Chemistry Books

I read the sparkling and stimulating "Science Firsts" by Robert E. Adler soon after it was published. I have found it so well-documented and lucid that I have recommended and ordered it for friends ever since. The author covers science AND understanding of nature admirably, from Thales and Pythagoras (6th-7th c. BC - Before the Current dating system)to Marie Curie, Albert Einstein, Enrico Fermi and to the bioscientists and cosmologists of the late 20th century. Minor points, such as whether Plutarch was a "Roman historian" (p.26) or a Greek writing in Roman times, is for scholars to debate. Impressively, ancient Greek science, as well as the dawn of modernity (Copernicus, Galileo, Newton) can be read as "news". Perhaps the author will consider a volume II, with another 35 "firsts" including philosophy (Socrates?) and the social sciences (why not Marx and Heidegger too).

This is a fastinating history of several of science's most important discoveries. It is written for the layman, and will be completely enjoyed by any science buff. I would make this book and Simon Singh's "Bing Bang" two required reading items for every high school and college student in America. Both books contain a history of science that everyone should know.

Robert Adler's book is truly an engaging read. Once I started reading it was a true journey through time and I could hardly wait to find out what "Science First" had occurred next. Robert Adler highlights the sudden brilliance of a select number of scientists, which actually seems to be a result of serious study and contemplation.

You can literally see how ideas evolved through time and how each scientist discovered inner genius despite immense discouragement and conflict, not to mention religious persecution and their own human foibles. You can see how humans started to observe the exterior surroundings and then started to delve into the areas of cell structure and the invisible atom.

This book presents scientists in all their human glory and the honesty gives each scientist a true personality. Many struggled to overcome physical and psychological adversities or were led to their death by their own natural curiosity. It was not uncommon for these individuals to be a living part of their own experiments. However, not even plagues could hinder scientific research and the work went on through time despite a seemingly eternal and chaotic war of life itself that seemed determined to thwart their efforts.

Thales, Anaximander, Pythagoras, Aristotle, Aristarchus, Archimedes, Ibn al-Haitham, Copernicus, Galileo, Kepler, Van Leeuwenhoek, Newton, Joseph Priestley, Humphry Davy, Darwin, Gregor Mendel, Dmitri Mendeleev, Marie Curie, Guglielmo Marconi, Max Planck, Ernest Rutherford, Albert Einstein, Alfred Wegener, Edwin Hubble, Raymond Dart, Barbara McClintock, Claude Shannon, James Watson, Francis Crick, Rosalind Franklin, Karl Jansky, Lynn Margulis, Michel Mayor, Didier Queloz, Ian Wilmut and Keith Campbell all make their appearances.

Robert Adler shows how Charles Babbage (1792-1871) and Ada Byron Lovelace were at the cutting edge of technology and how Babbage designed a machine that functioned like a modern computer. If you become especially interested in any of the scientists or chapters, there is a reference section for further reading. The index is perfect for your own research or for locating a subject of interest. I thought each chapter was perfect in content and it definitely made me more interested in reading about additional scientific discoveries.

Quotes are found throughout the chapters and I was especially impressed by the letter Einstein wrote to Marie Curie who had to overcome great personal trials to achieve her goals. I liked how Robert Adler refutes the myth of Einstein being a slow learner and he makes his points most eloquently. Pictures throughout the text gives this book an additional dose of personality and the biographical information is especially interesting.

Robert Adler presents a scientific journey through time that is filled with insight and a depth of clarity that is stunning. This is one of the most highly crafted books I've ever read. Not only does Robert Adler delve into complex ideas about physics, biology and astronomy, he makes the ideas accessible to readers who may faintly remember these subjects from high school, college or the news. I can't wait to read his book about medical discoveries.

Science Firsts is truly a book about how scientific discovery changed the world. It is a fascinating read and I can highly recommend it to students of science, teachers and the casual reader who has an interest in progress itself. After reading this book, I think I might be ready to read about "the theory of everything."

~The Rebecca Review

You may also enjoy reading the DK e.encyclopedia

I wish I had known about this book last Christmas. I would have sent a copy to every nephew and niece I have, in an attempt to interest them more in science. This book is a great idea, tying the pivotal ideas of science to stories of individual discoverers. Very palatable for the young reader. I'm hoping it will be out in paperback soon, so I can send a bundle out this Christmas. A nice job by Mr. Adler.

Science Firsts is an excellent introduction to 35 major scientific discoveries and the people who made them. In addition to the expected names--Galileo, Darwin, Einstein--Adler discusses a number of lesser-known researchers who made valuable contributions (e.g., Claude Shannon and digital computers). Each chapter covers one person and one discovery in just a few pages. Adler's writing is straightforward and easily accessible to those with little science knowledge.

Unlike many other books on scientific discoveries, Science Firsts also offers a glimpse into the lives of the scientists. The best chapters are the ones on recent researchers whom it appears Adler was able to interview. But, even when writing about Kepler or Planck, Adler includes details that show the scientist to be first and foremost a human being. Science Firsts also provides historical and political context for the discoveries, for science is inevitably intertwined with government and culture.

