Average customer rating:
- Visually stunning, diverse summary of broad ecosystem
- excellent primer on understanding the Gulf of Maine
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From Cape Cod to the Bay of Fundy: An Environmental Atlas fo the Gulf of Maine
Philip W. Conkling
Manufacturer: The MIT Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 0262531275 |
Book Description
Images of the earth's surface have been around for years, but it is only recently that scientists have begun to take advantage of new data generated by the explosion of remote sensing equipment to address a variety of technical questions in many different fields. This Atlas presents breathtaking full-color images of the region to reveal and interpret environmental patterns and problems. The illustrations are interwoven with commentary on the area's ecology, geology, and oceanography, giving readers an understanding of the link between their own backyard and the interdependent set of systems that make up one of the most distinctive regions on earth.
The Gulf of Maine is an almost-enclosed sea bounded by an international watershed; shaped by volcanoes, glaciation, and other geologic forces; rich in marine resources; diverse in terrestrial systems; occupied by indigenous peoples for nearly 10,000 years; and now used intensively by fishermen, foresters, and tourists. A different aspect of this multi-faceted region is discussed in each chapter.
Yet it is the stunning satellite images and aerial photographs that set the Atlas apart. With pinpoint clarity, the images demonstrate how these increasingly powerful sensing tools may be utilized to view and interpret elements of the natural environment and ultimately, to help rectify problems. In the carefully coordinated narrative essays, authors from across the region address issues raised by the images, for example: how much clear cutting is going on and what its effects are on other parts of the ecosystem; how well marine fisheries are managing to prevent overfishing; the effect of pollutant loadings in nearshore estuaries; and how seaweeds contribute to the lobster harvest.
Customer Reviews:
Visually stunning, diverse summary of broad ecosystem.......1999-08-07
The illustrations, maps and photographs alone make it a worthy coffee table book, but the depth and breadth of scientific information will keep one fascinated for months or more.
excellent primer on understanding the Gulf of Maine.......1998-08-10
For those who want to understand the ecosystem of the Gulf of Maine and the interelationships of the sea, tides, gulf stream, the shore, the birds, the fish, whales, and how they have and will change through time...this is for you. Brilliant satellite photographs and clear explanations of "how it all works".
Book Description
This digital document is a journal article from Biological Conservation, published by Elsevier in 2005. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Media Library immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.
Description:
Caulerpa taxifolia was first discovered in New South Wales, Australia, in April 2000 and is now present in nine waterways. Infestations, which range from sparse distributions of scattered runners to dense beds 40 cm thick, covered approximately 8.1 km^2 by mid 2004. Various methods for controlling the alga were trialed. The application of coarse sea salt at a concentration of 50 kg/m^2 was found to be the most effective method as it rapidly killed the alga, had relatively minor effects on native biota (seagrass and infauna) and was relatively inexpensive. In small-scale trials, frond density of C. taxifolia had decreased by 70-95% one week after salting and no fronds were present after 1 or 6 months. Seagrass and infauna were also affected by salt, but abundances had generally recovered after 6 months. The effectiveness of salting at larger scales depended on the method of application and salting appeared to be most successful in the cooler months when C. taxifolia dies back naturally. Results of large-scale salting trials were mixed. In one waterway, a single application of salt resulted in the apparent removal of almost 5200 m^2 of C. taxifolia; in another, repeated salting of a 3000 m^2 infestation led to a considerable reduction in the density of the alga, but no overall change in the boundaries of the infestation. Eradication of C. taxifolia from New South Wales is unlikely, but local control measures, extensive monitoring and experimentation are continuing in an attempt to limit the impact of this invasive alga.
Book Description
You and your children of any age can learn to play toe-tapping fiddle tunes, join in a Hawaiian luau, go dogsledding in the North Woods, sleep in a hogan on a Navajo reservation, take a polar-bear safari, or cross the prairie in a wagon train. These are just a few of the more than 300 exciting learning vacations this guide presents.
* Author Candyce H. Stapen, who reports for Expedia, AOL's Family Travel Network, and FamilyFun, Vacations, and Child magazines, is an award-winning writer and expert on family travel.
* Tips with each entry give parents the sort of insider information that makes family vacations a success.
* Regional maps pinpoint every site in the guide.
USE THIS BOOK TO...
* Find an anchor, or main focus, for a multi-day vacation with your family.
