story starting with Galileo, who first brought the full force of mathematics, rationality, and experiment to bear on physics.This book carries through to the contributions of Maxwell, Boltzmann and Gibbs, bringing it up to the beginning of X-RAYS TO QUARKS.

Segre tells you not just what these scientists did, but how they did it and who they were.Galileo was a hero of Segre's from age fifteen, when Segre labored over the Dialogues on Two World Systems in Tivoli, near Rome.Segre gives a positive and sensitive account of Galileo's struggles with the Church as well of his scientific achievements.Likewise, Segre tells you of Newton's achievements and of his disputes, dark moods, and depressions. And so on for all of the physicists and mathematicians covered in this book.

For those with some calculus, there are nice derivations of key results in the Appendices.

The Preface and Conclusions are not to be missed.In his Conclusions, Segre shows how theoretical insights allowed us to sharpen our focus on essentials by giving a deeper understanding of the subject.He writes:

"... [A] standard German treatise that around 1890 occupied three or four volumes filled ten times as much space as in its 1925 edition."

"At the time of Napoleon (i.e., around 1800) the the means of transportation, communication, night lighting, prime movers, and other aids to everyday life were not much different from those of the ancient Romans.One hundred years later, mankind had railroads, telegraphs, electric lighting, electric motors, and dynamos.It is no wonder that such achievements should have excited the wave of optimism that pervaded popularizers at the turn of the [twentieth] century."

Highly recommended.See also FROM X-RAYS TO QUARKS, and Segre's autobiography, A MIND ALWAYS IN MOTION.

first one thing...then another
This is a splendid little book. In less than 300 pages Emilio Segre takes us from Galileo to the end of the nineteenth century with the statistical mechanics of Boltzmann, Maxwell, Gibbs and van der Wals. The strength of this book is the way Segre illuminates the relationships between the thoughts of the great and not quite great physicists of the three centuries he covers. Segre was Enrico Fermi's right hand man and a Noble laurete so he knows the physics backward and forwards. Even better, he knows how scientists relate to each other. Quoting extensively from contemporary documents, Segre illustrates cooperation and competition, respect and disdain, lost work and unrecognized knowledge, running through the growth of the fundemental ideas of physics. He mentions enough history to provide cultural context but the development of the ideas is the driving theme. The treatment of the individual physicists is humane and pyschologically perceptive. The physical ideas are explained clearly, at least to an engineer like me, with a minimum of mathematics in the text. There are mathematical appendices, used well, that don't become too daunting until the late flowering of statistical mechanics is being explicated.

Really, I can't think of a better short historical survey of the great ideas of physics, especially since there is a good topical bibliography current up to the 1984 date of publication. Highly recommended.

Highly recommended.
This is a wonderful book. Don't miss it. See also "From X-Rays to Quarks" from the same author. ... Read more

Product Description
Philip Morse has surely been one of the most versatile of American scientists of his generation, the first to be trained largely in his own country. A scientific generalist, he has made significant contributions to atomic physics, quantum mechanics, plasma physics, astrophysics, acoustics, machine computation, and operations research. His life-long commitment to teaching, through his authorship of a series if standard-setting textbooks and through his personal guidance of unnumbered individual students, has extended this scope to include thermodynamics, statistical mechanics, and the methods of theoretical physics as well.

Moreover, as this autobiography relates at a fast-moving pace, Morse has also been involved in the high-pressure concerns of war research, scientific administration and consultation, policy formation, the education of key groups and wider publics beyond the classroom, and the real-world utilization of scientific techniques and discoveries.

For all these accomplishments, Morse writes that his experience as a scientist and as a participant in the affairs of his time "has been at the second, rather than at the top, level." It may be that this circumstance of being neat, rather than at, the top makes this autobiography more, rather than less, relevant to other and younger scientists, to those considering a life in science, and to general readers curious as to what such a life is really like. Only a miniscule few reach, say. Einsteinian levels, and their lives and work tend to be unique unto themselves; what Morse reports is truer to the experience of the great majority of the members of the scientific community. While his actual accomplishments, his range, and his eminence certainly far exceed those of a "typical" scientist, they do so more in degree than in kind.

Morse's style is straightforward and nontechnical, direct, and personal. Some of the lighter moments and revealingly human incidents of his experience are recorded along with the problems and breakthroughs in the near-private world of pure science and the public worlds of policy, high-level consultation, and practical applications. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Humble human - writes with clarity and grace -
Reading this book is like looking over the who's who of Acoustics.
Morse belongs to the first generation of home grown American acousticians.

