Book Description

Why is the future so different from the past? Why does the past affect the future and not the other way around? What does quantum mechanics really tell us about the world? In this important and accessible book, Huw Price throws fascinating new light these great mysteries of modern physics, and connects them in a wholly original way.

Price begins with the mystery of the arrow of time. Price shows that, for over a century, most physicists have thought about problems of time in the wrong way. Misled by the human perspective from within time, which distorts and exaggerates the differences between past and future, they have fallen victim to what Price calls the "double standard fallacy": proposed explanations of the difference between the past and the future turn out to rely on a difference which has been slipped in at the beginning, when the physicists themselves treat the past and future in different ways. To avoid this fallacy, Price argues, we need to overcome our natural tendency to think about the past and the future differently. We need to imagine a point outside time--an Archimedean "view from nowhen"--from which to observe time in an unbiased way.

Time's Arrow and Archimedes'Point presents an innovative and controversial view of time and contemporary physics. In this exciting book, Price urges physicists, philosophers, and anyone who has ever pondered the mysteries of time to look at the world from the fresh perspective of Archimedes' Point and gain a deeper understanding of ourselves, the universe around us, and our own place in time. ... Read more

Reviews (12)

Time For A Drink
This is heady stuff-Perhaps if you're a theoretical physics professor at CalTech it might make for light postprandial enjoyment.-But for the rest of us...Beware!...Part of the problem is terminology(micro) or (mu) innocence for example....Oddly, I read this book for the same reason I read Proust-I'm fascinated with Time!-But be forewarned that, though this book has far less than Proust's 3,000 pages, unless you are the aforementioned professor, you have an extremely tougher row to hoe in reading this book, even though the author goes out of his way to make things understandable to the lay reader. -The basic idea isn't that hard to understand: we are captives of our position in time and that captivity affects our observations of physical (particle, wavicle, whatever) behavior. What the author eventually advances (after ploughing through many other concepts and alternative explanations) is something called "advanced action theory." This theory entails, as far as I can make out, very simply, that there is a "common future" as well a "common past" that influences what we call the present but that we are unable to perceive this common future because our nature as AGENTS (he uses this term over and over)precludes us from perceiving this common future.-I kept on thinking of a spatial analogy of a person tied to the back of the caboose of a train facing backward. He can see where the train has gone, but not the vista ahead, which is certainly just as real. But if he has been in this position his entire life, he would have no idea what you meant by saying "See that mountain up ahead!" How could you know? It's as if one of us were to state, "See that assassination attempt tomorrow!"- Archimedes' Point for Mr. Price would entail an observer standing by as the train passes observing both where it's been and where it's going.-This is the simplest way I know to explain what this book is about, though it may just make more of a muddle of things for all I know....But the physicists Mr. Price describes seem to have done a pretty good job of that already.-Anyhow, that's enough explanation for a review like this one. If you are intrigued, go ahead and buy it.-But be prepared for hard, hard work.-Unless, of course, you've already figured all this out.-In the former case, a pint down at your local pub is the fit epilogue to this mindbending work!

One of the most thought-provoking books in recent years.
The question "What is time?" is one of the most fascinating philosophical inquiries precisely because it cannot be dismissed as metaphysical. Mr. Price has a most active mind, ready to question all of our basic assumptions about the way the world goes. Why don't we see events happening backwards? Well, maybe we do see them! Why is the world the way it is today? Because it evolved from a single particle that exploded in the "big bang"? How improbable, says Mr. Price. It is far more probable that the world was created a month ago, with everyone having false memories of a nonexistent past. If you are the type of person who needs definitive answers to things, then this may not be the book for you. But if you like questions--the kinds of questions that open up new ways of thinking about things--then you can hardly do better. I hope Huw Price favors us soon with another book.

On Price's "Time's Arrow and the Archimededs' Point"
On page 13 of "Time's Arrow and the Archimededs' Point", Huw Price writes:

".... If time flowed - then as with any flow - it would only make sense to assign that flow a direction with respect to a CHOICE (my emphasis) as to what is to count as the positive direction of time. .... The problem is that until we have such an objective basis we don't have an objective sense in which time is flowing one way rather than the other. In other words, not only does it not seem to make sense to speak of an objective rate of flow of time; it also doesn't make sense to speak of an objective rate of time; it also doesn't make sense to speak of an objective direction of time."