* Add the fun of a day outing to a family vacation, a resort or condominium stay, a visit with relatives, or a business trip with the kids.
* Act as a guide to great but little-known day trips, inexpensive outings, and overnights offered by museums, aquariums, and zoos in your city and neighboring towns.
Customer Reviews:
Just What We Were Looking For.......2002-11-07
This book gives you just enough information to help you to plan a great family vacation. They give you places and numbers to call to get more information on some great trips accross the country. For a busy parent who wnats to get more bang out of their short vaction this is a must have. We love the book.
Don't judge this book by its cover!.......2002-04-29
As the mother of two active and intellectually curious boys, I was so disappointed with this National Geographic book that I am sorely tempted to return it to the publisher. My aim: to find some suggestions for hikes in the White Mountains and family resorts in New Hampshire for this summer and an exciting, wilderness approach to seeing the West for next summer. The cover: a healthy, athletic father and son, in a kayak on a pristine lake. The subtitle: wildlife encounters, cultural explorations and learning escapes in the US and Canada. The inside: Connecticut's only entry is an Indian museum at the Mohegan Sun gambling casino; four of Massachusett's five entries are museums in downtown Boston and the fifth a small recreation of the Plymouth Colony; New York's six entries include three museums in New York City, two adult continuing education programs in upstate NY and a weekend workshop on Indian culture in the Catskills. I could go on ,but it would only bore you. In short, every entry I read (and I quote only those states I am familiar with) could have been found in literally any run- of -the- mill (free) guidebook found in any hotel loby, restaurant or Chamber of Commerce office. (SeaWorld and Busch Gardens in Florida?? Give me a break!). I implore you to save your money and pass on this book!
Fun with the family.......2000-10-04
Stapen's book on family adventure travel is one of the best of its kind. Our family was looking for new types of vacations (other than the usual places like DisneyWorld, the beach, etc) that would cater to children of different ages. We are looking forward to trying out several of the recommendations, such as a night at the zoo, space camp, dogsledding, llama trekking and exploring native american culture. The writeups are well done and the book is very enjoyable. A must for families. I am over 50 but could not put that in Box 5 for some reason .
copied and pasted from somewhere.......2000-09-04
This book is a real dissapointment. There is no 'adventure' here. It's just a list of museums from around the country. Now these are nice museums, but perusing the AAA Tourbooks will give you the same information for free. This books is a waste of money.
A Great Guide for truly novel vacations!!!.......2000-08-27
This guide was a wonderful breath of fresh air. As parents of a 14 yr old we were really tired of the same old vacations and really had no idea that exploring North America could be so interesting. Our family used this book as a guide on a recent trip to Montana and South Dakota. It was a terific trip--from the Blackfeet tours to Little Big Horn to Lakota Pony Rides, we truly had a unique experience. Ms. Stapen's guide helped us navigate and explore the most interesting sites these states had to offer. The guide was very informative, especially pointing out those places that are "kid friendly". The book was even helpful in pointing out certain tours not especially suited for kids.---ie. the tour at Little Bighorn. While this did not stop us from going on tour, it did prepare us for the " are we finished yet" complaints of our 14 yr. old. I highly recommend this guide for anyone considering vacationing anywhere in the U.S. From the Pacific Northwest to the East Coast and throughout Canada, this book will help you if you are truly looking for a different type of vacation. I urge anyone to consult this guide---- it will open up a whole new world!
Customer Reviews:
RE: Just something for everyone to remember.......2004-12-17
White Wolf has not amended this book as the previous reviewer describes. The cult fell shortly after the Week of Nightmares. Further, the True Brujah turn up again in Ghenna (obviously, they do exist), and the Old Clan Tzimisce still exist as well. As for the "Alien Disease", it was picked up by a 4th gen in the far umbra, at which point it began to infect the clan, including the antedluvian. One can assume, however, that the "soul eater" is in reality Tzimisce trying to take over the new host body. Do yourself the favor of reading the book cover to cover before deciding to buy it.
Dirty secrets that only the storyteller should know.......2001-09-17
A truly fantastic book, that adds incredible depth to the original WOD. But i warn you that this book is for the storyteller and should not be read by players or at least the unexperienced player. The secrets of the sect and how they use the world as pawns, gives the storyteller a new mystery for the players to unfold. But again it is not for players to read. Players that read this book may be unable to distinguish between what they know and what their characters know. The secrets in this book will only be known by a very small group of vampires and unless you have a very brave and creative storyteller, your character is not one of them. But by now your curiosity is probably overwhelming so go ahead and learn all you can, but remember you were warned.