My main frustration with the book was its brevity. I was left at the end of many chapters wanting to know more. I enthusiastically recommend Science Firsts as an overview of the history of science, but don't be surprised if you find yourself looking for full-length works on some of these researchers.

This book gave me great insight to re-initialized our lean efforts. We have been so busy and got caught up in the value stream mapping craze and kaizen events, but little impact. This book did a superb job in laying out the eight steps, with all the forms, templates necessary to ensure sustainable results. Great work by the authors!

I use this book in my lean manufacturing class. It has good practical examples and a useful method for doing lean using the value stream mapping approach. I highly receommend this book for the first timers. I think someone who has no experience could get started using this book.

VSM books shows interesting process to apply modern control thinking to production. However, clear products standardisation & determination process could be necessary before methods can be applied as well as possible.

Discussed waste elimination is generally nice approach. Waste elimination possibilities in organisations should to be evaluated with this book and more generally at lean bibliography, because elimination of waste helps almost everybody. :)

This book provides a practical approach for implementing lean manufacturing and what pit-falls should be avoided during the lean journey. Recommended for organizations that are beginning lean manaufacturing implementation.

This book has helped in all areas of our business. We are incorporating it into all of our processes!! Wonderful training tool for any organization.

I'm recommending this book to all my clients. It provides a 'scientific' confirmation of parents' inner wisdom, and many people need that.
Trusting and knowing how to access our own best instincts (and sometimes that instinct is to seek help from a professional or other outside source) are solid and effecive parenting tools. I'm glad to have more confirmation that learning to express love and affection in all its many forms to our offspring is the essence of good parenting.
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I've found this book a great insight to many areas of human brain development and all its "issues".
This book should be read in conjunction with many other books which also look at psychology. I do not feel this book will answer questions standing on its own as you will get a one sided view - as in the author talks about her situations within her life. But in saying that MANY people will relate to what she is talking about and many people will find her scientific information very interesting.
I enjoyed this book and found that I was able to explain to many others who "poo poo" our parenting methods the reasons why...but you will always need more information so don't stop at just this wonderful book.

Everyone has seen a mother kiss her infant. Who would have thought such a simple gesture would be needed--very much needed.

Gerhardt explores all the recent scientific research on infant brain growth, and has come up with a book that's desperately needed.

Mothers who are angry, depressed, or cold, can alter the actual structure and growth of their child's expanding brain. "Early experience has a great impact on the baby's physiological systems, because they are so unformed and delicate...Even the growth of the brain itself...may not progress adequately if the baby doesn't have the right conditions to develop" (p 19).

There are some scary facts here. Mothers who do not adequately love and interact with their children create babies with a smaller than usual prefrontal cortex, babies likely to grow up to suffer from depression and social problems.

Another consequence of poor mothering can be narcissistic personality disorder (p 157).

One third of our children today are born illegitimate. How many of those poor mothers can cope, work jobs, and provide a truly loving and interactive home for their children?

An excellent source of information for everyone. Would be extremely helpful for mothers-to-be. Helps you understanding your developmental psychology. Gives you more information on you and why you turned out the way you did. Should be required reading for high school students who will be parents of the future. It would give them a better overview on how to interact with their children in a more positive way.

This book really opened my eyes to the fundamentals of brain development in infancy. I had no idea how much the actual physiology of the brain is affected by infant experience, not just the psychological. Sources are well cited, ideas are well backed up in scientific research, and the information is presented in a way which benefits lay readers as well as researchers (with an introduction about brain structure and development).

I suggest every parent-to-be get a hold of this book. One reviewer was dissapointed by the lack of specific exercises to play with. However, I don't think they are necessary because this book gives specifics about why certain strategies affect infants. I think understanding why certain types of parenting work better than others makes parents more likely to come up with the kind of adaptive spontaneous strategies which come out of such a way of thinking. You could also check out Brazelton for more specific info about exercises to do with your baby.

As a side note, once you read this book and make decisions about parenting based on the exhaustive research cited within, you will not only feel more confident about your parenting, but you will be able to defend against attacks from helpful but persistent grandparents, in-laws, and friends - should you want to engage in such discussions.

Can't be beaten for giving quick run down on normal lab values with age adustments

This book goes beyond a "lab" book, encompassing etiologies, algorithms on further evaluation, and pathophysiology. Inside you can find, for example, the incidence of neonatal conjunctivitis in mothers with chylamydial infections, clinical features of primary biliary cirrhosis, and diagrams of the red blood cell reactions in indirect vs direct Coombs reactions. I first bought this book as a medical student when I spent over an hour doing a lit search on immunoglobulins and the intern found a better answer the next day in one second by opening this book. Definitely worth the purchase price! There is a 2002 version of this book and it includes reference articles after each lab test entry. P.S. Now exists in a PDA version, too.

Essential for students, providers new to the industry, and even those who have been around for a while. Makes evaluation, interpretation and follow-up a little easier and more comprehensive.