In his early years as a student, he assisted Morley (of Michelson-Morley fame) by carrying out the hand calculations needed to disprove the existence of ether (for the transmission of light).

I find that Bernanek and John Von Neumann were amoungst his students at MIT. Morse had taught along side Fermi and later worked along side Frederick Hunt in the war effort (Acoustic ship-mine detection). Morse has mixed it with the best: SS Stevens, Compton, Richard Feynman

Morse writes with a humbleness. In the process he exposes a lot of himself - more so than one would normally expect to read about the personal life of the man.

I thouroughly enjoyed reading his autobiography. In the process, giving me a little more insight to the acoustic history and the interconnections of the people involved throughout these formative years of electroacoustic theory.There were quite a few humourous parts to the book and it was an eye opener to read his evaluations and the constructive critiquing of his contemporary associates.

This is a well written book that is a pleasure to read. This is the type of book that is hard to put down once started. Recommended. If you know anyone starting in eacoustics and electrical engineering then please buy them this book to inspire, motivate and historically educate.

[...]

fascinating story of a professional life
Morse is a fairly well-known mathematical physicist (that is, he was famous enough to be known outside his field), and this is his autobiography. I'm reviewing it from memory, since I read it when it first came out in the 70's, but it made an impression on me. He's literate, and comes across as very straightforward (although perhaps he just maintains this pose for the duration of the book -- I never met him), and he was involved in many fascinating areas.

In addition to his work in physics (among other things, he was the primary or sole author of a some standard graduate level textbooks), he was one of the "inventors" of operations research while working for the Navy during WWII. The story of the atomic bomb research is pretty well documented, and the story of the development of radar can be read in more than one place, but this is the only account I've seen of "the rest" of the vast amount of R&D work that was funded by the War Department during WWII.

Among the interesting anecdotes he relates, he was one of Feynmann's teachers in college, and Feynmann's father came to ask him (Morse) if his son (Richard) should go to grad school in physics. Morse was perceptive enough to assure the father that his son had what it took...

If you are interested in personalized accounts of the history 20th century science, this book is for you. It's similar in scope to Ulam's book about the atom bomb, but much better written, and the author comes across as quite human (which often doesn't happen in autobiographies of scientists). ... Read more

Product Description
Written by a non-statistician for non-statisticians, the book emphasizes the practical approach to those problems in statistics that arise regularly in data analysis situations in nuclear and high energy physics experiments. Rather than concentrate on proofs and theorems, the author provides an abundance of simple examples that illustrate the general ideas presented. This allows the reader to obtain maximum information in the simplest manner.Possible difficulties with the various techniques, and pitfalls to be avoided, are also discussed.This commonsense approach to statistical formalism enables nuclear physicists to better understand how to do justice to their analysis and interpretation of data. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Very suitable for engineer and experimental physicist
A book with clear graphs and good example which help the reader to get both knowledge and skills of statistics. It would be really helpful for real research work.

Do you want your Phd?
As a high energy physics graduate student, I know of no other book which provides a better grounding in the data analysis techniques needed in an HEP phd. This book has been invaluable to me. It has also been invaluable to many of my professors and friends. If you are doing an HEP phd, you should get this book. Its as simple as that. ... Read more

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Eminent mathematician Ioan James celebrates the extraordinary contribution made by Jewish people in mathematics and physics, from Norbert Wiener to Niels Bohr and Albert Einstein. He tells the life stories of thirty-five men and women, born in the nineteenth century, who were at the forefront of research in their fields.

Product Description
After reviewing the basic concept of general relativity, this introduction discusses its mathematical background, including the necessary tools of tensor calculus and differential geometry. These tools are used to develop the topic of special relativity and to discuss electromagnetism in Minkowski spacetime. Gravitation as spacetime curvature is introduced and the field equations of general relativity derived. After applying the theory to a wide range of physical situations, the book concludes with a brief discussion of classical field theory and the derivation of general relativity from a variational principle. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

big problems
I was the TA for an undergraduate course that used this book.I read the book to reference equations when writing up homework solutions, and in response to students questions about it, but not otherwise.That is, I did not read it cover to cover, but selectively.However, almost invariably when I read a section I would think that something in it was either confusingly presented or simply wrong.I kept a list of my "grievances" as the semester went along, and I am writing them as part of this review.I probably should give the book one star, based on my experience, but since I haven't read very much of it, it's conceivable that other parts are very good.(So, it gets two stars.)Also note that the students uniformly complained about the book.

