Book Description

Careers/Higher Education Tomorrow's Professor Preparing For Academic Careers in Science and Engineering "This (book) should be a major hit. There is no competition, there is a crying need, the book is interesting, well written, and comprehensive." Michael Lightner, Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, University of Colorado at Boulder "This book is a 'must read' for anyone considering or 'smack in the middle' of an academic career. In particular, the incorporation of advice from those in the field makes it unique and invaluable." Kim Needy, Assistant Professor, University of Pittsburgh "Simply the best book on the market for scientists; comprehensive, analytical and broad in focus." Anne J. MacLachlan, Center for Studies in Higher Education, University of California, Berkeley Tomorrow's Professor is designed to help you prepare for, find, and succeed at academic careers in science and engineering. It looks at the full range of North American four-year academic institutions while featuring 30 vignettes and more than 50 individual stories that bring to life the principles and strategies outlined in the book. Tailored for today's graduate students, postdocs, and beginning professors, Tomorrow's Professor:
* Presents a no-holds-barred look at the academic enterprise
* Describes a powerful preparation strategy to make you competitive for academic positions while maintaining your options for worthwhile careers in government and industry
* Explains how to get the offer you want and start-up package you need to help ensure success in your first critical years on the job
* Provides essential insights from experienced faculty on how to develop a rewarding academic career and a quality of life that is both balanced and fulfilling
At a time when anxiety about academic career opportunities for Ph.D.s in these field is at an all-time high, Tomorrow's Professor provides a much-needed practical approach to career development. ... Read more

Reviews (11)

Fantastic.
This book is amazing. Reading it has helped me put together a fantastic CV and confidently gear up for a new year of job searching. Although it's a tad light on the interview process itself, it does a terrific job of exploring every aspect of the academic career in science-including the potential potholes. It also has a large chunk of information about what to expect once you land that tenure-track job--including how to *get* tenure. I'll be referring to it for years. This book has well over 400 pages and it's worth every cent (despite the quite large price tag). I highly recommend it to any academic at any stage pre-tenure.

Does not say anything new
The book is designed as a guide for graduate students, post-docs, and non-tenured faculty looking for careers in academic science and engineering.

The book has four parts: the first gives an exposition of the world of academia, the second discusses preparation for academic careers for graduate students and post-docs, the third discusses strategies for looking for and applying to academic positions, and the fourth discusses life as junior faculty and the tenure application process.

While the book is well-written and well-organized, it does not provide any helpful information or insight. All information in the book should be well-known to any graduate student or post-doc who is even slightly serious about a career in academic science and engineering.

For example, every graduate student and post-doc should know full well that teaching experience and grant-writing skills are indispensable when applying for an academic position. Every non-tenured faculty should know what tenure is all about and what is necessary in order to achieve it. The book discusses these issues as if these are helpful pointers for success in academia.

The book provides advice on how to write teaching portfolios, how to handle campus tours, how to negotiate salaries, etc. However, there are many excellent books and websites discussing these issues in greater detail. This book is thus superfluous and unnecessary.

Detailed
A detailed description of what it is like being a professor. Many case studies to learn from.

Very informative
A lot of good suggestions. You may not agree with them all, but it's nice to know the viewpoints of the author. Highly recommended for all aspiring academics.

Very useful
This is not - as suggested by one reviewer - merely a dry encyclopedia. It is engaging and contains very good advice. Highly recommended. ... Read more

Reviews (19)

Ledoux explains fear; the implications are enormous.
The implications of Ledoux's book are enormous. Ledoux, a neuroscience researcher, shows that our emotions are generated by separate independent neuro systems which work unconsciously; believe it or not, we do NOT run because we are afraid, but rather we are afraid because we run. He also shows that the emotional systems have a much greater impact on our rational conscious than the rational conscious has on the emotional systems. Passion rules reason. This has tremendous implications for the current thinking in psycology/ psychiatry (although they will be slow to pick up on it). And it explains why man has so much angst, why we don't learn from history, why man is so brutal. The importance of this book cannot be overstated.

The Emotional Animal
Joseph LeDoux reminds us that the human being is, first and foremost, an EMOTIONAL animal! And that much of what happens in human physiology happens BELOW the surface of the thinking process! In reading The Emotional Brain, the reader is reminded that 'intellectual' awareness is clearly not the be-all, end-all of human behavior, and that we are guided by our brain's instinctive, intuitive (emotional) perception of events, way before our 'analytical' interpretation enters the scene! This book is a wonderful study in human adaptive behavior, and why we need to devote more attention to 'instinct' and 'intuition' at the paleoencephalon level of brain function.
I found this book to be quite accessible, even to the lay person. LeDoux writes with humor and, although detailed, he brings the information into focus with everyday examples that make the reading interesting. Should be required reading for all clinicians, especially Music Therapists!

Oh What a Clunker!
This book is so badly written that many readers, including those who are college graduates and used to reading academic texts, don't seem to know what it actually says. Let me give a simple example:

I have recently read two books, one by a researcher into REM sleep and one by a General Practitioner, who both cite "The Emotional Brain" in support of their comments on the "limbic system". One of the previous reviewers on this page does the same. And all three of them talk about the limbic system as being the source of our emotions.

But check out what LeDoux himself has to say on the subject:

"Either the limbic system exists or it does not. Since there are no independent criteria for telling us where it is, I have to say it does not exist." (page 101)

And later, on the same page:

"The limbic system term, even when used in a shorthand structural sense, is imprecise and has unwarranted functional (emotional) implications. It should be discarded."

This deconstruction of the "limbic system" myth actually takes up several pages, so how come people so obviously misrepresent LeDoux's view?

To be blunt, this book is vastly oversize and underpowered.

