Physics on the Fringe - Smoke Rings, Circlons, and Alternative Theories of Everything

This cohesive book begins with the wavefunction to develop the basic principles of quantum mechanics such as the uncertainty principle and wave-particle duality. Comprehensive coverage of quantum theory is presented, supported by experimental results and explained through applications and examples without the use of abstract and complex mathematical tools or formalisms. From there, the book:

• Takes the mystery out of the Schrodinger equation, the fundamental equation of quantum physics, by applying it to atoms

• Shows how quantum mechanics explains the periodic table of elements

• Introduces the quantum mechanical concept of spin and spin quantum number, along with Pauli's Exclusion Principle regarding the occupation of quantum states

• Addresses quantum states of molecules in terms of rotation and vibration of diatomic molecules

• Explores the interface between classical statistical mechanics and quantum statistical mechanics

• Discusses quantum mechanics as a common thread through different fields of nanoscience and nanotechnology

Each chapter features real-world applications of one or more quantum mechanics principles. "Study Checkpoints" and problems with solutions are presented throughout to make difficult concepts easy to understand. In addition, pictures, tables, and diagrams with full explanations are used to present data and further explain difficult concepts.

“A work of pop linguistics . . . [that] synthesizes . . . grammar, branding, cognitive science and Web theory . . . with intelligence and friendly wit.”—New York Times

In this sweeping and deeply imagined historical novel, acclaimed classicist Victor Davis Hanson re-creates the battles of one of the greatest generals of ancient Greece, Epaminondas. At the Battle of Leuktra, his Thebans crushed the fearsome army of Sparta that had enslaved its neighbors for two centuries.

We follow these epic historical events through the eyes of M�lon, a farmer who has left his fields to serve with Epaminondas-swept up, against his better judgment, in the fever to spread democracy even as he yearns to return to his pastoral hillside.

With a scholar's depth of knowledge and a novelist's vivid imagination, Hanson re-creates the ancient world down to its intimate details-from the weight of a spear in a soldier's hand to the peculiar camaraderie of a slave and master who go into battle side by side. The End of Sparta is a stirring drama and a rich, absorbing reading experience.

Praise for Victor Davis Hanson:

"I have never read another book that explains so well the truth that 'war lies in the dark hearts of us all' but that history offers hope."-William Shawcross on The Father of Us All

"Few writers cover both current events and history-and none with the brilliance and erudition of Victor Davis Hanson."-Max Boot on The Father of Us All

In Reinventing Discovery, Michael Nielsen argues that we are living at the dawn of the most dramatic change in science in more than 300 years. This change is being driven by powerful new cognitive tools, enabled by the internet, which are greatly accelerating scientific discovery. There are many books about how the internet is changing business or the workplace or government. But this is the first book about something much more fundamental: how the internet is transforming the nature of our collective intelligence and how we understand the world.

Reinventing Discovery tells the exciting story of an unprecedented new era of networked science. We learn, for example, how mathematicians in the Polymath Project are spontaneously coming together to collaborate online, tackling and rapidly demolishing previously unsolved problems. We learn how 250,000 amateur astronomers are working together in a project called Galaxy Zoo to understand the large-scale structure of the Universe, and how they are making astonishing discoveries, including an entirely new kind of galaxy. These efforts are just a small part of the larger story told in this book--the story of how scientists are using the internet to dramatically expand our problem-solving ability and increase our combined brainpower.

This is a book for anyone who wants to understand how the online world is revolutionizing scientific discovery today--and why the revolution is just beginning.