Cosmos Books

Bless' Discovering the Cosmos is an excellent introductory astronomy text for students with a more advanced preparation either in the physical sciences or in mathematics. The text focuses more towards the stellar and galactic aspects of modern astronomy though there are sections on historical astronomy and planetology. While the book is does not cover the up-to-the-minute advances in astronomy, this can easily be filled in with web-based sources that build upon the excellent foundational material.

The book's great strength is that it doesn't shy away from using the science and mathematics a student who has competently passed a high school chemistry and algebra II class should have learned. While this limits the text's use in general introductory astronomy survey courses at the college level it makes for a much richer source for honors or advanced courses at either the college freshman or the high school senior level.

Educators with a solid background in the sciences will find this text a treasure trove of information that can serve as a place to pull additional information when trying to understand or expand curriculum.

From earliest times and for the greater part of history, men have believed that the earth is a living creature, animated by a spirit that corresponds to the spirit in men. Science originated in the attempts to adapt the roving ways of the earth spirit to the new settled style of life. This volume illustrates the natural shrines and channels of the earth spirit and the relics of the old, once universal science by which its powers were concentrated for the benefit of all life on earth. With 113 illustrations - 22 in full color
--- from books back cover

Great,clear, concise. Helps a lot with what one needs to know about living and preparing for the New Energy. This book is going to do something for you or not. Star Seeds (you know who you are)will resonate with the material. There are those draw to the 'Four Corners' area of the USA. This explains why and much more. Keywords: Archangel Michael; Mirror of Venus, Holographic Computer. souls history. This book found me, lets say; after several weeks of moving to Tucson.

Govert Schilling (with an excellent translation into English by David Wray) has managed to explain the entire history of the Universe in some 127 pages and in a most beautiful and poetic way (reminiscent of Carl Sagan). The breadth of his coverage is only matched by his eloquent description which is sure to touch the hearts of scientist and layman alike. With such a vast coverage, he, of course, cannot go into the intricate details of each subject but yet he manages to capture the essence of each topic and hardly misses any important topic that relates to the subject at hand. From the first quantum of time after the Big Bang (just 1 x 10^-43 seconds after) to the end of the Universe in a whimper some 10^100 years later, he describes the important milestones of cosmic evolution - the creation of matter, the first atoms, the separation of the four fundamental forces, the cosmic dark ages, the age of recombination, the first stars and subsequent generations of stars, supernovae, black holes, the synthesis of the heavy elements, the first galaxies, the formation of solar systems, the evolution of life, the ultimate end of human life and of the Sun and Earth, and finally the slow death of the universe itself! Not much is left out. An astonishing number of details are presented in a non mathematical way but yet the poetic beauty of his descriptions fills your mind with pictures that unfold with every page. Speaking of pictures, the book is filled with beautiful color astronomical pictures and paintings on almost every page as well but believe me, the words alone are enough to touch your very soul. If every there was an answer to the age old question, "What is the meaning of life?" - this is it!

With the 1973's knowledge and technology, Louis Berman authored a concise masterpiece textbook on astronomy. The author's passion for his craft is apparent in every glimpse of the book. In its preface, the author clearly delineates the purpose and scope of his work. That is followed by a black and white a sketch depicting the ultimate goal of astronomy as a reach for the origin of life, which man has struggled with since the beginning of history.

The book's table of contents attests to the clarity of purpose and vast scope of knowledge covered in the book. Each chapter is followed by review questions and selected readings list. The book chapters progress along the evolution of modern astronomy, from the era of limited direct observation and scant technical resources, to the age of international competition to conquer the outer space. To modern readers, the chunky electronic equipments and vacuum tubes, depicted in the book, embody the surreal perseverance of scientists in refining crude equipments that led to the advanced technology of the present.

The story of marriage between geometry and algebra, in the period 1609-1619, is described in chapter 2. It shows how Kepler developed the algebraic laws of planetary motion by compiling the accumulated data on the geometrical orbits of planets. Those laws allowed predicting the trajectories of planets as function of time, but lacked discerning the planetary masses or the causes for assuming its designated orbits.

