Geodesic Math and How to Use It

Book Description

It was 1976--twenty-five years after R. Buckminster Fuller introduced geodesic domes when literary critic Hugh Kenner published this fully-illustrated practical manual for their construction. Now, some twenty-five years later, Geodesic Math and How to Use It again presents a systematic method of design and provides a step-by-step method for producing mathematical specifications for orthodox geodesic domes, as well as for a variety of elliptical, super-elliptical, and other nonspherical contours.
Out of print since 1990, Geodesic Math and How To Use It is California's most requested backlist title. This edition is fully illustrated with complete original appendices.

Customer Reviews:

GEODESIC MATH AND HOW TO USE IT, excellent reference book..........2005-09-29

Seemed over-technical at 1st, but after about a year has been my reference book on geodesics & making all kinds of geodesic domes... It lists chord factors (lengths of segments before applying radius of dome) on tables to 7 decimals for various domes @ the end of the book if you don't want do calculate w/formulas provided. If your familiar with trigonometry, it will let you jump around chapters that are of more interest.

This book was originally copyrighted in 1976, but not edited for this 2nd paperback 2003 Edition (glossy color cover). The author, Hugh Kenner (1923-2003), has compiled a very thorough book. Very well written & explained in orderly fashion with excellent general layout & (especially for the time) detailed diagrams plus cross page-references. IMO there is very little that I would change except for replacing current diagrams with modern CAD generated illustrations, that's about it.

Has 172 pages with several blank pages for notes (I note in the wide margins instead) & is 8.7 x 8.7 x 0.5 inches. Not a small book but not a big bulky one either. Makes for a lot of information handy to store just about anywhere...
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I found many formulas & shortcuts throughout the book. From Chapter 12 I plotted a 16 frequency (# of divisions making total # of triangles) icosahedron (the typical geodesic polyhedron shape) dome with 3880 chords or "struts". Even made them into arcs for a perfectly round sphere. Chapter 12 has "Using the Tables" with a simple symmetric triangle xyz-grid on a spreadsheet. Each chord calculated does not rely on another chord's result, so chance of error is greatly reduced. Chapter 14 "Truncations" has "Truncation by Rotation", which saves time on calculating the rest of the chords in dome, or moving chords by their symmetry.

This "still nicely" bound book after a lot of use covers tension & tensegrities, subdivisions, great circles, symmetry & breakdowns, choosing a polyhedron, spherical coordinate system, ellipses & superellipses, truncations, space frames & many kinds of angles - plus charts & other resources @ the end.

A free program on the web called Windome is useful to 8 decimals, but lacks input parameters like radius... So I use it to verify chord factors. From 2-16v involving about 12,240 chords plotting all verified (to 15 digits) on 1st try. Besides spreadsheets, formulas can be used in programming like "The R Project", formulas & programs are also written for old Hewlett-Packard HP-35, 21 & 45 series calculators & programs filed with the HP-65 library (circa mid-1970's). I guess it also goes to show Hewlett-Packard has a history in the PC & hardware programming business...

One thing - spherical coordinate symbols for Theta & Phi are switched, though referenced in correct order (check Mathworld). Easy to correct, just read "Phi symbol" as Theta & "Theta symbol" as Phi - references & formulas will be in order. This book was written in mid-1970's, guess more? people then used this as convention.
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There are many good free sources on the web for geodesic domes & math plotting through Cartesian x,y,z and/or spherical Theta, Phi coordinates using basic trigonometry. This book cost me $13.57 shipped free brand new & is WELL worth it, even after searching the web...

A final word of caution on building materials for domes in general: if you use wood make sure you take extra fireproofing precautions, unless it's a temporary frame. 2 domes here in town (on same lot) burnt down before fire department got to them - and they were right down the street! The intense heat from both fires left nothing except the slab & melted everything.

So, when they start to burn there is very little time to exit the structure. As energy efficient as they are, the same design allows for a very efficient combustion, especially with wood stud frames & panels. Other problems arise as well with ventilating interior wood frames to help prevent condensation.