Just something for everyone to remember.......2000-07-07
Most of this book, if not all, white wolf has amended, these are good ideas, but the way they pulled them off was insane and extreanly over powered. From what I can peice togather, there WAS a true Black Hand sect, but it vanished thousands of years ago, there no true brujah, there are no Old Clan Tzi, there is no alein desies the causes Vicc.
A Must Have.......2000-04-25
Have you ever wondered who started the Inquisition? Fathomed whether or not the Antideluvians really do exist, and where perchance they might slumber? Ever wonder who created the Sabbat and Camarilla? Who uses them as pawns in a tragic scheme to fight an extraterrestrial crusade, to slack the thirst of the ancients, and protect the most valuable kindred crop available (ie humans). If you have, then you need this book. It is the MOST beautiful collection of storyteller ideas White Wolf has ever put together for Vampire: the Masquerade. If your in need of some juice for your campaign, chronicle, what have you... then this is the book for YOU!
Must have for a compete Vampire Chronicle.......1999-08-27
Gives players and the storyteller an option for stories beyond anarchs, Sabbatt, and Camarilla. Gives some true insights to how World of Darkness Works.
Book Description
Watch out, Ken.
Will wants his life back.
Maybe Ken thinks Will Simmons wasn't paying attention when he took his position on the football team, his college scholarship, his girlfriend . . .
His whole, entire life.
Guess what, Ken? He was.
Customer Reviews:
Really Enjoyed This Book.......2001-04-01
Well this book kind of moves slow in the begining, but it really starts to pick up. Ken finally woke up and came to his senses, and I was really happy for him at the end of this book. I really hope that Ken and Maria get back together. Melissa is still purley evil, but she kind of gets what is coming to her in this book. Will also came to a realization, and I actually kind of liked him at the end of the book, although what he tried to do to Ken wasn't right, but he kind of makes up for it. I hope that Will sticks to his promise and doesn't go back to that witch of his ex-girlfriend. I liked what Lila said to Melissa in this book. I wonder if Lila is getting sick of Melissa. Not too much about Jessica in this book. I loved the Evan and Jade storyline, that was extremly good, and I can't wait to read more about them. I kind of felt sorry for Liz in this book.
it was ok.......2001-03-14
I thought this book was going to be boring 'cause it seemed,basically,about Will and he's my one of my least favorite characters to read about.And the last two books had been really boring,namely Straight Up.But I actually liked it;it was funny at some parts,endearing in others,ie:Conner's letter to Tia about Liz.Now I really can't wait for Meant To Be.
Average customer rating:
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Dirty Work: Playing the Game
Robert Anderson
Manufacturer: iUniverse, Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
Action & Adventure
| Genre Fiction
| Literature & Fiction
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ASIN: 0595427936 |
Book Description
Hustler Salmon Graves has been forced to deal drugs for two crooked cops. Detectives Robert "Lefty" O'Malley and Tom Grey, "the twins," now own Sal. Even though Sal didn't want to deal with the twins, he has no choice now. It's either that or go to jail. To him, it's a win-win situation: the work comes cheap, and he can get rid of his competition anytime he wants. But if anyone in the hood finds out, Sal's life will be in danger. When the serious money starts rolling in, so do the robberies, hate, and killings. There's infighting among Sal's crew, and they eventually split. Some don't know where their loyalties lie, which brings even more confusion. The whole situation gets increasingly dirty until even the best of friends start doing whatever they feel is necessary to protect themselves. But the real problems come once the feds enter the picture. Facing lengthy jail time changes everyone-the dealers start to turn on one another, but they may soon learn that they only have each other to fall back on .
Customer Reviews:
crazy.......2007-06-15
I read this thing and man was I taken away by the realness of the writing.
Average customer rating:
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PIGBOYS: Clean-Cut Boys Playing Dirty
Brian, Douglas Ahern
Manufacturer: AuthorHouse
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 1420829343 |
Book Description
Over half a dozen handsome young men placed in sunny, pastoral settings. Each one clad in farm gear costumes of boots, waders, slickers, and the like, taking on the smiling role of a stable-cleaning lad, or "Pigboy". Photographer Brian Douglas Ahern has captured these happy lads amidst horseplay in the mud, enjoying pranks at each other's expense, and laughing for the camera. Each model featured was found right in Mr. Ahern's own home area of West Michigan. PIGBOYS: Clean-Cut Boy's Playing Dirty is a 120-page full color delight of photos and stories which invites the reader to share with these extraordinary lads the beautiful images they helped create and the fun they had in getting there.