The book then describes how Isaac Newton generalized the laws of mechanics on stellar objects in the form of gravitational forces that obey the inverse square of distance between masses. Those laws permitted measuring the masses of planets and the interplanetary forces, which determine its orbit among a system of stellar bodies. Both Newton and Einstein had reckoned that matter drives the forces of nature. Newton attributed gravitational forces to mass, while Einstein attributed nuclear energy to mass.

Having laid the conceptual foundation on the traffic laws of the outer space, the book delves into the tools that were developed and implemented to look, see, and transmit gathered data from the immense space to our tiny planet. The advances made in the space science were integrated efforts made in many disciplines. With the classical mechanics paving the way to the understanding of astronomy, wave mechanics offered plausible explanation on how the matter of universe behaves the way it does. Further more, wave mechanics not only permitted interpretation of the gathered information from outer space but also lent new means of visualizing the space at different levels of radiation.

Even though the book was published in 1973, it remains a basic text book on the fundamentals of the science of astronomy. The book gains its longevity from its systematic description of the planets and stars, their geometrical configuration, and their physical and developmental characteristics. That renders the book a convenient reference for expedient preparation of research background in astronomy.

Essentials of Weightlifting and Strength Training

Essentials of Weightlifting and Strength Training (Paperback)

FROM THE JACKET FLAP:

Throughout history there has been no greater adventure than that represented by man's quest for knowledge of his world. Now in one wide-ranging volume, Isaac Asimov tells the exciting stoy of how people have learned and continue to learn about their world--from the great migrations of prehistory to the space probes of today to the barely dreamed-of journeys of tomorrow.
Asimov ranges across the entire panorama of science, covering in twenty-three mind-expanding chapters discoveries in astronomy, biology, geography, mathematics, geology, and physics. He tells us about the explorations, discoveries, and inventions that have transformed our view of the world and the scientific theory and scientific speculation that have expanded our vision yet further.
Within the four spheres of the physical universe--the horizons of space, time, matter, and energy--Asimov reveals how man's urge to expand the limits of knowledge has led him to leave the perimeters of the known world, to develop theories and devices that would allow him to plumb the secrets of the earth and the universe.

'Exploring the Earth and the Cosmos' tells hundreds of fascinating stories:
-how ten fingers and twelve number names evolved into today's varied, intricate, and often complicated number systems
-how smoke from a house fire inspired the first hot-air balloon and man's early journeys above the earth
-the growth of man's concept of time and the methods he devised to measure it
-the discovery of the strange, eventful world inside the atom
-the emergence of speculations about time travel

Here for the first time in one breathtaking, sweeping history are the facts, dates, names, and figures that are the story of man's movement out into the world and the universe beyond.

FROM THE TABLE OF CONTENTS

PART I: THE HORIZONS OF SPACE
03 . . . The Eastern Hemisphere
18 . . . The World as a Whole
32 . . . The Interiors and the Poles
51 . . . Surface Ups and Downs
61 . . . The Ocean
77 . . . Interlude: The Horizon of Numbers
85 . . . Below Earth's Surface
91 . . . Earth's Atmosphere
104 . . . Beyond the Balloon
118 . . . Out Into Space
135 . . . The Inner Solar System
150 . . . Mars and Beyond
164 . . . The Stars

PART II: THE HORIZONS OF TIME
183 . . . The Age of History
196 . . . The Age of the Earth
210 . . . All of Time
227 . . . Instants of Time
235 . . . Speed

PART III: THE HORIZONS OF MATTER
247 . . . Mass, Large and Small
265 . . . Atoms and Beyond
278 . . . Density and Pressure

PART IV: THE HORIZONS OF ENERGY
297 . . . High Temperatures
309 . . . Low Temperatures
321 . . . Luminosity