1.P. 10, treatment of length contraction.The equation for length contraction is "derived" with no discussion of simultaneity.Essentially, the book writes dx = gamma ( dx - v dt ), and sets dt=0 so that dx is "length".This is not a correct derivation without more explanation, because (for example) using the inverse Lorentz transformation would give the opposite answer.None of the words in the book explain why the the Lorentz rather than inverse Lorentz transformation should be used.It's just not possible to give a correct treatment of Lorentz contraction without being careful about the notion of simulteneity.(It also would help to have a spacetime diagram.)You need to say what length means in each frame, and then compare them.This came up because I was giving students very little credit on a homework problem that was essentially "derive length contraction", and it turned out they had copied out of the book.

2.P18,p117, notation for three-velocity.The book adopts the totally absurd convention of denoting the three velocity by \vec{u} and the four-velocity by u^alpha.Of course, the three-velocity is not equal to the spatial components of the four-velocity, so this notation is incredibly confusing (if not inconsistent, since u^1 would denote both the 1 component of u^alpha and of \vec{u}).A veteran of relativity can follow even an inconsistent notation, but this is incredibly confusing for somebody trying to learn the subject (which is the point of the book).I got lots of confused questions from students about this one, and no surprise.There are plenty of letters in the alphabet--choose a different one for the three-velocity!

3.p120, second paragraph.This one is so ridiculous I can't believe it made it past the first reprinting.The authors write, "So far, we have not mentioned the frequency (or energy) of the photon, which characterises it in much the same way as the rest mass m_0 characterises a massive particle."This is of course completely false.The rest mass is an invariant quantity, whereas the frequency/energy depends on the frame.The analog of the rest mass for photons is zero, the invariant quantity of zero rest mass.The analog of photon energy is particle energy.Frequency has to do with quantum mechanics and has no analog I'm aware of.This sentence sticks out like a sore thumb to anybody who has done some special relativistic kinematics.Again, I simply can't believe it wasn't caught as a mistake by the reprinting.

4. p21, discussion of uniform acceleration.This is a more minor point, but I don't think the authors do a good job of explaining the concept of "uniform acceleration".Uniform acceleration usually does me "uniform four-force", which is very confusing terminology.I think the authors could do a better job of pointing this out.Let me emphasize that this point is minor in comparison with the others

5. p123.The authors say that free particles move on "non-null" worldlines, rather than on "timelike worldlines".Again, this sticks out like a sore thumb; it should have been caught and fixed.

6. p183 and elsewhere.The authors write R^{\mu}_{\nu} instead of R^{\mu}_{\ \nu}.While it is indeed unambiguous to do this for symmetric tensors, I don't see the point.There is a perfectly good notation that works for all tensors, and doesn't need statements like "by the way you can check that both natural interpretations of this notation are in fact equivalent" to define it.Why confuse students with an index operation that is only okay for certain tensors?They are trying the best to get to grips with index notation, already.I think this is a very poor decision pedagogically.

7.p188-189, treatment of point particles.The authors give a very silly discussion of point particles in general relativity.To be clear, there are no solutions in general relativity with point particle stress-energy (see the paper by geroch and traschen).Yet, the authors say (for example) "the position of the particle is where the field equations become singular".It is fine to present the calculation that point particle stress-energy will be conserved only for geodesic motion, but don't pretend there is anything more to it than a (very) suggestive calculation.Since no solutions exist for that stress-energy, you haven't shown anything about the motion of particles in GR.(At the very least, don't discuss the field equations without pointing out that there are no solutions!)

Again, I haven't read the whole book, but you can understand from above why my impression of it is poor.

Great Book
I have this book along with the classic by Misner, Thorne, and Wheeler.Both are good, but I like the explanations in this book better.I think it benefits from being published in 2006.Physicists have learned how to explain General Relativity better.Misner, Thorne, and Wheeler is 3 times thicker and covers more topics, but this is actually a distraction from learning the subject for the first time.

Another advantage of being published in 2006 is that the quality of presentation has improved.

I recommend the book.

An excellent Introduction
While looking for a book to teach my undergraduates I was lucky to obtain a copy of thisbook.I was ready to implementthe Nightingale/Foster , but I was disappointed to seethe degradation of its second edition. I learned GR with the first edition of N/F!!!.
Well , I checked this excellent book and I was amazed.
In the first chapters the authorsexposeVectors tensors and manifold in the easierpossible way. Then they revise Special Relativity . Then , they proceed as usual , Curved spaces , Einstein's Field Equation , Scwh-Metric, Schw -Black Holes , Interior solutions, but , then : Kerr solution in great detail!!. Without going into Ehler's equations or Degenerated Algebras ,the authorsdescribevery wellKerr'sGeometry and Physics ( Penrose's , Celestial Mechanics..etc).
Cosmology ( FLW) solutions ,..Inflation in some extent!!..Linearization and Gravitational Waves (Production and detection).At the very endthere is the Hilbertactionetc.