Average customer rating:
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Playing Dirty
Mike Barry
Manufacturer: St Martins Pr
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
Ethics & Morality
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ASIN: 0312616228 |
Average customer rating:
- Investigative journalist, Omar Garrison, at his best
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Playing dirty: The secret war against beliefs
Omar V Garrison
Manufacturer: Ralston-Pilot
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding
General
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ASIN: 093111604X |
Customer Reviews:
Investigative journalist, Omar Garrison, at his best.......2002-11-10
The dust jacket explains it all:
On the morning of July 8, 1977 a small army of FBI agents -- the largest number ever mustered for a single operation -- descended upon three religious centers, two of them in Los Angeles and one in Washington, D.C. Using battering rams, sledgehammers and buzz saws, they smashed and cut their way into rooms and offices of the church buildings, where they conducted the most massive search and seizure in American legal history. During the long day, and far into the night (21 continuous hours), they ransacked church files, seizing and carting away almost 100,000 items. A 517-page report inventory was required just to list the things seized.
Did a search for the 161 allegedly stolen documents named on the warrant justify such a violent, large-scale incursion? Or were the raids and act of revenge by a powerful, centralized Government, whose corruption and malfeasance had repeatedly been challenged and exposed by the Church of Scientology during the past two decades? Was such a razzia -- in the police-state mould -- meant to be an objective lesson to any other group or individual who might dare to defy the growing tyranny of federal agencies?
In this informative and at times impassioned book, the author seeks the answer to this and to other urgent problems confronting everyone today. He reveals for the first time the full inside story of the raids, as told by eyewitnesses who were present when they were carried out -- both church staff and the FBI agents who testified later in court. Also related in this documented detail are the dramatic events which lead up to and follow the FBI forays.
One section of the book is devoted to "the incredible caper" in which, the Government claims, undercover operatives from the Church of Scientology infiltrated federal offices to steal documents pertaining to their church. U.S. officials remarked in awe that the operation would have done credit to the intelligence agency of a major country.
With the penetrating insight of a seasoned journalist, the author also examines the legal proceedings which led to the conviction of nine church leaders, now on appeal. Noting that two federal judges from the same U.S. district issued rulings diametrically opposite -- one declaring the FBI raids illegal and "Constitutionally intolerable," and the other in supporting them, Mr. Garrison writes:
"The issue joined in these two judgments, and the events leading up to them, extend by implication into every church, every newspaper office, every home in America."
Book Description
This digital document is an article from Internal Medicine News, published by International Medical News Group on March 1, 2004. The length of the article is 797 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.
Citation Details
Title: Athletes playing dirty: MRSA infections have invaded locker rooms.(Infectious Diseases)
Author: Heidi Splete
Publication:
Internal Medicine News (Magazine/Journal)
Date: March 1, 2004
Publisher: International Medical News Group
Volume: 37
Issue: 5
Page: 83(1)
Distributed by Thomson Gale
Book Description
This digital document is an article from Skin & Allergy News, published by International Medical News Group on October 1, 2003. The length of the article is 579 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.
Citation Details
Title: Athletes wrestle with rising MRSA infection rates: playing dirty.(News)(methicillin-resistant S. aureus )
Author: Heidi Splete
Publication:
Skin & Allergy News (Magazine/Journal)
Date: October 1, 2003
Publisher: International Medical News Group
Volume: 34
Issue: 10
Page: 4(1)
Distributed by Thomson Gale
Average customer rating:
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Longevity and Frailty (Research and Perspectives in Longevity)
Manufacturer: Springer
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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Accessories:
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Braun IRT 4020 ThermoScan Ear Thermometer
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RESPeRATE Blood Pressure Lowering Device
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philosophy hope in a jar daily moisturizer
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Philips HeartStart Home Defibrillator (AED)
ASIN: 3540251537 |
Book Description
Understanding the relationship between frailty and longevity becomes increasingly important as the world continues to age and life expectancy in most countries continues to increase. The articles contained in this book are the outcome of a colloquium sponsored by Fondation IPSEN in which interdisciplinary perspectives were brought to bear on conceptual, empirical and clinical aspects of this relationship.