331 . . . Index

This one-volume historical survey of the development and use of the Yijing from prehistory to today is long on breadth and short on depth. The breadth is impressive and the lack of depth is excusable. The book, by Professor Richard Smith of Rice University, is chock-full of nuggets of information not otherwise accessible, especially to non-Chinese readers, nuggets enough to supply a whole generation of graduate students with Ph.D. dissertation topics. For example, Smith brings to our attention that Yan Fu, in the foreword to his translation of Thomas Huxley's "On Evolution," argued that the Yijing "offered a cogent explanation of scientific processes such as natural selection." And, Smith writes, "the anarchist Liu Shipei used a detailed analysis of the judgments, images, and line statements of the Yijing to show an affinity between what he considered to be the concerns of modern Western sociology and the 'learning of the Changes.'" Liu thus "believed that the Yijing, like the number-based theories and practices of modern sociology, could be used for what might today be called 'social engineering.'" Smith also relates how Yijing symbolism has been interpreted in sexual terms by past and contemporary scholars--a use rarely spoken of elsewhere. Most of the book's nearly 400 pages contain such nuggets. As a survey volume, covering more than three millennia, it is necessarily short on depth and cannot be faulted for what comes naturally. To give an idea of the volume's comprehensiveness, Smith's bibliography includes nineteen pages of Asian-language works and twenty-four pages of Western-language works. Best of all, Smith generally adopts an unbiased stance on most issues, letting the proponents and opponents of various positions present their cases and weighing all sides judiciously. The result is a unique and indispensable reference history.

Flowercrash takes place in Zaïdmouth, which represents Britain many years in the future after man's devastation of the environment has caused an Ice Age. Zaïdmouth is composed of five communities, or "urbs", which are connected by the artificial flower networks that create the virtual realities through which Zaïdmouth is run. Each of the urbs is governed by a shrine and it's clerics. The Shrine of Our Sister Crone, the Shrine of Root Sculpture, the Shrine of Flower Sculpture. My favorite was the urb of Blissis whose philosophy is one of hedonistic emotional existence with its Shrine of Complete Inebriation and Shrine of Delightful Erection, "where dubiously sticky rituals were enjoyed by men and women". You can't accuse Palmer of not injecting a little humor in an otherwise serious novel.

The title Flowercrash refers to the impending crash of these flower networks, an event that "will result in the extinction of thousands of species, resulting in a monoculture", or the lose of diversity. Reading these descriptions brings to mind warnings of ozone depletion or some similar real world problem of environmental decay. But the "metaphors of knowledge" in the networks can be influenced, and how they are influenced will determine whether or not they ultimately survive.

The prelude to the story introduces us to three cyborgs - Zoahnone, Shonsair and Baigurgone, who in the moments before the Ice Age make plans for how they will shape the post-Ice Age society. And what each of these cyborgs represents is the principle theme of the book. Zoahnone wants to create a utopia of the body. "If we fail, the flower networks will wither and humanity will be returned to a culture of computation and naked intellect". Shonsair and Baigurgone, on the other hand, "espoused a domineering, intellectual viewpoint".

The main characters of the story, who embody this theme of emotions and pleasures of the body versus pure intellect, are Manserphine and Nuïy. Manserphine is the interpreter, a senior cleric, in the Shrine of Our Sister Crone. She is related to mermaids, descended from her great-grandmother. She suffers from severe insomnia, but has the dream skill that makes her a pivotal figure to influence the networks. Early in the story we discover that Manserphine got wrapped up in a bit of what seems like a cross between treason and industrial espionage, and as punishment she is banished from the Shrine for one season. She stays at the Determinate Inn, run by the mysterious Vishilkair and Kirifaïfra, also central characters in the story. As a senior cleric in the shrine, Manserphine has taken a vow of celibacy, a vow that she soon questions and then forsakes as her relationship with Kirifaïfra develops into a deeply physical and partially romantic one.

Nuïy is a young man who hates women (the un-men) and detests any physical contact with anyone whatsoever. He is nearly immune to sensations of cold or pain. Nuïy's uncanny memory allows him to have identified and memorized all 3,656 of the drum rhythms which allow the clerics of the Shrine of the Green Man to control the flow of data in the flower networks. Along with his precision playing, this makes him of great value because no one has previously had the intensity of concentration to play with the perfect precision required to influence networks. But Nuïy's memory is only for facts, for what he can tangibly grasp, rather than being able to use imagination or reasoning. Through drumming patterns Nuïy is able to alter the networks. And it's hard not to imagine him recording an album, reading about how he puts on his headphones to begin the day's drumming, and the attention to timing intervals required for the injection of databases.

