Book Description

Celestial Mechanics has achieved spectacular results on the structure and evolution of the Solar System in the last 20 years.This book describes recent results on Solar System dynamics, with a solid theoretical basis and is strongly focused on the dynamics of planets and of small bodies. Modern Celestial Mechanics will be of great interest to graduate students and researchers of astronomy and astrophysics. ... Read more

Book Description

A frank, informative book explaining what electromagnetic fields are; what illnesses may have a strong connection to EMFs; how the safety of homes and offices can be determined; what action citizens can take toward protection. Illustrations. ... Read more

Reviews (9)

The Best Way to Educate Yourself About EMFs
As an author of a book on a related subject (magnetic healing), I know firsthand how challenging it is to write in a user-friendly fashion about the complex subject of electromagnetic fields and their effect on health.

B. Blake Levitt's extraordinary commitment of time and effort has resulted in a work that makes this complex subject easy to understand. Not only has she succeeded in explaining the untoward health effects of EMFs, but she also gives her readers a look into the complex political and commercial forces that have led to our current state of affairs.

Faced with the potential of a cell phone tower being placed directly overhead in my high-rise apartment building, I used Ms. Levitt's book as a study guide and subsequently consulted her for additional background information. I have no doubt that this information was key in holding off the installation of the tower.

This book is a "must read" for anyone concerned about EMFs -- and everyone should be!

Technical information made comprehensible
I am a research scientist with a background in psychosocial epidemiology who became interested in the impact of electromagnetic waves on physical, mental and emotional health when I was confronted with applications to construct telecommunications towers in our newly adopted home town. My ideas and information from physics courses were both rusty and dated. Moreover, in postgraduate work I had learned enough about environmental impacts on fetal and child development, neurological functioning, and sleep cycle disruption to be concerned. I wanted to efficiently come up to speed on theories about the waves' effects and peer-reviewed data that tested those theories. Ms. Levitt's book provided an extremely comprehensible and yet responsible orientation to the mechanisms by which electromagnetic waves operate, the research on their impact that was available as of its writing, and the political and economic influences of industry and governmental forces. PLEASE have her update it with the inclusion of the research of the last few years. Solid research findings are supporting her arguments at an escalating rate and they deserve to be disseminated. The public health hazards of unmonitored electromagnetic waves (especially in the rapidly proliferating rf frequencies) are real and an educated public is our best protection against their potential damage.

Empowering insights about EMFs and health
B. Blake Levitt makes the scientific and medical aspects of electromagnetic fields easily accessible to those of us who are not scientists or physicians. Most fascinating was her insightful chapter "What Your Doctor Doesn't Know and Why." She also traces persuasive evidence of links between EMFs and 20th century ailments such as chronic fatigue syndrome, Alzheimer's Disease, and cancer. ELECTROMAGNETIC FIELDS distills a vast amount of research alerting us to health dangers. It also offers specific suggestions to reduce the impact of EMFs in our homes, workplaces and communities. Our family has become better-informed consumers by relying on this book. Thank you Ms. Levitt for empowering your readers to gain control over an issue with increasing repercussions in all our lives.

demystifying emf
this book is a well-crafted and well-informed, simple and direct introduction to the challenging subject of electromagnetic radiation. It is an important tool for consumers and community activists who want to understand how what we cannot see can and does affect us. The proliferation of "wireless" technology is something that impacts all our lives in many ways; this book is a crucial first step to understanding and questioning these crucial impacts. Charts, illustrations and good, clear writing makes accessible what could be obscure. Thank you B. Blake Levitt!

Help for citizen activists
As a columnist for the Boston Globe and founder of the Marblehead MA Cancer Prevention Project, I have been fighting the placement of cell phone towers in densely populated residential areas.As a former English major, I needed credibility when speaking of highly technical matters. I didn't want to be dismissed as just another hysterical woman. Reading B. Blake Levitt's book not only enabled me to speak intelligently on this subject, it made me 10 times more of an expert than anyone else in the room, including the salesmen for the telecom industry. Her book is easy to follow, energizing, and constructive and I followed it up by reading more recent articles written by Levitt on the Internet. Our group was so well informed, and able to express ourselves so clearly as a result of reading this book that we prevailed in keeping an additional Sprint tower out of town. Levitt writes for the concerned layperson, and although I avoided the physical sciences in college, I was enthralled by Levitt's explanations because the proliferation of electromagnetic fields never before experienced by humans may turn out to be our next public health disaster. Read this for your grandchildren and future generations.Corporate profit is not the only good. ... Read more

Book Description

This is the only book to relate all three of the currently interactive areas of speech science-acoustic phonetics, speech perception, and speech technology.The book presents a gradual course, starting with a clear tutorial approach to basic speech then leading to speech perception research, the various theories of speech perception, and the modern speech technologies of computer synthesis and recognition of speech messages.The aim is to bring the reader through basic acoustics, spectrum analysis, vowel and consonant acoustics, and into the research literature of speech perception technology.The basic acoustic theory of speech production, the Source-Filter Theory, is clarified via text and diagrams.This knowledge is then applied to interpreting spectrograms of speech examples that sample all the phonetic distinctions among vowels and consonants.Distinctive acoustical patterns for vowel and consonant perception by listeners are summarized in detail based on the research literature.Critical discussions provide theories of motor, auditory, and computer recognition of speech.Consonant and vowel recognition by the hearing-impaired is described in relation to acoustic phonetic distinctions.Techniques of speech synthesis, recognition analysis by machines, and speech technologies are thoroughly explained.Anyone interested in speech acoustics, acoustic phonetics, speech and hearing science, psychoacoustics, and speech perception at any level. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Highly recommended
Great textbook. Not the easiest in the world but surely the most comprehensive for a Speech Science course. Thoroughly sound. Don't think there is another like it. Using it in our course with excellent response from students.

a good introduction to the nature of speech
A great deal of well-organized, well-presented information regarding the nature of speech, including many spectrograms with formant tracks. The review of speech perception theory is also well done. The technology is treated in only the final chapter, and definitely qualifies as an overview. The only glaring omission is no description whatsoever of the human auditory mechanism. Nevertheless, the book suited my purposes well. ... Read more

Amazon.com

Will the genetic research that gave us the Flavr Savr tomato also give us the power to customize our children? Medical thinker Gregory Stock believes that this is precisely what's happening and that we'd better get used to it fast. Redesigning Humans: Our Inevitable Genetic Future explores gender selection, gene therapy, germinal choice, and many more options available now or in the near future, but lays aside the hysteria common to such discussions.