This is the single most helpful book I have in regards to my profession as a Med tech

This is with no doubt a great book. However, it has not been updated for 8 years. While carrying it everyday, I found its usefullness weaning. I tried to call the publisher to query the plan of a new edition, but got only an answering maching and no reply was offered for 2 mo now. Well it is still a good book but not for up-to-date clinicians any more.

I really enjoyed reading this book. Although it involves a relationship between two men, the dynamics could very well apply to any relationship. It is very well written. I highly recommend it.

This book is very well written. The characters are rich and their reactions are real. Specializing in psychology, I may be too critical of the characterizations of the mental disorders brought out in ths book. Chemistry is a haunting, sophisticated and satifying work. This is an exceptional book that generates real emotion - it's not to be missed - it makes you want to known what's going to happen to the characters from beginning to end.

Discovering a new excellent writer is one of the joys of reading that reigns at the top of the reasons why we read books. CHEMISTRY is a novel by Lewis DeSimone that is at once intelligent, informed, eloquent, erotic, thought provoking, profound, sensitive - and important. With this his first novel he steps solidly onto the platform of important contemporary American writers. Waiting for his next opus will be haunting.

'Chemistry is about reactions, two elements coming together and creating something new...Everything connected, everything eventually a part of something else. Two elements come together, and neither is ever the same again.' Explaining the title chosen for his novel about love and relationships and the idiosyncrasies of living in the universe comes as novel's close, an epitaph of sorts to DeSimone's story of two men coming together coincidentally in a happenstance that seems so random and developing an acknowledgement of a chemistry that binds them into a journey in which each discovers not only the nature of the other, but also the nature of themselves.

Neal is a young artistic male who moves from Boston to San Francisco when his love for a bisexual cellist named Adam comes to an end. His sole contact is Martin, an older, wiser man whose sister was a close friend to Neal in Boston. Martin slowly introduces Neal to the beauties of San Francisco including a handsome twenty-seven year old Zach who spills joy and dancing from his apparent open earthiness. Neal is cautious but gradually is enchanted by the physicality of Zach and they bond. But as they approach longevity changes occur in Zach's personality and mental illness clouds their world. Zach attempts suicide and is admitted to a mental hospital: Neal is ever supportive, living between the crevices of Zach's psyclothymic personality. Martin supportive, urging Neal to care for himself, but Martin has dark secrets of an agonized past he doesn't easily share. Many events occur including one that contains the HIV specter, and Neal's role as caretaker for Zach's damaged soul gradually mutates. 'Words gave everything shape - a framework without which it would all be a hopeless jumble, untranslatable.'

As Neal confronts his own pains he realizes 'Half-lives are chemistry's clock. You can tell how old something is by how much of it is left'...'But eventually, you run out of half-lives. Eventually there's nothing left.' And coming into contact with his own mortality gives Neal a new outlook, one that is enhanced by light, by music, by memories well sifted, by living.

CHEMISTRY is a love story, one told with some of the finest erotic writing being written today: so rare it is that same-sex novels embrace sensuous moments with such passion yet retain such dignity and eloquence of style. DeSimone writes about music, about literature, about art, about altered mental states - all with such an informed stance that he must be read slowly to gather all the knowledge and beauty of expression he offers. This is not a novel to be read in bits and spurts, but instead a novel to be savored over time...and then look forward to reading again. Welcome to the pantheon, Lewis DeSimone! This is a novel as fine as any novel about gay love as is out there - and it is so much more. It deserves a very wide audience: it is superior writing. Grady Harp, February 07

DeSimone, Lewis. "Chemistry". Harrington Park Press, 2006

Love and Mental Illness

Amos Lassen and Literary Pride

If you like emotion and melodrama this is a book for you. "Chemistry" by Lewis DeSimone is a love story that is bittersweet and lovely. Dealing with attraction and repulsion here is a book that you will not want to close the cover of.
Ask yourself this question, "What happens when the person you love wakes up as a completely different person"? Zach and Neal fell in love at first sight; it was a chemical attraction. Yet the catalyst that set off the romance changes as they become better acquainted. Here is a novel that deals with identity and yet by chemical means that identity can be changed. Set in the time of Prozac and AIDS we meet characters that will haunt us after the covers are closed. The passion of Neal and Zach is torn apart by mental illness; at their first meeting they are inexplicably drawn to one another but as one falls victim to an illness, the other realizes that he must grow and rebuild himself. What hits so hard here is that as we read the book, our own lives come into play and as the characters search for their identity, the reader likewise searches for his. No matter how well you know yourself, "Chemistry" will give you things to think about.
The story of two men desperately trying to find out how to love each other is extremely moving and highly emotional. DeSimone has written in such beautiful language that there were times I felt my heart begin to break as I read the trials of the lovers.
Neal is an intellectual who exerts a great deal of self control. He is the victim of an unhappy past and the idea of a loving relationship is ideal for him. He has met the guy who he thinks is the man of his dreams only to learn that his new lover suffers from a severe mental illness. His involvement into an affair with Zach can bring him to the point of codependence, something that his own controlled personality abhors.
Zach is beautiful, a true free spirit, sexy and sexual. His childhood was unhappy and abusive and his adult life has been an attempt to forget his past. As he descends into clinical depression his life becomes nightmarish for both him and his lover.
When the men meet the chemical attraction is so strong that it is almost explosive. But as time goes by and Zach loses himself in his disease and his problems, it is up to Neal to be the strong one and watch both his lover and his love for him deteriorate. As explained by Neal, "Chemistry is about reactions"...the merging of two elements which come together to create "something new...two elements come together and neither is the same again". When the two elements are two men who are lovers, the experience can be disastrous on both of them.
What first appears to be a novel of everyday romance soon tears at the reader as he watches the two men interact. Here is sensuousness, and eroticism and brutal honesty. The questions that the book poses about the nature of identity and attraction are very real and very hard issues with which to deal, DeSimone does so with tact, style and grace.
And as he does this, he makes us witness to the inner thoughts and feelings of his characters.
The book is disturbing but positively so. I can honestly Say that the identification I felt with the characters was real and that when I finished reading I was very sad that Neal and Zach were no longer a part of my life. I was wrong in that assumption. I finished the book on Tuesday and today is Thursday and they are still with me. I am prone to think they will be with me for a very long time.

