Books of Note Archives
Listed alphabetically by title.
Clifford
A. Pickover
Calculus
and Pizza: A Cookbook for the Hungry Mind
Wiley, 2003, ISBN: 0-471-26987-5, $16.95 (paperback)
Setting up residence in a pizza parlor, Clifford Pickover focuses on procedures for solving problems, offering short, easy-to-digest chapters that allow you to quickly get the essence of a technique or question. From exponentials and logarithms to derivatives and multiple integrals, the book utilizes pepperoni, meatballs, and more to make complex topics fun to learn emphasizing basic, practical principles to help you calculate the speed of tossed pizza dough or the rising cost of eggplant parmigiana.
Edward
M. Reingold & Nachum Dershowitz
Calendrial
Calculations: The Millennium Edition
Cambridge University Press, 2001, ISBN: 0-521-77167-6/0-521-7772-6,
$100/$37.95
Frames the calendars of the world in a unified, completely algorithmic form, giving a description of 25 calendars and how they relate to one another, including various forms of the Gregorian, ISO, Egyptian, Julian, Coptic, Ethiopic, Islamic, Modern Persian, Baha’i, Hebrew, Mayan, Balinese, Pawukon, French Revolutionary, Chinese, and Hindu. Conversion among these calendars is a by-product of this approach, as is the determination of secular and religious holidays. Algorithms included on the accompanying CD and updates are available on the web.
Edward
M. Reinbold & Nachum Dershowitz
Calendrical
Tabulations: 1900-2200
Cambridge University Press, 2002, ISBN: 0-521-78253-8, $120
This comprehensive collection of calendars could only have been assembled by the authors of the definitive text on calendar algorithms, Calendrical Calculations. Using the algorithms outlined in their earlier book, Reingold and Dershowitz have achieved the near impossible task of simultaneously displaying the date on thirteen different calendars over a three-hundred year period. Represented here are the Gregorian, ISO, Hebrew, Chinese, Coptic, Ethiopic, Persian, Hindu lunar, Hindu solar, and Islamic calendars; another three are easily obtained from the tables with minimal arithmetic (JD, R.D., and Julian). The tables also include of the moon, dates of solstices and equinoxes, and religious and other special holidays for all the calendars shown.
Mark
Williamson
The
Cambridge Dictionary of Space Technology
Cambridge University Press, 2001, ISBN: 0-521-66077-7, $39.95
A comprehensive source of reference to the most important aspects of this fast-developing field, from basic concepts to advanced applications. With some 2300 entries, it lists fundamental terms that will remain in common usage for the foreseeable future and includes a selection of historical and highly specific entries adding context and depth. Related entries are highlighted in the text and other important entries are cross-referenced.
Michael
E. Bakich
The
Cambridge Encyclopedia of Amateur Astronomy
Cambridge University Press, 2003, ISBN: 0-521-81298-4, $50
This complete reference provides a wealth of practical information covering all aspects of amateur astronomy. Organized thematically for ease of use, it covers observing techniques, telescopes and observatories, internet resources, and the objects that can be studied. Those new to the field will find tips, techniques and plans how to begin their quest, and more advanced observers will find useful advice to advance their observing skills.
O.
Richard Norton
The
Cambridge Encyclopedia of Meteorites
Cambridge University Press, 2002, ISBN: 0-521-62143-7, $50
Meteorites are our only contact with materials from beyond the Earth-Moon system. Using well-known petrologic techniques, this book reveals in vivid color their extraordinary external and internal structures. Looking deeper still, right to the atomic level, they begin to tell of the environment within the solar nebula that existed before the planets accreted. Beautifully illustrated with over 150 full color images. Includes detailed descriptions of every meteorite type, terrestrial impact crater sites, tables of recent fall and find data, and details of important meteorite collections.
Fernand
Verger, et al.
The
Cambridge Encyclopedia of Space: Missions, Applications and Exploration
Cambridge
University Press, 2003, ISBN: 0-521-77300-8, $50
Since the lift-off of Sputnik in 1957, over 8,000 satellites and spacecraft have been launched from over thirty countries, costing hundreds of billions of dollars. While only about 350 people have made the incredible journey beyond our atmosphere, we all benefit in countless ways from the missions. An authoritative and accessible source that collects information on man's quest to explore the Universe, The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Space, provides a global perspective of our occupation and use of space, whether for scientific, industrial, commercial, technical, or military purposes. The authors set the stage by describing the space environment, orbits and ground tracks, launchers and launch sites. Subsequently, they discuss the main space applications (telecommunications, navigation and Earth observation, military), science missions, planetary exploration, and space stations. Extensively illustrated with more than 300 illustrations, maps, and graphs.