Stock sees the cloning controversy as a distraction from issues of real importance, such as balancing offspring trait selection against eugenics. Writing with the clarity and precision of a philosopher, Stock engages his readers with thought exercises and real-life examples. While not a brainless cheerleader for big science, he believes that we can, and certainly will, use any means necessary to give our children an edge, even if it means profound changes for our species. Redesigning Humans offers the hope that these changes need not be catastrophic if we pay attention now. --Rob Lightner ... Read more

Reviews (20)

An uncompromising look at our human future
With insight and intelligence Gregory Stock discusses the future possibilities of human genetic engineering. He is willing to state that when these technologies are safely available and we have the ability to alter our genes and control our genetic destiny, it will be very difficult for us to walk away and decide to ignore or criminalize the ability to cure hereditary disease or extend life. Stock has written a brave and uncompromising book, and whether you are thrilled or angered by his words, it is likely to be a book that helps frame our human future.

Gene therapy on the horizon
Germline gene therapy is the manipulation of the genome at the germinal stage (i.e. at conception) as distinct from somatic gene therapy, which involves the manipulation of living cells. What I got out of this book was a clear understanding of how germline engineering (the author's area of expertise) will be easier to achieve, arrive sooner and be more ethically provocative than genetic manipulation that alters our bodies directly.

Early on in the book, Stock addresses some of the Kurzwellian predictions for our future biology and finds areas of disagreement with previous authors. This debate centres on Cyborgism, Fyborgism and the extent to which humans and machines will fuse. I didn't agree with him, but this is not to say he lacks structure or clarity in his arguments.

Be aware that Stock is an expert in germline engineering, a particularly controversial biotechnology. Perhaps understandably, he devotes much of the latter part of the book to addressing ethical dilemmas and social responsibility (something to note if this type of hand wringing doesn't exactly set you alight).

This is a timely book, generally well written. I particularly liked Stock's fascinating thesis on the potential of artificial chromosomes. This is worth the book's price alone.

An interesting but narrow view of extraordinary new science.
I picked up this book just based on its title (a highly inadvisable practice), which was the first of many dissapointments I had with this book. First off, "Redesigning Humans, Our Inevitable Genetic Future" would be more appropriately named "Redesigning Our Children, Humanities Inevitable Genetic Future". You see, this book isn't really about redesigning "us", it's about a technological process called "germline engineering". This technology intervenes with "germ cells" (like sperm and egg) to alter their blueprint (from which our biology originates).

Granted, germline engineering is interesting, and I think the author makes a good case for its "inevitability", but in my humble opinion if you're broadly interested in how science will one day alter mankind's basic physical makeup, or specifically interested in how science will alter our biology, there far more interesting reads than this one.

Which brings me to the meat of my point...I'm not arguing Gregory Stocks credentials, and clearly he's a very well educated, well researched scientist (Director of the Medicine, Technology, and Society program at UCLA), but from the outset of this book, he seemed way too biased towards germline engineering, and almost arrogant about germlines superiority as an agent of future change vs. other interesting technology vectors. On page 20 he summarily dismisses an entire scientific school of thought centered around machine augmentation of biology and capability (headed by such credentialed scientists as R. Kurzweil) with the following statement:

"People may dream of enhancing their minds by embedding chips in their brains, but a sophisticated interface between our nervous systems and silicon would be incredibly complex"

...Duh! Augmenting mankind's basic physical essence (that we've had for hundreds of thousands of years) isn't childs play for any scientific approach. But that was pretty much his "that's that on that" basis. VERY FRUSTRATING inadequacy to someone who believes the contrary (I'd at least like someone to offer better basis in approach than that).

And in considering the benefits of machine or biological augmentation of capability (sensory or performance related) he writes:

"Indeed, I cannot imagine any apparatus that would serve us better than our own healthy heart, which responds so perfectly to our changing activity and emotions and is so well matched to the capacities of the rest of our circulatory system. A healthy human heart represents the ideal to which any replacement must aspire..."

What about 10X durability, what about real-time diagnostic feedback, or predictive capability? That's just off the top of my head! It's a bit ironic that this kind of narrow mindedness is coming from such a proponent of change...

Ok, so setting aside my problems with the book, I did find a number of interesting new understandings. In particular, this book gave me a firmer grasp of the extraordinary and near-term potential to modify our offspring, it solidified my position on human cloning (as a benign diversion from the real important decisions we as a species will need to face), and reinvigorated my interest in "somatic therapy" (the altering of existent biology with gene-loaded viral pathogens).

If you're a physco for this kind of stuff, read the first 80 pages of this book, and skim through the rest. If you're passively interested in this kind of science, consider reading Ray Kurzweil "Age of Spiritual Machines", Hans Moravecs' "Robot", or "The Spike" by Damien Broderick.

I hope this was helpful.

Preparing for the Next Addition to the Culture Wars!
As E.O Wilson notes in his blurb for the back cover of this book, it is amazing how few philosophers are really willing to pay attention to and write about genetic engineering. Especially in light of Stock's thesis: Genetic engineering, like it or not, is comming, ready or not.

Honestly, I thought that Stock's book would be one of the few to really provide moral arguments for genetic engineering, particularly 'extratherapeutic' engineering. While there is a little of that, the book devotes much more time to exploring the inefficacy (in a utilitarian sense) of government regulations and bans on therapy. In that sense, his book is not quite a moral response to ethical luddites like Kass and McKibben, but governmental luddites like Fukuyama.

Without spoiling the book for you, I will summarize some of his reasons (so you get the flavor: 1.) like abortion, there is simply too much demand for such therapies (and those that don't believe this should look at how much we spend on 'anti-aging' pills and surgeries). Thus, there is too much incentive for consumers to form black markets should bans be in place. 2.) Due to the plurality of world politics, such bans are, at best, regional. While Germany might ban research, China surely will not. 3.) Like abortion and drugs, black markets will be more dangerous that publically visible and monitorible legal ones. 4.) Bans or strict controls are going to cost astronomical amounts of money (and privacy) to prevent and catch law-breakers.

There. I've only given you a taste, and if any of those arguments sound frail, read the book. The elaborations are first rate! This brings me to two small complaints.

First, Stock tends to get ahead of himself in that the first half of the book is filled with sweeping proclomations like, "In the future we might be able to do x. Even though most scientists don't believe me on the feasibility on x, I really do think it could happen." In other words, he makes strangely radical predictions, reminds you that they are stragely radical predictions and simply defends them by saing that anything is possible.

Second, Stock will occasionally come off as a will-o-the-wisp cheerleader. Particularly when he addresses concerns about the efficacy of unregulated markets, Stock simply tells us that we need not worry and that markets have taken care of themselves in the past, therefore they will work in the present. While I believe him (being the libertarian that I am), too many people i know share a scepticism of the market for Stock to dismiss the argument so curtly (assuming he wants to convince anyone). Other examples of this will-o-the-wisp style are in the book (though not enough to get annoying).