There are a number of ways that the world we inhabit seems asymmetric in time. Price believes that these perceptions of asymmetry are due to way we see reality, and less how reality actually is. He reminds the reader of how humanity has struggled before with anthropocentrism. Seeing the second law of thermodynamics as an EXPLANATION of time's arrow is just another anthropocentrism.

On page 17, Price writes:

".... The leading candidate for the position (the master arrow) has been the so-called arrow of thermodynamics. This is the asymmetry embodied in the second law of thermodynamics, which says roughly that the entropy of an isolated physical system never decreases.... There is nothing to stop us taking the positive axis to lie in the opposite direction, however, in which case the second law would need to be started as the principle that entropy of an isolated system never increases.... It is not an objective matter whether the gradients really go up or down, for this simply depends on an arbitrary choice of temporal orientation."

On page 20, Price writes:

"... We unwittingly project onto the world some of the idiosyncrasies of our own makeup, seeing the world in the colors of the in-built glass through which we view it. But the distinction between these sources is not always a sharp one, because our constitution is adapted to the peculiarities of our region.... It challenges the image physics holds of itself as an objective enterprise, an enterprise concerned with not with how things seem but with how they actually are. It is always painful for an academic enterprise to have to acknowledge that it might not have been living up to its own professed standards!"

On page 39, Price writes:

"... It seems to me that the problem of explaining why entropy increases has been vastly overrated. The statistical considerations suggest that a future in which entropy reaches its maximum is not in need of explanation; and yet that future, taken together with the low-entropy past, accounts for the general gradient... The puzzle is not about how the universe reaches a state of high entropy, but about how it comes to be starting from a low one. It is not about what appears in our time sense to be the destination of the greater journey on which matter is engaged, but about the point from which - again in our time sense - that journey seems to start."

What Price is describing above is what has been referred to as the ready-state paradox (see Chapter 6 of David Albert's book "Time and Chance"). And Price is right in pointing out that many of our "explanations" seems to fall to our anthropocentrism, given that we start out by assuming what it is that we seek to prove by introducing a time asymmetric ASSUMPTION.

Our low entropy birth at the big bang is a boundary condition, and one does not use statistics and determinism to explain such a boundary condition. Boundary conditions are more generally brute force realizations that are beyond explanation. So if you think that the second law of thermodynamics can explain cosmic evolution, and perhaps even the evolution of life, then think again. Or you may go on a meaningless journey to find the first ready-state.

It is quite plausibly that the early boundary conditions are determined by the present, given that time flowing backward is as plausible as time flowing forward. This brings up the possibility of backward causation, something that Price writes much on. But boundary conditions relate to collective properties, something going against the trend of reductionism. And so backward causation may better apply from the whole to its parts, which mirrors reductionism as forward causation generally goes from parts to whole.

Price writes much on Gold's big bang and big crunch model of the universe, and he writes on alternative views too. Having navigated safely from the time-flow anthropocentrism, Price seems to have gotten himself snagged on a second anthropocentrism that we are isolated from everything else. It is true we may see ourselves as all knowing creatures that are competing for our survival in a lifeless pool of chaos we call our universe. But there is no objective basis for this belief (see Thomas Nagel's
"The View from Nowhere"). It is just a possible that we are the forgetful universe reflecting hopelessly into the many egocentric bodies that are said to be all knowing. Are we the inside system or the outside system? The question is symmetrical, and cannot be answered. Then why do we answer it by projecting a Gold's universe onto reality by demanding a separate big crunch future that is just as likely as our big bang past?

A two aspect view of reality does not carry this unwanted anthropocentrism. It is that reality has an all knowing aspect that is perceived to be following the thermodynamic arrow, and the SAME reality holds a sublime shadow aspect where time is reversed from the present. In the sublime aspect the many celebrate as one, whereas in the forward aspect the one fragments into many.

The zone where the two aspects connect is the inexpressible core, where symmetries are broken and manifestation unfolds. It is the core where choices are made, and where creative tensions are released. I believe this two aspect model of the universe provides that best model that answers Price's concerns, and yet it does not demand that the future is locked into a big crunch as the evidence now suggests.