Book Description
Dynamic data assimilation is the assessment, combination and synthesis of observational data, scientific laws and mathematical models to make predictions about how a complex physical system will behave. This book is designed to be a basic one-stop reference for graduate students and researchers. It is based on graduate courses taught over a decade to mathematicians, scientists, and engineers, and its modular structure accommodates the various audience requirements. Chapters end with a section that provides pointers to the literature, and a set of exercises with instructive hints. Computation is encouraged: algorithms are liberally scattered throughout the text. Accompanying refresher material - in many areas of mathematics including vector spaces, optimization and probability theory - will be available from www.cambridge.org/0521851556. The book ends with a comprehensive bibliography.
Customer Reviews:
emphasises computational methods.......2006-10-20
This is a large and comprehensive collection of techniques used to analyse data. Think of it perhaps as powerful "curve fitting". There are the elementary ideas, like linear least squares fitting. Where the fitted function is just a line. Then we see nonlinear least squares, where there is now an arbitrary fitted function.
Other concepts will be familiar to some readers. Steepest descent and singular value decomposition for example.
The book also emphasises computational implementations of its methods. Acknowledging that many people now have large data sets to analyse, and have the necessary computational resources. So the question is how to do so. Code snippets are given in Fortran, which is still the main language of science and engineering.
Average customer rating:
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Dynamic Meteorology: Data Assimilation Methods (Applied Mathematical Sciences)
M. Ghil
Manufacturer: Springer
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 0387906320 |
Book Description
Over the last decade the physics of black holes has been revolutionized by developments that grew out of Jacob Bekenstein's realization that black holes have entropy. Steven Hawking raised profound issues concerning the loss of information in black hole evaporation and the consistency of quantum mechanics in a world with gravity. For two decades these questions puzzled theoretical physicists and eventually led to a revolution in the way we think about space, time, matter and information. This revolution has culminated in a remarkable principle called "The Holographic Principle", which is now a major focus of attention in gravitational research, quantum field theory and elementary particle physics. Leonard Susskind, one of the co-inventors of the Holographic Principle as well as one of the founders of String theory, develops and explains these concepts.
Customer Reviews:
Wonderful exposé!.......2007-03-05
Indeed, I agree with the previous reviewer: this book is certainly not for laymen, however it is a wonderful exposé of the "holographic universe", i.e. information contained not in volumina of objects but in their surfaces, such as black holes, which are maximum-entropy objects. In order to understand the book, you'll need a BSc in physics or mathematics with a keen interest in physics. Knowledge of Einstein's theory of general relativity might be of use, but not strictly neccesary. It's written nicely, it is up to date, and a pleasure to study.
Not for people with just a curiosity for string theory!.......2006-04-07
You will probably need a BA or BS degree in physics for this book to be understandable to you. If you are just curious about string theory then you will be LOST in this book. I have never seen so many physic/math proofs and formulas in my life! It only made me realize how much other people are smarter than myself. Buy Steven Hawking's A Briefer History in Time for a lay person's guide to string theory and other interesting theories if you don't want to spend a gigantic amount of brain power.
Exploring the Holographic Multiverse.......2005-09-01
"Black Holes, Information and the String Theory Revolution: The Holographic Universe"
Lenny and I worked together with Johnny Glogower on quantum phase and time operators at Cornell in 1964 .Lenny's densely mathematical book is not a popular book. It is incomprehensible to the general reader and it is not easy going for the professional theoretical physicist not in the sub-field. However, it has moments of great clarity and if it is wrong, as George Chapline thinks, it is brilliantly wrong. Certainly pieces of Lenny's thesis will survive. So, to really see what the book is about, it's best to read the end of the book first and then go back to the beginning. Lenny emphasizes the key role on nonlocality (e.g. nonlocality of gravity energy?) in black hole complementarity.
"In order to reconcile the equivalence principle with the rules of quantum mechanics the rules of locality must be massively modified."
I like the idea of the blackhole as a string since I already published in 1974 the explanation of the Regge slope alpha' (for strings)
J ~ alpha'E^2
alpha' ~ (1Gev)^-2
as rotating Kerr black hole Wheeler "micro with effective strong gravity G* ~ 10^40G in Herbert Frohlich's "Collective Phenomena". Indeed, that's why Abdus Salam invited me to ICTP Trieste, Italy 1973-74 (e.g. contact Jagdish Mehra).