James
B. Kaler
The
Cambridge Encyclopedia of Stars
Cambridge University Press, 2006, ISBN: 0-521-81803-6, $60
This unique encyclopedia by ASP President-elect James Kaler provides a fascinating and fully comprehensive description of stars and their natures and is filled with beautiful color images. The book begins by telling the story of astronomy, from ancient constellations and star names to the modern coordinate system. Further chapters explain magnitudes, distances, star motions and the Galaxy at large. Double stars, clusters and variables are introduced and once the different kinds of stars are in place, later chapters examine stellar evolution, beginning with the interstellar medium and star formation, proceeding to our Sun and its characteristics and then the ageing process of solar-type and high mass stars. The book ends by showing how this information can be combined into a grand synthesis. Detailed cross-referencing enables the reader to explore topics in depth and makes this an invaluable work both for beginners and those with a more advanced interest in stars and stellar evolution. Supplemented by the author's extensive STARS website, hosting star tables, constellation photographs and links to essential star websites (http://www.astro.uiuc.edu/~kaler/sow/sow.html).
Kenneth
R. Lang
The
Cambridge Encyclopedia of the Sun
Cambridge University Press, 2001, ISBN: 0-521-78093-4, Price
unavailable
One of the world's leading solar scientists, Kenneth Lang provides a fundamental, up-to-date reference source of information about Earth's nearest and most familiar star, covering everything from basic facts to detailed concepts. Liberally illustrated with many stunning photographs of solar phenomena such as flares, views of the corona, and auroras as seen near the Earth's poles. While there is much technical and mathematical explanation, most of this is extracted into 'focus' panels, keeping the main text easily readable for students or amateur astronomers. There is also enough depth to ensure that The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the Sun will be an indispensable reference for professionals and more advanced academic astronomers and physicists.
Kenneth
R. Lang
The
Cambridge Guide to the Solar System
Cambridge
University Press, 2003, ISBN: 0-521-81306-9, $60
Provides a comprehensive and up-to-date description of the planets and their moons, beginning with a short introduction to the history of planetary observation and discovery. The major planets and their moons are then introduced by presenting common properties, processes, and themes. This is followed by chapters which focus on individual planets and other solar system objects, including an comprehensive treatment of the various space missions—from the Apollo missions to the Moon, to recent missions to Jupiter and Mars. Illustrated throughout and supported by a website located at http://ase.tufts.edu/cosmos/ that contains all the images in the book together with their legends and brief explanatory text.
F.
W. Taylor
The
Cambridge Photographic Guide to the Planets
Cambridge University Press, 2001, ISBN: 0-521-78183-3, $50
Contains a selection of the latest and most interesting images of the planets, moons, comets, and asteroids of our solar system. The book begins with a general introduction to the planetary system, its origin and its evolution. Each subsequent chapter is devoted to a different planet or solar system body, and contains a comprehensive introduction to the planet, and its moons and rings where relevant. This is followed by a selection of images from planetary missions, with explanatory captions.
Joel
Achenbach
Captured
By Aliens: The Search for Life and Truth in a Very Large Universe
New York: Simon & Schuster, November 1999, 0-684-84856-2,
$25 (cloth)
The great minds of the human race, employing ever more fabulous technology, have peered into the depths of space and discovered that we exist on a tiny speck in a universe that is mostly rocks and gas and dust and empty space. But there is one thing we have yet to discover: a single scrap of extraterrestrial life. Washington Post reporter Joel Achenbach puts the ET debate into the context of the space program, discoveries in astronomy, and the hunger for meaning in an era when science doesn’t always provide the answers. He finds that the topic of extraterrestrial life is poisoned by wishful thinking, but he also finds some fascinating, admirable and maddening characters who have pursued the truth about extraterrestrial life.
Keay
Davidson
Carl
Sagan: A Life
John Wiley & Sons: New York, 1999, ISBN: 0-471-25286-7,
$30
Whether he was seeking life on Mars or visiting Timothy Leary in prison; listening for radio messages from a distant galaxy or bantering with Johnny Carson, Carl Sagan was always fascinating. Science journalist Keay Davidson draws on a wealth of interviews with Sagan’s family members, friends, colleagues, admirers and detractors, as well as from a vast archive of unpublished writings and intimate personal papers to present an insightful and evenhanded account of the complex man behind the visionary legend. Notes and extensive bibliography.