This two-aspect capacity to one reality is consistent with panpsychism, but Price does not mention this.

OK but not the best..
The author seems to go out-of-his-way to make this tome more obtuse and forbidding than it needs to be in order to present his theories.

The book is a decent supplement to other books on space/time theory but is indeed a very tedious read, and is more for the serious student than the casual reader who merely enjoys sampling divergent views on cosmologic concepts.

I certainly do not agree with the author on a number of points, but the publication is worth your while if you have the patience to slog through it, and it surely does afford some new perspective on the subject.

Philosopher sets the Physicists Straight on Time
In this book, Huw Price uses his advantage as a philosopher to show physicists where they're going all wrong on the big "what is time?" issue. I'm teasing, but while making some excellent points, Price does sound a little condescending sometimes. I wondered, while I read, if a physicist would find it merely amusing, or would be growling a bit. This book requires concentration just because he lays out intricate step-by-step explanations and arguments. Because the arguments are built logically, you can't afford to nap. He does indicate several times the chapters that could be skipped without losing his general points. The gist of his argument is this: We exist inside the system (that is, within the space-time continuum),we are deceived by that position into wrong conclusions. The solution he advocates is "Archimedes'point," that is, we should hypothesize a position outside the system,the "view from nowhere," and from there will come up with more accurate explanations of what's going on, in his opinion, that time really is non-directional. He makes some excellent points along the way, and certainly just the exercise of working through his arguments is good for the ol' brain, but some of his arguments and conclusions are invalid. The chief problem I see is; this time-space system has produced directional time perceiving agents like us. (It has produced really cumbersome directional arguments like his!) While our perspective is limited, I don't believe that it can be dismissed. It is a very big deal that beings like us exist in this universe. We can't pretend that the universe exists merely of little bits of matter knocking around. Theoretical physics does drift near the edge of the religious question, and I would have expected a philosopher to at least acknowledge that, while the "God question" is not subject to analysis, physics does at times seem to be working overtime simply to avoid a "prime mover." ... Read more

Book Description

This unique resource presents the latest advances in the study of the intracellular fate and transport of metal ions in fungi–emphasizing the mechanisms that regulate cellular concentration. ... Read more

Book Description

Microbial Life captures the richness, the intellectual excitement, and present-day understanding of the role of the microbe in evolution, human health, and in our lives. It is written for sophomore to senior undergraduates who have a general understanding of chemical concepts and biochemistry. The coverage includes a brief historical background, evolution of microorganisms, components of bacteria and viruses, energetics, genetics, microbial diversity together with the role of microbes and viruses in human disease, immunology, the environment, and industrial applications.

Chapter summaries, review questions, and suggested readings reinforce key concepts, while boxes highlight recent or significant research, historical essays, and methods and techniques. An interactive Student CD-ROM is included with every copy of the book.

SPECIAL FEATURES of Microbial Life:

* a streamlined text deliberately shortened by ten percent to encourage students to read and grasp the concepts
* full coverage of all aspects of microbiology—the book can serve as a text for a course in Taxonomy or Environmental Microbiology
* a brand new art program completely redone with clear, understandable drawings and appropriate explanations provided by balloon captions
* expanded coverage of evolution of Bacteria and Archaea, structure and function, nutrition and growth parameters, and energetics covering both chemical and photoenergy conservation
* expanded coverage of all aspects of genetics including a new section on genomics
* viral structure and reproduction, up-to-date coverage of taxonomy, microbial diversity and ecosystems
* coverage of important aspects of immunology in a revised single chapter
* a chapter on the important area of beneficial symbioses and on host–microbe interactions
* updated and expanded treatment of the role of microbes and viruses in human diseases
* industrial microbiology and environmental microbiology covered in separate chapters ... Read more

Book Description

Bacterial Biogeochemistry, Second Edition focuses on bacterial metabolism and its relevance to the environment, including the decomposition of soil, food chains, nitrogen fixation, assimilation and reduction of carbon nitrogen and sulfur, and microbial symbiosis. The scope of the new edition has broadened to provide a historical perspective, and covers in greater depth topics such as bioenergetic processes, characteristics of microbial communities, spacial heterogeneity, transport mechanisms, microbial biofilms, extreme environments and evolution of biogeochemical cycles.