What will survive is the IR/UV duality. What about LIF/LNIF complementarity? Intriguing. What is completely missing in Lenny's theory is Vacuum ODLRO. For example, Lenny never considers a Bose-Einstein condensate in the vacuum in which there is a macroscopic eigenvalue of the first reduced density matrix. All eigenvalues must be less than 1 in Lenny's theory. Second, Lenny used a positive energy density to derive some of his key results when in fact negative zero point energy density would describe dark matter. Third, Lenny's ADS model has the wrong sign of the actually observed small post-inflation cosmological constant. How fatal this is I do not know yet. Perhaps he analytically continues to the DS model? That is ADS is "dark matter" with negative zero point energy density and positive pressure. DS is "dark energy" with positive zero point energy density and negative pressure. Furthermore, Lenny's equation for p the power of t in the FRW scale factor a(t) ~ t^p breaks down in the most important case, i.e. p -> infinity when w -> -1, which is the case for zero point energy. One nice idea is that the D3 brane of M-theory is the kind of 3+1 space-time we live in with the 6 extra space-time dimensions as "scalar fields". This fits well with Gennady Shipov's torsion field theory extension of 1915 GR. Indeed, if we interpret these scalar fields as vacuum ODLRO Higgs-Goldstone fields associated with the local gauging of the Lorentz group O(1,3) then the vacuum order parameter space is SU(2)xSU(2) consistent with the Hedgehog anomaly centered at Sun seen in the TWO NASA Pioneer Space Probes where a_g = - cH(t). All stars may have this property, i.e. part of stellar formation? Maybe even galaxies have it? That is vacuum ODLRO topological defects as seeds for early galaxy formation explaining galactic halos as well?
He opens up with the math of black holes in different coordinate representations. But you need to remember (or look up) your high school logarithms and the trigonometry formula for the tangent of the half-angle to show from eqs (1.1.2) to (1.1.4) that a signal from the black hole surface horizon never reaches the distant observers. The Penrose diagram makes that instantly obvious of course.
Comment 1
Lenny: "The paradox was discovered by Jacob Bekenstein and turned into a serious crisis by Stephen Hawking. ... Bekenstein realized that if the second law of thermodynamics was not to be violated in the presence of a black hole, the black hole must possess an intrinsic entropy. ... How and why a classical solution of field equations should be endowed with thermodynamical attributes has remained obscure."
Jack: The black hole is a property of Einstein's vacuum equation
Ruv = 0
However, this equation is a c-number emergent field theory from vacuum ODLRO. George Chapline, Jr and I have both arrived at this general idea quite independently. Let the vacuum ODLRO order parameter be
psi = |psi|e^iargpsi
suppress internal symmetry indices, but think of SU(2)hypercharge that has a neutral VEV in the standard model (evidence from NASA Pioneer anomaly a_g = -cH(t) as a hedgehog topological defect centered at Sun).
Let the Einstein-Cartan 1-form be
e = 1 + B
My ansatz is
B = (hG/c^3)^1/2d(argtheta)
with "string" branch cuts in argtheta
Therefore, there is no gravity and inertia when h -> 0 and c -> infinity even when G =/= 0. There is still some residual "normal fluid" fluctuations around the stiff vacuum order parameter psi that obeys the rules of micro-quantum theory as given by Lenny. The ratio of normal to superfluid obviously has a temperature parameter T. Therefore, Lenny's question is answered.
Comment 2
Lenny: "Eventually the black hole must completely evaporate. Hawking then raised the question of what becomes of the quantum correlations between matter outside the black hole and matter that disappears behind the horizon. ... Hawking then made arguments that there is no way, consistent with causality, for the correlations to be carried by the outgoing evaporation products."
Jack: So much the worse for causality, which here means no space-like influences outside the local light cones. Bell's theorem shows that such space-like influences are needed and they are locally random in micro-quantum theory consistent with the blackbody radiation.
Lenny: "Thus, according to Hawking, the existence of black holes inevitably causes a loss of quantum coherence and breakdown of one of the basic principles of quantum mechanics - the evolution of pure states into pure states."
Jack: So much the worse for micro-quantum mechanics. It's time to slaughter that Sacred Cow. Global special relativity of 1905 is violated by the necessity of gravity and inertia in local general relativity of 1915 where it is relegated to a purely local tangent space by the equivalence principle. In the same way micro-quantum mechanics is not complete, but merely corresponds to nonlocally entangled small fluctuations about the stiff macro-quantum vacuum ODLRO coherent order parameter that provides the local fabric of space-time via
B = (hG/c^3)^1/2d(argVacuum ODLRO).