Most of the first half of the book is dedicated to trying to steamroller the reader into accepting the notion that the human brain is simply an evolutionary advance over the brains of "lesser" creatures. But not because the book has anything useful to say about evolution. In fact it several times falls into the trap of talking about evolution as though it were a teleological process, as in:

"... a few choices that evolution has had the wisdom to connect up ..." (page 69)

Evolution has had "the wisdom" - oops! I don't think so.

No, the reason behind the propaganda is that LeDoux's research has been mainly conducted on rats, and most of the other research he cites has been done on other non-human creatures, from flies to dolphins. The amount of research carried out on real live humans has been hardly enough to fill a tin cup. Hence the need to try to convince us that, because we are evolutionarily linked to the real test subjects in this book, what's true for them is *probably* true for us humans, too.

So, as late as the end of Chapter 6, we find this comment:

"We clearly need to go beyond evolution in order to understand emotion, but we should get past it by understanding its contribution rather than ignoring it. I think we have now done that, at least for the emotion of fear..." (page 178)

178 pages, of a 303 page book, just to demonstrate the role of evolution? And even then the text hardly rises above the ultra-trivial "explanation":

However things are, they are that way because they conferred the greatest advantage in the struggle for survival.

Gee, willikers. How's THAT for 178 pages of rocket science!

Worse still, this EC (evolutionary correctness) approach actually undermines the usefulness of the book. In the first place because it imposes the questionable assumption that ALL emotions are intended to arouse us:

"When we are in the throes of emotion, it is because something important, perhaps life threatening, is occurring ..." (page 300)

Oh well, bang go "satisfaction" and "sadness" as emotions!
Secondly because it reduces sections of the book to pure nonsense. For example:

"It's hard to believe that after all these years we actually still don't have a clear and definitive understanding of the role of body states in emotions." (page 295)

Got that? NO, repeat NO clear and definitive understanding. But move ahead just one sentence and we read:

"Emotional systems evolved as ways of matching bodily responses with the demands being made by the environment..."

Oh, so we do know after all?
No - this is yet ANOTHER of LeDoux's GUESSES. Because when it comes right down to it, if you read this book carefully and critically you are going to notice that's really what it's all about - some research massively padded about with guesses.

At the beginning of the book, around the time that he's demolishing the notion of the limbic system, LeDoux tells us that he will demonstrate how the amygdala and associated brain functions control the emotion of fear, and how this ties up with the rest of the emotions. He thinks!

Well, we get a fair amount of information about the amygdala - though hardly conclusive. This is tied to other emotions, which LeDoux *suggests* have their own functionality, not necessarily involving the amygdala, by the simple process of fudging. From page 282 onwards the functionality of fear is simply spoken about as though it were an all-purpose description of how emotions are generated, typified by a list of "bare essentials" which are described as "what's dispensable and indispensable for the emotion fear." It starts off with three elements that relate to fear, but ends with three totally non-specific elements (pages 296-299).

So having started out by saying that different emotions use different functionality, we end up with fear and ???????

And there's more.
Remember the first half of the book was designed to prove how similar humans and non-humans were? Well, on almost the very last page of the book that all gets blown out of the water when we are told that the human brain is significantly different from all others because, "natural language only exists in the human brain [and] in human the presence of natural language alters the brain significantly. ... Whatever consciousness exists outside of humans is likely to be very different from the kind of consciousness that we have. ... Human consciousness is the way it is because of the way our brain is. Other animals may also be conscious in their own special way due to the way their brains are." (pages 301 and 302)

Ah, well. Back to the drawing board!

Fantastic book!!
This is a fantasticly well-written, well documented and investigated book on Fear, conditioning and Emotions.

The author dwelves on the circuits in mind that allow us to connect our emotions with certain stimulations, especially in what relates to fear.

This is a fantastic book, but I have to agree that you must know something about brain anatomy to get the full information from it...!

superb
Takes careful reading, but well worth the effort. ... Read more

Book Description

C++ Plus Data Structures is designed for a course in Data Structures where C++ is the programming language. The book focuses on abstract data types as viewed from three different perspectives: their specification, their application, and their implementation. The authors stress computer science theory and software engineering principles, including modularization, data encapsulation, information hiding, data abstraction, object-oriented decomposition, functional decomposition, the analysis of algorithms, and life-cycle software verification methods. Finally, through classic Dale pedagogy students are offered a clear, easy-to-understand discussion of important theoretical constructs and their implementation in C++. ... Read more

Reviews (22)

Excellent Second Semester Text!
I've just finished a data structures course at the University of Maryland. This was the required text. This book "turned the light on" for me. Every other programming course/text I've had focused on the syntax of C++. This book focuses on the art of programming. The authors go to great pains to demonstrate program design independent of implementation. To do this, they place great emphasis on software engineering principles. Some students new to programming may not have a full appreciation for this methodology, but as a software tester, I completely understand and agree with the author's approach. First, design the program from the logical point of view. Then, build to the application level. With the understanding gained from the two previous steps, THEN make the implementation decisions. There is much more pseudocode than source code in each chapter. But the pseudocode is so complete that it is easily transformed into source. This book has helped me make the leap from being a mere "coder" to a fledging programmer. From conversations with senior programs at my job, this text covers all the most important data structures that every programmer should understand and be able to implement. I suspect that those reviewers who found this book unintelligible were too new to programming.