Key Features
* Provides up-to-date coverage with an enlarged scope, a new historical perspective, and coverage in greater depth of topics of special interest
* Covers interactions between microbial processes, atmospheric composition and the earth's greenhouse properties
* Completely rewritten to incorporate all the advances and discoveries of the last 20 years ... Read more

Book Description

Many bacteria in the environment exist in a "viable by not culturable" state, sometimes even dominant and not yet possible to culture in the laboratory.This book presents the most up-to-date and comprehensive discussion of this remarkable phenomenon available.From a historic overview to the cutting-edge future of the field, it highlights the wide implications of the VBNC in medicine, public health, environmental science, agriculture, and biotechnology. ... Read more

Book Description

Bacterial Stress Responses reviews and summarizes the current knowledge in the field, synthesizing information from different organisms and systems.It focuses attention on problems, questions, and opportunities and will stimulate further research in this important ares.The volume covers specific stress responses such as heat shock and oxidative stress, general stress responses, the connections between stress responses and pathogenesis, the stress responses in bacteria that thrive in extreme environments, and general methods applied to the study of stress responses. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

excellent resource for Northwestern pot pickers
The photography in this book is excellent. The book is keyed to the Pacific Northwest, so those who live in or visit the area will find it very easy to use. The descriptors are clear especially concerning edibility. The book fits nicely into a day pack for all you hikers out there. I would highly recomend this book, it is probably one of the best books out there! ... Read more

Book Description

The field of genomics has seen dramatic expansion in the years following the publication of the prokaryotic genome.Must of the present effort in genomics lies in sequence production, annotation, and other bioinformatic analyses and in the beginnings of genetic and biochemical characterization of ORFs.

Organization of the Prokaryotic Genome contributes to the field by examining the importance of the gene organization in the genome and its role in the shaping of life.Intended to review and direct progress in our understanding of genome organization, this book explores the way in which genes interact with their neighbors.

Organized hierarchically, it addresses four major areas: description, forces that shape the genome, the genome's influence on gene expression, and future directions.Chapters within each section address more focused topics and guide the reader toward a broader perspective of viewing the genome as an integrated system. ... Read more

Book Description

As timely as it is urgent, this well-researched book from veteran science journalist Madeline Drexler delivers a compelling report on today's most ominous infectious disease threats. She focuses on a different danger in each chapter-from the looming risk of lethal influenza to in-depth information on the public health perils posed by bioterrorism. With a novelist's descriptive eye and a thriller writer's sense of tension, she warns us that the most ceaselessly creative bioterrorist is still Mother Nature, whose microbial operatives are all around us, ready to pounce when conditions are right. ... Read more

Reviews (13)

Easy to read and interesting.
After hearing Madeline Drexler speak at my university, I had to read this book. It is clear that Ms. Drexler has put forth a lot of effort toward producing a well-researched and well-written book. There are many quotes from professionals on the front lines of infection control, and there are many examples of normal people suffering from frightening and strange emerging infections.

Drexler's book offers a warning that we must focus on public health issues if we hope to avoid the tragedy that an agent such as a pandemic flu could cause. The book is filled with warnings about the overuse of antibiotics and the inefficiency of public health beauracracy and lack of funding. I hope that more professionals and lay people read this book and heed its message.

A book everyone should read!
In "Secret Agents: The Menace of Emerging Infections", Madeline Drexler describes the biologic threats we will face in the next couple of decades due to both our actions and the potential actions from bio-terrorists. She covers the spread of disease including examples such as the West Nile virus due largely to modern rapid transportation, bacterial infections that are virulent and resistant-or immune-to antibiotics caused largely by the overuse of antibiotics by the food industry and the medical profession, the increase in food contamination partially due to the increasing consolidation of food processing, the increasing rate for diseases in animals like birds, pigs and primates to make the leap to humans and the emerging picture that infectious diseases play a much larger role in cancer, mental health and other health problems than previously thought. She then sets these in perspective with the potential threats of bioterrorism.

The book is very readable. Each section usually starts with an often dramatic description of a real case. For the West Nile virus for instance, she related the detective story of how the West Nile Virus was identified as the cause of a recent rash of infections in New York and other parts of the US.