Throughout the book Palmer deals with this struggle between pure intellect and the pleasures of the body. Manserphine and Nuïy represent polar opposites. Manserphine eventually realizes that her vow of celibacy strips her of her humanity, whereas Nuïy is genuinely repulsed by the idea of sex or any physical contact at all. This concept finds it's extremity in the cyborg Baigurgone, who when she later becomes a part of the network says, "Eventually, we must all forsake our bodies and become pure thought, drifting through the infinities of the networks as was meant to be". Zoahnone, on the other hand, argues for the knowledge of the body and the mind as being one.

Having read all four of Palmer's novels, it's noticeable that in all his books the main characters, and typically ruling beings, are women. Men are looked down upon in Flowercrash, with the Shrine of the Green Man being the only place where men are dominant. Women control Zaïdmouth and the clerics of the Shrine of the Green Man want to change the way Zaïdmouth is governed.

An element that makes Flowercrash such an enjoyable read is the imagery Palmer conjures up. For example, insects and pollinating bees seemingly going about their business in the gardens but actually involved in data transfer and network manipulation is surreal and would make for a stunning film if made by a Tim Burton or someone like that with the imagination and budget to bring these ideas and descriptions to the screen. The convoluted terms and imagery of conventional flowers and related species and network functions, and the interactions among them all, stretch the imagination, though the physical joining of humans (mind or mind and body) with computer networks is something that many writers have explored. At the most basic level the internet has certainly joined us together on a global basis in an unprecedented way. Even though we are physically sitting in front of our computers... it could be argued that this is only the beginning.

Ultimately we discover that Nuïy and Manserphine are both agents of change in the garden networks. But in the struggle between these forces... who will win? Palmer is less than sanguine about the fate of the real earth's environment. So what will be the consequences of the Flowercrash of the novel? Destruction or a new beginning? I would urge science fiction fans to read the novel and find out. It's an exciting and thought provoking story that is well worth seeking out.

The advances in scientific cosmology of the past few decades have been rich and monumental -- but they raise as many questions as they answer. Many books and articles focus on the important work being done in physical science. At the beginning of the 21st century, scientists are drawing a picture of the cosmos which often seems bizarre, a picture bearing little resemblance to our everyday universe. Large telescopes give us views stretching into the deep past; their photographs take us back to the infancy of the Stelliferous Age. Our mathematics take us even farther -- to infintestimal fractions of the first second of the cosmos.

With this massive influx of information, we can be forgiven if we take the view that pre-20th century cosmological thought -- scientific and non-scientific alike -- is primitive and quaint, that it is only of historical interest to us today. In taking that view, however, we miss much, for cosmology is a multidisciplinary study straddling the fields of science, philosophy, religion, and myth. Physical science can often give us the "hows" but it can say nothing of the "whys." And it can say absolutely nothing about what, if anything, came before the big bang -- for its laws seem to have their origin in that event. Further, it has nothing to say about the non-physical aspects of the cosmos -- the realm of the psychic. For that we must turn to those seemingly primitive myths, to philosophy, and beyond.

This is where Dr. Kleinman's Four Faces of the Universe takes us. He provides a scholarly survey of cosmogonic mythology, traditional cosmology, and modern scientific cosmology -- the first three faces. He then surveys evolutionary cosmology -- the fourth face -- culminating in an examination of the writings of Sri Aurobindo. Finally, in an illuminating coda, he offers representative samples of cosmological poetry -- each related to one of the four faces. The discussions of each face are concise (a necessity given the expanse of the topic), but they are nonetheless profound. For those interested in pursuing the subject in more detail, a generous bibliography is provided. Four Faces is an ideal point of departure. Dr. Kleinman's unique credentials and training in the areas of physical science, mathematics, and philosophy, his decades of close study, are reflected in the book's solid scholarship. His vast teaching experience is evident in his ability to write clearly and accessibly about technical and complex ideas without compromising the subject matter.

This important book rates the highest recommendation to any reader who has gazed into the night sky while standing upon the earth and wondered at it all. And isn't that most of us?

Not that it matters for a 2006 calendar, but this was very nice. The fractals are really beautiful.