There are many other materials that will not burn that could make up the panels (like from American Ingenuity, Inc.), or even a monolithic concrete pour over a temporary plastic covered geodesic wood frame. Another method that doesn't use geodesics is a "monolithic shotcreted airform dome" (from a company called Monolithic Dome Institute).

Geodesic Math.......2003-10-31

The subject very well presented and in a way that is easy to understand. Gives the underlying math to be able to use our modern computers setting on our desk tops to go far beyond what one person could do 25 years ago.

Geodesic Math And How To Use It... Back In Print!.......2003-04-14

Well, the time has come for the pirates to take a hike. UC Press is reprinting this book. The information I have indicates both hard and softcover bindings...It will be available this year (2003).

Geodesic Math and How To Use It is an extremely well written book, and with the NASA papers, forms the "canon of applied geodesic math." It is a great book, well written and useful.

Geodesic Math and how to Use It.......2002-09-12

I have been researching geodesics for a while and have found this book valuable in understanding the subject, however, I would suggest downloading some of the NASA tech briefs about geodesic math (and its free) before spending this amount of money on a book. There are several online sources of info to help the novice.

You know *what*, now find out *how*.......2000-05-20

Hugh Kenner's book is the bible of geodesy. While other books provide you with tables and some of the rudiments of the theory of geodesic domes, 'Geodesic Math and How to Use it' gives you a first-principle look at how domes are developed from a mathematical/geometrical point of view. Most importantly, Kenner introduces the reader to a novel metric for both describing the location of geodesic points in space and calculating their exact positions, so you can develop your own chord factors rather than relying on tables without understanding the underlying math.

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Patricia O

Watercolour at its Best

Fun and Skill-Improvement Are Possible!

Indispensable to the serious watercolorist

Great book to help you "loosen up" in your painting style!

Painting Flowers in Watercolor With Charles Reid
Charles Reid
Manufacturer: North Light Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Charles Reids Watercolor Secrets

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ASIN: 1581800274

Amazon.com

Award-winning artist Charles Reid wants his students to concentrate on three basic themes in his book Painting Flowers in Watercolor: "Keep it small. Keep it simple. Avoid overwashes." Economy is stressed throughout, as when Reid writes, "The fewer the strokes and the smaller the amount of color mixing, the fresher the painting." He explains how to get started with brushes, mixing paint, and the basics of composition and contour drawing, and provides exercises in these fundamentals. Reid then guides the watercolorist in painting fruit, vegetables, leaves, and flowers. He offers mini-demonstrations here, such as how to paint a bunch of carrots, an avocado, or slender leaf forms, and finishes with advanced, step-by-step demonstrations in composing still lifes with flowers. Experienced and beginning watercolorists will appreciate the wisdom in Reid's philosophy of "less is better." Somehow he manages to invest a bowl of yellow tulips and mixed flowers with a splashy, vibrant expressionism while expertly exploiting the blurry and translucent delicacy of the medium itself. --Mary Ribesky

Customer Reviews:

Patricia O.......2006-07-02

Looks great, haven't had time to read, but is similar to one he wrote (currently out of print) loaned to me by my art teacher.

Watercolour at its Best.......2005-07-20

I first met Charles Reid and his wife Judy in 1988 and it was the beginning of an endless learning process ever since. I have learnt so much about watercolour from his books over the years since then. Charles' books are amazing in that he holds nothing back and just discloses all his knowledge in a wonderful style that is easy to learn from. Invariably there are step by step demonstrations to illustrate his methods. Even if the reader doesn't particularly like his style but would rather paint in a more classic sense with lots of glazes and so forth you will still learn so much about how the colours interact with water and on the paper. Charles' workshops are a great delight and if you are fortunate to attend one you will find that he is a friendly man of great warmth and charm which is reflected in his books.

Fun and Skill-Improvement Are Possible!.......2001-12-25

I discovered Charles Reid at my local library and was smitten with his loose, colorful, gorgeous pictures. This book is a clear, helpful guide to making juicy watercolors of still lifes that sing with color. He has practical tips on brushwork, contour drawing and composition that are easy to follow and clearly explained. He also has step-by-step instructions for several of his pictures that show you how he goes about making his own pictures (often from everyday objects and flowers on his kitchen counter). I'm fairly new to watercolors and I found this book invaluable to improving my pictures and getting me to loosen up and feel creative and find beauty in simple objects.