I recommend the book strongly to everyone. Everyone today needs to understand the issues that affect our health and the health of families.

Secret Agents is published by the Joseph Henry Press, a division of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences devoted to increasing public awareness of scientific issues that affect our lives. The implicit endorsement by the National Academy of Sciences establishes the scientific credibility of the author and the material in the book.

The Menace of Everything
Madeline Drexler's book is as frightening as she wants it to be. Secret Agents is a gripping, well-written fast read that should deeply frighten everyone on first glance. The subtitle is the menace of emerging infections but it could almost be changed to the menace of everything. There seems little escape from the possible scenarios she clearly presents (and this clarity is definately one of the book's strengths as she makes bio-science quite understandable for the layperson.) The chapter on the West Nile Virus that begins the book is particularly exciting and will the hook the reader immediately. If one pauses to look at the actual numbers, the book is somewhat less frightening as the numbers of deaths are always substantially below many of the doom-sayers' predictions, although she will repeatedly tell the reader this may not always be so. A fascinating book for our times.

A War Humans Are Losing
The battle between humans and disease-causing microorganisms is not a fair fight. Bacteria, for instance, have been around for a billion or so years more than we have. They are intricately involved in every part of our outer world and our innards. No one has come close to listing all the microbes we carry around inside us even when we are healthy, but medical journalist Madeline Drexler, in _Secret Agents: The Menace of Emerging Infections_ (Joseph Henry Press) reports that we are "walking petri dishes" to keep our bacteria and viruses going. She begins her detailed and frightening book: "Infection is an inescapable part of life. All creatures feast on other creatures and in turn are feasted upon, in a kind of Escheresque food chain. When humans are the meal, we call it infectious disease." Infections have always been our lot, but there are, in the twenty-first century, new ways for them to be particularly worrisome, and Drexler's fine book ought to be required reading for citizens and public leaders the world over.

The examples Drexler gives of disasters and near-disasters are chilling. Microbes never had it so good. They profit, for example, by the way the world can now share its food supply, enabling bizarre accidents to happen. A vandal shoots up the water chlorination system of his Mexican village, and causes (via parsley) food poisoning in hundreds of Minnesotans. Alfalfa sprouts, beloved by vegetarians, are grown in heat and moisture just right for salmonella from the Netherlands. You no longer have to travel to get traveler's diarrhea; it will visit you at home, and maybe it will be fatal. Not only are microbes jetting around the world (and not just on food, of course, but also in infected humans), but they are simply outsmarting our ability to kill them. Microorganisms are beating our antibiotics by the simple mechanisms of evolution. More patients are dying from infections that were easily curable thirty years ago. The next world flu is overdue, and because of speed of modern travel and older populations, it will have advantages that no others have ever had. Legionnaire's disease, tuberculosis, West Nile virus, bubonic plague, AIDS, and more all get their pages here. Then there is bioterrorism. There is reason for a good deal of pessimism.

It would be wrong to assume that there is nothing but pessimism, though. Governments are going to have to have to stop putting their own citizens first and start thinking about doing the right thing for the world's humans. Drexler makes a clear case that the Bush administration's rejection of the Biological Weapons Convention (when all other nations had accepted it), because it threatened national security or the commercial secrets of the drug companies, encourages rogue states to work on their deadly brews. Bioterrorism aside, at least some nations and epidemiologists are recognizing that any nation's infection is the world's infection. Health authorities have, in the past, been able to spot unusual clusters of disease and intervene; nowadays, this is going to take swift identification of the germ (there are exciting new gadgets that might do this without the days required to culture the organism) and rapid communication about the threat. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is changing international health measures by pouring billions of dollars into the effort. It will take money in all nations; even the US federal, state, and local health departments (for instance) are underfunded and ill-equipped. It may be that the bioterror threat is going to do some good as we enter an age of increased threat from natural disease as well; boosted national systems that are keyed for man-made infection emergencies could help protect us as more powerful infections visit us from all over. Even if the terrorists stop bothering us, the microbes won't; we might take the heroic measures needed to protect the world, or we might continue the status quo.