I wish some Kaluza/Klein , which is possibleand necessary forthe new generation ( to understandcompletelyString Theoryyou need totaste KK- theory ) and also , I wisha given amount of solutionfor thelarge number of problems at the end of every chapter.

I hope to seeboth of these in futureversions of this magnificent introductory book and then I will give the 5-star. ... Read more

Product Description
Written by a physicist with over 15 years of experience as a quant on Wall Street, this book treats a wide variety of topics. Presenting the theory and practice of quantitative finance and risk, it delves into the "how to" and "what it's like" aspects not covered in textbooks or research papers. Both standard and new results are presented. A "Technical Index" indicates the mathematical level — from zero to PhD — for each chapter. The finance in each chapter is self-contained. Real-life comments on "life as a quant" are included.

This book is designed for scientists and engineers desiring to learn quantitative finance, and for quantitative analysts and finance graduate students. Parts will be of interest to research academics. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Very effective overview
This book gives a good general overview of financial engineering but only for those who have had a lot of prior exposure to the subject, at least from a theoretical or academic point of view, but have yet to get their feet wet in actual practice. For physicists with a background in quantum field theory, stochastic dynamical systems, or statistical mechanics, the mathematics in this book will be straightforward, and physicists will be intrigued that some of their ideas are being applied to finance. It is not a book for beginners though, as it will demand a lot of attention to details, as well as a considerable amount of outside reading. Space does not permit a detailed review of such a large book, and so only selected chapters will be reviewed.

In chapter 4, the author analyzes plain-vanilla equity options and discusses in particular the case of American options. The calculation of the probabilities of exercise at different future times involves the determination of the critical path followed by a Monte Carlo simulation to determine to the fraction of paths crossing the critical path in each interval of time. The hedges are then distributed in time as the delta times these probabilities of exercise. The author unfortunately does not give the details of how to obtain the critical path in this chapter, but these details can be found in later chapters on path integrals.

In chapter 5, foreign exchange options are discussed including how to hedge with the Greeks. The author shows how to price FX forwards and FX European options. He mentions that the Garman-Kohlhagen model is used to price the FX options, but he does not elaborate in any detail on the model. This model, which is the standard pricing convention in the FX market, is the analog of the Black-Scholes model, but where a foreign riskless interest rate is used as the payout on the underlying asset. Particularly interesting in this chapter is the author's discussion on the "two-country paradox". This paradox arises because the change of variables in foreign exchange instruments forces one to do a separate normalization of the drift of each variable, and does not arise for ordinary options. The drift after the change of variable is not consistent with interest-rate parity. Also discussed are the `volatility smiles' that are empirically observed in FX. As the author illustrates in a diagram, the smile corresponds to an upward-facing parabola, and he explains its occurrence by a "fear factor" (sometimes called "crash-o-phobia" in the equity option literature), which causes the implied volatilities of OTM puts to be bid up, thus putting a premium on this volatility relative to the ATM volume.

There are five chapters in the book that discuss the use of path integrals in finance, and these chapters include the formalism and how to calculate them numerically. The writing in these chapters is very lucid, and this no doubt reflects the author's background in physics and his consequent bias toward the use of functional integration in financial modeling. The discussion of the Black-Scholes in the context of functional integration is good motivation for later developments, and should convince readers as to the viability of this approach in finance. In addition, the author gives examples where the path integral approach does not merely reproduce the standard results in finance, one of these examples being the inclusion of dividends in options valuation. Including dividends can be done via the use of an "effective drift function", as the author shows in detail. He also shows that jumps in stock price can be studied in the same way as dividends in the context of path integration. Discrete-schedule Bermuda options are also tackled using path integral methods, as well as American options, and the author shows the reader how to calculate the critical path for these scenarios, following up on a promise in an earlier chapter. The chapter on numerical methods for the calculation of path integrals is interesting because it introduces some techniques and concepts that are no doubt new to many readers, such as "geometric volatility", which corresponds to an approximate volatility that would lead to a particular set of paths.

