Book Description

A paperback guide to the basic techniques of the organic chemistry lab. Zubrick includes practical lab advice presented with clarity and humor. The book describes the instruments and techniques used in organic chemistry lab. Diagrams show the reader how to make measurements, set up labs and perform meaningful experiments. ... Read more

Reviews (6)

Serendipitous...
As well as being extremely detailed, intelligent and helpful, this book is hysterically funny, which makes it a joy to read and easy to understand. A nice change from the usual ...yawn... science-reference manuals. I would strongly encourage other students to take advantage of this terrific piece of work.

DO NOT WASTE YOUR MONEY
This book promise so much by the wide coverage of topics in Organic lab. but it delivers nothing. Aside from listing the topics in the Table of content. The seemingly knowledable Prof. Zubric presents an unorganize, incomprehensible 294 pages of something that read like a page from a low budget Comic Strip. Am shock that a well respected publishing house like John Wiley and Son would lend their reputation to a low quality like this. The author talked about every thing that are irrelevant. what is needed is a good intro. to the subject like -EXTRACTION and then the stepwise layout of professional quality discussion of headings like - Materials involved; procedure; observation; conclusion etc. he fail to approach the subject prof. The book would pass for a Book of Short Jokes. Do not waste your money. D BOOK DID NOT HELP ME IN MY CLASS ANYWAY...

Must Have for O-Chem Lab
Used it so much in lab, it almost became my right. VERY helpful! Easy to read with a nice twist of humor.

Right On!! The Best Lab Manual Ever!!!
This book was chock full of concise, yet extremely valuable, information, and the wit with which it was presented made prelabs bearable, if not exactly fun. Thank your lab professor if this is a required book, and definitely pick it up if it's on the reccomended list (or even if it's not!).

Humor in a Science Text Book: Miracles Do Happen
In this exceptional reference for first time students of organic chemistry lab, the author conveys what could be dry, boring information in a humorous, yet professional, manner. I actually found myself laughing out loud as I read a mock conversation between a lab instructor and a student about using boiling stones. Boiling stones! I never thought I'd find them humorous. Although brilliantly entertaining, Zubrick never fails to convey accurate, concise, intelligent thoughts on procedure, equipment, safety, and safety, and, oh yeah, did I mention safety? I think this actually deserves 6 or 7 stars; I know it's going to help me immensely in my lab work. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Excellent reference for advanced Programmers
This book is very germain for advanced LabVIEW Programmers and touches on the inportance of "Architecture" for LabVIEW code. It outlines OO Object Oriented coding and its application specifically in LabVIEW. I would have liked to see more examples - but I could easily fill in the blanks.

A recommeded reference to have for any experienced LabVIEW programmer. www.LabUseful.com ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Excellent Reference for building apparatus
As the title implies, this book is an excellent reference. You can learn what materials you need to perform the experiments; you can even find the suppliers' names from the book. Excellent!

Building Scientific Apparatus is great for a science fair!
My son chose to enter this year's science fair with an advance project that required vacume chamber construction, optics, and the original charged particle detection systems. This book is a perfect guide towards building most any mid-level research instrument. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

An Excellent Book for Beginners to Moderate Skill
I have used Labview programming for 4-5 years in my work and I am self taught using books similar to this - plus I bought this book.

Labview is not simple. It appears simple but in fact it used to be shipped from NI with four or five thick manuals. Furthermore skipping some information can be fatal and one can waste days - I know I have done that especially setting up interface analog boards and similar. In recent years the base program has come with less and less written documentation as the newer versions have evolved.

Since the base Labview package is about $900. this is a good place to start since it has a demo CD that you can use for a month. It is very clear and well written but probably a bit short. It is user friendly so you can keep it within reach and look at it from time to time.

It is a nice book and not too expensive

Jack in Toronto (Ph.D., P.Eng.)

Good Book and time consuming
This is a good book if you are looking for an intro to Labview and you have no programming skills. I am an old fart programmer. I think most of what is published in this book could have been said 150 pages rather than 600 pages. I bought the book to get up to speed quickly. It helped, but was slow going. As for criticism, this book often omitted or mislabeled menu navigation steps during the tutorials. Other than that, it is a very good book. I learned Labview ! thanks Jeffrey

Readable, Practical, and even Fun
J. Travis' new edition of LabVIEW for Everyone is excellent both as a "how to" and as a resource. Even if a user doesn't have time to read the whole book, just reading the beginning and end of the chapters provides immediately applicable ideas for working with the latest release of LabVIEW.

Travis' style is simple and straightforward. His examples are practical, and his exercises particularly beneficial to novice users. His occasional spouts of humor keep the reading from being dry.

I highly recommend this book for anyone involved in programming with LabVIEW. ... Read more

Book Description

Reviews (42)

No riddle. No story.
What a little mess of a book. You see, as it turns out, there isn't really much of a riddle to the invention of the compass. In fact, there isn't really much of a story to the invention of the compasss, or if there is, Dr. Aczel has not stumbled upon it.