Indispensable to the serious watercolorist.......2001-06-27

I wish I had had this book years ago. It contains exercises to enable the reader/student to experience and learn direct painting techniques that bring freshness, spontaneity, bright vivid color and realism to one's paintings--inspite of an "untidy" style. If you're serious about watercolor, Reid can take you where you really should go. Reid embodies the principles of the best of watercolor and painting teaching of the past (particularly Hawthorne, Henri, Manet). He puts it all together into what I call a meditative painting style (stroke on color and pause to consider, then soften, add other color wet-in-wet, and so on. Doing the exercises in this book can revolutionize your painting and will, at the very least, bring immediate and important improvements to your technique and approach to watercolor. If you like Reid's paintings--flower, figures, portraits, etc., do yourself a favor--get the book and the two corresponding videos.

Great book to help you "loosen up" in your painting style!.......2001-06-07

I have just purchased this book, as well as 2 instructional videos by Charles Reid. I would highly recommend the set to anyone who needs to "loosen up" his or her painting style. He shows you how to get the color right with a minimal amount of strokes, and how to keep from overworking a painting. He is an excellent instructor and author. You won't be disappointed!

Book Description

Artworks for Elementary Teachers serves elementary education majors with little or no prior background in art. It provides introductory experiences both in knowing how to create art and how to respond to it. The four areas of study in discipline-based art education--aesthetics, art production, art criticism and art history--are covered thoroughly and include the latest in state and national standards.

Customer Reviews:

Good ideas for your students.......2000-12-17

I love the thought of this book -- an art book for teachers who may not know much about art, but are planning on teaching art to their students. It's a great idea, and the book covers a great deal of information in a thin volume, from the principles of art, to the schools of artists and their works, to methods used to create art, to visiting the museum.

The book also contains suggested projects for your elementary school art students, as well as jumping-off points for discussion and activity. I only wish the book had even more ideas, but perhaps that is another book!

If you are a teacher who wants to teach art, but doesn't know much about it, and doesn't know where to begin, I suggest beginning with this book. It's a crash course not only in art, but in teaching art to elementary students and instilling a love of art within your students.

Book Description

Blue is back! Red is missing, and now his lifelong rival has joined Yellow in the search. But can Blue's well-trained Pokemon handle Gastly, Haunter, and Gengar, who are controlled by a true master?

Book Description

AHEAD OF HER TIME: THE 1920'S WOMAN tells how Mary McGuffy yearns for a life as satisfying as Andy McGuffy's, her younger brother who fought in World War I. Andy finished high school and is stationed at First Officers' Training Camp, Fort Riley, Kansas. Discontented with her meager schooling, Mary leaves her home in Ohio and lands a job as clerk at the A&P Tea Company in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. After she falls in love with Tom Dunmore, a Pittsburgh and Lake Erie railroader, they marry and build a happy-forever-after house in West Park, a small town overflowing with people from foreign countries. In 1920, three-year old son, Ben, dies suddenly from the pandemic flu. Mary grieves mightily and also struggles to cope with stubborn five-year old Lily. In rain, sunshine or snow, Tom walks a long way from the railroad yard on Island Avenue and reaches home at midnight where Mary waits to serve him supper. After Ben's death, she finds that marriage is becoming more joyless than she ever imagined. Gertie Schumaker, Stowe High School teacher, comforts Mary and encourages her to enroll in paper flower and contract bridge classes at St. Mary's Church in McKees Rocks. Nevertheless, Tom believes that men are the breadwinners and wives should stay home and never hold a job. Disapproval reigns when Mary begins teaching women's leisure-time classes. She hides her money in a Heinz Pickle jar and pays for Lily's piano lessons with Sean Foster. The closeness between Tom and Mary begins to unravel. When the Nineteenth Amendment becomes law, Tom says women should never vote, but Mary goes to the polls. After Tom whips Lily for misbehaving, Mary threatens to leave him, even though she knows thatwomen have no property rights in Pennsylvania and she would have to support herself. Upon learning that Mary is pregnant, Tom says they must build another house near the school so their children don't have to cross streets becoming cluttered with newfangled autos. Mary agrees . . . she can't bear putting the new baby in Ben's room. Tom wants Mary to hire a midwife, but Rose Mary Dunmore is born at Ohio Valley Hospital. At first, Lily welcomes the baby. However, resentment festers when Rose loves school and has many friends. Lily detests school, wants to be a concert pianist and fails to measure up to her father's classroom standards. Tom runs for a seat on the School Board, determined to improve West Park schools. After they move, he builds an icehouse in the backyard and hires a neighbor to run the business. When Tom is elected in 1922, Mary helps him establish Parents for Better Schools. She stops teaching women's classes and tends Rose at home until she starts school. The historical novel covers 12 hectic years. West Park is snowbound for several days, Radio Station KDKA comes alive, refrigerators replace iceboxes, women are allowed to vote, Diesel locomotives are introduced experimentally, Lindbergh makes the first solo flight across the Atlantic, the Stock Market crashes, people who've lost their money jump from buildings to their deaths, the Great Depression leaves thousands jobless, and Amelia Earhart becomes "Lady Lindy" after she flies solo across the Atlantic. Despite these chaotic times, Mary Dunmore presses ahead on her journey seeking fulfillment.