To conclude, as this book has much more to do with cost/benefit analysis of regulation (that more or less winds up in favor of free markets) rather than ethical philosophy, the book will be much more interesting to political thinkers than bioethicists or philosophers. In fact, I would suggest reading this book and Fukuyama's "Our Posthuman Future" together as they take the same questions (where to regulate biotech) and come to different conclusions.

If we could make better humans ... why shouldn't we?
James Watson, codiscoverer of the structure of DNA, asked, "If we could make better humans ... why shouldn't we?" That question is at the core of this book, and Gregory Stock responds in the affirmative. Not that we have a choice, he asserts; genetic engineering is coming whether we like it or not. And he makes a damn good case.

Rather than getting right to it, however, he begins with an anti-Kurzweil chapter. Ray Kurzweil is the author of the Age of Spiritual Machines, which projects the rapid development of artificial intelligence during the next few decades and the integration of human and machine intelligence (see my review). Stock argues that the interface between the human nervous system and silicon would be incredibly complex, making it highly unlikely we will be physically integrated with our computers within this timeframe. He believes that we will communicate much more effectively with the machines through our senses, becoming fyborgs (functional cyborgs).

Then he moves on to the main course, beginning with preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD). Physicians have been performing genetic testing of embryos since 1989, with screening now available for a handful of genetic diseases. This technology will continue to expand, allowing parents to select specific embryos for implantation in the uterus, effectively enabling us to have children with certain genetic tendencies. The next advance, germinal choice technologies (GCT), will arrive within the next decade or two, allowing us to enhance our children's naturally occurring genetic inheritance. Artificial chromosomes, loaded with selected genes, might be the foundation.

Stock understands how divisive this issue will be, but argues that it can't be halted (not that he wants to stop it). He argues effectively for a reasonable degree of regulation, although he believes that the ultimate decision must remain in the hands of parents.

This is a book focused more on ethics and issues rather than technology. If you're interested more in the nuts and bolts of genetic engineering, look elsewhere. Whether you agree with him or not, Stock lays out the issues and his answers in a clear and compelling manner. It's an excellent exposition of the subject, one worth studying. ... Read more

Book Description

Popular science writer Stephen Jay Gould debunks the idea that evolution is progressive. He shows how the misinterpretation of data results in bad science and bad social policy. ... Read more

Reviews (41)

Good stuff, bad format! OR Why cheetahs don't run marathons!
Having read many of Stephen Jay Gould's collections of essays with much satisfaction, I was quite excited to try him in the book-length format of "Full House: The Spread of Excellence From Plato to Darwin," expecting it to allow him more room for deeper investigation and fuller development of his "excellent" ideas. Instead, 230 pages allowed Gould, one of science's foremost essayists, to be more exhausting than exhaustive.

His topic is interesting and important: how misconceptions about systems and distorting mental representations of them cause false perceptions of trends. Gould walks the reader through elementary statistical method and makes the abstract real and personal by recounting his own harrowing experience with cancer. He then uses the well kept data of baseball to demonstrate the narrowing of over-all variability in a system being perceived as a directed trend, in this case "downward" as .400 hitting disappears. Gould then combats ideas of "progress" being inherent in natural evolution, explaining that since first life was of the simplest organization ("You can't expect a lion to jump out of the primordial soup"), things could only become MORE complex, not less so. Vast time has therefore delivered more sophisticated organization in some organisms as a result of natural selection, but this does not replace or repudiate life's bacterial beginnings, which Gould takes great joy in showing still "rule" our planet. Instead, the most complex of organisms, a group to which we of course belong but which would have and could have existed without us, only represent expanded statistical variability of the entire system. Finally Gould contrasts the inefficient and random nature of biological evolution with the swift and purposeful development of culture and argues for the elimination of the misleading term "cultural evolution." The most overarching theme is that while representations of systems with a single number or attribute can sometimes be useful, we must recognize that these constructs are of our creation and can be very distorting because they are less than the whole, the "Full House" of the title.

Gould could have accomplished all of this in half as many pages as he presents to us in "Full House." The "book" suffers from two types of redundancy. The most annoying and inexplicable kind is simple repetitiveness, phrases and entire sentences used many times throughout, reminiscent of Homeric epic, and not typical of Gould. The other tautology found here is necessary for scientific journal writing, but tedious to the general reader. While I respect Gould's pride in not "dumbing-down" his work for the public and making them dig in and read hard, unless one is a sabermetrician (studying sport statistics) I am afraid a lot of this stuff is stupefying.

When addressing the "German virus" that created the greats of classical music and wondering where the modern equivalents are, Gould asserts that popular demand of novel form has been unfair to latter-day composers of music because all forms have been exhausted. He then dismisses rock music. Perhaps he has tongue in cheek, but I suspect elitism and codgerism. Gould must recognize that society and technology make the music, and jazz, rock, and rap are certainly innovative, if not inherently progressive.

Gould states in the introduction that "Full House" is a companion to "Wonderful Life," another book-length work of his. While I will next read this for his always fascinating ideas, I look forward to returning to the short essay format which made me a Stephen Jay Gould fan.

I Miss Him Already!
As a long time fan of Professor Gould's essays, I hoped that this full-length work would be equally entertaining and informative. I was not let down. "Full House" contains the author's usual combination of wit, insightful anecdotes, encyclopedic knowledge of biology/geology/paleontology, and wonderful literary style. The reading was all the more poignant in the light of Professor Gould's recent death, and I could not help but wonder if science will ever again have such a brilliant spokesman.

Rather than tackling a specific aspect of natural history, in "Full House" Gould strives to make a philosophical point about the way we (mis)understand systems: "The variation of a 'full house' or complete system should be treated as the most compelling 'basic' reality; averages and extreme values (as abstractions and unrepresentative instances respectively) often provide only partial, if not downright misleading, views of a totality's behavior" (p. 100). The full meaning and greater implications of this statement are difficult to understand at first reading, which is precisely why Gould has written an entire book (see comments below) on the subject.

To breath some life into this statistical idea, Gould discusses two main subjects: the disappearance of .400 batting averages from professional baseball, and the fallacy that evolution is inherently directed towards creating more complex organisms, with Man as the ultimate culmination. Baseball and evolution? Yes, these are admittedly disparate topics, but I liked the variety. After all, I believe the crux of this work is the general statement about our understanding of systems, not one system in particular. So be warned, if you're seeking a book strictly about biology or natural history, this is probably not the best choice.

Much of the criticism here on Amazon focuses on the book's unnecessary length and its redundancy. I must agree that there were several points at which Gould seems to be repeating himself. It feels like he had more to say than he could possibly fit into his usual essays, but not quite enough for an entire book. I wonder if he felt compelled (either by himself or maybe his publisher) to expand the work to at least 200 pages. Depending on your interest in the material, the length might be a real drawback, or simply a slight nuisance. I was not particularly bothered and finished the book in two days.

