1 comments about Systems Theory and Family Therapy: A Primer.

1. The Becvar's once again offer top-notch explanations of a sometimes difficult subject. This book is a must read for all individuals interested in integrating strong systems thinking and intervention into practice.

5 comments about Master Handbook of Acoustics.

1. A great book, but can be too advanced for some. A lot of physics is included - which is great - but perhaps some previous knowledge or some side reading is a good idea.
   
   Over all, excellent book, and a goldmine to buy.



2. There are two common definitions of the word "acoustics." The most general is "an area of physics dealing with sound and sound waves" and the second is "the qualities of a room that determine audibility and fidelity of sound in it." This book is a very good reference for the latter, but if you're looking for the former, look elsewhere. Also, I'm not sure I would describe it as a Handbook, but rather as a reference text.
   
   It is good for what it does cover and is relatively easy to read.



3. I have found this a very usefull and well written book. It is being used as a reference for a college course I am studying. It does require some knowledge of electronic principles but is clear and understandable. I would recommend it to any serious student of sound and acoustics.



4. this book is an excellent overview and introspection into the world of usable acoustics. it tends to focus on the applicable, everyday world of acoustics instead of the completely theoretical--which was a huge help in my Church production job.
   i highly recommend it as a reference text and background book to anyone in music production.



5. I haven't read the whole book, but from the excerpts I have read, Everest covers a very broad range of topics at at least an acceptable level. Any related topic I've wanted to look up so far has good and relevant material. I'd call this best studio/acoustics design reference book I've seen so far. Well worth the price.

5 comments about Six Degrees: The Science of a Connected Age (Open Market Edition).

1. I wrote this book review as an assignment for a class. Its intended audience was sociologists unfamiliar with network theory. The intended audience for the book though is much wider. If you want the math, read academic journals.
   
   In the first chapter of Six Degrees Duncan Watts notes that gossip, power outages, epidemics, even properties of the human brain such as consciousness are phenomena that may be understood as emerging from the interaction of their constituent elements. Through such examples, he calls attention to the broad applicability of his subject matter. Having provided this motivation, Watts spends much of first half of the book discussing what he knows best, "small world" networks. In the second half he presents a network perspective for a wide range of topics such as epidemics, externalities, speculation, social decision making, and organizations.
   
   Like many academics marketing books to non-academics, Watts skillfully weaves his personal story with the science. His personal story is not only provided to keep laymen interested. Watts is now a member of the sociology department at Columbia University, but one can't help but wonder whether he identifies as a sociologist? How would other members of the discipline respond to a youngster whose PhD is in theoretical and applied mechanics who may never have read Durkheim? His early collaborators were mathematicians, physicists, and computer scientists lodged in appropriate departments. Watts though, has become a strong proponent of interdisciplinary science, and he respectfully acknowledges research that has been done in anthropology, sociology, psychology and economics.
   
   His first foray in the social sciences was inspired by the "small world" phenomenon. When two people are surprised to learn they have mutual acquaintances, someone often says, "It's a small world." In 1967, social psychologist Stanley Milgram decided to investigate how small the world really is. He tasked randomly selected residents of Boston and Omaha with getting a letter to a stockbroker who lived in Massachusetts. The rule was, they could only send the letter to people they knew on a first name basis. Amazingly, the letters that reached their destination usually did it in just 6 steps. This finding was then misconstrued and became the urban legend that there are six degrees of separation between any two people. Despite the widespread interest in the small world phenomena, little progress was made understanding it over the next thirty years.
   
   Watts got interested in this problem when he was a graduate student in theoretical and applied mechanics. He and his advisor, Steven Strogatz, had been trying to understand how crickets' chirping becomes synchronized without a conductor cricket. Watts surmised that the timing of a cricket's chirp must be influenced by where it is located and the other crickets it is listening to. The ability to synchronize may depend on the structure of this network of crickets. The relationship between network structure and network phenomena such as synchronicity suddenly seemed broadly important, and he was surprised to learn how little mathematical attention it had garnered. Recalling the idea of "six degrees of separation," Watts and Strogatz turned to social networks and set about building simple models. Where Milgram had asked, "How small is the world?" they were now asking, "What does it take to make a world small?" This reframing of the problem was fundamental to the contribution they were to make.
   