Chemistry blew me away. I read a lot of contemporary gay fiction, and I would rank this among my favorites, with Alan Hollinghurst's The Line of Beauty, Matthew Stalder's Alan Stein, and Andrew Holleran's In September, the Light Changes. There's a lot to admire technically--the grace of the sentences, the tight thematic structure, the effortless plot. But what's stayed with me the most is the wisdom, the human and humane understanding that reverberates throughout the work. Like the best books, I finished Chemistry feeling that I learned something more about what it means to live, to lose, to desire, to fear, to hope...

Based on protocols in this book, I devised methods to complete my own experiments. I found the insights contained in the book completely indispensable. The range of topics it contains and the detail with which Freshney explains each point made the process of designing conditions for experiments rational and approachable. I highly recommend this book.

There are not a lot of glossy pretty pictures, which is a good thing for a no-nonsense instruction manual that gets the point across with what pictures it did have. I found it to be a very good complement to my cell culture class. Everything I learned in the lab was put into context nicely.

I purchased this book with a description of like new. I would say this is new. The previous person who used this did not even break in the binder. This is an excellent reference book, I have enjoyed reading the text up to this point.

For many years Freshney's Culture of Animal Cells has been the gold standard of tissue culture reference books. This new edition adds and updates many techniques and continues to be the best book in its area. I use it extensively both for my own research and in teaching classes on tissue culture.

Freshney's Culture of Animal Cells is a great book. It is writen on an easy style, it is concise and complete at the same time and it does teach you all the basics (and a little bit more) of cell culture. When I was doing my masters I didn't have a lot of help with my cell culture experiments and this book was fundamental for my research. The book covers everything, starting from the biology of cultured cells, equipments, design of the lab and asseptic technique and going all the way to primary culture, cloning and selection, cell separation, characterization, differentiation and more. The book (hard cover) is pretty resistant and it easily stands going to the bench (where you surely will be using it a lot). If you are thinking about spending money on a book about cell culture techniques this is the book! Don't think twice.

No matter what your background, there is promise in a book that contains "An Introduction to Probability Theory, Information Theory, and All the Rest." And Arieh Ben-Naim delivers.

Call something The Second Law of Thermodynamics and it's bound to have a forbidding quality. Partly this is due to the use of the word "Law", and partly it's because scientists have been challenged by the Second Law since it was first formulated 150 years ago. But despite this quality even the nonscientist needs a passing familiarity with the law's basic principles to understand some of nature's greatest puzzlements: Why do whole eggs break and broken eggs never again become whole? Why does a drop of red food coloring loosed in a bowl of water always disperse but the dye in a pool of pink water never coalesces to form an isolated spot of pure red? And why do teenagers' rooms only get messier? Ben-Naim can't help you with the deepest of these mysteries -- you just have to accept the room situation -- but he does shed considerable light on the hows and whys of the Second Law and on the scientific debates that have long surrounded it.

Understanding the Second Law means understanding entropy and the counterintuitive rule that, left alone, the entropy in a system always increases. Counterintuitive because what else in the universe always increases? In a clearly argued presentation, Ben-Naim makes the case that entropy is best thought of as information and that rather than some of the more typical expressions (e.g., an untended system always leads to greater disorder), what actually increases in a system left to itself is the amount of information needed to fully and correctly describe the whereabouts and behavior of the particles atoms and molecules therein.

It would be silly for a layperson to say much more about what is obviously a nuanced subject, and Ben-Naim plainly states that the nature of entropy has produced diametrically opposing opinions even among Nobel Prize winning physicists. But Ben-Naim does nonetheless provide even the lay reader with invaluable tools for better appreciating aspects of the Second Law. Among these tools are discussions and illustrations of the truly BIG numbers involved in the workings of the Second Law -- numbers so big that without scientific shorthand they could not be written in their entirety in all the time available since time began (numbers of the 1,000,000,000,000,000,... variety).