Perhaps the most interesting and "exotic" of the discussions in the book is included in chapter 46, and regards the application of `Reggeon field theory' (RFT) to financial engineering. Even for physicists working in quantum field theory, this type of field theory may be unknown to them, but the author does give a very brief review. He assumes background in scattering theory, the renormalization group, dimensional regularization, and other topics in field theory and high-energy physics, in order to read this chapter. RFT is presented as a theory to describe high-energy diffractive scattering, as a field theory for a particle called the `Pomeron'. The author's interest for the application of RFT to finance concern its ability to model nonlinearities and non-linear diffusion. He writes down the Lagrangian for RFT, which involves the nonlinear product of three fields, and when the interaction is switched off reduces to an ordinary diffusive model in imaginary time. One could apply ordinary perturbation theory to the case of weak interactions, but the author instead is interested in the non-perturbative region for the theory. This he tackles with the renormalization group, the object of which is to find the critical dimension, in order to test for the occurrence of a phase transition. Therefore the Gell-Mann Low beta function is to be calculated (using perturbation theory) and its zeros found. The author summarizes what is known for RFT from the research in the literature. The applications to finance consist of the ability of the RFT model to describe deviations from "square-root time", the latter of which arises from the standard Brownian motion assumption in financial theory. The RFT model reduces to the standard financial model when the interactions vanish. The nonlinear interactions are expected to produce interesting "fat-tail" jump events, but the author does not elaborate on this in any detail. ... Read more

Product Description
This should prove to be the definitive work explaining van der Waals forces, how to calculate them and take account of their impact under any circumstances and conditions. These weak intermolecular forces are of truly pervasive impact, and biologists, chemists, physicists, and engineers will profit greatly from the thorough grounding in these fundamental forces. Parsegian has organized his book at three successive levels of mathematical sophistication, to satisfy the needs and interests of readers at all levels of preparation. The Prelude and Level 1 are intended to give everyone an overview in words and pictures of the modern theory of van der Waals forces. Level 2 gives the formulae and a wide range of algorithms to let readers compute the van der Waals forces under virtually any physical or physiological conditions. Level 3 offers a rigorous basic formulation of the theory. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Teaching and Research and Van der Waals forces
I teach courses covering the fundamentals of surface and colloid engineering. The Parsegian textbook is ideal for either teaching a segment of 6 to 9 lectures or teaching an entire course on Van der Waals forces - I have done both. Moreover, there is also advanced material included that is important for applications that range from biomembrane physics to wetting phenomena. Even the price is right!
This is an excellent book in every way.

Every science library should have two copies of this book.
This book is the best ever written about Van der Waals forces.Parsegian is the world's expert on this subject, which is essential for an understanding of physical biology and much of chemistry, engineering, and physics. Parsegian writes superbly and clearly.His book is fun to read. Every biologist and every biophysicist should get a copy. Every science library should have at least two copies of this book. ... Read more

Product Description
First published in 1974, this groundbreaking volume relates field theory of altered states of consciousness and compares the surprisingly similar views of mediums, mystics, and physicists.



When renowned psychologist Lawrence LeShan first explored clairvoyance and precognition it shook his belief in everyday reality. As a result, it led him to postulate other states of consciousness, which he calls “Clairvoyant Reality” and “Transpsychic Reality.”Although LeShan was trained in the traditional scientific method, he discovered that these altered realities—including the knowledge of future events, the ability to heal from great distances, and other paranormal phenomena—operated according to their own laws.



Filled with mesmerizing case examples, quotations, and observations from LeShan’s own personal experience, The Medium, the Mystic, and the Physicist includes LeShan’s essay, “Human Survival on Biological Death,” where he brings a fresh perspective to the theory of the afterlife. A classic guide for the study of parapsychology, readers will be intrigued by this collection of unique ideas.




• A classic in the field, often thought of as the author’s best work

• Author is renowned as a psychologist and a leader in the modern study of mind-body interaction ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

One of my favorite books
"The Medium, the mystic, and the physicist" was written in 1966, but I didn't find it until 2009. It has held up amazingly well. It was my favorite book this year.

This book is an investigation of similarities between quantum mechanics and mystical thought.

Dr. LeShan starts his exploration with a thorough approach. He states, "If we have learned one thing from science, it is that the atypical case, the unusual incident, is the one that teaches us about all the others."

LeShan writes about his investigations into reality and his healing experiments(and what works in various forms of healing). The information on healing gave me another perspective into what happens with traditional healers, shamans, Reiki practitioners, etc. do healings. How is that the variety of healers are all tapping into something? What is it that "works" when a healing works? An intelligent and though-provoking exploration, and practical to my understanding of healing.