Even if you are not fully persuaded by Gould's argument, or if the book seems unnecessarily long, I hope you will enjoy the reading. Gould is (alas, was) a brilliant and engaging writer, in my humble opinion. The proper anecdote, allusion, or quotation was always at his fingertips and he knew when to make the reader laugh. (I could not restrain my chuckles as he lambasted M. Scott Peck's fatuous equation of love and evolution [p. 27]). This book contains a fine mix of intriguing content and great writing. I would recommend it to anyone seeking a quick read that will stretch the brain a bit.

Natural selection is not a synonym of progress
This book is a forceful illustration of some basic theorems presented by G.C. Williams in his book 'Adaptation and Natural selection': 'there is nothing in the basic structure of the theory of natural selection that would suggest the idea of any kind of cumulative progress' and 'Evolution was a by-product of the maintenance of adaptation'.

Gould corroborates these theorems by showing that the main modus of life on this planet is and has always been 'bacterial'.

He explains clearly that the second law of thermodynamics is only valid for closed systems, not for the earth.
He stresses also that cultural changes are fundamentally different from Darwinian evolutions. The former are Lamarckian, the latter are forced by the less efficient process of natural selection.
But Gould warns rightly that the enormous technological revolutions are not necessarily cultural or moral improvements because of the real risk of, e.g., environmental poisoning or a nuclear catastrophe.

One needs a basic knowledge of statistics to fully understand the book.

In his vigorous and persuasive style, S.J. Gould puts some good-looking scientific and moral ideas into a coffin.
Not to be missed.

not an essential read, but a pleasant one
I come to the book partly as a result of a direct self-study on the issues of creation-evolution-design debate, and partly because i like SJG's writings. At this point i am rereading some of his collections of essays in order to psych myself up for the week or more that his 'brick' _The Structure of Evolutionary Theory_ will take. I don't like baseball and had only skimmed this book previously, so for a couple of easy reading hours it occupied my mind.

It is basically about how to think about statistics. Summed up on pg 169ff. "Life's necessary beginning at the left wall. This is a takehome message from the excellent example of the drunkard's walk, pg 149ff. Left wall's are 'no one can earn less than zero dollars', 'no one can live and weight less than 50 lbs'. but Bill Gates can make enough money to skew the income and wealth curves so they look like capital 'L's. "Stability throughout time of the initial bacterial mode", most of the world's biomass is bacteria, no you or me. "Life's successful expansion must form an increasingly right-skewed distribution", this is the reply to evolution as progressive complexity to eventually produce US, thinking, creative, human beings. We are the >.400 baseball score, we are the very few that prove the rule that the masses are bacteria. "The myopia of characterizing a full distribution by an extreme item at one end", "Causality resides at the wall and in the spread of variation: the right tail is a consequence, not a cause", The only promising way to smuggle progress back into such a system is logically possible, but empirically false at high probability" and "Even a parochial decision to focus on the right tail alone will not yield the one, most truly desired conclusion, the psychological impetus to our yearning for general progress-that is, the predictable and sensible evolution to domination of a creature like us. endowed with consciousness."

It is not an earth-shaking book by any means, rather a collection of essays where the most interesting part is his explanation of dealing with cancer, which apparently is what he died from nearly 20 years after the first diagnosis, and the reasoning about statistics that started with his predicted death rates from it as he lay there in a hospital bed.

The drunkards walk could have been greatly enlarged, so for instance, by the addition of multiple drunkards bumping into each other, thus temporary right walls. Much like the biosphere is a changing mosaic of different species and different individuals.

But like all his essays, it is time well spent, not just to get a new example or more ways of handling data, but for the pleasant time with SJG and his excellent writing.

Some very good points - if a bit strained philosophically
It is sad that Dr. Gould was taken away so soon. He always made interesting points, offered some startling insights, and was generally fun - he was even acerbic in a fun way.

He wrote this book for the general audience, of which I am a part. I cannot hope to challenge his or even approve of his professional points. I don't really have the training. But I can offer impressions. It seems to me that when he is talking about science he is very good and gave me quite a bit to think about. Honestly, he gave me some new views on distributions and natural selection that will stick with me.

I found his sociological and philosophical conclusions drawn from these observations to be somewhat strained and overburdened his evidence a bit. He really doesn't address the concept of decadence much as it relates to the dying out of things. For example, baseball could very well be played better than ever and yet not be played as well as it could be because of secondary desires such as home runs instead of base hits.

What fans want to see leads to a selection in a style of play that pleases them and brings in money. Then money is the point of the game and not pure excellence in play. Therefore, the best athletes of all time could be playing the game and yet their style of play would be less effective than it could be because of what the fans want to see. But wouldn't a style that led to more wins be adopted? Certainly, no one would adopt a losing strategy. But maybe the optimal difference is only slight but pleasing the fans brings in so much more money that it changes the way everyone plays the game. Football did this to make their game a passing game - which fans like more. Clearly, with the rules and styles all supporting the pass, no team can be based primarily on the run as they used to be.

Anyway, the book has some very interesting points to make, it isn't a difficult read, and I think you will get some good food for thought. Enjoy! ... Read more

Book Description

Marshall Brain's How Stuff Works is a lavish, full-color, highly visual resource for those with hungry minds who crave an understanding of the way things work around them-from submarine ships to digital technology to toilets!
With over 1,000 full-color illustrations and photos showing step-by-step images of how stuff works, these easy-to-understand explanations cover the most popular and interesting subject areas, including Technology, Science, Health, Fitness, Transportation, and more! Sample topics include: How CDs Work, How Car Engines Work, and How Nuclear Radiation and Power Work. ... Read more

Reviews (9)

FULL OF INTERESTING FACTS
This book is a great book for the amateur scientist or anyone who has an inquisitive nature. If you know someone who likes to take things apart to see how the "really" work or is forever asking "how" and "why" things work the way they do, this book is especially for that type of individual.

From airplanes and cell phones to viruses and other areas of interest, the book contains a wealth of informative facts and trivia. A terrific book for the money; it is quite in-depth but easy to read and understand.

Ok could be better
Generally a really good book, although the transition from the website to book is not exactly the most smooth one. It feels like a lot of the good stuff is lost, and it doesn't really seem like the same quality as on the website.

There are 124+ topics ranging from airplanes to dieting. There is lots of information and little sidebars with all kinds of interesting facts. You'll learn everything from how nuclear power works to how turbochargers work and even learn how to decode all those zero's and ones in the Mice, bits, and Bytes section. You'll walk out knowing way more then when you walked in and when anyone says I wonder how this works, you'll come out looking like a genius.

But it also has a few minor problems. The writing can get a little confusing, and there aren't as many visual aids to help you understand (It might just be me, I'm a visual learner). The articles sometimes don't feel complete, you might reach the end and think "that's it!" Many times you find yourself returning to the website because you didn't understand the article. This might not be a bad thing after all because at most, you'll start learning all kinds of new stuff anyways.