When the effects of probability are then unleashed in the realm of such big numbers, Ben-Naim shows how big systems "always" stabilize around their most probable states (red dye diffusing to pink in a pool of water) and how rare will be the exceptions: Turn ten thousand coins all to show "heads" then give the whole lot a random toss. While it is possible that all ten thousand will fall so that each coin again shows heads, don't bet on it. The chance is so low, says Ben-Naim, that you probably wouldn't get them to show that one unique result even if you could flip the coins at the rate of a million times a second and were able to do this for the entire 15 billion years the universe has existed. Instead, what you're almost always likely to get is close to half the coins showing heads and close to half showing tails. Which, says Ben-Naim, is why the randomly moving molecules of red dye will "always" spread evenly throughout the pool and "never" again come together in their original single drop. And why -- because it takes more information to describe the location of the particles in the dispersed rather than the concentrated dye -- the entropy of the red-diffused-to-pink system has increased.

This coupling of clear explanation and vivid example goes a long way toward making the concepts Ben-Naim presents accessible. And while the lay reader is not apt to come away with a thorough understanding of why "the Boltzmann constant (k) should be expunged from the vocabulary of physics," he or she will undoubtedly gain a deeper insight into the way the world around us works and why we see it the way we do. And which is why everyone can benefit from this book.

Arieh Ben-Naim, a distinguished scientist from the field of solution physical chemistry, guides readers to grasp basic principles of the second law of thermodynamics. In the book the author provides clear examples of how widely prevailed use of 'increase in disorder' to explain the underlying microscopic mechanism of the second law can be subjective and misleading. The statements made in this regard are reinforced by his decades of incomparable contribution to the understanding of hydrophobicity. One may recognize longstanding controversial aspects in the interpretation of the second law from the author's conclusion of the necessity of changing the unit of the absolute temperature. The book is written in a lucid manner, which can be done only by individuals who understand the essence of the subject in depth. It is telling we may need to go back at least once to the simplest question after having worked on the every possible detail. Thorough repetition of examples as introduced in the book may be a necessary attitude to tackle on any most difficult subject. The book is recommended not only to readers in fundamental physics and chemistry but to ones in biologically related science.

"... Arieh Ben-Naim invites the reader to experience the joy of appreciating something which has eluded understanding for many years -entropy and the second law of thermodynamics". This statement on the back cover for sure will reflect the experience of many who read this book. I highly recommend it to anyone who wants to understand or teach the mysterious concept "entropy". Just sit back, open this delightful book, and experience how your foggy ideas are cleared up within just a couple of enjoyable hours. You need no prior knowledge; if you have learned how to read and how to count numbers between one and ten you possess all qualifications needed to read and appreciate all of its contents. The author not only succeeds to brilliantly explain the meaning of entropy, its statistical interpretation and why common sense leads us to conclude entropy (most likely) is ever-increasing - he moreover provides compelling arguments to do away with the second law altogether: ".. because science will find it unnecessary to formulate a law of physics based on purely logical deduction". This concluding sentence by Ben-Naim will be further substantiated in a forthcoming book by the same author. In addition to the present book, which I highly recommend to everbody who wants to learn about entropy in general, I also want to recommend another recent book by Ben-Naim on molecular theory of solutions to students and scientists interested in the entropy of solvation processes. The scientific literature on this topic is huge and -above all - utterly confusing. Ben-Naim's clearly formulated ideas have helped me a lot in understanding the subject better.

After seeing nothing but five-star reviews for this book, I figured I'd pick it up despite having little feel for what its target audience was since none of it was actually viewable on Amazon.

In a nutshell, this is very much a book for laymen. If you want an intuitive grasp of what entropy's about in the context of everyday physics without getting bogged down in math, then this may be a great book for you. The book uses as little math as possible in its explanations, and effectively assumes you're unfamiliar with or have forgotten high-school-level math operations such as factorials and logarithms. It manages to pound its point home reasonably well using lots and lots of fairly simple thought experiments that only differ from each other by little incremental steps.

On the other hand, if you already know anything at all about the information-theoretic formulation of entropy, already have an appreciation for the Law of Large Numbers, and have heard the words "macrostates" and "microstates" before, then there's nothing in this book you aren't likely to understand already. If you've taken a course on statistical mechanics and finished it without being horrendously confused, but maybe were hoping for a useful refresher on how different formulations of entropy are related, you should pass on this book. If you were hoping for illumination about the aspects of entropy that are actually at all "interesting" to modern physicists, such as black hole entropy (or the bizarre theories it's spawned such as the holographic principle), this is definitely not the book you're looking for.

Also, the book has no index. This is less annoying than it would be in a book that had more meat to it, but still, any 200+ page nonfiction book with no index should be taken out and shot as a matter of principle.