Michael
Hoskin
Caroline Herschel's Autobiographies
Science History Publications Ltd. (www.shpltd.co.uk),
2003, ISBN: 0-905193-05-9, $40 + $10 airmail
A complete and annotated edition of two sources fundamental for the understanding of the Herschel partnership.
Halton
Arp
Catalogue
of Discordant Redshift Associations
Apeiron,
2003, ISBN: 0-9683-6899-9, $45
High redshift quasars, low redshift ejecting galaxies, aligned X-ray clusters, gamma ray bursters, supposed gravitational lenses, quantized intrinsic redshifts—this book presents examples of empirical patterns of associations that repeat from region to region in the sky, suggesting evolutionary sequences and new fundamental physics. Each catalogue entry furnishes critical objects for further investigations.
Michael
A. Covington
Celestial
Objects for Modern Telescopes: Practical Amateur Astronomy, Volume
2
Cambridge University Press, 2002, ISBN: 0-521-52419-9, $30 (paperback)
Based on field notes made by Michael Covington throughout his career as an amateur astronomer, this guide covers both the traditional and novel approaches to studying the night sky. In addition to the more standard techniques, it discusses the latest modern resources available to today's astronomer, such as personal computers, the internet, and computerized telescopes.
Covington includes practical advice on site selection and weather; detailed instructions for observing the Sun, Moon, planets, and deep-sky objects; and newer specialties such as satellite observing and the use of astronomical databases.
Marc
Lachièze-Rey and Jean-Pierre Luminet
Celestial
Treasury: From the Music of the Spheres to the Conquest of Space
Cambridge University Press, 2001, ISBN: 0-521-80040-4, $59.95
Images of the universe often convey more than physical information because they can have an emotional and aesthetic effect on the viewer. Celestial Treasury balances science and beauty by showing how the development of our present understanding of the universe was inspired by literature, the fine arts, and philosophy. Four main topics unify the presentation: the different mechanical schemes for understanding planetary motion; representation of the sky and the universe through maps and globes; creation traditions; and mythological traditions. Heavily illustrated (380 full-color), large format.
Allan
Sandage
Centennial
History of the Carnegie Institution of Washington Volume I: The
Mount Wilson Observatory
Cambridge University Press, 2005, ISBN: 0-521-83078-8, $80
Perched atop a mountain wilderness, the two mammoth solar tower telescopes and the 60- and 100-inch behemoth night-time reflectors of the Mount Wilson Observatory were the largest in the world, and at the center of the development of astrophysics. This book brings together the science and personal stories of those involved in the development of modern theories of stellar evolution and cosmology at the Mount Wilson Observatory. It is fully illustrated with contemporary photographs of people and instruments.
Louis
Brown
Centennial
History of the Carnegie Institution of Washington Volume II: The
Department of Terrestrial Magnetism
Cambridge
University Press, 2005, ISBN: 0-521-83079-6, $80
This second volume in a series of five histories of the Carnegie Institution describes he people and events, the challenges and successes that the Department of Terrestrial Magnetism has witnessed over the last century. Contemporary photographs illustrate some of the remarkable expeditions and instruments developed in pursuit of scientific understanding, from sailing ships to nuclear particle accelerators, and radio telescopes to mass spectrometers.
Oded
Regev
Chaos
and Complexity in Astrophysics
Cambridge University Press, 2006, ISBN: 0-521-85534-9, $80
The discipline of nonlinear dynamics has developed explosively in all areas of physics over the last two decades. This comprehensive primer summarizes the main developments in the mathematical theory of dynamical systems, chaos, pattern formation and complexity. An introduction to mathematical concepts and techniques is given in the first part of the book, before being applied to stellar, interstellar, galactic and large scale complex phenomena in the Universe. Oded Regev demonstrates the possible application of ideas including strange attractors, Poincaré sections, fractals, bifurcations, and complex spatial patterns, to specific astrophysical problems.
Daniel
R. Altschuler
Children
of the Stars: Our Origin, Evolution, and Destiny
Cambridge
University Press, 2002, ISBN: 0521812127, $30, Hardback.
Are we alone in the Universe? What is our place in it? How did we get here? In this beautifully illustrated book, Daniel Altschuler provides the readers with the elements to understand these questions and their answers as far as we know them. He explores subjects from physics and astronomy to geology and palaeontology. Along the way he touches on topics of great popular appeal such as the search for life on other worlds and the hazards of asteroid impacts.
Ben
Bussey & Paul Spudis
The
Clementine Atlas of the Moon
Cambridge
University Press, 2004, ISBN: 0-521-81528-2, $80
The highly successful Clementine mission to the Moon in 1994 gave scientists their first global look at the Moon, and both the near and f