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Why things are the way they are
difficult to imagine at times that alternative are possible. Secondly, explanations although the analysis in Making Sense of Illness constantly refers to controversies over how diseases are classified, named and described, there is never an explicit attempt to show how that language works. Do words only refer to other words, the position taken by the wilder reaches of postmodemism, or do they refer to ‘real’ entities, although in a shifting manner? If the latter, how is an expert language community created in the medical sciences? In this respect, something on how classification systems are institutionalized, and how they are spread via medical education, the practice of death registration, and so on, would have been useful. On the whole, this is an excellent introduction to some key issues in medical science and the doctor-client relationship, written with style, passion and an evident concern for the public good and the needs of the author’s patients. Eddy Higgs
Why Things Are the Way They Are by B.S. Chandrasekhar Cambridge University Press, 1998. E14.95 paperback (x + 254 pages) ISBN 0 521 45660 6 This book is intended for a general reader with a curious and open mind, who wants to know - as the title of the book says - why the things and materials we see, touch and use every day really are the way they are, why they look and feel the way they do. Instead of writing a book on solid-state physics that is understandable only to a physicist, the objective of the author is ambitious: to let a reader with no background in physics or higher mathematics get an understanding of the fundamental principles of condensed-matter physics, that is, the quantum mechanical picture of matter, which appears in everyday life as the macroscopic properties of solids we can easily observe: hardness, colour, transparency. temperature, electric conductivity, magnetism and so on. The reader is expected to know only the basic arithmetic. For those not familiar with the mathematics required in physics, the author first gives a helping hand by introducing the principles of the algebraic symbol notation and equations, as well as the scientific number format making use of the exponential notation. The rest of the book can be divided into two parts. ‘The first half, Chapters II to VI, develops the quantum mechanical formalism of solids, which is then applied in the second half, Chapters VII to XII, to explain the various properties of solids. The book starts by explaining the structure of solids as crystal lattices with certain symmetries. It next introduces the basic
Copyright
0 1998 Elsevier
Science
properties of particles and waves, such as mass, momentum, energy and frequency, and then illustrates the principles of the quantum mechanical approach: waveparticle duality, quantization of energy, and wave functions. The book proceeds to describe the structure of the atom, its energy levels and the various quantum numbers that relevance. After their and Chandrasekhar introduces another important tool - statistical physics - and discusses the connection between energy and temperature, and concepts such as fermions, bosons and the Pauli exclusion principle. Finally, to combine all these aspects, the quantum mechanical description of solids metals, insulators and semiconductors - is presented: the energy band structure, electron waves and phonons. Readers who have gone this far can now find a reward for their efforts, in the next chapters of the book. They have attractive titles: ‘Copper wires and glass rods’, ‘Silver spoons and plastic spoons’, ‘Glass panes and aluminium foils’, ‘Electric bulbs and insulated cables’, ‘Magnets’ and ‘Superconductors’. These chapters explain the origins of mechanical, thermal, optical, electrical and magnetic properties, and the resulting differences between metals and insulators. The way of presentation is interesting and illustrative, and the results are often supported by practical examples. Despite an odd choice of units, the author has succeeded pretty well, without having to make extensive compromises and sacrifices that would noticeably disturb the logic and the accuracy of the text. Provided that the author’s target readers have sufficient persistence and do not get tired of lots of repetition and thorough explanations, they will find the book entertaining and informative. Theirs should be the final judgement on this book.
Ltd. All right resewed.