A textbook for what?
I just got complained about not following this textbook in the course of "Data structure". In the first six weeks of this semester, I have to stuff the students with supplementary materials about how to define a class, how to use a class in a program, what is the relatioship between class and object, what is the hell "abstract data type" thing to do with class, why use private access control while we want to know something. All these things are not supposed to cover in a semester for this course, I guess. However, most of my students have only "heard of" class and "public, private, protected", etc, which they had in their CS1/CS2 courses. After the first homework to learn how to define a class and use it a program, we are hoping we can go straightly with the five sructures. But surprisely from chapter 3, I found that I am preparing a "System Analysis and Design" class or maybe a "Software Engineering" class.

Sometime, I got stuck on the black-board, because I suddenly realized that the codes I just wrote down on the black-board contains infinite loop. For instance, this one on page150 in the third edition, quote:
"Examine this algorithm carefully and convince yourself that it is correct. Try cases where you are deleting the first item and the last item.
void SortedType::DeleteItem(ItemType item) {
int location = 0;
while(item.ComparedTo(info[location]) != EQUAL)
location++;
for(int index = location+1; index info[index-1] = info[index];
length--;
}
"
I am just wondering whether the authors have tried themselves to see what if this code is used to delete an item NOT in the list at all, and what if the list is thought to be empty but the item at the first slot of the array is coincide with "item"? Erros like these exist many places.

I personally dislike the textbook mostly because of its style. The authors use the same methodology in wrting the textbook for "Computer Science Illuminated", in which a lot of things are menioned but not detailed, and a (coding, logical, and presenting) style is not kept and changed without smooth transition for the treating similar things. This is especially the case in the chapters of Chapter 5, Chapter 7 and Chapter 8" when dealing with recurssively implementions of those structures.

*NOT* an Excellent Second Semester Text!
Like another reviewer, I used this required text in a data structures course at the University of Maryland. I attend the University of Maryland through UMUC, the online unit of the school, so having a good text is very important. Unlike the other reviewer for the University of Maryland, I very much disliked this book.

A prerequisite to this course is an introductory C++ course that uses "Programming and Problem Solving with C++" which Nell Dale co-authored. I found "Programming and Problem Solving" to be pretty good and I earned a strong 'A' in the course.

This book however was awful. Put simply, the material was too difficult to understand. My average at the end of the course would have earned me an F if the final grades hadn't been curved, which gave me a B.

Perhaps this material is too complex for a one-semester course. I am unable to make this call since I still don't understand any of it. Regardless, the book was written to teach various concepts in a one-semester course and it fails to do much else than to frustrate the student.

Bad book!
The book is really bad and has nothing interesting inside.
Do not speand your time to study it!

Awful
This is a terrible textbook on data structures.

The chapters are a meandering mess and are unpredictable. I've read several books on data structures, and this is the worst.

Some chapters are all theory and bad pseudocode, and other chapters (specifically the binary tree chapter) are mostly code with little meaningful explanation.

I've actually had a class with this book, and was forced to do the homework assignments from it--few of which had anything to do with the text. In order to learn anything useful, I ended up studying the homework exercises from another data structures textbook.

Oh, and expect this code to compile. Every week my teacher had to provide us with a revised version of the code to fix their bugs.

A complete waste of paper. ... Read more

Book Description

The generation of mutant mice raises many questions about the best means of phenotypic analysis, breeding, and maintenance. The answers are now available from two experts with a wealth of detailed knowledge never previously assembled in one volume. Informal and highly practical, this handbook provides step–by–step methods for troubleshooting experiments, from the basics of gene targeting through the analysis of postnatal effects. ... Read more

Book Description

A guide to formulating and compounding industrial detergents. Detailed information on surfactants, builders, and solvents, along with 300 formulas to study. 234 pages. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

rare find
I have looked for information on detergent compounding for quite awhile, something for the novice. I kept getting soap books (crafts and such), but this book is for setting up a business manaufacturing detergents and other specialties. It has tons of practical info, and it is the only book I found that explains formulas instead of just listing them-it has ideas on changing formulas to make them better or whatever you want to create for a market you want to sell to.

The best book on detergents ever!
Awesome! THE definitive book on compounding detergents - if you only buy one book on this subject, this is it! ... Read more

Book Description

This book gives a broad and up-to-date coverage of bootstrap methods, with numerous applied examples, developed in a coherent way with the necessary theoretical basis.Applications include stratified data; finite populations; censored and missing data; linear, nonlinear, and smooth regression models; classification; time series and spatial problems. Special features of the book include: extensive discussion of significance tests and confidence intervals; material on various diagnostic methods; and methods for efficient computation, including improved Monte Carlo simulation. Each chapter includes both practical and theoretical exercises.Included with the book is a disk of purpose-written S-Plus programs for implementing the methods described in the text. Computer algorithms are clearly described, and computer code is included on a 3-inch, 1.4M disk for use with IBM computers and compatible machines. Users must have the S-Plus computer application. ... Read more

Reviews (4)

you get your money's worth
This book is loaded with good text book examples and covers a wide variety of bootstrap applications. It is great as a reference book on the bootstrap or as a course text at a graduate level. Chernick (1999) is a little more up-to-date and covers the classifcation error rate estimation problem that is not addressed in this text. Chernick (1999) also has many more references. Efron and Tibshirani (1993) is another fine text that is a little more intuition based with less mathematics. Fieller's problem with ratio estimation and some other gems are well covered in Efron and Tibshirani but not here. Davison and Hinkley do the best job on time series of any of the bootstrap books with details about moving block bootstrap and some interesting applications.

Exceptionally clear, concise and practical
This book has an excellent ballance between practice and theory. It presents the bootstrap as the powerful tool it is through the ellucidation of practical issues. I strongly recommend this book for everyone interested in improving statistical practice.

Book has my vote
Relevant and clear in explanations throughout.

