5 comments about Providence Of A Sparrow: Lessons from a Life Gone to the Birds.

1. This is the most interesting book I have ever read (and I belong to 3 Book Clubs), so I read A LOT! I am admittedly a bird lover, but this book struck my heart. I have never written a review to Amazon, but this book is so special that I have to shout READ IT!!!! It will change your life. It blew me away. Amazing! Can't let it go....day after day, it reminds me of what life is all about. Saw Telegraph Hill. Doesn't compare. This is real. Heartrending. Intelligent. This book will keep you spellbound. A sure winner for book clubs, and anyone who wants to read a truly FABULOUS book.



2. I am so much richer for having read this book. It is lyrical and profound; funny and witty. The intelligence of the writer and of "B" his bird amazed me. I can't look at life the same way I always have, since reading it. Thank you Chris for writing this book.



3. Here is wisdom, a profound and insightful exposition of the world and its avian and human inhabitants. Chester's depth of spirit, breadth of knowledge, and width of insight are breathtaking. Read this book slowly and lovingly and you will like yourself and your neighbors better.



4. I found myself crying several times while reading Providence of a Sparrow, struck by the honesty, humor and insight of Chris's writing. It is not a book about Sparrows; rather what lessons can be learned from nature. A wonderful read for anyone who loves the natural world, has every suffered from depression, or believes that some of the most profound lessons in life can be gleaned from the most unlikely of places.
   
   Tragically, Chris Chester died a horrendous death not too long ago. Although this book is not for everyone it, I can assure you it carries a message that we could all stand to hear.



5. I loved, loved, loved this book. I love all things "animal" and was especially moved by the special bond between bird and man. I'm not going to loan this book out for fear that it won't be returned.

2 comments about Their Day in the Sun: Women of the Manhattan Project (Labor and Social Change).

1. This work chronicles the role that women played in the Manhatten project during World War II in the fields of mathematics, chemistry, physics, health biology, etc. It also provides an interesting account of the role of women in the physics discoveries during the early twentieth century which made the development of nuclear weapons possible.

   This book is especially valuable since this information has not been treated in any kind of systematic way in any previous historical accounts of the Manhatten project.




2. Although attempts to profile female contributions to great undertakings are appreciated, ýTheir day in the sun,ý is fundamentally flawed by the authorsý bias toward academic, primarily physicist, researchers and by the authorsý failure to understand the mechanisms and downstream effects of Manhattan Project technologies. This has lead to a poorly organized document that spends pages on the contributions of a truck driver, secretary, or clerk whose husband was a Los Alamos or Chicago Met Lab physicist while ignoring the contributions of the tens of thousands of women who worked at other facilities, often in professional scientific or engineering capabilities. This is partially due to the uniqueness and historic significance of the atom bomb. However, other successes growing out of the Manhattan Project touch our lives every day: the medical isotopes that delineate a blocked heart artery, the separations that make good vaccines and new plastics possible, and the nuclear power reactors that remain our cleanest electric energy generators.

   The authors indicate that the limitations on their research imposed by the availability of published documents or potential interviewees were responsible for their omissions. However, in preparing reviews of the technology developed at a variety of Manhattan Project sites, my working group found reasonable access to both people and written records. Also, epidemiological researchers who have evaluated clinical effects, mortality, and morbidity of Manhattan project staff have been able to contact significant portions of former workers. Recent epidemiological studies of ýfemaleý illnesses (e. g., breast cancer) make the omission of the bulk of the Manhattan Projectýs female staff for reasons other than bias or intellectual laxness difficult to understand.

1 comments about English Syntax: A Grammar for English Language Professionals.

1. I think one only needs to notice the 4+ spelling errors in the Editorial Review to assess the quality of this book.

1 comments about Rabi: Scientist and Citizen (Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Series).

1. My Life and Times as a Physicist is an autobiographical link. I would rate this higher as the research is very good and well footnoted, but I feel the work Dr. Rabi did is not well represented using words alone as so much of it involves quantum mechanical equations and field equations. He can say it was difficult to believe the magnetic moment of the proton in words all he likes, but that until we associated the proton with the Gell-Mann quark group SU(3) or Cartan A_2 in the 60's, we just had no real idea of why?! Dr. Rabi wasn't named among the Los Alamos scientists, but was there as Oppenheimer's true friend.
   In point of fact Mathematical Physics loses a lot when the mathematics is left out.