E. Noponen
A History of Aerodynamics and Its Impact on Plying Machines by John D. Anderson, Jr Cambridge University Press, 1997. f60.00 hardback (xii + 478 pages) ISBN 0 52145435 2
Airplane Stability and Control: A History of the Technologies That Made Aviation Possible by Malcolm J. Abzug and E. Eugene Larrabee Cambridge University Press, 1997. s40.00 hardback (xiv + 373 pages) ISBN 0 521 55236 2 A History of Aerodynamics is a book to enjoy; it has an interest and clarity that will certainly appeal to the cosmopolitan audience whom Professor Anderson seeks to attract. His achievement is to break out of
0160-9327/98/$19.00.
the mould of much history of flight, encyclopaedic and informative though this may be. He restricts himself to aerodynamics and, indeed, focuses on the primary elements of lift and drag, in order to make clear the structure of his material and to stimulate his readers’ critical approach to fields beyond the scope of this work. Anderson’s students will not be surprised at the publication of the History; a number of his aerodynamics textbooks have been characterized by historical comment and biographical detail which complement the analytical material in these earlier works. In the History: he now employs his secondary interests to interpret the seminal developments in his field. He explores the relationship between theoretical and experimental aerodynamics and examines how far they contributedif at all - to the creation of representative flying machines. His approach is implicitly Socratic: ‘What was the state of the art of aerodynamics at the time of Leonardo da Vinci and how much of it was reflected in his omithopter of 1490?’ Anderson begins in the 4th century BC, concepts from Aristotle and with Archimedes, but he moves rapidly through to the 17th and 18th centuries for which the insights of Galileo and Newton, Bernoulli and Euler are set beside the achievements of Cayley’s hand-launched glider of 1804. He reveals the philosophical chasm of the early years, as between the aerodynamic theorists and the inventors of practical machines. This gulf remained to the end of the 19th century: the Navier-Stokes equations describing viscous fluid flow had been formulated but were unusable, Osborne Reynold’s work on turbulence had been published but was quite unknown to the practical men. Technology transfer was a problem. But Anderson is not dismissive of the work of lesser-known names: he gives due credit to the experimentalists, such as Wenham and Phillips for the development of wind tunnels even though he is critical of their interpretation of the test results. To Otto Lilienthal, however, he awards the accolade, for his experimental work on cambered aerofoils and for his application of the results to the design of practical gliders - some of which were even sold to the public. December 17th 1903 marks for Anderson the event which provoked the eventual convergence of theory and practice. The Wright brothers’ achievement of heavier-than-air, powered and manned flight not only confirmed that such flight was possible; it also caught the imagination of the theorists. Their research interests were increasingly driven by the problems of efficient flight and their commitment to practical outcomes was a necessary condition for the developments of the 20th century. Prandtl’s exploration of supersonic flow while contemporary flight achieved speeds of no more than 40mph was prophetic of a new relationship. The Histov carries us into the Age of
Endeavour
Vol. 22(3) 1998
133
Why Things Are the Way They Are by B.S. Chandrasekhar Cambridge University Press, 1998. E14.95 paperback (x + 254 pages) ISBN 0 521 45660 6 This book is intended for a general reader with a curious and open mind, who wants to know - as the title of the book says - why the things and materials we see, touch and use every day really are the way they are, why they look and feel the way they do. Instead of writing a book on solid-state physics that is understandable only to a physicist, the objective of the author is ambitious: to let a reader with no background in physics or higher mathematics get an understanding of the fundamental principles of condensed-matter physics, that is, the quantum mechanical picture of matter, which appears in everyday life as the macroscopic properties of solids we can easily observe: hardness, colour, transparency. temperature, electric conductivity, magnetism and so on. The reader is expected to know only the basic arithmetic. For those not familiar with the mathematics required in physics, the author first gives a helping hand by introducing the principles of the algebraic symbol notation and equations, as well as the scientific number format making use of the exponential notation. The rest of the book can be divided into two parts. ‘The first half, Chapters II to VI, develops the quantum mechanical formalism of solids, which is then applied in the second half, Chapters VII to XII, to explain the various properties of solids. The book starts by explaining the structure of solids as crystal lattices with certain symmetries. It next introduces the basic
Copyright
0 1998 Elsevier
Science
properties of particles and waves, such as mass, momentum, energy and frequency, and then illustrates the principles of the quantum mechanical approach: waveparticle duality, quantization of energy, and wave functions. The book proceeds to describe the structure of the atom, its energy levels and the various quantum numbers that relevance. After their and Chandrasekhar introduces another important tool - statistical physics - and discusses the connection between energy and temperature, and concepts such as fermions, bosons and the Pauli exclusion principle. Finally, to combine all these aspects, the quantum mechanical description of solids metals, insulators and semiconductors - is presented: the energy band structure, electron waves and phonons. Readers who have gone this far can now find a reward for their efforts, in the next chapters of the book. They have attractive titles: ‘Copper wires and glass rods’, ‘Silver spoons and plastic spoons’, ‘Glass panes and aluminium foils’, ‘Electric bulbs and insulated cables’, ‘Magnets’ and ‘Superconductors’. These chapters explain the origins of mechanical, thermal, optical, electrical and magnetic properties, and the resulting differences between metals and insulators. The way of presentation is interesting and illustrative, and the results are often supported by practical examples. Despite an odd choice of units, the author has succeeded pretty well, without having to make extensive compromises and sacrifices that would noticeably disturb the logic and the accuracy of the text. Provided that the author’s target readers have sufficient persistence and do not get tired of lots of repetition and thorough explanations, they will find the book entertaining and informative. Theirs should be the final judgement on this book.