So, in order to fill out the pages of this small book, the author spins some unrelated stories that he then tries to somehow pin to the "riddle of the compass." For instance, we are treated to a history of Venice from the Romans to Napolean. Why? Well it seems that as seafaring people, the Venetians probably USED the compass. Or another entire chapter on the travels of Marco Polo to China that ends by noting -- not that Marco Polo had ANYTHING to do with the compass -- but that his travels "prove the feasibility of transport between China and the West. [Polo's] journeys underscore the likelihood that sometime between the Roman era and his own peiord a compass would have arrived in Europe among the many goods that traveled the routes he and his father and uncle took in the late Middle Ages." (I guess I was under the impression that the existence of SOME East-West trade during the Middle Ages was pretty well-accepted. But the Polo trip fills 12 pages of text.)

In these types of books, the relevant digressions are often the essence of what makes for fascinating reading. But here the digressions are almost comically tagential. One feels that Dr. Aczel, if assigned to explicate the story of Little Red Riding Hood, would somehow find his way to a discussion of McCarty-era red-baiting in the little town of Hood, Oregon.

Because there is little to say on the topic, the author struggles to make what might have been a magazine article into a book. As a consequence, the story being told feels silly and the book is poorly organized and frustrating to read.

The Compass In History
Amir Aczel presents us with the story of the origins of the compass, in as much detail as scholars have been able to discover. Aczel covers the use of the compass with ancient mariners and how these mariners had to rely on other navigational aids in the days before the compass, such as wind, plants, sounding lines, sea life, geography, currents, etc.. Also mentioned as well is the use of stars in determining latitude, longitude was much more difficult to determine due to the lack of accurate chronometers in early times.

Much of this volume deals with the origin of the 16 point wind rose and how it became incorporated into the modern compass, documented with events and ancient documents in China, and Italy, up to medival times and beyond. This includes discussions of the Etruscans, the cities of Amalfi and Venice, the explorer Marco Polo, all relating to the development of the compass. The second to last chapter sketches the voyages in the Great Age Of Exploration which were vastly aided by the compass, in addition to the astrolabe, a precursor of the sextant.

I believe that Amir Aczel made a very good case here that the compass is one of the pivitol inventions of humanity. Ask yourself this: if the compass had never been invented (which would have slowed down trade and the exchange of information and ideas) how many years of progress would have been lost? My wild guess is 50-100 years of lost progress, a lot.

Short and yet comprehensive and fascinating book
This book is short and reads fast, but it covers its topic--how the compass came about and how navigation was changed by its use--very well. It talks about how navigation worked before the compass (dispelling the myth that ships hugged the coastline to avoid getting lost). It looks worldwide for evidence of magnets used for direction finding throughout history, not always for use in navigation. All in all, a fun and informative book.

What was the riddle?
There are a variety of interesting facts presented, but the narrative fails. Aczel organizes his comments around a visit to Amalfi, Italy. According to the book, he arrives in Amalfi to celebrate the birth of Flavio Gioia, a celebrated 13th century Amalfi native whom locals credit with inventing the compass. Wanting to know more about Flavio, he goes to an Amalfi library for research reading. The result is this little tome. At the book's conclusion, our investigative reporter looks up at the understanding librarian, provides words of appreciation and leaves.

We then learn that the first known use of magnetic direction devices was Chinese divination practice, now known as Feng Shui. It seems the first use of a compass was architectural. The Chinese liked having their front doors facing the auspicious south. Sometime around 1100, someone in Italy discoved Feng Shui navigation. It seems Feng Shui architectural tools were equally useful for turning a boat's bow to the south. Further, the always inventive Italians put the device in a box for easy divination during off shore religious services. This was particularly useful during inclement weather.

I guess the 'riddle' was 'who was Fabio Gioa?', but this pleasant chunk of local folklore is quickly dismissed as legend springing from a missing comma in some 15th century manuscript. An alternative might have been 'who invented the compass,' but it is clear this cannot be deduced. A third mystery involves the changing 'compass rose'. On ancient maps, there were 12 directions. Sometime during the 13th century, maps started using a 16 direction 'compass rose'. Who or what sparked that change?

While these issues have the makings of an excellent story on the social shaping of technology, the author never really bring the issues into focus. There are lots of curious details, but the author forgets the punchline.

A lot of time is spend speculating on who 'invented' the compass. Since the familiar European compass is little more than a boxed Chinese 'pivoting magnetized needle', it isn't clear the 12th century Italian design is really an 'invention' at all. This could have provided an interesting segway to an investigation of 'creation' myths in general. It seems many medieval technological imports from China and/or the Muslim Caliphates get transmuted from 'import' to 'invention' in the 16th century. Why these myths were so important, and still offered credibility seems an important topic, but Aczel only alludes to the issue.

Fascinating Tale About The Riddle & Compass History
The reviews of this book go from one extreme to the other- are you confused about reading this book? As one reviewer suggested to the naysayers- lighten-up! I agree. This book is well presented and covers far more than the "riddle" of who invented the navigational compass, although that alone is worth the read.

The history of the compass starting with the ancient Chinese discovery of the magnetic qualities of lodestone and applying that knowledge to construct a land use compass, then following the invention around the world and over centuries until it was discovered to be useful for sea navigation and it's design perfection as it traveled from one country to the next up to contemporary times, is also worth the read.