5 comments about One Giant Leap: Neil Armstrong's Stellar American Journey.

1. The book cover tells us that Wagener was a journalist for 30 years. This book makes me wonder what kind of journalist he was. The book is full of inaccuracies. Some examples: he calls cosmonaut Alexi Leonov Alexi Leonor; he states that Christa McAuliffe was selected as the Teacher in Space because she won a "Why I Want to Go Into Space" essay. (cheapening her hard work and ultimate sacrifice); he writes the shuttle's solid rocket boosters fall into the ocean and are never used again even though they are recovered, refurbished, and reused. There is no documentation for statements he makes that contradict other records. This is poorly written and researched book. I have told my wife, who is the director of our local library, not to waste money buying the book. I won't donate my copy to the library. Ignore the book and read the books written by those who were a part of the effort of going to the moon.



2. What a terrible biography! Leon Wagener's book is full of inaccuracies, is based upon "interviews" conducted with those tied to Armstrong that many of the interviewees claim never occurred, and is yet another shameful example of a writer with marginal talent propagating the same tired, FALSE urban legends about the first man on the Moon that have been circulating for decades. I look forward to the day when Mr. Armstrong will allow a true writer to accurately and justly tell his remarkable story. Leon Wagoner should stick to his day job as a writer for Star Magazine!



3. If you want to know about Neil Armstrong - the real man, not the man conjured up in some author's mind - read "First Man" by James Hansen. Hansen actually sat down for 50+ hours of interviews with Armstrong himself.
   
   As they say - "from the horse's mouth".



4. I found this book similar to modern movies that are all special effects and no substance. Almost everything is told in an over dramatic way. The author tries to build excitement by creating it himself, rather than just telling the story. This book pales in comparison with astronaut Michael Collin's excellent autobiography, "Carrying the Fire".



5. The author seems to have prided himself on his research and cites where he gets most of his information right in the text. This style disrupts the story telling, at least for me. But all in all, the book did a good job of telling the story of Neil Armstrong - the first man on the moon. I have not read any other biographies of Armstrong, but compared with biographies of other astronauts this book is fair.

No comments about OF MICROBES AND MEN: The Emotions, Drama and Mystery of a Struggle to Correct a 125-year-old Mistake and Improve Our Defenses Against Epidemics and Bioterrorism.

2 comments about The Life of Benjamin Banneker: The First African-American Man of Science.

1. A great read for my six and eight-year old grandsons and me. This biography briefly but clearly covered several areas of history: colonialism, slavery, scientific works of more than 200 years ago. It told of Banneker's many accomplishments,focusing mainly on his producing the first known almanac by an African-American and his correspondence with Thomas Jefferson over the unfairness of slavery in America. We learned what an almanac is and how important it was in colonial days. The book mentions how Banneker's grandmother, Molly, taught him to read and this led my grandsons and I to another biography, "Molly Bannaky", the story of Banneker's grandmother, written by Alice McGill. We had fun researching Banneker's family tree in this way. What I especially liked about the book was the quiet message I hope my grandsons grasped, that if you keep trying hard enough, you can accomplish many goals in your life and have a richer life for it.



2. . Why is there a DC high school named for Benjamin Banneker? If you read this book, you will find out that this local-boy-made-good was a free African-American tobacco farmer who was born and lived his entire life just outside of what is now known as Ellicott City, MD. He had an early interest in mathematics, science, and astronomy, and with a pocket knife and some other tools built one of the first clocks ever made in the 13 American colonies, out of wood. For this he became locally famous, and made friends with some of the younger members of the Ellicott family, who were Quakers, anti-slavery advocates, and owners of some mills in what was then known as Ellicott's Mills. They lent him some mathematics and astronomy texts, and eventually gave him a telescope. He taught himself a considerable amount of mathematical and observational astronomy, and eventually began, around the age of 60, to publish an almanac detailing the locations of the planets and the Moon for the coming year, as well as predicting eclipses and sunrises and sunsets - all based on laborious and lengthy calculations and diagrams that he made himself.