Excellent recent text on bootstrap
Like Efron and Tibshirani (1993) this book is designed as an introductory course text on the bootstrap. It covers the wide variety of applications and is up-to-date on this rapidly expanding area of research. The book is notable for its detailed examples and numerous problems. Also an enclosed diskette provides SPlus code to help the reader implement the bootstrap via the Monte Carlo approximations. Applications to time series and point processes are among the interesting new applications treated in the book. It is very well written. Chernick (1999) may also be of interest to readers of bootstrap as it ties the literature together and provides real world applications and examples where the bootstrap principle fails. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Great guide to modeling systems!
This is a great book for anyone interested in modeling dynamic systems. The authors provide wonderful background theory as a basis for building computer simulations. The simple step-by-step instructions guide you through the process of creating your own simulations using StarLogo. This book is an interesting, easily understandable beginner's manual and comes with all the software you need. It's a great way to teach yourself or other people how to program a simulation. I love the turtles!

Excellent guide to modeling systems!
This is a great book for people intereted in modeling systems behavior. The authors give an excellent background summary of the theory involved in StarLogo. The program given with the CD is easy to install and use. The book takes you step by step through thinking about and creating your own computer simulation in an easy to understand manner. There's lots of support for any technical difficulties you might have and good examples of what you can do with the program. I highly recommend it to everyone. ... Read more

Book Description

Neuroscientist V.S. Ramachandran is internationally renowned for uncovering answers to the deep and quirky questions of human nature that few scientists have dared to address. His bold insights about the brain are matched only by the stunning simplicity of his experiments -- using such low-tech tools as cotton swabs, glasses of water and dime-store mirrors. In Phantoms in the Brain, Dr. Ramachandran recounts how his work with patients who have bizarre neurological disorders has shed new light on the deep architecture of the brain, and what these findings tell us about who we are, how we construct our body image, why we laugh or become depressed, why we may believe in God, how we make decisions, deceive ourselves and dream, perhaps even why we're so clever at philosophy, music and art. Some of his most notable cases:

• A woman paralyzed on the left side of her body who believes she is lifting a tray of drinks with both hands offers a unique opportunity to test Freud's theory of denial.
• A man who insists he is talking with God challenges us to ask: Could we be "wired" for religious experience?
• A woman who hallucinates cartoon characters illustrates how, in a sense, we are all hallucinating, all the time.

Dr. Ramachandran's inspired medical detective work pushes the boundaries of medicine's last great frontier -- the human mind -- yielding new and provocative insights into the "big questions" about consciousness and the self.

Reviews (54)

Ramachandran's "Phantoms"
If you have read books by Oliver Sacks, M.D. (e.g., The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat), this book is in the same genre and is equally interesting and worthwhile. If you haven't--both Sacks and this author are neurologists who do the rest of us a considerable and fascinating favor by telling us about their patients. (Also, maybe you saw the movie, Awakenings, that starred Robin Williams as Sacks, and Robert DeNiro as one of his patients)

Both Sacks and Ramachandran arrange their patient stories under topical headings intended to elucidate the way the brain and body (especially the senses) work together, and also the nature of human personality and even consciousness itself. Ramachandran writes with great clarity, kindness and humor, and his origins in India and Hinduism provide a gently-presented, less-western point of view.

His book also contains some simple but amazing mind-body experiments you can do on yourself and with friends (really). In one, you will become convinced that the top of the desk in front of you is part of your body, since you will feel it when another person touches the desk. Those of you interested in religion will find the chapter "God and Limbic System" especially fascinating. And no, the purpose of his chapter is not to denigrate or analyze away religious experience, but to better understand it, and what it means to be human.

I've read this book three times
Easily the most fascinating and up-to-date book about the brain.
It truly grabbed my attention; the first time I read it I didn't put it down...read it all the way through in one sitting.
So much of what we do, we are, we think, we feel is programmed by a few pounds of wet matter in our heads.
I learned about smiles, gods...well, we're limited to 1,000 words here, so I can't say all that I learned...but I've read the book three times and wish I could read it again, but I gave it to my son. It's amusing at times, ALWAYS interesting...if I had a better brain I could write a better review, but, gosh, if you're at all interested in why you think as you do, why you react to certain things as you do, why you are YOU...this book will answer those and many more questions. It's easily the most interesting book I've read in many a moon. I wonder if my son's finished reading it....

Fascinating insight into neurological problems
I first heard of VS Ramachandran when quite by accident I tuned into his giving the 2003 Reith Lectures on BBC Radio 4 (like PBS). His entertaining & instructive style prompted me to tune in a few nights later for the next instalment, and then to go and seek out his published work.

Phantoms in the Brain is an excellent introduction to practical studies of phantom limbs syndrome, and thus into the workings of the human brain and the concept of body imaging.

As a direct consequence of reading this book, I then eagerly awaited his next offering, the transcript of those BBC Lectures.

Great read
I am an IT professional working for an MNC.When I first looked at this book, I was not very sure if i can understand the complex subject the book dealt with.
But now,after having read the book, I feel its just great.
Some of the incidents in the book are surprising and thought provoking.
Very interesting narration about how the brain works, human vision and why we behave in a particular way.

Now, everytime i come across the word 'phantom' I recollect this book.

Phenomenal Collection
The assembled stories are truly amazing, prompting a thoughtful reanalysis of the way our minds work and what it means to be human. Dr. Ramachandran's writing (or ghost-writing; I note there are two authors listed) is excellent, as well. He describes his cases with compassion and enthusiastically explores the possible meanings of his observations. He explores topics ranging from body imaging, the inner workings of vision, hemispheric specialization, to the neurological correlates to religious experience. Though I don't think his conclusions are always foolproof (and neither does he), there is a great deal of food for thought here, enough to keep you thinking about the nature of the brain and human experience long after the final page is turned. ... Read more

Book Description

Plasma engineering is a rapidly expanding area of science and technology with increasing numbers of engineers using plasma processes over a wide range of applications. An essential tool for understanding this dynamic field, Plasma Physics and Engineering provides a clear fundamental introduction to virtually all aspects of modern plasma science and technology.These areas include: plasma chemistry and engineering, combustion, chemical physics, lasers, electronics and new methods of material treatment, fuel conversion and environmental control.