Aczel's treatment of this subject includes his account as a young man and his own time spent in the pilot house of ocean liners learning navigation from his seafaring father and captain. He learned the importance of a compass as a navigation aid and this was a great prelude to writing with hands-on knowledge.

Some of the naysayers have attempted to dilute the importance of the compass as a navigational aid- hah! Like Aczel, I too, have spent much time on the ocean and for those that think sailing without a compass is no big thing, consider the older tools of navigation, i.e., guiding by the stars, etc. What do you guide by with during cloudy skies, turbulent seas and no land in sight for weeks or months on end? The compass is unaffected by those conditions and it also lead to accurate, cross-ocean, long distance mapping of the entire world. And they said that's no big thing???? Landlubbers- sheesh!

After finishing this book, I read "The Compass" by Paula Z. Hogan, 1980. Although it was writen for children 9-12, it is a great read for all ages, very informative and at only 60 pages long plus illustrations and experiments, packs more relevant compass info than any book I've read and is great companion to Aczel's book. ... Read more

Book Description

When Dava Sobel's Longitude was published to universal acclaim in 1995, readers voiced only one regret: that it was not illustrated. Now, William Andrewes, the man who organized and hosted the Longitude Symposium that inspired her book, has joined Dava Sobel to create a richly illustrated version of her classic story.

The Illustrated Longitude recounts in words and images the epic quest to solve the thorniest scientific problem of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Throughout the great age of exploration, sailors attempted to navigate the oceans without any means of measuring their longitude: All too often, voyages ended in total disaster when both crew and cargo were captured or lost upon the rocks of an unexpected landfall. Thousands of lives and the fortunes of seafaring nations hung on a resolution.

To encourage a solution, governments established major prizes for anyone whose method or device proved successful. The largest reward of £20,000-truly a king's ransom-was offered by the British Parliament in 1714. The scientific establishment-from Galileo to Sir Isaac Newton-had been certain that a celestial answer would be found and invested untold effort in this pursuit. In stark contrast, one man, John Harrison, imagined and built the unimaginable: a clock that solved the problem by keeping precise time at sea, called today the chronometer. His trials and tribulations to win the prize throughout a forty-year obsession are the culmination of this remarkable story.

The Illustrated Longitude contains the entire original narrative of Longitude, redesigned to accompany 178 images chosen by Will Andrewes: from portraits of every important figure in the story to maps, diagrams, and photographs of scientific instruments, especially John Harrison's remarkable clocks. Andrewes's elegant captions emphasize the scientific and historical events surrounding the images, and they tell their own dramatic story of longitude, paralleling and illuminating Dava Sobel's memorable tale. ... Read more

Reviews (28)

Excellent read that improves on the original
Having bought and read "Longitude", the only lightly illustrated original hardback version, I wanted to know more about how the actual clocks worked, and I wanted to see them, without making a trans-Atlantic pilgrimage to Greenwich.

Hence, when I saw an illustrated version of "Longitude", I had to buy it. This book contains the original text, with no additions, except for the illustrations. The photographs are beautifully done, as is the printing.

My only hesitation in not awarding the book five stars is that I was hoping for one of two things; either an illustrated version of the original, with a couple of pictures of each chronometer, at a reasonable price, or a more detailed illustrated version, with more information on how the chronometers actually work. What we ended up with is a compromise. Beautiful pictures of the chronometers, but little extra detail of Harrison's marvelous inventions.

Still, an improvement on the original, which is an excellent book, one I have read several times. Highly recommended.

By the way, when I purchased this book, I donated my original version to the library.

Highly Recommended!
"The Illustrated Longitude" is an excellent, worthwhile historical account of John Harrison's progression as an instrument maker and legitimate finder of a practical solution to the problem of determining Longitude at Sea.

If you are at all interested in the antecedents of today's accurate timekeeping devices this book is a must. The print quality is very high and the illustrations a wonderful aid to feeling the story unfold. The book does not contain detailed plans of Mr Harrison's chronometers or description of the techniques of celestial navigation, but rather is a brisk, engagingly written account of the origin of the Longitude problem, Mr Harrison's solution and those of his rivals and the political intrigues which delayed full acknowledgement of the merit of the H-1 to H-4 devices.

I bought this book some months after visiting the Old Royal Observatory in Greenwich, England. The ingenious mechanisms at work can keep an observer enthralled for hours. They are also very beautiful. "The Illustrated Longitude" really fills out the significance of the Longitude problem in that era and the career details and challenges overcome by a very clever and self made man.