Adam Smith's "Invisible Hand" leads many people to think, that markets have the power to repair "themselves". But even in markets as open systems, there are irreversible processes, as the openness of real systems always is limited. Adam Smith, still in a Newtonian world, didn't know anything about the "second 'law' of thermodynamics" and "entropy". But at least today we should know better. Unfortunately entropy still seems to be some mystic thing to many, which to deal with should be avoided. (Knowing about entropy also increases responsibility. Some like to avoid that as well.)

You can't "avoid" entropy. Entropy is something very real: E.g. in broadband transmission the cost (e.g. chip size, power dissipation, heat generation) of managing entropy is almost proportional to the amount of entropy, which is to be managed. And climate change also can be explained by the entropy accounting (entropy generation, import, export) of the biosphere and the clogging of the interfaces of the biosphere, which are required to get rid of the entropy generated within the biosphere.

Therefore we need comprehensible explanations for entropy. My personal interest is not so much in entropy itself, but in how teachers and authors manage to explain entropy. Arieh Ben-Naim manages to get rid of all the fuzz which comes with so many publications related to entropy. He really manages to demystify entropy. I think, there are two paths which one could select to explain entropy. One is within information processing, the other one uses statistical physics. Ben-Naim chose the second one and thus not only managed to demystify entropy, but also demystified statistical physics: From my point of view, you just need a high school degree in order to be able to comprehend his book. Or you even may be lucky to have a teacher, who uses this book in the final high school year.

Economists and social scientists could get some help from the book too in understanding, what entropy really means. Indicators like the inequality measures of Theil and Kolm are entropy measures. And Nicholas Georgescu Roegen will be easier to understand. (The book would have been helpful to him too.)

Besides its content, I also like the making of the little book from Arieh Ben-Naim. It got very nice illustrations. And they are not just nice, they also are helpful. Here scientific thinking comes together with simple love to make things beautiful. It seems, that good science also leads to good aesthetics.

Related to this book, I also recommend the publications of M.V.Volkenstein (like Physics and Biology), although they are mostly out of print.

it is surprising to find that so few people have anything to say about this book; Hardy was a giant among mathematicians and at last this book is translated in french...Although it is an old book, the younger author saw that it was updated through 5 editions in the 20th century; this book cannot truly become obsolete because it is about number theory from an elementary viewpoint; so no complex analysis, no modular forms and no proof of Fermat's last theorem either but a wealth of results that could keep you busy quite for a while. Moreover, most of the proofs are still up to date and usable in secondary school or college; most of the proofs about arithmetical functions given in this work have found a new life and home in more recent books such as Natanson's: Elementary methods in number theory (another fine book by the way in which Hardy and Littlewood tauberian theorem is proven via Karamata's method to ensure a density theorem on partitions). The main parts of the book I went through are those on arithmetical functions and series of prime and especially mertens's theorem but there is a lot to learn from it on such subjects as gaussian integers (chapter 12), diophantine equations (chapter 13), Rogers-Ramanujan identities, Jacobi and Euler theorems in the chapter about partitions (numbered 19...), Kronecker's theorem on irrational numbers and on a smaller scale e and pi's irrationality (easy) and transcendence (not so easy) in chapter 11 and of course congruences including a famous theorem on Bernoulli numbers of Von Staudt which gives the fractional part of those enigmatic numbers as a sum of picked inverse of prime numbers . Let say it again: a wonderful book.

It was always claimed that of all the mathematicians who ever lived, Hardy was one of the greatest writers. This book certainly confirms that view. From the very beginning, one thinks, "Wow, this guy REALLY knows what he's talking about." Hardy was, in fact, one of the greatest number theorists of the twentieth century. Hardy gives actual intuitive motivation for almost all of the theorems in the book (intuition is often overlooked by mathematical authors who use the confusing traditional "theorem-proof" approach), and his proofs are elegant and easy to follow. Once, I spoke to the chair of the math department at a major University (Wash U. in St. Louis) and he told me that he reads Hardy and Wright at least once a year to refresh himself on the basics. I would recommend this book to anyone who is learning about number theory for the first time, and wishes to pursue the subject through self-study.

This is an unusual number theory book in that it covers topics of interest to the authors which are not often found in the "standard" introductory treatment. My only mild complaints are: no subject index and some ambiguous and unusual notation here and there.

I agree that this book should be in the library of anyone serious about the topic, however, if you are beginning your study of number theory from scratch there are other books that may provide a better start. I would recommend Joe Roberts "Elementary Number Theory: A Problem Oriented Approach" and/or "An Introduction to the Theory of Numbers" by Niven, Zuckerman, and Montgomery.

Roberts offers a wide spectrum of problems, with detailed solutions, written along the lines of Polya & Szego's "Problems and Theorems in Analysis I & II". Nivens book is a solid traditional introduction.

It is fun to read Hardy and Wright though, it exhibits a style that is sadly missing today.

I have to say in closing that it would be good to ignore some of the previous reviews, specifically ones making reference to "idiots". They're unproductive, miss the point of reviewing, and exhibit a level of ignorance which Mark Twain identified years ago: "It is better to keep your mouth shut and appear stupid than to open it and remove all doubt."