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A wonderful tribute

A Woman Ahead of Her Time
Anne Sugarman Evans
Manufacturer: Coastal Villages Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 1882943198

Book Description

Maida Herman Solomon (1891 - 1988) has been recognized as a pioneer among a very small group of social work professionals who "invented" the field of psychiatric social work. She oversaw its definition, its development of standards, and its integration with other institutions of modern American medicine and education, and helped to found the profession of psychiatric social work. Not to be minimized was her stance as a role model for women in the mid-twentieth century in the way she combined her work as Professor of Social Economy at the Simmons College School of Social Work with her role as wife and mother. As a result, she made it possible for her students and later her social work colleagues, to integrate their career ambitions with family by advocating a part-time program at Simmons, as well as part-time social work research programs in the mental health setting.

Customer Reviews:

A wonderful tribute.......2003-12-21

This masterpiece is a thoughtful collection of Maida's letters, her evolution and inspirations that made her the success that she was...a ahead of her time.

A Woman Ahead of Her Time: Christine De Pizan, Defender of Womankind (Avisson Young Adult Series)

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Must read for students!

A Woman Ahead of Her Time: Christine De Pizan, Defender of Womankind (Avisson Young Adult Series)
Sophia Okun Tracy
Manufacturer: Avisson Press Inc
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1888105577

Customer Reviews:

Must read for students!.......2004-01-18

This small gem of a biography of Christine de Pizan is the first written for young people. The author's readable, conversational writing style brings this 15th century writer and feminist's story to life, without the dryness sometimes associated with biographies of this kind. Should be a welcome discovery for teachers of this period of history.

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The Seeds of the Lost Cause and the Rise of Old Jube.......2003-08-23

If you want to know how the Lost Cause syndrome got its start and how Longstreet to his shock became the designated failure of the Confederacy, this is a revealing book. Old Pete survived his crippling wounds incurred by bullets during his great counter attack in the Wilderness but the ink from "Old Jube's" (Jubal Early's) pen created greater harm and anguish to Longstreet as Early effectively destroys his reputation. Early holds a tight grasp of southern history and the Southern Historical Society making sure that no one dared write anything about the War of the Rebellion without his approval. How ironic that the man that moved Alexander's auxiliary guns away during Pickett's charge, the former and inefficient Pendleton, makes up a bogus story about Longstreet disobeying a sunrise attack order on the second day of Gettysburg in a speech shortly after Lee died and blames Longstreet solely for the lost battle and in turn the "cause". Early picks up the ridiculous story to exaggerate Pendleton's story to gross proportions while coloring his own role that is very suspect in not supporting an attack on Culp's Hill on the first day of Gettysburg and he also pushed Ewell in not moving his corps to the right as Lee wished failing to contract Lee's over extended lines. Old Jube was a tough fighter but had a hard time with cavalry particularly in the Valley where Lee finally has Early relieved. Unlike Longstreet and Lee, Early left the country after the war and upon his return made a career out of rewriting history to suit his slant. Jubal Early could have been the Roy Cohn of the post Civil War era.