Great Story, but BEWARE of innaccuracies in this book.
John Harrison completes his first pendulum clock in 1713 before the age of 20. He made the gears for this out of wood which was radical for such a use, but as a carpenter, perhaps not to him---which is a mark of genius, I'd say; to reach beyond accepted norms in this manner. This he did after borrowing a book on math and the laws of motion; which he copied word for word, making his own copy. He incorporated different varieties of wood into his clock for strenth and later invented a bi-metal pendulum to counteract the expansion and compression of various individual metals. He also employed friction-free movements so as to do away with problematic lubricants. When intrigued by the puzzle of time at sea and the issue of longitude he contemplated substituting something not prone to gravity, as a pendulum of course is, to track times passing. In 1737 he creates a cantilevered clock 4 foot square. This the longitude board (which had offered a cash bonus to anyone who could devise a method in which time at sea could be kept) admired. Four years later he returns with an improved model; then starts on a 3rd model, like the previous two, also a fairly large sized clock.But there exists a problem within this book: An artisan freemason by the name of John Jefferys at the Worshipful Company of clockmakers befriends Harrison and then later presents to him a pocket watch in 1753. Then in 1755, while still working on his 3rd model, Harrison says this to the Longitude board: I have..."good reason to think" on the basis of a watch "already executed that such small machines[he's referring to pocketwatches] may be of great service with respect to longitude." He then completes version 3 in 1759. His fourth version appears just a year later, however, and is a 5 inch wide pocketwatch! The obvious inference made by the author is that after he received the pocketwatch from Jeffreys he seemingly put his version #3 on the backburner and soon started on the pocketwatch 4th version. The author does not claim Harrison copied anything from the Jeffreys model, but she certainly phrases this section so as to lend one to believe that this may have been the case; that Jefferys had a hand in the masterstroke invention Harrison eventually produced in version #4. This is not true. Harrison commissioned the watch he received from Jeffreys and was based on Harrison's specifications. It seems that Harrison simply asked Jeffreys to test an idea which he himself hadn't the time to attack just then; as he was still working on his 3rd version of a table-top prototype clock. Hence Harrison's above statement to the board in 1755 whence his ideas were validated by Jeffreys. In addition, the author plays up the part of the Astronomer Royal's part in attempting to impede Harrison from convincing the longitiude board of the efficacy of a time-piece solution to this problem over a celestial answer to this conundrum. The author also jazzes up the issue of whether Harrison received the prize the board promised to pay for a successful solution herein; even though the board supported him for upwards of 20 years as he pursued this quest. It's as if the author intentionally omitted some facts (that the Jefferys was a Harrison commission), and pumped up others (of a rival/foil on the board trying to impede Harrison and the compensation issue; implying that Harrison was jipped) just to make the story more compelling. John Harrison's story, however, is extremely compelling as it is and didn't need this extra spice served up by the author.Do read this (very short) book on how this Mr. Harrison solved the problem of knowing where one is when at sea; and if you're in London, visit the Old Royal Observatory and the Clockmakers museum (in the Guildhall) where you can see Harrison's wonderful creations in person. Enjoy!

The Man who Captured Time so Ships could Navigate Accurately
=====>

Note: This review has been written from a city with the following position on Earth:

LATITUDE: (43 degrees 2 minutes North)
LONGITUDE: (81 degrees 9 minutes West.)

This book contains the original 1995 "Longitude" text by Dava Sobel. In order to understand the significance of this text, the reader has to understand some words in this book's title and subtitle.

"Longitude" along with Latitude are two numbers along with their compass directions that are used to fix the position of anything on the planet Earth (as in the note above). Lines of Latitude are the imaginary, parallel, horizontal lines circling the Earth with the equator (fixed by nature) being the "zero-degree parallel of latitude." Lines of Longitude or "meridians" are the imaginary lines that run top to bottom (north to south), from the Earth's North Pole to its South Pole with the "prime meridian" (established by political means) being the "zero-degree meridian of longitude." (Since the mid-1880s, the prime meridian has passed through Greenwich, England. Before this time, the imaginary line that passed through a ship's home port was usually used as the zero-degree meridian.)

Finding latitude on land or sea is easy and eventually a device was invented to make it even more easier. But finding longitude, especially at sea on a swaying ship is difficult, a difficulty "that stumped the wisest minds of the world for the better part of human history" and was "the greatest scientific problem" of the 1770s. Ways of determining longitude astronomically were devised, but these proved to be impractical when used at sea.

England's parliament recognized that "the longitude problem" had to be solved practically since many ships containing people and valuable cargo were lost at sea as soon as the ship's navigators lost sight of land. Thus, this parliament offered a top monetary prize that's equivalent to many millions of dollars today to anyone who could solve this problem.

Enter "a lone genius" named John Harrison (1693 to 1776). While most thought that the solution to this problem was astronomical, Harrison saw time as the solution.

To calculate the longitude using time on a ship at sea, you have to realize these two facts found in this book:

(i) The Earth takes 24 hours of time to spin 360 degrees on its axis from east to west.
(ii) Noon (12:00 PM) is the highest point the sun seems to "travel" in a day.

To learn one's longitude at sea using time, as the book explains, it's necessary to do the following:

(1) Know the time it is aboard ship. (Local noon was normally used because of fact (ii) above.)
(2) At the very same moment, know the time at a known longitude (such as at Greenwich, England).
(3) The difference in time between (1) and (2) is converted to a longitude reading in degrees and direction (using fact (i) above.)