The book contains an extensive database on plasma kinetics and thermodynamics, many helpful numerical formulas for practical calculations, and a large number of problems and concept questions.As a foundational text, Plasma Physics and Engineeringis ideal for senior undergraduate and graduate students in mechanical, chemical and electrical engineering, as well as for scientists and engineers studying phenomena taking place in cold and thermal discharge plasmas, in combustion, and laser systems. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

book for plasma engineers
This book focuses on the most important and fundamental issues of
plasma physics and applications in today's industry. It provides an
excellent introduction and overview of plasma. It covers almost all
aspects of plasma physics and engineering and has a lot of useful
examples.

In this book, author gave a thorough consideration of the theory of
breakdown phenomena leading to formation of different plasma
discharges and finally covered, in considerable depth, the physics and
main features behind the major discharges intensively used in
cutting-edge technologies. Along with the well known material, the
most interesting and important innovations in area of plasma physics
are also gathered and discussed.

It is extremely useful as reference and textbook. I highly recommend it to anyone interested in plasma. ... Read more

Book Description

Introduces the embracing world-concept long sought by scientists, mystics, and sages: an Integral Theory of Everything.

• Explains how modern science has rediscovered the Akashic Field of perennial philosophy.

• Reveals how the universe stores a record of all that is happening and has ever happened on Earth and throughout the cosmos.

• Explores the origins, role, and future of life and consciousness in the universe.

Mystics and sages have long maintained that there exists an interconnecting cosmic field at the roots of reality that conserves and conveys information, a field known as the Akashic record. Recent discoveries in the new field of vacuum physics now show that this Akashic field is real and has its equivalent in the zero-point field that underlies space itself. This field consists of a subtle sea of fluctuating energies from which all things arise: atoms and galaxies, stars and planets, living beings, and even consciousness. This zero-point Akashic-field--or "A-field"-- is not only the original source of all things that arise in time and space; it is also the constant and enduring memory of the universe. It holds the record of all that ever happened in life, on Earth, and in the cosmos and relates it to all that is yet to happen.

Scientist and philosopher Ervin Laszlo conveys the essential element of this vision of the "informed universe" in language that is accessible and clear. The informed universe lends credence to our deepest intuitions of the oneness of life and the whole of creation. We discover that, as philosopher William James stated, "we are like islands in the sea, separate on the surface but connected in the deep." ... Read more

Book Description

This book represents the most complete and authoritative description on the fine structure of the nervous system available in a single volume.Beginning with background material on the neuron, the book then examines specific portions of the nerve cell, and of the various supporting cells.Structure is first described in a general fashion, followed by detailed coverage of the fine structure of each component, with full discussion of how the structural features relate to their functions.Extensively revised and rewritten, this book will bring readers up to date with the many important developments that have taken place since publication of the previous edition.It includes over 130 electron micrographs and line drawings, many of which are new to this edition. ... Read more

Book Description

Written by a team of distinguished authors led by Lewis Wolpert one of the most influential developmental biologists of this century, this is a new and revised edition of the best-selling and popular textbook Principles of Development. It is designed for undergraduates and emphasizes principles and key concepts. Central to the authors' approach is the idea that understanding how genes control cell behavior is the key to understanding development. They assume that students are familiar with the basics of cell biology and genetics but provide thorough explanations of all key concepts in the text, like the control of gene activity. Instead of covering every aspect of developmental biology, the authors focus on those systems that best illuminate common principles. The theme of their book is that universal principles govern the process of development. The text also focuses on vertebrates and Drosophila, but without excluding other systems, such as the nematode and the sea urchin. Another important feature of the book is the inclusion of the development of plants--usually neglected in other textbooks--which has unique and important features. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

CAUTION: not a good intro to development
I am currently using this text for my 300 level developmental biology class. You know the saying, "a picture is worth a thousand words", well, this book is a thousand words without the pictures. It is very cumbersome to read. You know there is a problem when a book makes more sense when read in reverse. I am being very serious. FOr example, the author will be overly vague in introducing a topic, but still use specific terms without any prior introdution. Vital details necessary to understanding the text are given when needed. Throughout, terms are used before definitions are given, which makes the reader go nuts trying to figure out the meanings of more than half of the sentences.
Seriously, i do not understand the "excellent" reviews that others have given it.
I think it may be true that this book is VERY Comprehensive, but as far as clarity, theres none for students trying to understand the basics and a little more. If you are a professor, and know the material, then this book is probably a pleasure to read.
If you are like me, and just want to have a thorough understanding of the basics of developement, it would be in your best interest to look elsewhere.

An Excellent Textbook
Wolpert's developmental biology textbook is evidently an excellent text in its field. The authors are all well recognized in thier research areas. The organization of the text is also very well written. The summary of the concept presented at the end of each chapter is helpful. The figures presented througout the text are clear and the language used to explain them is simple but very understandable. Compared with the well-known Gilbert's text, this text may be less in dept but you can get the concept from this book for only half of the time reading Gilbert's. It is a nice book to have both for the new beginner in the field and for just a quick reference.