This classic deserves its reputation but be warned that it is not an introduction for mathematical neophytes. The authors take detours (which sometimes are looks ahead) from the main path of development that the sophisticate will enjoy but the novice may not be able to recognize as detours. Examples are the geometry of numbers (introduced in chapter 3), the Farey dissection of the continuum, and trigonometric sums.

The authors also present deeper material than is usually considered an introduction. Their presentations are excellent but require sophistication for the following topics among others: quadratic fields, generating functions of arithmetical functions, Selberg's proof of the Prime Number Theorem, and Kronecker's theorem.

This is a book to buy and keep provided you have the necessary mathematical sophistication.

Final note: this book nicely complements Apostol's Introduction to Analytic Number Theory.

First of all, let me say this about the one star review. Do not let yourself be infuenced by lesser mathematicians. Idiots in my opinion. To give this book one star, you must posses some special kind of mediocracy. Keep your stupidity to yourself Lucas.

No one writes like this anymore. Mathematicians like Hardy have passed. The subject has ballooned, and now you have to specialize within Number Theory. There are fewer and fewer that can posses knowledge of the entire subject of Number Theory. Remember what Harold M. Edwards said. You have to read the classics, and beware of secondary sources. Authors give their own spin on ideas. And who is to say they have a greater or lesser understanding of the subject. Furthermore, who can determine how well can they express themselves. How many mathematicians our days bother to study grammar and literature? The best example is Gauss' Disquisitiones Arithmeticae. Would you rather read a book written by Gauss himself, the man that established the subject? Or by some one who learned what some one learned what some one learned over a period of 200 years? Also know what Axler, author of Linear Algebra Done Right, said about reading mathematics books. For a mathematics book, if you spend less than half an hour per page you are going too fast. The last thing i will say is again attributed to Edwards. In his book on Advanced Calculus he encourages the reader to jump chapters. A book does not have to, and sometimes it should not, be read in order. It may take some practice to see how you need to jump around, but you will find that you can maximize your reading by doing so.

There are several point in which this book excels. First, in the writing style. Second, in how many ideas it introduces. Or how good an understanding the reader obtains of Number Theory. It is invaluable to have the big picture. Third, the author has in mind the future material the reader will encounter. He knows you will go beyond this book, and prepares you for what is to come. You do not enter higher courses blind.

The writting style is representative of that of Wiles and Loiville. It will show you how your mathematical writting should be. It takes a lot of practice to learn mathematical formalism and how to write proofs. This is the book to learn from. The author is not afraid to connect the ideas you are learning to other advanced ideas and to mathematical history, unlike present day authors. If you plan to be a mathematician, you must know its history. The writting is in a mathematical sense superfluos. It does not assume you are a genius, but strikes balance between what you should know and what you should be told.

The book is successful in providing you with the big picture, and how ideas you are learning reflect one ideas you will learn or have already learned. Having a big picture of the subject, which he describes in the second chapter, lets you know what you are learning now and puts the entire material in context. Gives you great perspective of the subject. Because a great deal of branches of number theory are discussed, you are not only better equiped to choose which branch might interest you, but it eases the transition to more advanced courses, such as Analytical Number Theory.

The author from the start discusses unanswered questions in Number Theory. I know alot of professors which think that the student should not be exposed to questions that surpass his mathematical knowledge. They are the weak mathematicians. Mathematics is about exploring and breaking limits. You should know what is beyond your reach, and the reach of every one else. The questions that still stand might be answered by some one that was intrigued by the challenge of answering them when they are helpless to do so. Fermat's Last Thorem is such an example. The guy learned it at the age of 10.

The last thing i will say about the book is this. Number theory has one scope. Namely, prime numbers. This book make it clear that the purpose of number theory is to determine the properties of numbers. It discusses the limitations of mathematics in attaining answers to Riemann Hypothesis, Fundamental theorem, trancedental and irrational and algebraic numbers, and so on. The book is, in my opinion, an expansion of the section on unanswered questions. And in doing so many more questions are asked and analyzed. There are prime numbers, and nothing else.

Carol's new book is refreshing blend of science, stories and advice. It's a fast read -- yet full of thoughtful questions and counsel for women (and men) of any age. I especially loved the Passion Principle Cliff Notes at the end. Thank you, Carol!

As i read Dr. Cassell's book i realized that it contains valuable information primarily for females but much can be learned by the male partner. This book is well written with well researched backup and presented with a style and humor that keeps one reading. My adult son who is in a new relationship after a divorce was perusing the book and started laughing when he read the passage ,no one can ever know what goes on in someone elses head, and said "boy is that true". It is presented so well as are many passages in Cassells' book. Since I am an older person. yes even elderly, I responded well to Take Away Messages and body images---they do suck but now I just throw myself a kiss . I have purchased two books and plan to pass them on to my adult children

This review is by Mary Sue G. (posted by carol cassell)
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In Carol Cassell's easily read book, PUT PASSION FIRST, I found chapters and passages for women of all ages.