So Harrison's solution was the determination of time of (2) above by inventing a precise timepiece. It would, in this case, be set to Greenwich time. (Note that, as stated, (1) could be determined using the noon-day sun but this was not always practical. Eventually, another timepiece was used to determine the ship's local noon for a particular day.) It should be realized that this was the "era of pendulum clocks" where, on a deck of a rocking ship, "such clocks would slow down, or speed up, or stop running altogether." Harrison was to capture time by building a marine clock or "timekeeper" (eventually called a "chronometer") that could be used on a ship at sea.

This book tells the "true story" of Harrison and his chronometers. (There were five built over a forty-year period. Harrison's first timekeeping device was known as H-1, his second was H-2, and so on.) Sobel uses accuracy (as evidenced by her many references) and extensive interviews with experts in the historical and marine navigational fields to create an engaging, mostly non-technical narrative to convey a story that's filled with suspense, heroism, perfectionism, and villiany. (She includes some essential technical detail of her description of Harrison's timekeepers.)

The nearly 180 illustrations chosen by William Andrewes compliment and add another dimension to Sobel's text. As Sobel explains: "Images of characters, events, instruments (especially [the exterior and interior] of Harrison's [timekeeping] contrivances), maps,and publications...illuminate the narrative. These pictures, paired with Will's detailed, [informative, and well-referenced] captions, offer up their own version of a swashbuckling, scientific adventure in the context of history and technology."

Finally, there is a good 1999 movie entitled "Longitude" that is based on this book's text. It makes all the illustrations in this book come alive.

In conclusion, this book's text and illustrations document the exciting story of how "a lone genius" solved "the longitude problem." Sobel states this more eloquently: "With his marine clocks, John Harrison tested the waters of space-time. He succeeded, against all odds, in using the fourth...dimension to link points on a three-dimensional globe. He [took] the world's whereabouts from the stars, and locked [or captured] the secret in a...watch."

<=====>

Great If You Can't See Harrison's Clocks in Person.
So as not to repeat myself and try the patience of those customers who have already read "Longitude", I will confine my comments to the additional material in the illustrated version. If you haven't read "Longitude", it's a great little book, and I refer you to reviews by myself and others on that book's page.

"The Illustrated Longitude" contains the entire original text of Dava Sobel's book, "Longitude", along with 178 illustrations provided by William J. H. Andrewes. Mr. Andrewes hosted the Longitude Symposium that inspired Dava Sobel's book and has himself published the annotated proceedings of the Symposium in his book entitled "The Quest for Longitude". The illustrations in this book consist of portraits of people and photographs of documents and instruments which are referenced in the text. The documents include maps, journals, pages of books, and official decrees. Nearly every major player in the Longitude drama is represented with at least one portrait. Most fascinating are the photographs of the time pieces, themselves. I found the illustrations to be only mildly interesting until I got to the discussion of John Harrison's longitude clocks. At this point, I was astonished to see how grand and beautiful H-1 was...and still is, and how small and elegant H-4 is in contrast. I found it difficult to picture Harrison's clocks while reading Dava Sobel's book, and the ability to see them in this illustrated version has left me even more impressed with Mr. Harrison's work. All of Harrison's clocks are represented with large color photographs, and many of the later copies of his works by Larcum Kendall, Thomas Mudge, John Arnold, and Thomas Earnshaw are also pictured. I wish there were more illustrations addressing the workings of Harrison's clocks, but that's probably a subject for another book. I recommend "The Illustrated Longitude" to fans of John Harrison's work and early chronometers who will not have the opportunity to see these incredible instruments in person. ... Read more

Book Description

The defacto industry standard for test, measurement, and automation software solutions, LabVIEW 7 delivers the graphical programming capabilities that allow users to design programmable software solutions to problems and lab experiments. This edition is compatible with all National Instruments data acquisition and instrument control hardware.This version includes a learning directory containing VIs designed for those learning LabVIEW. It contains the necessary material for preparation for the certification process, and allows users to readily configure their applications with just a few mouse clicks, enabling rapid iterations of the VI configuration.For electrical engineers, and those involved in measurement and instrumentation. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Good Book - Does it have the CDs?
I use this book to teach a college level course to students who have no programming experience. All the examples are available for down load from the site www.ni.com
It is good.
The ISBN LISTED # ISBN: 0131239260
is the book with the program CDs and book in a box.
Be careful with the used books and make sure you
get the one with the CDs containing the program itself. ... Read more

Book Description

Beginning in the 1960s, scientists across a wide range of disciplines cooperated in developing unbiased—or assumption free—stereology, based on stochastic geometry and probability theory, as a way to estimate the parameters of irregularly shaped objects without introducing bias. In recent years these new estimation techniques, which were originally quite painstaking and time consuming, have made a great deal of headway in disciplines such as neuroscience, thanks in part to the development of computer software for their application. Prestigious journals and grant-giving organizations now require the use of unbiased stereology in the projects that they support, and this trend is expected to continue.