   Eventually, he was tapped for an even greater role - he was hired to help Major Andrew Ellicott in the astronomical and chronometric portion of the most important surveying job of his day - laying out the 10 mile by 10 mile square that eventually became the District of Columbia.

   This very well-researched book also helps lay to rest some of the myths about what Banneker did and did not do during his most unusual lifetime; unfortunately, many websites and books continue to propagate these myths, probably because those authors do not understand what Banneker actually accomplished. Many state, for example, that Banneker's clock was an exact copy of one he saw, which is not true -- he figured out the mathematics and physics on his own for a clock made out of wood, instead of trying simply to copy the small pocket watch that he was lent to observe. However remarkable this clock was, it was not the first clock made in America. Other sources continually repeat the myth that when Pierre l'Enfant was fired from the job of laying out the new Federal City, Benjamin Banneker recreated l'Enfant's plans from memory. Bedini lays this myth to rest and shows us that what Banneker actually did in terms of astronomical work was actually much more difficult -- in fact, it was in the league of the work done by Mechain and Delambre to measure the length of the meridian that passes through Dunkirk, Paris and Barcelona, with the purpose of defining the meter for all time. But that's another story -- but if you want to read about it, check out Ken Alder's The Measure of All Things: The Seven-Year Odyssey and Hidden Error that Transformed The World.

   If you read this book, you will also see some facsimiles of his widely-known almanac, some of his correspondence with Thomas Jefferson where he vainly attempts to convince the future president that African Americans are just as smart as European Americans, photographs of some of the equipment that he used, and so on. Unfortunately, Banneker's house, and all of its contents (including the wooden clock and many of his astronomical workbooks) burned to the ground on the day of his funeral.

No comments about The Last Wali of Swat.

1 comments about Hans Von Ohain: Elegance in Flight (General Publication).

1. Hans von Ohain, shares with Frank Whittle, the credit for independently developing the first viable jet engine. As von Ohain is quoted as saying (pp. 35-36) -
   
   "If I would have looked through the literature on the gas turbine, including the patents, I would have found that there was really nothing new, and my enthusiasm would have been dampened. The turbojet was therefore not a complete novelty. Since I was not familiar with its past history, it was a novelty for me. It helped me not to know what already had been done.
   
   "The Frenchman Guillaume, as I learned much, much later, obtained a patent (international) in 1921, long before anybody else. (It was) on the axial flow compressor, a combustor, and on the turbine to drive the compressor and an exhaust nozzle very much like that of Lorin's ramjet invention of 1913. (He had) already invented the axial flow turbojet engine! Good that I didn't know!"
   
   Here, however, von Ohain was being too modest. As Edward Constant wrote in Genesis N + 1: The origins of the Turbo-Jet revolution
   
   "One myth first needs debunking. The word "invention" appears rarely here; "patent" even more rarely. The turbo-jet was "created." As mentioned, reaction propulsion devices were discussed -as early as the seventeenth century, and numerous devices were patented during the First World War. Indeed, in 1921, a Frenchman named Charles Guillaume patented a complete axial-flow turbo-jet in very nearly its modern form. There was one small difference": Guillaume's patent drawings, in addition to showing the expected compressor, combustion chamber, and turbine, also show, protruding from the front of the engine, a very large manual starting crank. One wonders how aeronautical engineers would have streamlined that. Guillaume's concept, in short, although of the same configuration as a turbo-jet, could not have been further from the valid scientific assumptions that made the turbo-jet a practical possibility. To say that he "invented" the turbojet in any meaningful sense is absurd. Such is true of most antique patents of modern devices. Legalistic quibbling over "invention," "patenting," and "priority" has no relevance here. What matters is actual creation of the turbo-jet and the revolution it ignited."
   
   Once again, quoting Constant-
   
   "Only two men held uncompromisingly to the turbo-jet: Frank Whittle in England and Hans von Ohain in Germany. One other man, Herbert Wagner, also in Germany, initiated an inquiry that led less directly to the turbo-jet, while ... Helmut Schelp, also arrived at the turbo-jet conclusion and promoted a government sponsored turbo-jet program. Finally, a turbo-prop project in England initiated by A. A. Griffith evolved fairly early into a turbo-jet. Those five men created the turbo-jet, were the provocateurs of the turbo-jet revolution. They used prior technology; certain preconditions were perhaps requisite to their work. But theirs personally was the turbo-jet."
   