Lenny: "Hawking further argued that once the loss of quantum coherence is permitted in black hole evaporation, it becomes compulsory in all processes involving the Planck scale. The world would behave as if it were in a noisy environment which continuously leads to a loss of coherence. The trouble with this is that there is no known way to destroy coherence without at the same time violating energy conservation by heating the world."
Jack: I need to see the math of the above argument. Why does not the expansion of the universe cool down this alleged heating effect? Also total energy is not necessarily conserved in curved space-time because of the breakdown of time translation symmetry. Presumably the book will explain this argument in more detail. Lenny wants to hold on to micro-quantum unitarity at all costs and I think this is the basic error in his thesis, but I could be wrong. The macro-quantum vacuum ODLRO order parameter does not obey a unitary time evolution. You cannot think of |psi|^2 as a Born quantum probability density like you can for micro-quantum wave functions.
Indeed the space integral of |psi(x)|^2 need not be a constant of the motion at all. For example, you have a pot of superfluid helium at almost T = 0 at t = 0 and then you slowly heat it. As you heat the superfluid it turns to normal fluid completely disappearing at the lambda point. In the case of vacuum ODLRO the "normal fluid" is the dark energy!
Comment 3
Lenny's Chapter 1 implicitly clearly shows why Hal Puthoff's PV alternative to the black hole is not a useful theory for metric engineering the fabric of space-time to reach the stars and other galaxies in a short time through wormholes held open by dark energy. Hal uses isotropic coordinates inside the event horizon where they are not appropriate. He says he can do that because his exponential metric does not have an event horizon. But in that case his solution does not obey Einstein's vacuum GR equation Ruv = 0. Therefore, PV theory conflicts with GR. Indeed, PV theory is not consistent with Diff(4) tensors and therefore, it violates the equivalence principle. In spite of that Hal Puthoff claims he is not offering a theory different from GR but only an "engineer's" way to do it. This, of course, is self-contradictory. Note that in George Chapline's "dark star" theory there is dark energy behind the event horizon, i.e. not Ruv = 0, but the same equation I use
Guv + /\zpfguv = 0
We do seem to need Gennady Shipov's torsion field beyond 1915 GR to allow
/\zpf^,v =/= 0 at the event horizon boundary because the Bianchi identities without torsion demand /\zpf^,v = 0.
Jack Sarfatti
Easy to understand - very simple, no-nonsense style........2005-07-06
The title of the book reminds me of the classic physics question: yes, this equation can be expanded for small values of the parameter. But before you whip out that expansion, first tell me what "small" means in this context?
I would venture to say that the title of the book is a misnomer on some level. This is a technical book, there's no question about that. If you are not a physicist, you will not understand a single page. When I say "technical", what I specifically mean is you should have:
* A course on general relativity. The first page dumps the Schwarzschild metric on you. You should be familiar with, say, the Faraday tensor (which any decent GR or even SR course should cover).
* A course on quantum field theory. The book very quickly goes into the massless free Klein-Gordon equation in a Schwarzschild background. You should know the basics of string theory. After all, that's what the book is partially about!
* A course on thermo/statistical mechanics. The book delves into black hole entropy. Be prepared to blow the dust off your partition functions.
In that sense, this book is not an introduction, and is CERTAINLY not for the layperson. Now that I've disparaged this book enough, I'll tell you why this is a phenomenal book that deserves a place on your bookshelf (again, for certain values of "you").
This book is a gentle introduction to the classical and quantum mechanical principles of blackholes. It was beautifully written. It may very well be one of my favorite books. When I say "beautiful", I don't mean beautiful like Wald's classic but impenetrable book on GR. Imagine David Griffiths or Matt Visser writing a book for mid-level grad students going into high energy physics. They go deeply into the different coordinates used for blackhole spacetimes and Penrose diagrams, but in a hand-holding way that emphasizes knowing-by-visualization rather than knowing-by-calculation. Yes, the calculations are all there, but the authors are not content with that. They go into the nitty-gritty type of understanding that seems to be absent in most books on this subject.