Principles and Practices of Unbiased Stereology will fill a need in the biomedical community as a clear, user-friendly introduction to this area for the increasing number of scientists who need to learn these techniques for their research. The work moves logically from a discussion of the historical background of stereology to full explanations of terms, concepts,and tools, with the latter part of the manuscript devoted to typical stereology designs. An associated web site will feature color illustrations and video clips demonstrating stereological techniques. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

A fantastic book
Principles and Practices fills a much needed niche-- this book excels at introducing beginners to stereology and is sufficiently advanced that more experienced scientists will find themselves using it for reference. The most interesting and useful feature of this book is its organization. Beginning with an historical perspective, the reader learns the importance of stereology as a separate field, as well as its recent impact on the biological sciences. The author does an excellent job of providing pertinent information instead of overwhelming with formulas and jargon. Dr. Mouton's treatment of bias and error is superb; I find myself referring to it frequently. ... Read more

Book Description

During the nineteenth century, a remarkable scientific instrument known as a harmonograph revealed the beautiful patterns found in music. Harmonograph is an introduction to the evolution of simple harmonic theory, from the discoveries of Pythagoras to diatonic tuning and equal temperament. Beautiful drawings show the octave as triangle, the fifth as pentagram; diagrams show the principles of harmonics, overtones, and the monochord. Anthony Ashton examines the phenomenon of resonance in Chladni patterns, describes how to build a harmonograph of your own, and provides tables of world tuning systems. This inspiring book will appeal to musicians, mathematicians, designers, and artists alike. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

hints of the mystical
This is an excellent little book on harmonics and sound, encompassing science and music. It is a much needed counter weight to the effervessence of other recent titles on temperament and harmonics. It is such a beautifully visual book, with graphic depictions of sound waves, you will simply want to look at the illustrations for hours. It hints at the mystical without falling off the edge into either New Age or Cultural Supremacy.

Beautiful and Fascinating
I discovered the the Wooden Books series less than a year ago through some serendipitous bookstore browsing, and soon purchased them all. Each volume is compact, well-written, beautifully illustrated, and most of all informative. I'm reading my copy of Harmonograph along with Stuart Isacoff's book Temperament (also recommended), and couldn't imagine a more perfect pairing of books. Being musically challenged, I rely on Harmonograph to make better sense of the intervals Isacoff discusses in his book, and it does so in a brilliant, unique way. You won't be disappointed in this little gem.

Interesting.........
Although, I had never heard of harmonographs until I saw this text in a book store recently, the drawing on the cover caught my eye immediately, as I had seen similiar drawings, created by some drawing device using pendulums, in Annie Besant and Charles Leadbeater's THOUGHT FORMS, first published over 100 years ago. Those who are familiar with Stephen Phillips' 1980 work: Extrasensory Perception of Quarks (which is a contempory analysis of Besant & Leadbeater's Occult Chemistry, published in 1908 & 1919) might be well inclined to take Besant and Leadbeater seriously regarding their geometric descriptions of thought forms. Since Besant and Leadbeater assume that there is some commonality between the shape of the thought forms they perceived and those drawn by a harmonograph, this book seems like a good introduction to this long forgotten device, which may provide some sort of conceptual framework to think about thought forms. ... Read more

Book Description

This practical resource presents modern, statistical methods for accelerated testing including test models, analyses of data, and plans for testing. Each topic is self-contained for easy reference. Coverage is broad and detailed enough to serve as a text or reference. This handy book features real test examples along with data analyses, computer programs, and references to the literature. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Great companion volume to Applied Life Data Analysis
I agree with the previous reviewer that this is the definitive classic in accelerated life testing. It's a great companion volume to Dr. Nelson's "Applied Life Data Analysis" which remains one of the best reliability textbooks ever written. I have noticed that all major reliability and accelerated testing programs use this book as their main reference - proof of the books usefulness. My only compaint is with the publishers for the steep price - now that they're bringing out a lower cost version of Applied Life Data Analysis, I hope they'll bring out a low-cost or paperback version of this classic as well.

best statistical account of accelerated testing
Nelson is a private consultant who has worked on countless practical problems in reliability from his consulting practice and previous employment at General Electric. He is an excellent lecturer and writer. His earlier book "Applied Life Data Analysis" was considered to be one of the best texts on reliability.

This book is very thorough in its treatment of all aspects of accelerated testing and is filled with many good references. Nelson carefully defines the mathematical models which consist of two components, (1) an acceleration function which describes how the mean lifetime changes as a function of the acceleration factor and (2) a probability distribution that explains the random variability of outcomes at each acceleration factor. A particular mean function could be the Arrhenius relationship and the probability distribution could be exponential. Hence there is not a single Arrhenius acceleration model but rather an Arrhenius-exponential, an Arrhenius-lognormal or an Arrhenius-Weibull model. The book is filled with interesting theory and examples. Nelson provides excellent practical guidance based on his wealth of experience. ... Read more

Book Description

Celestron's NexStar telescopes were introduced in 1999, beginning with their first computer controlled "go to" model, a 5-inch. More models appeared in quick succession, and Celestron's new range made it one of the two dominant manufacturers of affordable "go to" telescopes. Michael Swanson's online discussions with literally thousands of NexStar owners made it clear that there was a desperate need for a book such as this - one that provides a complete, detailed guide to buying, using and maintaining NexStar telescopes. Although this book is highly comprehensive, it is suitable for beginners - there is a chapter on "Astronomy Basics" - and experts alike. ... Read more

Reviews (4)

Comprehensive. Concise. Practical.
This is excellent. This text provides all the information you will need to troubleshoot your nexstar system. I have recommended that it be shipped with each nexstar telescope sold.
Celestron could save a lot of time answering questions if they would do so.