Ltd. All right resewed.
E. Noponen
A History of Aerodynamics and Its Impact on Plying Machines by John D. Anderson, Jr Cambridge University Press, 1997. f60.00 hardback (xii + 478 pages) ISBN 0 52145435 2
Airplane Stability and Control: A History of the Technologies That Made Aviation Possible by Malcolm J. Abzug and E. Eugene Larrabee Cambridge University Press, 1997. s40.00 hardback (xiv + 373 pages) ISBN 0 521 55236 2 A History of Aerodynamics is a book to enjoy; it has an interest and clarity that will certainly appeal to the cosmopolitan audience whom Professor Anderson seeks to attract. His achievement is to break out of
0160-9327/98/$19.00.
the mould of much history of flight, encyclopaedic and informative though this may be. He restricts himself to aerodynamics and, indeed, focuses on the primary elements of lift and drag, in order to make clear the structure of his material and to stimulate his readers’ critical approach to fields beyond the scope of this work. Anderson’s students will not be surprised at the publication of the History; a number of his aerodynamics textbooks have been characterized by historical comment and biographical detail which complement the analytical material in these earlier works. In the History: he now employs his secondary interests to interpret the seminal developments in his field. He explores the relationship between theoretical and experimental aerodynamics and examines how far they contributedif at all - to the creation of representative flying machines. His approach is implicitly Socratic: ‘What was the state of the art of aerodynamics at the time of Leonardo da Vinci and how much of it was reflected in his omithopter of 1490?’ Anderson begins in the 4th century BC, concepts from Aristotle and with Archimedes, but he moves rapidly through to the 17th and 18th centuries for which the insights of Galileo and Newton, Bernoulli and Euler are set beside the achievements of Cayley’s hand-launched glider of 1804. He reveals the philosophical chasm of the early years, as between the aerodynamic theorists and the inventors of practical machines. This gulf remained to the end of the 19th century: the Navier-Stokes equations describing viscous fluid flow had been formulated but were unusable, Osborne Reynold’s work on turbulence had been published but was quite unknown to the practical men. Technology transfer was a problem. But Anderson is not dismissive of the work of lesser-known names: he gives due credit to the experimentalists, such as Wenham and Phillips for the development of wind tunnels even though he is critical of their interpretation of the test results. To Otto Lilienthal, however, he awards the accolade, for his experimental work on cambered aerofoils and for his application of the results to the design of practical gliders - some of which were even sold to the public. December 17th 1903 marks for Anderson the event which provoked the eventual convergence of theory and practice. The Wright brothers’ achievement of heavier-than-air, powered and manned flight not only confirmed that such flight was possible; it also caught the imagination of the theorists. Their research interests were increasingly driven by the problems of efficient flight and their commitment to practical outcomes was a necessary condition for the developments of the 20th century. Prandtl’s exploration of supersonic flow while contemporary flight achieved speeds of no more than 40mph was prophetic of a new relationship. The Histov carries us into the Age of
Endeavour
Vol. 22(3) 1998
133