Greatest revolution of text in development
@I read this book for 2 months. Chapters of regeneration is more impressive than any other chapters.Moreover, I impressed that this bppk is best for beginners and students. Composition is also excellent. ... Read more

Book Description

Amazon.com

Medical case studies can be fascinating to read, full of drama, heroism,and sometimes tragedy. Most doctors' tales take place in clinics orhospitals, but those pedestrian settings are not for Kenneth Kamler, whopractices medicine outside, patching people up with surprising successunder harrowing conditions. Surviving the Extremes starts withopen-air surgery in the steamy jungles of the Amazon River, moves todisturbingly detailed descriptions of the many ways humans can die atsea, and from there takes white-knuckled readers through the rest ofEarth's extreme environments. Krakauer fans will gasp at the book's bestchapter, covering the high-altitude medical feats Kamler has performedon Mt. Everest and other peaks. "No course in medical school taught methe proper mixture of oxygen, IV fluids, and Tibetan chants to treat asubdural hematoma in below-zero temperatures on a 3-mile-high glacier,"Kamler writes. Instead, he has learned the fine art of adventuredoctoring by doing it, and in the process, he's won fans among theworld's most prominent risk-takers. Through it all, Kamler remainsfascinated by the human body's ability to heal under horrificallydangerous conditions. His medical adventures are inspiring andthrilling, as well as occasionally bloody and disgusting. In short,perfect stories of human survival. --Therese Littleton ... Read more

Reviews (5)

Surviving the Extremes: A Doctor's Journey to the Limits of
Physiological constraints confine our bodies to less than one-fifth of the earth's surface. Beyond that fraction lie the extremes. What happens when we go to them?" "Dr. Kenneth Kamler has spent years observing exactly what happens. A vice president of the legendary Explorers Club, he has climbed, dived, sledded, floated, and trekked through some of the most treacherous and remote regions in the world. A consultant for NASA, Yale University, and the National Geographic Society, he has explored undersea caves, crossed the frozen Antarctic wastelands, and stitched a boy's hand back together while kneeling in knee-deep Amazonian mud." "The words extreme and survival have lost some of their value from overuse and media hype. By showing us what happens when life is at stake and the body's capacities are put to their greatest test, this book reminds us what these words truly mean. Divided into six sections - jungle, high seas, desert, underwater, high altitude, and outer space - Surviving the Extremes uses firsthand testimony and documented accounts to illustrate what goes on in environments where our instinctive survival strategies must become fully engaged. These stories reveal how infinitely complex are the workings of the human body - and also how heartbreakingly fragile. At the core of this book is a request for the source of our will to survive and the haunting question of why some can and others cannot summon its awesome and nearly mystical power at their moment of greatest need

Surprising reality attention grabber
I have to start off by saying I picked this up as a random purchase while at a CD/book sale at my company. pretty much an impulse buy after already getting a DVD that I sort of wanted, and cheap. Well...

I think this is the first book I've picked up in a while, and maybe the first non-fiction one in even longer. It is definitely amazing. The idea that it is all firsthand stories, most from specific life experiences, is great. The detail and accuracy (i'll have to assume being that I'm not a doctor) is killer, and makes you think about what you really are capable of. Also a great reminder that we're living an illusing within the safety of civilization's confines for the most part.

The best thing is how you can learn to cope with extremes that you otherwise might just overreact and die if you don't keep a cool head and have some knowledge such as what is touched on in here.

I just wish it wasn't so short, cause it was great to have something like this to read.

Fascinating book, misleading marketing
This is one of the most interesting books I have read in ages. I'll agree with the other reviewer that the jacket information is misleading. This isn't really a "thriller" as conventionally defined. The author shares some first person as well as historical anecdotes but this really is an incredible biology book, interweaving physiology with some evolutionary biology. A very thoughtful and well-written book! It leaves the reader with jaw-dropping respect for the human body and its ability to adapt to extreme situations. It also touches on the adaptations other animals have to routinely live in environments which are totally inhospitable to humans. It is just too bad that people are disappointed in it because it isn't what the jacket says it is. I have taught basic survival classes for teens and I'm really glad to have this book to recommend because it is a different slant compared to what is out there in survival literature. My teenage daughters read Into Thin Air in high school English and I just wish I had this book before the younger one did her paper last month on dehydration!

Not what I expected.
This is a book mostly on elementary anatomy. If you are looking for exciting and suspenseful stories, buy another book. There are a lot of fabricated scenarios and theories from past events rather than actual live experiences as indicated on the book jacket. This book was written in National Geographic style. The majority of the book describes the environment of each situation. I purchased the book to read about the real life threatening situations, not to read about the landscape or anatomy.

This is what "survival" really means!
I make my home in a place that can challenge the human body. Alaska is a land of extremes-altitude, cold, sheer geological scale. Human survival in the Alaskan outdoors is dependent upon proper clothing and equipment, careful planning, and physical conditioning. But even then, people make mistakes and end up in trouble. Sometimes, they end up dead.

How does the human body cope with the effects of exhaustion, the extremes of hunger or thirst, the crushing pressure of the ocean's depths, and the burning heat of the barren desert? Microsurgeon Kenneth Kamler, MD has forged a career out of understanding the body's reactions to these extremes, and the medical procedures that can help when things go wrong.

Dr. Kamler was on Everest in 1996 during the tragic climb profiled in the books INTO THIN AIR and THE CLIMB, and in his own 1998 book A DOCTOR ON EVEREST. He treated climber Beck Weathers, the climber left for dead near the summit who survived terrible frostbite to his hands and face. He has performed intricate hand surgery in the mud of a rainforest jungle, and has treated a patient in an underwater habitat on the ocean floor. In his new book SURVIVING THE EXTREMES: A DOCTOR'S JOURNEY TO THE LIMITS OF HUMAN ENDURANCE, Dr. Kamler writes compellingly of the mental and physiological elements that combine to determine who lives and who dies when the human body is faced with extremes of altitude, temperature, heat, cold and pressure.