Which brings me to the next point: diagrams. This book may contain more diagrams than any other comprable book I've seen (except for the behemoth called "Gravitation", but with the case of the telephone book, half the diagrams are wasteful; do we REALLY need to see a picture of firecracker's world line or yet another picture of Newton?). The diagrams are numerous and effective. Kudos. I wish more authors paid as much attention to visualization.
The authors took a very difficult subject and wrote an extremely accessible and well written book on it. If you are a student of high energy physics, or simply want to see someone masterfully write on the subject, this book deserves a place on your bookshelf. Again, for certain values of "you".
I'm still in the process of reading this book, but one fault I can find is that I wish the index was a bit more extensive. However, that's small-fry compared to what makes this book great.
Define "Introduction".......2005-05-06
If you're into reading about physics but don't have the maths to back it up, this isn't the book for you. This "introduction" is probably aimed at university physics students. I am without a university physics education and am finding the book almost as hard as reading a Japanese newspaper. As with reading a Japanese newspaper, the pictures help a lot. I don't feel I'm getting enough to "rate" the book, but I can warn others as innumerate as myself.
Update: I've made it ~halfway through. There's a great deal of uncertainty as to what I'm actually understanding as opposed to what I'm just filling-in with intuitive fictions. But I can live with that (as we all must at some point).
Book Description
1906. A review of Carpenter's essays on modern science reads: Edward Carpenter is a seer. So say those who know him best; and the reader of this little volume of essays, in which he has put his ripest thoughts, will be inclined to agree with that judgment. He sees into things farther than other men, and has the faculty of looking through the crust of convention and artificiality in which the modern world is embedded. The title of the first essay, which also entitles the book, is a bold one, and suggests the author's aim. He holds that the rather indefinite thing which we mean by civilization has, if used in the definite thing which we mean by civilization has, if used in the definite sense adopted by writers on primitive society, obscured the real life of man and brought about an unhealthy change in the structure of human society. In its historic evolution he finds that these bad changes have coincident with the growth of property and the ideas flowing from it. And he goes on to argue that the social life of the wilder races is more harmonious and compact than that of civilized nations. It may sound startling and paradoxical to say this, but the reader who dismisses such theories as absurd will regret that he has not followed the argument through. Contents: Civilization: Its Cause and Cure; Modern Science: A Criticism; The Science of the Future: A Forecast; Defense of Criminals: A Criticism of Morality; Exfoliation: Lamarck versus Darwin; Custom; and A Rational and Humane Science. See other titles by this author available from Kessinger Publishing.
Customer Reviews:
A hidden classic.......2000-08-23
I read the most incredible book today. It was entitled, "civilazation its Cause and Cure". It was able to articulate many of the thoughts I have and suspect in the dawn of a new awakening many other spiritually progressive people are also having. Mr. Edward Carpenter speaks of civilization as a disease. Disease is the opposite of health, and health when traced back to its roots has several meanings, among them: unity, wholeness, togetherness, oneness, and holiness. Civilzation is something that creeped into the spirit of man and made him unwhole, and unhealthy. He turned his back on himself, on his mother earth, on his community, on his spirit, and on his god. Man developed possesions and a jealousy of those possesions. He became so fully consumed with them that he had no time to develop spiritually. He lost himself. He began to suspect his neighbors, with feirce jealousy he gaurded his possesions, for he "knew" that every one was trying to take what was his. Everyone of his neighbors became an enemy, he lost his community. In order to protect his possesions he built a shelter to house them in. Locked up tight from the outside he seperated himself from mother earth and from god. He had lost who he was. He become disunited from himself and his elements, he was civilized, he had become diseased. Is this a mistake? Has man fowled so terribly he will never return to innocence? Mr. Carpenter says "no". It is not a mistake, in fact it is vital to man's evolution, for to truly know himself, he must deny himself. He must turn on himself, he must forget himself. And having done so, having become sick in disorder and disease he must the cast off the veil of ignorance and begin to seek the health he once denied. He must cure the disease. And the cure is found beyond civilaztion. The cure is a return to nature, a return to the self, and a return to god. The cure, developed it the arms of mother earth, away from the pulling and knashing of civilization, in a place where nature is untouched, where the animals play about the trees fearlessly, and the sole of your foot can sink deep into the soft wet soil with which you were once so well accustomed, The cure is to, as the greates nations of the world have stressed but failed, the cure it to know thy self. The cure is the two most important words ever spoken by mankind, "KNOW THY SELF".
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- Genes and Genomes: A Changing Perspective
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