Connelly also explains how Lee becomes a greater hero after death and a rallying point for statues and dedications while the south understandably searches for an answer to the defeat of what many in the south tried to remember as a noble cause. Jackson's role is diminished as Lee's appreciative role becomes magnified almost to diety. As the reasons for the "Lost Cause" become justified, Davis and Stephens even write retrospective histories that contrast conveniently with the changing times, States Rights and Rights under the Constitution rise to greater reasons of separation than does slavery for example.

A devastating loss with so much death, maiming of young men and destruction needed a nobleness that was overwhelmed only by large numbers of Union soldiers and errors of judgement of those other thsn the leaders of the armies. "Lest we Forget" is defined in Connelly's fascinating book.

Nice food for thought on Post-War Lost Cause phenomenon.......2003-03-03

Connelly and Bellows offer a fine selection of short essays that deal with the "mentality" of the Southern mind amid the squalor of a defeated nation. I would think those more versed in their Civil War studies would appreciate this more than the casual reader. An appetizing psychological look at the only section of our country that has been a "defeated nation"

GOD AND GENERAL LONGSTREET, The Lost Cause and the Southern Mind

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GOD AND GENERAL LONGSTREET, The Lost Cause and the Southern Mind
Thomas L. And Barbara L. Bellows Connelly
Manufacturer: Louisiana State University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000VBBAHA

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GOD AND GENERAL LONGSTREET: THE LOST CAUSE AND THE SOUTHERN MIND

Manufacturer: Louisiana State University
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000IEBQN8

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God and General Longstreet: The Lost Cause and the Southern Mind
Thomas Lawrence Connelly
Manufacturer: Louisiana State Univ Pr
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000K1SG5U

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from Arthur Clark Company.......2007-05-25

Gathered in this new work are eyewitness testimonies of the massacre and its aftermath by those who were on the scene. The accounts of Joseph Young, Amanda Smith, Willard Gilbert Smith, Austin Hammer, Artemisia Sidnie Meyers, Nathan Kinsman Knight, Thomas McBride, Isaac Laney, Olive Ames, and others are heart-rending and vivid. On October 30, 1838, a group of Missouri militia attacked the small Mormon settlement at Haun's Mill on Shoal Creek, killing seventeen men and boys and wounding eleven men, one woman, and one child. The conflict between the Missourians and the Mormons was in many ways inevitable. The Mormons had their own business and economic system. Clannish people, they voted in a bloc, thus tipping elections in their favor. They had a "different" religion and considered their faith superior to all others. Unlike most of their neighbors, they were friendly to the Indians and were thought to be abolitionists. The Missourians saw them as interlopers to be driven out. Set in context by the author, these documentary accounts dramatically portray the suffering of the Saints during and after the episode. An important event in Latter-day Saints history that helped mold Mormon attitudes and posturing toward the outside world in following decades, the Haun's Mill Massacre still resonates today in the hearts and minds of Mormons as a manifestation of religious persecution.The book has a bibliography and index. It is bound in wine linen cloth and has a foil stamped spine and front cover.

Bones in the Well: The Haun's Mill Massacre, 1838. A Documentary History.

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Bones in the Well: The Haun's Mill Massacre, 1838. A Documentary History.
Beth Shumway. Moore
Manufacturer: Arthur H Clark Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000PBE8JI

Book Description

A collection of essays on fundamental issues regarding scientific knowledge. Contents: Systematic Essays: "Science and the Epistemic Authority of Logical Analysis," Jay F. Rosenberg; "Varieties of Understanding," Robert Brandom; "Theory Families, Plausibility and the Defense of Modest Realism," Rom Harre; "Scientific Rationality and Its Reconstruction," Jurgen Mittelstrass; "Conservatism and the Data Base," William Lycan. Historical Essays: "Darwin's Achievement," Philip Kitcher; "A Purely Scientific Temper": Victorian Expressions of the Ideal of an Autonomous Science," Robert E. Butts.