The further into his investigations he goes, the more LeShan writes that quantum physicists and mediums and mystics sound so much alike that many people can't tell one from the other. It appears that science also is mystical if you take the journey far enough.

50 years ahead of its time
Written for the layperson, with appendices for the scientist, this is without a doubt the most profound book I have ever read. And despite being written nearly 40 years ago, it is still at the cutting edge.

An intriguing study backed with scientific percision
It's hard to easily categorize this title: a blend of psychology, physics, and spirituality written by a research psychologists, this develops his ideas on parallels between views of modern field theory and world-views of mystics. His focus on 'facts that do not fit' offers new insights on human abilities and potentials, describing the experiments which lead to his change of view, and his theory of the paranormal. An intriguing study backed with scientific percision.

Accessibly written for the non-specialist general reader
The Medium, The Mystic, And The Physicist: Toward A General Theory Of the Paranormal by psychologist, educator, and author Lawrence LeShan is a New Age book that persuasively presents evidence of psychic abilities, and seeks to draw together the views and science of mediums, mystics, and physicists alike. A extended contemplation of holistic theory, The Medium, The Mystic, And The Physicist transcends the tendency that people of different religious, spiritual, and scientific viewpoints and experiences have all to often been shortsightedly led to scorn one another. Accessibly written for the non-specialist general reader, The Medium, The Mystic, And The Physicist is a unique and very welcome contribution to Psychology and Metaphysical Studies reading lists.

A Very Important Book on healing and meditation
This genius book is Le Shan's exploration into methods of healing that use meditation, and/or prayer. I want to re-read the book and review it after, but it is aremarkable pieve of work by a great psychologist who hasworked for years on the psychodynamics of cancer.I read it years ago andhave,as a psychotherapist, used it many times to help heal individuals (andtwo dogs). It's powerful stuff..and important work for the future ofholistic medicine. Every therapist, physician and minister should read itcover to cover.I am a New york city psychotherapist, writer.

My name isMilton Haynes, CSW ... Read more

Product Description
Contemporary physics, especially quantum theory, has raised profound questions about the relationship between the methods of science and the reality these methods seek to investigate.D'Espagnat investigates these questions as well as how we should answer them. Part I examines the practices of contemporary physicists and addresses the criticism philosophers of science have made of these practices.The doctrine of physical realism, adopted by most physicists and many philosophers of science, comprises Part II.Part III explores the consequences of physical realism for our understanding of what science can seek to know of reality, and concludes by outlining the position contemporary physics indicates we should take. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

presupposes strong background in continuous group theory
The title says "physicists". This book was one of my physics texts. Yet I found much of this to be incomprehensible. Some sections are indeed very clear and descriptive. But much of it assumed an extensive prior knowledge of continuous groups, and how these are typically used in high energy physics.

I was a physics/maths major, with a strong background in maths. Now perhaps my difficulties with this book were due to my lack of background. Yet of all my texts, this was the only one that I was never comfortable with.

Very good good introduction to Lie ...
I used this book when I taught classical mechanics in the seventies. I found it to be very readable and with a far better coverage of Lie algebras and groups than Hamermesh (who defines scalars and invariants in the right way). The book contains typo errors, too bad that a second edition never came out. I'd like to get a copy, but not at any price! Dover, where are you when we need you?

Not for begginers
This book contains the theory of continuous groups (Lie Groups) highlighting the important points that are useful in Theorethical Physics in the manner it is used in the physicists' community. Although it intends to be an introductory text, if you have never studied group theory before you will find this book not very easy.

The author do not provide detailed proofs for everything, what is justified being a book for physicists, not mathematicians, but some proofs assume some background knowledge that a novice may not have and sometimes you have a lot of sequential definitions without examples, what difficults a little the understanding.

The first chapter may shock, because it assumes you have some knowledge of group theory in Physics, but you don't need to understand it entirely to read the rest of the book, where the author will develope better the matter initiated there.

The last chapters contain case studies with applications of the material developed through the text.

It is a good book for a theoretical physicist to have and learn group theory, although I should recommend to read it with some other elementary texts around. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

A personal window on the history of a generation
Gabriel Weinreich is a thoughtful person with an interesting life to share. The non-Jewish reader will learn about the Yiddish-speaking world of European Jews. Through is father Max Weinreich, we learn about YIVO Institute and the conservation and philological revival of Yiddish. As Weinreich digests his life, there is an interesting reflection on Christian, Jewish and Atheist sensibilities, and Weinreich's faith transition in response to congregational music! The book provides a personal window on the history of a generation.

a courageous life
Confessions of a Jewish priest is, above all, a "good read."Candidly told, Weinreich's life is a saga of intellectual honesty and adventure.He isloyal to his Jewish origins at the same time that he becomes involved with the Episcopal Church, ultimately being baptized and ordained as a priest.I read the book from cover to cover in one sitting, and was compelled and inspired on every page.