Overall, it does have its problems, but it's good outweighs it's bad and is highly recommended.

Good ideas, bad editing
Overall this is a good book, filled with all kinds of interesting information. However, I felt that the level of editing polish was poor. Typos and illustration errors are frequent, and the writing style is uneven and awkward at times. It's also clear that the authors of each article did not read the other articles, because the same information is sometimes redundantly discussed in two or three separate articles. What's worst, though, is the number of outright factual errors: a proton does not have neutral charge, the abbreviation for microseconds is not ms, etc. My advice is to wait for the second edition, or buy one of the many similar books from other publishers instead.

As suitable for curious adults as for inquiring children
Based on the amazing aggregate of information collected upon the famous web site HowStuffWorks.com, How Stuff Works is an exciting reference as suitable for curious adults as it is for inquiring children that explains, in practical terms that any lay reader can easily understand, the functional principle or mechanism behind a vast array of common inventions, tools, and ideas. The casual browser will learn a wealth of information from how four-stroke gasoline engines work to how file compression works, clearly illustrated with detailed diagrams and enhanced with sidebar commentary. The more serious reader will come away from How Stuff Works with a notably higher understanding and appreciation of the technological innovations so many others simply use and take for granted. How Stuff Works is superb for educational leisure reading, and is a highly recommended gift book for any friend or family member who is curious about what makes everything around them tick!

Great for all ages
This book is a must for people of all ages. The illustations are great and help the readers understand what is being explained. The topics are very up-to-date. For example they explain how mp3 file compression format works. I got the book as a christmas gift and find myself contantly going back to the book to find out how something works. ... Read more

Book Description

Who names newly discovered planets? What exactly are black holes? Where are there the most earthquakes? When did the first Homo sapiens walk the earth? Why is the night sky dark? How does the fluoride in toothpaste prevent cavities? Since 1845, Scientific American has answered questions and provided the best information available in all areas of science. Now, Scientific American is proud to present an accessible, one-volume reference covering all the sciences. Whether you want to examine the tiniest microbes, the properties of the earth’s core, or the farthest reaches of space, this handy desk reference is the resource to turn to for the answers you need. • Over 500 biographies of key science figures • Thousands of glossary terms • Hundreds of useful Web sites • Tables, charts, diagrams, and illustrations • Sidebars featuring fascinating facts, mnemonic aids, and quizzes • Essays exploring ideas in-depth ... Read more

Reviews (4)

Good, but not great
While this is a highly useful desk reference I was disappointed in some ways. There's lots of useful information here, but it's laid out in a rather drab and uninteresting format. And some of it seems a bit dated: some of the computer science information read like something out of a TIME-LIFE "Understanding Computers" book from the late 1980s.

On the positive side, the book is a great single-volume reference that makes looking for basic facts relatively easy and serves as a good way to refresh one's memory of things studied years ago. And even if you've not studied the topics formally the articles remain accessible for most people, particularly the kind of people who would buy such a book. Looking for dates of discovery? Important terms? Basic concepts? Charts of different measures? It's all here, and a whole lot more.

One of the things I find myself enjoying is that there is a lot of information on important scientists who made crucial discoveries. Want to know the big names in chemistry, physics, and astronomy? You can find them here. Beyond explaining science in its contemporary findings the book does a respectable job of putting science into a historical context.

The layout is quite drab. In looking at the colorful cover of this book, considering its substantial price, and combining that with my long experience of reading Scientific American, I was expecting some high-quality illustrations. All you get in this book is rather bland line-art. I wasn't expecting a "Golden Book of Science with Pictures" but high-quality illustrations of things like cells, plants, animals, and celestial bodies would have been a nice addition. Stylistically, this book is rather boring. But if you're of the school of thought that "boring=serious=good" (a highly dubious notion, but some cling to it) you may like this.

All in all, this is a useful book. It's the type of book journalists who cover science related news should have readily available. It would be a useful addition to any library. And with the proliferation of scientific discoveries in the news these days it's a useful reference that belongs in the homes of curious people who just want to understand a little more about what's going on in the world. There's a lot of useful information here and the binding is of very high-quality.

Good for High School Students and General Readers
This book, the "Scientific American Science Desk Reference" is a fine book about most of the major aspects of science. It is similar in approach and form to Isaac Asimov's New Guide to Science. But, Asimov hasn't gotten around to updating his book, most probably due to his death. This book is probably a little more accessible to the average reader.

I especially like this books coverage of all the major topics, mathematics, chemistry, physics, astronomy, biology, geology, meteorology, human and animal physiology, and technology.

The thing I like most about this book is its reliance on relevant history of the topic to teach it. There are charts and tables of the various time lines of when and who made discoveries in the various fields. The fine editors also included short biographies of the major people in each of the subjects, from the ancient Greek and Roman philosophers and writers, to some of the latest Nobel Prize winners.

My only quibbles would be the use of some terminology that seems loose to me. For example, it's use of the phrase "Earth Science" instead of geology. It does this to be open and accessible to the uninitiated, which is an admirable goal, but it is my belief that it can lead to fuzzy thinking in the long run. After all, "Earth Science" can apply to planets other than Earth as well.

My other major quibble is its inclusion of the Computer Sciences and Technology as a major topic, on par with, for example, Physics or Biology. As a computer geek professional this is something that I, on the one hand, like as it shows respect for my chosen field of endeavor, but that on the other hand, see as a very much useless to the average person. Much of the discussion of computers and technology will be out of date in a few short years. I really don't think the average person needs to know the formal difference between a mainframe, minicomputer, and microcomputer or the right and proper definition of an operating system. And the stuff about the Internet went out of the date about five seconds after it was written, let alone published. Again though, our editor's kind hearts were in the right place.

Staying with my quibbles of their computer section of a minute, I also want to point out that they are missing a few very important names from the field. They have Bill Gates and Steve Jobs, and even have two of our fields fine Internet pioneers listed with Marc Andreessen and Tim Berners-Lee, but Steve Wozniak and Doug Engelbart are not mentioned at all in the mini biographies section. Woz is as important as Steve Jobs, and Doug Engelbart was probably the single most important person in the field during the last 40 years. To quote Alan Kay, "I don't know what Silicon Valley will do when it runs out of Doug's ideas". Only now is the field stopping to recognize what Engelbart envisioned in what is now called "the Mother of all Demos", or "the 1968 Demo". Hypertext, networking, the Mouse, e-mail, online help, a Windowing environment, etc. were all thought up or anticipated by him in 1968. It is disappointing that Scientific American didn't note him in this section.

All in all this is a fine book though. It is worthwhile for those looking for something that is a good overview of science. I would make a great reference for any high school student looking for general science information.