This book is fascinating, compelling, and explains what the concept of "survival" really means within the context of the body's ability (and failure) to cope with extreme environments. Do not miss it! ... Read more

Book Description

You won't just receive a textbook with The Living World. We provide a wealth of presentation tools including textbook images in a variety of formats,Power Point outlines, and animations as well as online laboratories, activities and tutorials for students to help make teaching a little easier, and learning a lot more fun.

Dr. George Johnson writes in an informal, friendly way, to engage as well as to teach. At every stage, students learn "how things work and why things happen the way they do." The emphasis is placed on telling a story rather than merely naming parts or giving definitions. ... Read more

Book Description

Almost 80 years after the Scopes trial, the debate over the teaching of evolution continues. It is a complex topic with profound scientific, religious, educational, and legal implications. How can a student or parent understand this volatile issue? Evolution vs. Creationism provides the comprehensive and balanced survey that is so badly needed. Written by one of the leading advocates for the teaching of evolution in the United States, this accessible resource provides an introduction to the many facets of the current debate--the scientific evidence for evolution, the legal and educational basis for its teaching, the various religious points of view--as well as a concise history of the evolution-creationism controversy. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Nature of Science
Eugenie Scott explains the nature of science: Science is guided by natural law, is explanatory by reference to law, is testable against the empirical world, is always tentative and subject to revision and is falsifiable. Creationism is an act of faith without testing and fails the nature of science.

What many do not understand is that there is 1) no general all-purpose scientific method, 2) science is not only about experiments, 3) science is not invulnerable to fraud, 4) science can never provide final or absolute truth and 5) there are questions that science cannot answer. Science never proposes an irrefutable hypothesis such as "God did it!" Science accepts what cannot otherwise be disproven - and keeps testing, always looking for the defects and failures.

Following Garrett Hardin's method of taking the opposite view, Ms. Scott makes a concerted effort on behalf of "Intelligent Design" and creationism proponents. The ID folks refuse to allow Ms. Scott to quote from their published materials, contrary to the norms of open and democractic discussion.

The nature of science is that science is an act of nonfaith and is always subject to further testing. Science can never rely on the supernatural. There is no conflict between science and creationism. There is only a conflict in the minds of those who only rely upon the supernatural and faith.

Ms. Scott presents a credible, easy to read and understand discussion. This book belongs in the hands of every K-12 and university educator, minister, school board and the general public. ... Read more

Book Description

Instant electronic access to digital information is the single most distinguishing attribute of the information age. The elaborate retrieval mechanisms that support such access are a product of technology. But technology is not enough. The effectiveness of a system for accessing information is a direct function of the intelligence put into organizing it. Just as the practical field of engineering has theoretical physics as its underlying base, the design of systems for organizing information rests on an intellectual foundation. The subject of this book is the systematized body of knowledge that constitutes this foundation.

Integrating the disparate disciplines of descriptive cataloging, subject cataloging, indexing, and classification, the book adopts a conceptual framework that views the process of organizing information as the use of a special language of description called a bibliographic language. The book is divided into two parts. The first part is an analytic discussion of the intellectual foundation of information organization. The second part moves from generalities to particulars, presenting an overview of three bibliographic languages: work languages, document languages, and subject languages. It looks at these languages in terms of their vocabulary, semantics, and syntax. The book is written in an exceptionally clear style, at a level that makes it understandable to those outside the discipline of library and information science. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

The Bible of Metadata
I keep this book close to me at work and usually stick it in my laptop case when I leave for home. It is my bible for metadata. The first time I read it, I carefully underlined passages with a fine light pencil. Now I've tossed book decorum to the winds and use highligher pens! To mention just one general topic, Elaine Svenonius grapples with all of the key issues that trained librarians face when cataloguing digital materials. She also covers controlled vocabularies from several perspectives, and understands the challenges/difficulties of applying standard "book" classifications to rich media collections. That it took me a long time to get through this book has nothing to do with her style -- Elaine Svenonius writes clearly, often beautifully -- but rather with the amount of information and the mind-expanding concepts, which I still mull over as I wrestle at work with asset management.

Heavy going, but worth the effort
I think that a lot of people who work in information technology tend to think that the problems that we have with things like web-based search and retrieval are unique to Internet search engines and catalogue databases. I know that I've been working in the field while lacking an adequate sense of the historical basis of information organization.

Svenonius breaks information organization down into ideology (purposes and principles), the formalization of the processes involved in information organization, knowledge based on research, and key problems that need to be solved. It's information that's very useful for anybody who is involved with organization of information-- even for people like me who work more on the technical than conceptual side of content management systems. ... Read more

Book Description

The bicycle is almost unique among human-powered machines in that it uses human muscles in a near-optimum way. This new edition of the bible of bicycle builders and bicyclists provides just about everything you could want to know about the history of bicycles, how human beings propel them, what makes them go faster, and what keeps them from going even faster. The scientific and engineering information is of interest not only to designers and builders of bicycles and other human-powered vehicles but also to competitive cyclists, bicycle commuters, and recreational cyclists.

The third edition begins with a brief history of bicycles and bicycling that demolishes many widespread myths. This edition includes information on recent experiments and achievements in human-powered transportation, including the "ultimate human- powered vehicle," in which a supine rider in a streamlined enclosure steers by looking at a television screen connected to a small camera in the nose, reaching speeds of around 80 miles per hour. It contains completely new chapters on aerodynamics, unusual human-powered machines for use on land and in water and air, human physiology, and the future of bicycling. This edition also provides updated information on rolling drag, transmission of power from rider to wheels, braking, heat management, steering and stability, power and speed, and materials. It contains many new illustrations. ... Read more

Reviews (10)

Everything you ever wanted to know about cycling
I never knew that so much research was available on cycling until I read this book. The authors cover bicycle history, human power generation, wind resistance, braking, the wheel, balance, drag and many other topics. What makes this book unique is that it is not full of a lot of generalizations or "advice from a pro." This book is based on the physics and biology of human powered vehicles. It's full of charts, schematics, and formulas. Flip through some of the pages and at times you'd think that you were looking at a physics book.