   There is no doubt that von Ohain had a brilliant and fertile mind as did Whittle. Whittle, of lower middle class background, was trained as an RAF mechanic, became and engineer and them studied the basic sciences. In contrast, von Ohain's family was of the Prussian military aristocracy. His PhD was in physics and learned engineering on the job as described in pp. 58-59
   
   "In a book of cartoons and doggerel poetry made up as a joke by his coworkers in these early months with Heinkel, von Ohain is cited in the ... ABC with this couplet:
   
   "P- "Pabst is ein Erfindermann
   doch er niGht konstruieren kann.
   
   "Pabst is an inventor
   But he can't build anything.
   
   "Von Ohain said:
   
   "When I worked with the brothers Gunter, I really converted myself completely to what you may call a self-made engineer. I sat down and studied engineering very, very intensively. I knew fluid mechanics very well from Prandtl's lectures. I knew a little bit about stress analysis, so when Prandtl recommended that I get very familiar with stress problems it wasn't difficult for me to apply this knowledge to design of the turbojet. I think that after two years I could cope and compete with any mechanical engineer with respect to engineering design. I think I became a very good engineer."
   
   Von Ohain, in contrast to Whittle found himself excellent academic mentors one of which, arranged for von Ohain to meet Ernst Heinkel who became von Ohain's employer and funder until 1945. This arrangement ensured that von Ohain's work could move ahead rapidly while Whittle languished lacking money, staff, decent facilities or any real sign of interest from the British authorities. One serious lack, they both faced, was of proper component test facilities.
   
   Whittle's decision that the gas turbine was the way of the future, and his conceptual design work date from 1929 while that of von Ohain began in the fall of 1933. Neither had any knowledge of the other's work. Due mainly to Heinkel's support they were neck and neck by 1937 and had built up a substantial lead by 1939. As Constant wrote-
   
   "Heinkel hired von Ohain, then only 24, and Max Hahn, and set them up in a small shop at the Heinkel works.... Work began in April 1936, just a month after Whittle began work, and the von Ohain engine was first run in March, 1937, the same month the Whittle engine was first run.... Von Ohain's, choice of hydrogen as an experimental fuel largely accounted for the nearly two-year development lead he had built up by late 1939."
   
   According to the book (p. 59), the brilliant decision by von Ohain to use hydrogen was due to his strong scientific background.
   
   "In view of the political climate, his tenuous position in the corporation and, most of all, the great impatience of Heinkel, von Ohain could not first develop a well-functioning combustor and then begin an engine design. From previous experience ... it was clear that a poorly functioning combustor could result in a nonfunctioning engine. This could mean the end of the turbojet project. He changed to a two-fold approach. In phase one he would quickly build a simple jet engine of minimum risk using gaseous hydrogen as fuel in order to demonstrate the jet principle in a convincing and impressive manner. Von Ohain was convinced that he could win time to systematically complete a combustor for gasoline if the hydrogen engine was successful.... Von Ohain said that his knowledge of physics brought him to the decision to use hydrogen to run the demonstration engine .... Hydrogen had known properties of high diffusion and flame velocity, plus a wide fuel-air concentration range over which combustion was possible. Von Ohain designed a hydrogen combustor that he was sure would function well and not need time-consuming pretests...."
   
   The character of von Ohain, as portrayed in this book, is of a man possessing humility, honesty and a good sense of humor who had little difficulty winning people's cooperation and loyalty and could delegate effectively. From Whittle's autobiography, I got the impression of a man perpetually tense, humorless, with a gift for alienating people and a micromanager.
   
   There are three areas in which the book is weak
   
   1. Why, for all his brilliance, did the German government decide to produce the Jumo and BMW jet engines in preference to the von Ohain engines?
   
   2. How could such a moral and intelligent man build jet engines for the evil Nazi regime? and,
   
   3. The literary quality of the writing is mediocre, almost naive.

1 comments about The New York Subway: Its Construction and Equipment.

1. If you ever wanted to build your own subway system, this is the book for you! Seriously, this book is the book to have if you are a fan of the NYC subway. It is packed with engineering detail.