Without Good Reason: The Rationality Debate in Philosophy and Cognitive Science (Clarendon Library of Logic and Philosophy)

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A Philosopher Addresses a Scientific Question
A "Must Read"

Without Good Reason: The Rationality Debate in Philosophy and Cognitive Science (Clarendon Library of Logic and Philosophy)
Edward Stein
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0198235747

Book Description

Are humans rational? Various experiments performed over the last several decades have been interpreted as showing that humans are irrational--we make significant and consistent errors in logical reasoning, probabilistic reasoning, similarity judgements, and risk-assessment, to name a few areas. But can these experiments establish human irrationality, or is it a conceptual truth that humans must be rational, as various philosophers have argued? In this book, Edward Stein offers a clear critical account of this debate about rationality in philosophy and cognitive science. He discusses concepts of rationality--the pictures of rationality that the debate centres on--and assesses the empirical evidence used to argue that humans are irrational. He concludes that the question of human rationality must be answered not conceptually but empirically, using the full resources of an advanced cognitive science. Furthermore, he extends this conclusion to argue that empirical considerations are also relevant to the theory of knowledge--in other words, that epistemology should be naturalized.

Customer Reviews:

A Philosopher Addresses a Scientific Question.......2005-11-17

Do humans have the normative principles of reasoning in their reasoning competence? A positive answer was assumed by most scientists, economists, and philosophers (pace Freud, Nietzsche et al.), until the stunning variety of experiments by Daniel Kahneman, Amos Tversky and their coworkers began to appear in the early 1970's. Their results convinced large numbers of psychologists that people deviate systematically from the generally accepted principles of reasoning.

Many, however, disagreed with this interpretation, arguing that the logical and mathematical mistakes people routinely make in the laboratory are due to misunderstanding (e.g., logical connectives mean different things in formal logic and everyday discourse) or performance error (the problems are very hard, and few could solve them without a course or two in probability theory), among other explanations. Stein's book is a very systematic and detailed review of the arguments, and is well worth reading, both for the uninitiated and those who have closely followed this debate. Stein concludes that the question is an empirical one, and the evidence is not yet all in.

I completely agree with Stein's assessment, although I think the evidence is strongly in favor of the rationality thesis: errors in the lab are mostly performance error and misunderstanding. This is not to trivialize the actual findings of Kahneman et al. Far from it. Most humans deviate systematically from the precepts of probability theory, and it is to their disadvantage. People have strange and incorrect ideas about "lucky streaks," they do not understand the Law of Insufficient Reason, they make systematic base-rate errors, and do not apply Bayes law correctly. In my opinion, this makes people less than perfect scientists, but does imply that they are irrational.

I do believe that Stein spends an inordinate amount of time evaluating assertions that are plainly false, and not worthy of any extended scrutiny. For instance, he considers the view that even asking the question presumes rationality, since the answer can be correctly obtained only if the evaluators are rational. However, the question is not whether ALL people are irrational, but rather whether the NORMAL PERSON is irrational. The psychologists, mathematicians, and behavioral scientists who pose and study the question are without doubt rational. They have studied the material long enough to become proficient.

Similarly, Stein takes seriously the argument that natural selection will favor true beliefs over false beliefs, and since harboring true beliefs is the hallmark of rationality, natural selection will produce rational agents. But, this argument is quite silly. Mosquitos are the product of evolution, but they are not rational in the sense used in posing the question. Humans might be irrational in the same way---they are evolutionarily more complex and evolved, but it could take natural selection another billion years to produce a truly rational species. Moreover, religious beliefs cannot be all true, and some we know are false (e.g., Creationism). So, surely evolved humans can systematically hold false beliefs.

These slips aside, we have here a fine book that will hone your understanding of the issues.

A "Must Read".......2001-10-22

Clearly written and exciting, Stein's book provides a thorough introduction to the subject while advancing his own view. This book is of interest to philosophers and cognitive scientists alike. Very accessible.

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