Secret Agents: the menace of emerging infections
This is a most compelling work, and the book of it's times. It has yet to receive the acclaim it is worthy of. 40 years ago Rachel Carson wrote a contrary work that changed the world. Now Drexler should bring us back. Others talk of guarding our boarders against aliens, but what they bring in are the "Secret Agents".
A great book that need more exposure. ... Read more

Book Description

This is the first complete review of chlamydial research in 11 years.In that time there have been substantial research advances, and the entry of many researchers into the field heralds a new era.The expansion of the field, fueled by the identification of a new emerging chlamydial pathogen, Chlamydia pneumoniae, and the completion of genome sequences for C. trachomatis and C. pneumoniae, provides the impetus for a complete review of chlamydial research.

This volume identifies the major issues and questions that will lead to future chlamydial research.It illustrates how genomics is changing the chlamydial research agenda and explores the role of cell biology and the immune response inpathogenesis and immunity.

Designed as a synthetic, comparative volume, this book comprehensively compares, constrasts, and integrates issues across all chlamydial species.The contributors provide a thorough review of previous research and indicate the top research needs in each area. ... Read more

Book Description

Features 30 anatomy charts with and without nomenclature for memorization and self study. ... Read more

Book Description

Standard reference to 140 species of puffballs, stinkhorns, and birds’-nest fungi. Dover edition also includes "The Gasteromycetae of Ohio" by Minnie May Johnson. Over 950 illustrations.
... Read more

Book Description

Simon & Schuster's Guide to Mushrooms is indispensable to anyone fascinated by mushrooms and other fungi. Lavishly illustrated, it contains detailed information about 420 types of mushrooms and other fungi found in the United States and Europe. The comprehensive introduction provides general information on the structure, reproduction, life cycles, classification, and distribution of the various species and describes the individual parts of the fungus as well. The entries describe the appearance, habitat, and geographic distribution of each species of fungi. The easy-to-use visual key provides each entry with immediately recognizable symbols that indicate spore color, ecological environment, and whether the species is edible or poisonous. A glossary and analytical index, plus an Index to Genera for locating particular subjects, help make this the most beautiful, valuable, and authoritative book in the field. ... Read more

Reviews (6)

Very beautiful illustrations!
Another guide written by Simon and Schuster, and another success. This mushroom field guide has a significant number of species listings for decent identification. Easily equals Audubon, Peterson, and other guides in detailed descriptions, photo quality, and abundance of species listed. Over 420 in all. Each mushroom is labeled with a botanical name, since beginners should stick with Golden Guides. The mushrooms shown are intriguing, and make you ponder eating them as the night's meal. The guide also explains the edibility, quality of it, and whether it is lethal. There are also descriptions of range and habitat. Habitat is indicated by a drawing on the bottom left hand of the species page. The redundancy of the Simon and Schuster system is indicated in the text, but this has never mattered, as the system is fine for expert field guide users. The underrated history of the book is unexplained, but should not have been so.
The two press editions of the guide are different in a couple of ways. The older, Nature Series Press, has aged photos, which makes the photo quality darker. However, the brand new, revised press, done by Simon and Schuster themselves, is the best yet. The photo quality is also pristine. Any edition of this contribution to field identification will prove useful for mushroom hunters and plant experts alike.

Visually appealing
In fact, I use this as a visual reference for drawing. It gives large, clear photos of each species, and hundreds are shown.

I'm not sure how much this will help the amateur mushroom-hunter, though. It certainly won't do much for a pro. The description of each species is short and bland. The real strength of this book is the photos that show the unique features of each species, and even each specimen.

Excellent.
I happen to love mushrooms and am very into identifying the ones that grow in my backyard. This book was a lot more helpful to me than any of the others I found. The beginning is extremely informative, and the species guide is huge-about 240 great pictures! No book can list every one, but this one covers a great many, especially common ones you're likely to see. Get it-it's a good buy.

Not as informative as i had hoped it would be
I think that it is a great book but it is not informative about some of the common Psilocybe species it only contains one and it isn't the most common around southern states like California, Texas, and New Mexico... Etc... Etc. One of which is Psilocybe Cubanessis.

Not for beginners
Execelent photos! However, the book tells you that it's o.k. to experiment with the amanita family-not a good idea when starting out or even for a pretty good mushroom hunter unless you want a one way trip through the great golden gates of heven! ... Read more