After our children left home and my husband and I were in retirement, I realized we had no boundaries in our home, no space to be alone, to read, to write or even a quiet moment to think. The TV was always on for noise as much as for watching. I realized I wanted a more quiet lifestyle and decided we had to have boundaries. It was Cassell's book in the chapter of "Alone Together" that showed me how to make this happen. Kahil Gibran's words of "Let there be spaces in your togetherness" took on a special meaning.

My daughter, who recently survived a divorce, took an interest in the chapter, "Just Be You and Love Like You've Never Been Hurt'. She's in an exciting relationship with a loving man and is trying to do that very thing.

I gave my granddaughter, who is grieving over a lost love, Cassell's book and pointed out to her the chapter, "When He Says Those Fatal Words". After she read it, she looked at me and said, "This makes things better."

Cassell's book is down-to-earth-everyday-living. All of us, in every stage of loving, should read it.
Mary Sue G.

With Put Passion First, Dr. Carol Cassell, a major contributor to the field of women's sexual health, has written another winner. In her charming and personable writing style, Dr. Cassell has distilled the science of sexual desire into a comprehensive set of truths about how to love a man and be loved by him. She rejects the notion that sexual enthusiasm naturally dies out in a relationship and that companionate love is our long-term destiny. Instead, Dr. Cassell places sexual chemistry front and center of what keeps a couple's bond solid. Sounding very much like the wise and experienced girlfriend who can support her observations with scientific research, Dr. Cassell offers sound advice for every woman eager to understand quite a bit more about how to be happy with a man.

Carol Cassell is a wise, compassionate, informative, witty guide who can help you find the unique sources of your own sexual passion. I've been recommending her earlier book to clients for years--and this book is definitely new good news if you want to put yourself and your relationship first. The Heart and Soul of Sex: Making the ISIS Connection (Shambhala Pocket Classics)

During the past ten years I have worked with a nunber of methodologies in the area of Root cause analysis. During this time I have seen none as effective and cost efficient as the PROACT methodologies showcased in this book.

Bob has written a classic RCA manual for all people in all industries. I personally have used both the methodology and software to great effect and would recommend them to anyone.

If you are serious about a reliability growth program in your site, then you need this book!

This book gives you the tools to develop a strong reliability program. In my 35 years as a mechanical engineer (P.E.) in the chemical industry, I have seen several "programs" come and go. Reliability, when proactive as taught by RCI, is the one program that consistently documents very large savings to cost ratios. In order to survive in the 21st century, industry must have a strong reliability program. RCI is a pioneer (since the 1950's) in reliability and in particular teaching and training industry in using this valuable tool.

Closing the gap between the goals companies set and their actual situations is the overall focus of this book. Written by two experienced executives from the Reliability Center, Inc., the book helps readers identify, resolve, and eliminate the chronic plant floor issues, such as repeated equipment or system failures, that hinder the attainment of organizational goals.

Specialists in root cause analysis methodology, the authors discuss the roles of management and a root cause analysis team in prioritizing the problems to analyze, automationg the process, and helping to uncover the physical, human, and latent causes of undesirable workplace events. They point out that the gap between goals and reality that exists in virtually every industry leads to undesirable outcomes, failures, and incidents that siphon profits from the corporate coffers. To close the gap, they explain, companies must reinvent the way they work, understanding why errors occur and how to prevent them.

The book explains root cause analysis, which is a structured process designed to uncover the cause of any undesirable workplace event. The PROACT steps outlined in the book teach companies how to preserve event data, order the analysis team, analyze the data using logic trees, communicate findings and recommendations, and track for bottom-line results.

Case studies are used to illustrate the potential of root cause analysis, showing its effectiveness in particular in steelmaking, customer service, and manufacturing. Software for automating root cause analysis is also discussed. Informative, well-illustrated and well-organized text is worthwhile reading for any plant engineer seeking to understand why errors occur and to eliminate them, and have a direct positive impact on his company's bottom line.

I have now been involved with RCA for several years and it's the way to go in the future. This book is a good example of what Root Cause Analysis is all about. The book focuses on the use of the PROACT system and I imagine would they would work very well together. I am looking at trying PROACT as well, not just yet! Good book easy to read and gives good definitions to those foggy terms. I enjoyed the book and I use it for my job which speaks for it's self, it doesn't hide in a cupboard or on a shelf. I get the feeling this book is one of the better ones in the bunch, not just someone who has jumped on the RCA bandwagon because it's a flavour of the month.

I co-ordinate a root cause troubleshooting clinic at a major engine manufacturer. We have had moderate success with our investigations and have developed several powerful methodologies. This book has taken our procedures one large step further with a coherent, effective method to analyse and document a problem to root cause. The combination of system diagram, logic tree and verification log described in the book is exactly the kind of methodology we needed and is proving very useful. The book is well written and is filled with useful guidelines for such required activities as information gathering and selection of the most productive analyses to perform. I would highly recommend this book to anyone interested in root cause analysis.