A deeply faithful and inspirational lifetime chronicle
Confessions Of A Jewish Priest: From Secular Jewish War Refugee To Physicist And Episcopal Clergyman is the riveting memoir of Gabriel Weinrich. Weinrich's escape from the Holocaust, and his evolving perspective based on the reductionist thinking and rationalism that led him to become a university physicist, are chronicled along with his spiritual revelation. Weinrich embraced the tenets Christianity without forsaking his sense of "Jewishness"; though at one point in his life he considered himself a complete atheist, he eventually realized he was never truly an atheist at all. A deeply faithful and inspirational lifetime chronicle.

An excellent read!
If you enjoy writing that is lyrical, whimsical, and perceptive, and if you enjoy reading of lives that fall outside of the usual pattern, you will thoroughly enjoy accompanying Gabriel Weinreich from his secular Jewish childhood in Poland to being plunged, during early adolescence, into a bustling New York City, and from there to life as a father, a physicist, and eventually, an Anglican priest.Along the way you will meet his father, a man devoted to the preservation and development of the Yiddish language, an indomitable mother and even more indomitable grandmother.He will offer his insights in regard to matters such as science and music. And above all he will share his slowly growing appreciation of religion and what it means to him, even as he takes care to clarify that these are very much personal views, not incumbent on the reader to share.This is a book of both wit and originality.Enjoy! ... Read more

Product Description
Excerpted in The New Yorker and hailed by the business press, The Predictors is destined to become a classic of its generation--an antic, subversive odyssey into a universe defined by the mystical convergence of physics and finance.

How could a couple of rumpled physicists in sandals and Eat-the-Rich T-shirts, piling computers into an adobe house in Santa Fe, hope to take on the masters of the universe from Morgan Stanley? Doyne Farmer and Norman Packard may never have read The Wall Street Journal, but they happen to be among the founders of the new sciences of chaos and complexity. Who better to try to find order in the apparently unreasoned chaos of the global financial markets? Thomas A. Bass takes us inside their start-up company, following it from its inception as a motley collection of longhaired Ph.D.s to its passage into the centers of financial power, where "the predictors" find investors and finally go live with real money. The Predictors is a dizzying, often hilarious tale of genius and greed.
Amazon.com Review
Using a computer to beat Wall Street from afar is, arguably,the new American dream. While it will remain just that for most of us,an offbeat gang of academics turned financial wizards is showing itcan be done. Led by acclaimed physicists Doyne Farmer and NormanPackard, the Santa Fe-based Prediction Company has proven since its1991 founding in an adobe bungalow furnished with plastic lawn chairsand top-of-the-line Sun workstations that it is indeed possible tomake millions in the world's financial markets by anticipating trendsand developing software that automatically capitalizes on them. InThe Predictors, Thomas A. Bass colorfully relates their tale offiscal triumph--and reveals in the process how even an unorthodoxgroup of antibusiness intellectuals in far-off New Mexico can make theworld's biggest institutions sit up and take notice.

Long esteemed in the scientific community, Farmer and Packard havebecome legendary in hacker circles since their failed attempt to beatthe roulette tables in Las Vegas with toe-operated computers waschronicled in Bass's well-regarded 1985 book called The EudaemonicPie. This time, though, the two hit the jackpot with theircutting-edge computer programs and the company they created to tradeGerman marks, Chicago commodities, Japanese treasury bonds, Texas oilfutures, and New York securities. Bass's prose is a bit flowery attimes, but his perceptive you-are-there account is nonethelessentertaining and sure to cement the pair's reputation as today'sultimate masters of "phynance," the successful, and now oft-copied,merger of physics and finance. --Howard Rothman ... Read more

Customer Reviews (38)

not what I expected
I was expecting help as a new person wanting to learn investment and possibly trading. Morally and ethically, I couldn't warm up to the utter lack of foresight or responsibility of clever market manipulation to "win at any cost".A distorted morality of a group of mavericks that set the tone for the current economic ailment.When does amoral become immoral.I burned the book rather than risk its recycling for someone to be inspired & motivated by its utter lack of respect for human kind just for the sake of "can it be done"!I spoze the only just outcome would be to know what they are doing with their fortunes - - - and hope they are giving to GOOD like Gates & Buffett, et al!

