Boojums All the Way through: Communicating Science in a Prosaic Age
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | 4.64 (963 Votes) |
| Asin | : | 0521388805 |
| Format Type | : | paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 332 Pages |
| Publish Date | : | 2016-09-19 |
| Language | : | English |
DESCRIPTION:
"covers an astonishing broad rangeMermin is a natural philosopher par excellence" Physics World"A warm, human, and humane view of physics." American Mathematical Monthly"From the outset, Mermin's writing is fluid, interesting and most of all, fun! Mermin's humorous talents are indicative of his creative abilities and deep understanding of his subject. At times one is tempted to reflect upon other skilled communicators, and flattering parallels with Feynman, for example, are not unreasonable." Physics in Canada"David Mermin is one of those rather rare scientists who can write with cleverness and style delightful for browsing." Peter Franken, Physics Today"Readers from undergraduate science students to professional physicists and ma
J. Koelman said Cutting thru the very core of physics. This is a remarkable collection. Twenty-six essays by N.D. Mermin, Horace White Professor of Physics Emeritus at Cornell, and winner of the first Julias Edgar Lilienfeld prize of the American Physical Society 'for his remarkable clarity and wit as a lecturer to nonspecialists on difficult subjects'.This is the guy who managed to add the term "Boojum" to the vocabulary of physics, and who summarized the Copenhagen interpretation of quantum mechanics in just four words "Shut up and calculate". When reading this book, be prepared for more such gems. You will encounter deep truths abo. P. A. Lawless said Maybe not for an experienced scientist. Like one other reviewer, I bought the book to get Mermin's explanation of the Bell inequality. He did make that very clear, twice. In fact, that is my problem with the whole book. It is a collection of essays and presentations that have appeared elsewhere in stand-alone format. It is therefore to be expected that a lot of background material will be found multiple times. A little more editing would have smoothed the transitions and given the reader some idea why he had already seen these comments.The mathematical musings section is reminiscent of the best of Martin Gardener, playi. An idiosyncratic treasure I suppose the title of this book steers a lot of junior physics people away from it. The author's name should steer these people back. This is the Mermin that Feynman complemented on his popular exposition on Bell's inequality. In fact that is the reason why I read this thing. After Wheeler's Quantum Measurement's book and Berstein's Quantum Profile's book I had to see what all the hoopla was about. Sure enough Mermin is the king of popular exposition and I've been through a lot of popular exposition on Bell's inequalityfrom Pagels to Penrose. This book is loaded with other exposi
A well recognized theoretical physicist and winner of the first Julius Edgar Lilienfeld prize of the American Physical Society, Mermin writes with wry humor and conveys complex ideas with startling simplicity.. The author believes the tradition of bland and impersonal scientific writing over the past fifty years deprives scientists of powerful tools for enhancing their clarity and capacity to communicate complex ideas. Some addressed to a general audience, some to students and others to scientists, the essays all share a preoccupation with both the substance and the style of written scientific communication, and offer a unique view of everyday science or scientific practice with the intention of increased clarity for the reader. Boojums All the Way Through is a collection of essays that presents the dilemma of communicating m