If you're looking for a book to teach you how to ride in a pack, what to take on a bike tour, or which type of bike to purchase then this is not the book for you. If you're an avid cyclist and want to learn more about the science behind cycling then you'll enjoy this book.

Although this is a great book I can't give it 5 stars because of the date. It was written in 1984 and a lot has changed since then. Much of the basic science in the book remains the same but technology and bicycle materials have evolved. I hope the authors are working on an updated edition.

review of new (2004) edition
(...) Perhaps the only competitor of rock climbing for the canonical geek sport, cycling
-- for utility or amusement -- asks for a good blend of engineering and physiological savvy. For
many the hands-on tinkering of bicycle maintenance and cycling technique provides welcome
relief from more abstract manipulations in the library or office. Whether you think of cycling as the
ultimate open source engineering project, or as a handy metaphor for your computer-of-choice,
its appeal to the mechanism-oriented mind is undeniable.]

Released this April, David Gordon Wilson's updated Bicycling Science fills the gap between, on the one hand, shop
manuals and training guides, and on the other the contemporary literature on human powered vehicles. Wilson, Professor
Emeritus at MIT, navigates physics and physiology to produce a hefty source of insight.

Wilson splits his book into three broad sections -- the biology of human power generation, the physics of turning
complicated muscle motions into linear velocity, and radical redesigns of the standard diamond bicycle frame.

The first section explains, among other things, the role of oxygen uptake and distribution, and gives empirical and
theoretical backing to some, but not all, of the conventional wisdom surrounding cycling. The curious will find a detailed
explanation of why high pedal cadence allows for long-term, low-intensity, high-efficiency power generation.
Modifications to the standard choices -- from elliptical chain-wheels to hand-powered cranks -- are analyzed
critically.

The second section might be jokingly termed "extreme high school physics." Wilson explains how people intuitively
balance and steer on two wheels, and the design of braking systems to avoid flip-over. He gets down-and-dirty in the
metallurgical literature to explain the role of metal fatigue in frame failure, and into fluid dynamics to discuss air drag in
laminar and turbulent air flows.

Wilson manages to give a sense of how the different demands physics makes on all aspects of bike design cohere into the
more-or-less efficient system that we recognize today as the road and mountain bike. Wilson is an innovator, but he has a
healthy respect for current designs along with a good deal of skepticism for passing fads such as that for ultralight
components.

The final section covers Wilson's love: the radical redesigns of human powered vehicles to enable people to not only
cover vast distances or reach high speeds, but also to swim, submarine, fly and even hover or flap on the power --
between 100 and 700 W -- the "NASA standard" man or woman can provide on timescales between hours and
seconds.

The text occasionally jumps into a wider historical and social context to provide lighter relief, such as the diagrams that
compare cycling's efficiency to other modes of of transportation (cyclists handily undercut a fully loaded diesel commuter
train for calories expended per rider.) Wilson is not amused by those who would compare cyclists to dolphins or hawks in
terms of efficiency, distance, or speed -- too bad. A brief rant against cars near the end is the exception to the rule of
Wilson's professional, honest style.

Bicycling Science can be used as a handbook for the armchair designer of human powered vehicles. Or, if you prefer, as a
way to answer the nagging science questions that arise after a thoughtful bike ride. Perhaps its most inspiring use,
however, is as a bed-table compendium of stand-alone investigations into what engineers have come up with on a device
that has been perfected, again and again, for decades longer than the internal combustion engine.

Other reviews refer to previous editions
Disclosure: I am an interested party (contributor), so you may take my 'star' rating with a grain of salt. My main message is to make a point that I have also emailed to Amazon.

As of May 1, 2004 the other customer reviews posted for this title are somewhat misleading, because they refer only to the much older (second) edition. The third edition, published April 2004, is dramatically enlarged and updated -- a completely new book based on a tremendous amount of recent work. Dave Wilson and I have attempted to address all the issues to be seen in those reviews, plus many more, we hope successfully.

In this 5-year process every chapter was rewritten or even replaced outright. A great quantity of new material on history, physiology, speed calculations, aerodynamics, steering theory, human powered vehicles etc. is available nowhere else.

I encourage any scientifically curious cyclist, or bicycle industry engineer, to contribute a genuine review of the third edition, so potential readers can learn about this distinctly different book.

A cornucopia of scientific information
This is a great book mainly because it is the only one of its kind. It covers many aspects of the science of pedal power.

I find that the data supporting some of the experiments, and the conclusions from that data, could use some more flesh. For example, I'm still not entirely sure why a larger diameter wheel has less rolling resistance, but the data supports that conclusion.

I agree with other readers that the book could use an update.

Worth a look.
I think this is a great book IF you're a scientist (like me!). Like the other reviews say, it is a little dated - but results are results.
There is a wealth of info in this book, most of it is technical, and there is some fascinating things on human powered flight & HPVs.
I can't remember the exact figure that was quoted for the weights of some of the older historical bikes, but I find it hard to believe that there were such lightweights a hundred years ago (like 6kg). Knowing what I know, I just don't think it would have been feasible.

If you are interested, I wouldn't wait for an updated edition, because they might not make it, and this one is getting pretty darn hard to get. ... Read more