Light reading for those with an interest in quant trading
I read this book as part of research into quantitative trading hedge funds in order to get some insight into a group of early players. The book is actually quite well written (obviously devoid of any useful information for easily building your own models!) and highlights both the personal and practical elements of starting a hedge fund with little prior financial experience but with an idea (that has been shown to be quite lucrative if not failsafe in a post 8/07 world).
A fun book that is also useful for understanding some of the issues and history of quant trading. Prediction Company still exists, though without any of the colorful founders, and has spun off some interesting hedge funds.

boring,,,i dont care about the weather
this book could be better, but the author is giving too much details of some unnecessary objects, like describing the weather and shape of the chin of someone or what sandwich some unrelated guy is eating and what underwears they like for 2 paragraphs. suddenly he jumps to talk about the history of sante fe and the Zozoba a couple of times which i still dont know what the heck is it.

i got so irritated readin about the excessive writings on completely unrelated objects and subjects that i paid less attention even when he is talking about the related characters.

after all the mental abuse, we are left with nothing about how the adventure eventaully goes...REFUND!Not a recommended read, skip!

Required Reading Before Trying to 'Beat the Market'
With over 80,000,000 Americans investing in the stock market, many believe that they can quickly and easily go in and 'out-think' all those other traders who "just aren't as smart as I am." Well, before you go in and compete against the big boys, you might want to read this book to get a good understanding of who and what you are competing against.

There is an old saying that goes "It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure this out." Yeah, well, maybe not. But, when you try to outwit the market, you better realize that you are competing against rocket scientists, and physicists, and mathematicians who attack the market in ways the average investor can't even comprehend. Yet, that is who you compete against in the market.

This book tells the story of a group of physicists and their friends who set out to build an automated trading system that would rule the market. Did they succeed? Well, I wouldn't want to give away the ending. But, needless to say, before you jump into the stock market and get your ego and pocketbook devastated, you might want to read about how difficult it is to 'rule the market' even when you have some of the best brains in the US tackling the problem with resources that you and I will never have.

This book should be required reading before a person can invest in the stock market.

The new market makers?
From a writer's perspective, I thought Bass did an excellent job. From a trader's perspective--and as someone who has long been pursuing the intersection of market behavior, psychology and the physical sciences--the story was solid. The Predictors reads like an expanded New York Times feature or multi-part Wired article... educational and modestly challenging, yet focused on entertainment and accessibility more than hard fact or theory.

The way Bass lays it out, Prediction Company could be any technology startup. But the story is extremely well told, and interesting in its own right (in my opinion). Rather than driving the narrative, the financial and scientific elements are woven around and through the major events and milestones of the company. The triumphs and trials of the characters are the central thrust of the book.

There are no major revelations, but dozens of interesting and entertaining observations. You get a whirling gestalt of chaos theory and the financial world, not deep detail. The quotes leading off each chapter were excellent, and the balance of description to storytelling, while clearly weighted towards storytelling, was good.

The scientific and financial explanations were meant to spark curiosity, not sate it. I can see why some were disappointed, but I get the impression they were wanting a different book... more of an instruction manual or a doctoral thesis. (If you came to this story expecting clues to the holy grail, you were seriously reaching for your fifteen bucks.)

Reading the book in 2005, I enjoyed the suspense of not knowing whether Prediction Company actually pulled it off. Did they make it for the long haul? It appears so, as they are still in business and still working with UBS. In fact trading algorithms are now hailed as a new frontier on Wall Street. A recent article in the Economist highlighted the intense competition to build intelligent software programs (robo-traders one might call them) designed to minimize the visible footprints of large orders and execute complex arbitrage strategies in multiple markets simultaneously.

So do old school flesh and blood traders have reason to fret? It depends on the timeframe. Will outfits like Prediction Company and Renaissance Technologies eventually suck all the profit out of markets? Probably not.

These guys occupy a very specific niche in the market ecosystem. Before the onslaught of computers, human floor traders provided vital liquidity to the markets (and got paid plenty well to do so). As physical exchanges lumber towards extinction, `smart' algorithms are filling the shoes of floor traders, extracting profits tick by tick with high volume, high frequency strategies. These automated players are thus becoming the new liquidity providers and market makers of the 21st century. Daytraders and scalpers may find themselves swept up in a technological arms race, but longer term traders and investors have little to fear... it's a different game. ... Read more