Get This Book!
So you're not a physicist or a bio-chemist, or even a high school math teacher ... you still need this book. Perhaps you love quiz shows, or maybe just want to explain to your children how certain things in the world work. This is the book that can provide a great many answers about how things in this (and other) worlds work - and why.

I can't tell you how many times some technical subject was mentioned on TV or in a movie or the paper, and then a day later I picked up this book, thumbed to the appropriate page and found meaningful answers. A great reference tool to have around the house, in your dorm room or in the classroom. And generally speaking, you don't need to be a professor (of anything) to understand the explanations given in the book (though basic math skills help in some areas).

Scientific American Desk Reference
The Editor as usual has given an outstanding review of the book, and I would like to add a few thoughts. Scientific American, the journal, is probably the greatest source of scientific inspiration for the general public except popular science books. What the public may not know is that scientists also get considerable inspiration from Scientific American, although they usually do not cite it in their scientific articles because it is not monitored by their particular departmental bureaucracies and appeals to the general public rather than only specialists. An example of an article that most scientists would not find except through the Scientific American is the article "Quantum Teleportation" by Anton Zeilinger of the University of Vienna in the April 2000 issue of Scientific American. The ability and interest of Scientific American in communicating difficult and specialized science to the public and translating it and summarizing it for the public is nothing less than Creative Genius, and in my opinion Creative Genius (as opposed to Ingenious Followers or Follower Genius) usually goes together with interest in communicating with and translating to the public. ... Read more

Book Description

Scientists in the laboratory often fail to take advantage of the commercial exploitation of their research. Technology Transfer is a careful account of how to start the process of commercialization of technology, and describes in detail the difficulties, and amount of time needed, to carry the process through to a successful conclusion.This book provides a much needed step-by-step guide to the commercialization of research.It addresses three major themes: how to protect your intellectual property; how to develop it commercially via licensing and business "start up"; and how to finance and manage your new company.This book is essential reading for any research scientist whose work has commercial applications. ... Read more

Book Description

Writing with bracing intelligence and clarity, internationally renowned evolutionist and bestselling author Stephen Jay Gould sheds new light on a dilemma that has plagued thinking people since the Renaissance: the rift between science and religion. Instead of choosing them, Gould asks, why not opt for a golden mean that accords dignity and distinction to each realm?

In his distinctively elegant style, Gould offers a lucid, contemporary principle that allows science and religion to coexist peacefully in a position of respectful noninterference. Science defines the natural world; religion our moral world in recognition of their separate spheres of influence. In exploring this thought-provoking concept, Gould delves into the history of science, sketching affecting portraits of scientists and moral leaders wrestling with matters of faith and reason. Stories of seminal figures such as Galileo, Darwin, and Thomas Henry Huxley make vivid his argument that individuals and cultures must cultivate both a life of the spirit and a life of rational inquiry in order to experience the fullness of being human.

In Rocks of Ages, Gould’s passionate humanism, ethical discernment, and erudition are fused to create a dazzling gem of contemporary cultural philosophy. ... Read more

Reviews (54)

It's Not Science Vs. Religion
For thinking people there really should be no conflict between science and religion. Science tells you how to build an atom bomb, but it can't even address the question of whether you should use it. Religion, on the other hand, grapples with serious moral questions and offers wisdom about how to live your life. Gould makes clear that only a fundamentalist (i.e Biblical literalist) views Religion and Science like "the Hatfields and the McCoys." (If you think the Bible can do a better job than science of explaining the fossil record, for instance, you won't find much sympathy here.) However, Gould - an agnostic - clearly concedes religion its domain. Reading this book could do a lot of people a lot of good. (Unfortunately, my guess is the ones who could use it most will never pick it up. Some folks aren't much for exposing themselves to contrary points of view.) The book is a good introduction for someone who hasn't really considered the separate realms and dual functions of science and religion. Gould, ordinarily a fabulous essayist, writes much more gracefully in his other volumes in my view. I might have supposed it was ghost written by Joe Friday: just the facts, mam.

Rocks of Ages: Science and Religion in the Fullness of Life
Dr. Gould reconciles the separate and equally important domains of religion and science using the life, times and perspectives of some of science's great thinkers. His message of tolerance and understanding is made from an open, yet skeptical, perspective. His thumbnail biography of Charles Darwin is so touching that it can bring almost anyone to tears. As one who does not yet know enough to know the truth with respect to belief systems, I found much harmony with Gould, Darwin and Thomas Henry Huxley. It is a compact book (222 5" by 8" pages of large type with large margins) and easily read in a day. It is a satisfying read that, by its very nature, leaves you ready for more.

sdklfsd
I had to write a review for this for my Biology class so I thought I might as well post it here.

Overall, even though the book has a strong thesis and idea, I felt that the book was pretty dry and almost redundant at times. There were a few enjoyable moments where Gould's voice really stood out, but other than that the book was extremely boring about a topic that shouldn't be. Gould's intentions are pretty clear over the course of the novel, but I think that he should have undertaken them in a different way. There are also times in the book where he seems to drift on and just throw in irrelevant information that leaves you wondering, "Where did that come from?" At times it seems he beats around the bush and doesn't get to his main point of what NOMA is. Although I am more or less bashing the book, some of the accounts in Rocks of Ages were pretty interesting, including the Christopher Columbus and William Jennings Bryan portions of the book. For example, I learned that back in the 1400's, it was not perceived that the world was flat. Instead, this was just an overblown exaggeration that went along with the story of Columbus discovering the Americas. The problem about my liking towards these sections of the book is that they are not really the basis and meat of Gould's argument. Also, another problem that I have with this book is the construction of sentences. There are times in the book where it is almost torture to read the amazingly long, run-on sentences. On top of this, the author adds in thoughts or other tidbits of information mid-sentence, making the already dizzying text even harder to get through. Gould is definitely a skilled writer but I believe that he misuses his talents at times in this book. In general, the book is an interesting read on a thought provoking subject that has been around for several centuries. Gould makes his solution pretty simple, and overall gets his point across about the matter of religion and science. However, the manner that he does this in is very dry, and at times, just flat out boring to tell the truth. To conclude, I would probably Rocks of Ages a C+ or B- just for the valid points and suggestions that Gould brings up, but it could have been done a lot better in my opinion.

ok, but repetetive and dull
This book, ROCKS OF AGES, was ok, but repetitive and simplistic in its evaluation of the problem to religion offering a duh solution without any way to work out the problem in real life. Gould also seems full of himself as well as boring, making for a rather unpleasant reading.

Beware of the NOMA trap
The NOMA concept defended by Sephen Jay Gould in pages 47 ss. is a trap that no serious christian should fall in to. By now Stephen Jay Gould must have realized how wrong it is.

The NOMA concept assumes that science is objective and rational, and that religion is subjective and emotional. It assumes that science is about statements of fact, and religion is about value judgements.