Indispensable!
If you are looking to use a Celestron Nexstar computer guided GOTO telescope and mount, then this book will take you through every stage of setup, operation and maintenance, in a very user-friendly and readable manner. For the novice astronomer, the first chapter provides a thorough 40-page introduction on basic observational astronomy. Additional elements include chapters on astronomical software, connecting a PC, photography and planning your observations. In short, very highly recommended.

Wonderful resource!
This book is a must have for any owner of a NexStar series telescope. I've owned my NexStar11 GPS for almost three years and find Mike's book very informative and well written. It's wonderful to have a such an incredibly detailed resource at your fingertips. No matter if you are thinking of buying or already own a NexStar telescope, I highly recommend you add this book to your library.

celestron 9.25 user
I recently purchased a Celestron 9.25" Nexstar telescope. The scope is great but the owner's manual that came with it leaves a lot to be desired. After just a quick scan of Swanson's book, I discovered several useful tips that I have already put to use (e.g., how to position the index marking decal that had come off; the Nexstar Resource site; and the availability of a template from Starizona for making it easier to put the scope on the tripod). Anyone thinking about buying a Celeston Nexstar scope should consider purchasing this book. ... Read more

Reviews (5)

Not So Good
Book is not so good, There is a discussion of different brands of SCT but besides that you can't get much of the specifics on things to help you with SCT. At least nothing that you can already get from the internet. Also doesn't seem to discuss much on the possible accessories for SCT's. Practically his discussion relates more to visually using SCT, but for astrophotography nothing, doesn't even mention equatorial wedges. All in all this book just whets your appetite regarding possibilities of SCT but you have to look for details in some other book. Look at Wodawski's book on Astrophotography as it discusses quite a bit regarding astrophotography using SCT. The rest look at Star Ware by Phil Harrington

Best book I could find
This is an awesome book. It answered about a million questions that I had about equipment, accessories, a bit of telescope
history, etc.. It held my hand step-by-step during the search for a new telescope and then again once I had my new telescope in my hands. I found the author's writing style to very very good for the person brand new to Astronomy. I've already recommended this book to 5-6 other folks. It contains enough information that it will be useful for quite a while as there are many aspects of my new telescope that I'm not ready to try yet.

This book is pretty darn expensive but worth every penny. With good telescopes costing from [X], the price of this book isn't much.

The tips alone on new telescope assembly, setup, checkout,
etc.. are invaluable.

A Valuable Reference
This is the book I wish I had read before I purchased my SCT (to understand what I was getting into) and that I wish had come as its user's guide. While it provides great explanations and many useful tips on setting up and using an SCT, it also honestly describes potential drawbacks (e.g., weight, transportability). Mr. Mollise also understands -- and wryly comments on -- "reality" for many amateur astronomers: At one point he descibes the many amateurs who talk about astrophotography but never quite get to the point of taking a picture -- which is true of many amateurs.

Extremely helpful suggestions
The book has great information, including, how to set up your scope, tips on filters, how to collimate the scope, how to transport and care for your telescope, choosing a telescope, and much more. The book is targeted toward owners of Meade and Celestron telescopes with fork mounts, but this should not dissuade you. Much of the information in the book is useful for owners of equatorially mounted scopes, as well. Examples of tips are-- to reduce tripod vibration, hang a gallon jug of water from the bottom of the mount or the tray. Or, to safely transport your scope to a dark site, use a foam-lined cooler. Very comprehensive, well-written, and far reaching in its coverage of all aspects of telescope ownership and use. Highly recommended!

Choosing and Using as Schmidt-Cassegrain Telescope
The author provides a complete review of SCT and Makstovs covering all the basics of operation. The chapters on setup, testing and observing are much clearer then the manuals that come with a new scope. If you are considering spending a $1000+ on a new scope you should get this book first. The section on "keeping Your Cat Happy" shows ways to improve your scope's operation without spending a lot. This is stuff that works from dew shields to warning lights. The only limit I have seen in the book is that the goto technology described is changing yet again with new scopes. Celestron has just introduced units with a built in GPS & electronic compasses that find their own location and time. I am sure that Meade can not far behind in introducing their own version. Exploring the stars with SCTs has never been easier, but don't start the trip without this book. ... Read more

Book Description

This book provides a unified treatment of the characteristics of telescopes of all types, both those whose performance is set by geometrical aberrations and the effect of the atmosphere, and those diffraction-limited telescopes designed for observations from above the atmosphere. The emphasis throughout is on basic principles, such as Fermat's principle, and their application to optical systems specifically designed to image distant celestial sources.
The book also contains thorough discussions of the principles underlying all spectroscopic instrumentation, with special emphasis on grating instruments used with telescopes. An introduction to adaptive optics provides the needed background for further inquiry into this rapidly developing area.

* Geometrical aberration theory based on Fermat's principle
* Diffraction theory and transfer function approach to near-perfect telescopes
* Thorough discussion of 2-mirror telescopes, including misalignments
* Basic principles of spectrometry; grating and echelle instruments
* Schmidt and other catadioptric telescopes
* Principles of adaptive optics
* Over 220 figures and nearly 90 summary tables ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Good for Spectrometer Optics
This book has some unique features. It treats the subject matter carefully, and in detail. The content is very useful. The treatment of spectrometer optics is particularly useful. The weakness of the book is that the diagrams are not well done, and the notation can be confusing. Overall, a useful book. ... Read more

Book Description

Radiation Dosimetry Instrumentation and Methods provides the basic theory and practical methods of radiation dosimetry. The book begins with a review of the theoretical basis of radiation dosimetry and the system of units used in the measurements. The remainder of the book presents dosimetry methods widely used in nuclear medicine, as well as new techniques and methods that are applied only in specific circumstances. The theoretical basis on which each method is based and the practical and technical details of each dosimeter's design and construction are presented.Dosimetry methods are compared and correction factors and adjustments offered in the final chapter. The methods discussed in this fascinating text include ionization chambers, thermoluminescence dosimeters (TLD), photographic emulsion, chemical dosimetry and calorimetry, lyoluminescence dosimetry, solid state detectors, tritium monitoring, and neutron dosimetry. Radiation Dosimetry Instrumentation and Methodsis an excellent book for physicians in nuclear medicine, hospital radioisotope departments, radiobiologists, radiochemists, and users of nuclear radiation for scientific, technical and energy production purposes. ... Read more

Book Description

Detection of Light provides a comprehensive overview of the important approaches to photon detection from the ultraviolet to the submillimeter spectral regions. This expanded and fully updated second edition discusses recently introduced types of detector: superconducting tunnel junctions, hot electron bolometer mixers, and fully depleted CCDs. It also includes historically important devices such as photographic plates. Material from many disciplines is combined into a comprehensive and unified treatment of the detection of light, with emphasis on the underlying physical principles. ... Read more

Book Description

This text is written for a course that deals with the principles and applications of modern analytical instruments. Emphasis is placed upon the theoretical basis of each type of instrument, its optimal area of application, its sensitivity, its precision, and its limitations. The text also introduces students to elementary integrated circuitry, microprocessors and computers, and treatment of analytical data. ... Read more

Reviews (15)

I'm very disappointed with the new version.
I'm a graduate student retaking Instrumental Analysis. Fortunately for me, I have the fouth addition to reference. As a student, I'm required to do homework from various chapters. In doing this, I've found numerous reference errors within the problem sets. This makes problem solving difficult (to say the least). It seems as though the proof readers only read the material and did not try to solve any of the problems. The written text is better than the older edition; however, I've still found equational errors. In the end, I'm forced to use both editions. Finally, I will give credit to the amount of useful information within the text. I find that portion of the book highly informative and relatively detailed.

There have to be better books
First of all, this book is riddled with errors. There are typos up the wazoo! Second, a lot of the optical path diagrams of the instruments are very confusing. You cannot make heads or tales from the illustrations. Skoog has yet to enter the 21st century because everything is in black and white. The picture style is very bland and terribly out of date. Skoog also tries desperately to be pedantic. For example, he describes a computer monitor as a cathode ray tube output device. If you like Atkins, you will love Skoog, or vice versa. It's great as a reference but otherwise worthless. Trust me when I say this book is too wordy, too confusing, and way too 'Cold War' era boring.

Valuable resource.....
I am an undergrad senior majoring in math and chemistry. I noticed a majority of the reviews seemed to be somewhat negative, so I thought I would weigh in. I have found this text to be a real asset. I have used it for a one credit lab in instrumental analysis and really love the attention given to the mathematical representations of the concepts. I don't really plan on working in a lab setting, and I find the text gives a great overview of a lot of instrumentation. Very easy to read and follow. Well worth the money to have it on the bookshelf.

very basic introduction to analytical chem
This book is pretty much standard for undergrad analytical chemistry but it is not a great text. It provides a very basic introduction to analytical methods in a poorly organised fashion. The information is presented in such a way that it calls for you to memorize rather than understand. The mathematics presented confuse the reader more than they help. I recommend you buy this used. If you plan on pursuing analytical chemistry, this book will quickly be shoved aside to make way for much better books, each specific to a particular instrumental method.

Good instrumental chemistry overview ... January - 2002
As an undergrad chemistry major at Erciyes University.Any good book has its problems. ... Read more

Book Description

Experimental stress analysis is an important tool in the overall design and development of machinery and structures. While analytical techniques and computer solutions are available during the design stage, the results are still dependent on many assumptions that must be made in order to adapt them to the problems at hand. One popular method of finding structural and design weaknesses is through the use of the electrical resistance strain gage. These devices are relatively low in cost, easily applied by a reasonably skilled technician, and require little investment in instrumentation (for the general user), yet they yield a wealth of information in a relatively short time period. The information and its validity is, of course, dependent on the training and knowledge of the engineer who plans the tests and reduces the data. In addition to serving as a reference for engineers, this practical, instructive book has a high potential as a textbook for senior and first-year graduate students in engineering and related fields, such as engineering physics and geology ... Read more