In its apparent plausibility, this notion couldn't be more naíve. Perhaps naive is not really the best word, since Stephen Jay Gould chose is words carefully so as to promote his naturalistic agenda.

The fact of the matter is:
1) Evolution is itself interpretative, speculative and fideistic. In evolutionary theory, conjectures are much more important than the empirical data as such, because all the empirical data available (v.g. absence of intermediate forms in the fossil record and molecular biology, DNA information; catastrophism in geology; molecular machines; fine-tuning of the universe; mathematical improbability of evolution) points towards criation, not evolution. Evolutionary theory has not yet proved the casual origin of life, the existence of the prebiotic soup, the existence of the needed intermediate life forms, nor has it identified the evolutionary mechanism. On the other hand, the Big Bang theory has not yet explained the Big Bang itself, the inflation of the Universe, the origin of galaxies, stars, the solar system, the sun and the moon. So when Stephen Jay Gould says that evolution is based on objective empirical data, I really don't understand what he is talking about.

On the other hand,

2) The Bible clearly speaks of instantaneous creation ex nihilo, of the fall, the curse, and the flood. It also speaks about the comming of the Messiah. Lets talk about this last aspect for a while. Is there any historical evidence of the comming of the Messiah? Well, there is plenty. Jesus Christ was simply the most important single person that the World has haver known. So the Bible is about historical facts, not value statements. In the case of Jesus Christ, there is abundant circunstantial evidence that God rose him from the dead, thus creating life from inorganic matter and inteligently designing a new and glorious body in a few seconds, not billions of years. This historical fact is more than enough for us to believe in the factual and objective ability of the Creator to create the world in six days. I understand that this may seem incredible, but the fact is that it is not blind faith. There is good empirical evidence for that, such as the fine-tuning of the Universe for life, the incredible ammounts of DNA information, the extremly complex proteins, molecular machines, cells and biological systems. In facto, the needed simultaneous presence of millions of nucleotides precisely sequenced to specify extremly complex biological structures and functions speaks more about instantaneous creation than about evolutionary gradualism or saltationism. The fotosynthesis mechanism is an example of an extremely complex structure that must be put in place at once or else it wont' work, and I don't see how gradualism or saltationism can solve that, nor does any scientist, not even all of them together.

Much more could be said about the objective nature of christian religion, as in the case of the curse, the flood, Babel, etc.

Some religions, along with many scientific theories of origins, are no doubt subjective and speculative and even counterfactual. But Biblical faith is as solid, objective and factual as anything else can be.

The whole notion of NOMA makes no sense. The Bible is magisterial and science can only be ministerial. NOMA is a naturalistic trap in which, alas, many christians of good faith and bad arguments have fallen. It is not so much about Bible v. Science. It is abou the possibility of acquiring real knowledge about the origins, the meaning and the destiny of our lives. Contrary to commom held beliefs, faith in the Bible leads to Homo Sapiens. Faith in evolution produces Homo Ignorans. ... Read more

Book Description

This Second Edition is the premier name resource in the field. It provides a handy resource for navigating the web of named reactions and reagents. Reactions and reagents are listed alphabetically, followed by relevant mechanisms, experimental data (including yields where available), and references to the primary literature. The text also includes three indices based on reagents and reactions, starting materials, and desired products. Organic chemistry professors, graduate students, and undergraduates, as well as chemists working in industrial, government, and other laboratories, will all find this book to be an invaluable reference. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

dissapointed
I bought this book as required for my organic synthesis course. I am dissapointed with how little detail is given for each mechanism. Also the examples given are also very difficult to work out and no solution is givenfor each example.

This is a good book.
March's book is a tome, so I'm not sure how you could not use most of the same kinds of reactions that March uses.March's book is comprehensive, but Mundy and Ellerd's book is not bad because it is not comprehensive.Itis what it says it is- a complilation of name reactions.It doesn't gointo as much detail as March does, but it puts the name reactions in a niceformat, and that's just fine and dandy if that's how you're trying to goabout things.They put the name reactions in alphabetical order, give ageneric reaction, a mechanism, and many examples of that kind of reaction.

Do not waste your money on this book!!!
This book simply lists the reactions from Jerry Marchs' book(which the authors reference constantly!) in a different order. ... Read more

Book Description

Why is glass transparent? Why do cats purr? Why do men have nipples? These are but a handful of the thousands of questions that over the years have been asked and answered in The New York Times "Science Q&A" column. At last, the best and most interesting questions-and their replies-have been collected in a book for general readers.

From wild animals to outdoor vegetation, from the human body to the heavens above, The New York Times Book of Science Questions and Answers takes readers on a thoroughly entertaining and informative journey through the world we live in. Like David Feldman's bestselling books Do Penguins Have Knees? and Why Do Clocks Run Clockwise?, this is science at its fun-filled best. Featuring answers from a wide variety of leaders across the country in scientific research and education, and illustrated by the delightful drawings of Victoria Roberts, The Times Q&A column is one of the best read features in the Science Times, which is one of the most popular sections of the newspaper. With a daily circulation of 1.2 million people, The New York Times is a leader in conveying scientific information to the general public.

This fact-filled handbook for the scientifically curious should prove invaluable as a family reference book, as a classroom resource, as an entertaining subway diversion, and even as a supplement to public libraries' Frequently Asked Questions lists. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

The astonishing facts behind our everyday mysteries.
This well-written and easy-to-understand book answers two hundred of the most interesting, curious and bizarre questions ever published in The New York Times' "Science Q&A" column, giving us an entertaining and informative look at the most fascinating and wonderful inquiries ever posed by inquisitive minds about the world we live in.
This compendium includes topics that range from astronomy, biology, anatomy and physics to nutrition, common sense, wilderness survival and even urban legends, all neatly organized in easy-to-browse sections that are delightfully illustrated by the witty and sometimes hilarious drawings that were originally published in the newspaper.
As a bonus, the section titled Notes located at the back of the book, lists the source(s) used to answer each question.
So, if you want to know whether the are any one-eyed animals or why a magnet loses its power overtime, where dust comes from or why bruises change color, what makes a Mexican jumping bean jump or why spoiled cans of food swell, then this is the book for you. It's a must-read, fact-filled, fun reference for readers of all ages, be it a science enthusiast or just someone who isn't afraid to ask life's most unconventional questions.

all the questions answered that you were afraid to ask
As a science teacher, I always have to be prepared to answer questions from left field. This book has many of the commonly asked questions that you won't find in a textbook. It's well wriiten and easy to understand--and entertaining too!

100 of the World's Strangest Mysteries
It was a wonderful book! It was very informative. I didn't even know i wanted to know that much. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

A must!
Where do you go when you want to know something related to the human body, find out what cosmetic surgery is, or magnetic brain stimulation, or perhaps what is the Hinduism view of the body. Today answer is obviously: you log on the internet. The only problem is that you don't know how serious and reliable the information is across the variety of links. It can be good or bad. If you're not an expert, it's tough to decide, isn't?

Colin Blakemore and Sheila Jennett, two distinguished British Professors of Physiology, with the help of 350 experts, did a beautiful job in editing an authoritative and fascinating guide, which covers every aspect of the human body, including many that you would have never thought about. It includes an impressive range of academic domains (e.g., Anthropology, Medical Sciences, Psychology, Religion, Philosophy, Sociology to name a few) that makes the book captivating. In addition, this impressive knowledge is readily accessible to both the specialist and non-specialist reader.

The Oxford Companion to the Body is clearly a book that can have many different uses. It has its place in your school, college as well as in your lab. I myself have it as one of my favorite bedside reading, and given the number of pages (753) and issues covered (over 1000 entries), it's going to be a great companion for a long time. ... Read more

Amazon.com

In this series of lectures originally given in 1963, which remained unpublished during Richard Feynman's lifetime, the Nobel-winning physicist thinks aloud on several "meta"--questions of science. What is the nature of the tension between science and religious faith? Why does uncertainty play such a crucial role in the scientific imagination? Is this really a scientific age?

Marked by Feynman's characteristic combination of rationality and humor, these lectures provide an intimate glimpse at the man behind the legend."In case you are beginning to believe," he says at the start of his final lecture, "that some of the things I said before are true because I am a scientist and according to the brochure that you get I won some awards and so forth, instead of your looking at the ideas themselves and judging them directly...I will get rid of that tonight. I dedicate this lecture to showing what ridiculous conclusions and rare statements such a man as myself can make." Rare, perhaps. Irreverent, sure. But ridiculous? Not even close. ... Read more

Reviews (36)

Food for thought
There's a lot of material here to think about. I found Feynman's thesis that doubt (or, more precisely, uncertainty) is the motivation that drives progress in science to be very interesting. In a sense, this relates to the axiom "the more you know, the more you don't know." Every answer that we learn from science raises additional questions that need to be explored.

I also found Feynman's analysis of religion to be interesting as well. His three aspects of religion (metaphysical, ethical, and inspirational) show promise in helping me to better understand some of my own (often contradictory) attitudes about religion. This section is probably the section that will provide me with the most food for reflection.

Finally, his discussion of issues in society actually reminds me of the arguments in "Innumeracy: Mathematical Illiteracy and Its Consequences" by John Allen Paulos. In both cases, the failure of people to grasp basic fundamental principles of science or mathematics leads them to behave in ways that aren't necessarily in their best interests.

Brilliant - Opinionated - Important For The Ages.
Richard Feynman is widely regarded as one of a handful of distinct geniuses of physics of the last century and perhaps the most famous and charismatic in his field, second only to Einstein.

I have to be honest to admit that I can barely read most of his scientific work. I'm just not that smart.But he was also humorous and wise and this book is more about his general belief system and other matters.

Even his prose is not easy reading. His sentences are so long and complex and so well-constructed that the reader feels like he's swimming on the surface of the deepest part of the ocean.Whole lectures feel perfectly designed and complete, all in a curious, Woody Allen, Jewish persona.

I actually believe and follow his worldview, which was roughly analagous to Einstein's.

They were Secular Humanists.They believed that God if he exists, only manifests in a very distant, abstract sense. Both were loathe to accept specific religious views.

It is Feynman's view that science rejects the type of absolute certainty at the core of most mainstream religious views of the world.Interestingly, he includes Soviet Communism as a type of religion, which is understandable when you think about it.

Much of this book is really about the intersection of science and philosophy. He asks: how do we justify right and wrong and other human standards in a world without such a self-invented reward-and-punishment system.

This is surely one of the questions for the ages, one that Feynman clearly believes is beyond the inherent limits of the scientific worldview.He believed that the flaw was inherent in human makeup, and that the solution was also there - not in the science but in the application.

His example was: why is there no water system in the slums of Rio?The money to improve people's lives is there.The will to action is not.

Both Feynman and Einstein considered capitalism a necessary but untrustworthy system, and had political leanings toward the Left.

Feynman discusses the serious responsibilities involved with science, which has in the 20th century been the Pandora's box, bringing enormous forces and power into the world for either good or abuse or evil.

He puts forward perhaps 6 absolute truths that allow for improved human interaction and the greater good of mankind.Most are obliquely political in nature, democracy, freedom of speech, separation of science from exterior interests or intervention, the value of uncertainty,

But in the end, his combined belief system is unclear. It lacks something that the human spirit requires for complete fulfillment.He fully recognized this and I don't fault him for it.

The paradox he attempts to address are inherent in the basic fabric of the world, and if he did think that he knew the answers he would be a different animal altogether.

Considering the direction the nation has taken these last few years, his voice is sorely missed.

Not as good as Surely You're Joking
Although this book is probably the more socially significant of the two, I prefer the light heartedness of Surely You're Joking. This book is a series of collected lectures, so the Feynman that is presented here is the public Feynman, not private, enthusiast, who comes through so brilliantly in the almost stream of consciousness style of writing in Surely You're Joking.

Bland essays which at times border on blabbering.
Feynman should stick to physics, a subject about which he actually knew a thing or two.It's clear from reading the book that Feynman did not give much thought to subjects outside of physics.Given the amount of flattering reviews of this book, I am once again reminded of the fact that people (Americans in particular) are inveterate hero worshippers.For some, everything Feynman touched is gold.I am dismayed to find that Feynman's understanding of non-physics was no deeper than that of an average college kid, yet in the book he rambles on and on without making much of a point on anything.A complete waste of time and money.

Genius is hard to understand
Feynman has given us a fine mess to deal with here. Reading the book requires ones whole being in order to be able to concentrate on and actually understand what he is trying to convey to us in these three lectures. On one side, the things he talks about in, I guess, his own particular way are down right raw in their articulation. On the other side, some things he talks about are, to me at least, brilliant deductions deriving from his observations of the world we're living in. Not all of which I can fully agree with though. I only wish I had paid more attention in my physics classes and read more on the parts of physics Feynman played a major role in during his life, because then I feel I would have been able to deduct for myself where some of his ideas in the present book are coming from. The editors of the book have obviously left Feynman's use of language in tact, which might well be a pro, but I also think one should have been there inside the lecture room with Feynman doing his thing in order to appreciate his genius fully. The present book's three lectures give a glimps, and nothing more, of what the author was all about when venturing outside his beloved field of physics. A tough nut to crack when starting to read, but a delight once one gets the hang of his down-to-earth use of language. Reading some of his other books, as well as some of the books written about him, might be of help in figuring out what he must have been like in person and what his vision on life was. This book by itself cannot do the trick and might even dissuade some generally interested people to read more on Feynman, which would be a true shame. ... Read more