   Watts and Strogatz settled on modeling just two facets of social networks. One was the "small world" aspect, quantified as average path length (the number of links required to connect two randomly chosen people). The second was clustering, the extent to which my friends overlap with my friends' friends. What makes small world networks surprising is that short path lengths and high clustering are inherently antagonistic. Paul Erd?s and Alfred R?nyi rigorously proved that path lengths are short in networks with no inclination towards increased clustering, a random graph in the parlance of mathematicians. At the opposite extreme, if everyone was friends with all of their friends' friends, short path lengths would be impossible (in fact social groups would be completely disconnected from each other). After countless computer simulations, Watts had two important results. The alpha model captured the small world balance of path length and clustering. The beta model showed that if a network was systematically clustered, to the point of fragmentation, just adding five random links (edges) halves the average path length. He then began acquiring and examining network data sets. Remarkably, Hollywood actor collaborations, the neurology of C. Elegans, the power grid of the Western United States, interlocking boards of directors and the world wide web are all small world networks.
   
   Next Watts reviews the work by L?zl? Barab?si, a physicist at the University of Notre Dame. His major contribution is research on scale free networks. Sociologists have long been concerned with questions surrounding the number of connections (degree) people have. Barab?si realized the importance of the degree distribution in a network. The degree distribution of many networks is approximately Poisson but Barabasi showed that the degree distribution of other important networks follows the highly skewed power-law. The distribution of wealth and the size of cities both fit this model. Furthermore he showed that this distribution will follow if the future growth rate is linearly related to the present size. This has obvious implications for these two examples and calls to mind Merton's Matthew Effect.
   
   Barab?si's book, Linked, is similar to Six Degrees in that is geared to the general public and reviews many of the most important advances in network scholarship. Do Watts and Barab?si overstate their case? Rather than get bogged down in the semantic debate that is likely to arise from the claim to a "new" science, we should appraise the value of this line of research. It clearly has potential but Watts himself sometimes alludes to the difficulties in achieving that potential. Watts' work is mostly theoretical. Six Degrees offers a thought provoking network perspective on many topics but little help harnessing the theory in empirical work. Appropriate data may be hard to come by. Perhaps Watts has provided ideas that creative empiricists will find ways to exploit, but there are methodological challenges that may prove to be stubborn.
   
   Despite some important exceptions such as Granovetter's Strength of Weak Ties sociologists have tended to take one of two approaches. One was to focus on the relationship between social structure and network structure. The other was to view network ties as sources of information or influence. This means exploring the association between position in a network, and a node's identity or power. Watts is right to call attention to the fact that these approaches usually ignored dynamics: changes in the network structure (changes in network connections), and what individuals do on the network (search for information, spread rumors, make decisions). Network data that captures these dynamics may be harder to come by.
   
   Furthermore, large detailed datasets may be limited by the computational power available. Even simple computer simulations can be very computationally demanding. Threshold models of decision making, discontinuous phase transitions and cascades - many of the fundamental concepts in the study of networks are nonlinear. Proving the existence of causal relationships is always a challenge but these complex systems make a hash of everything. The measured effect of an independent variable, on average or at the margin, tells us little about the importance of that variable.
   
   Despite a reasonable display of humility and respect, Watts should be criticized for the sociology he leaves out. Neither space limitations, nor a rush to publication can justify the gaps in his otherwise helpful recommendations for further reading. For example, Blau, Burt, Coleman, Homans, Laumann, Marwell and Oliver are conspicuously absent from the list. Perhaps this observation should not be overanalyzed but it does brings us back to how Watts will be received by sociologists and what impact he and scholars outside the discipline will have on sociology. It is hard for this reviewer to understand how anyone who reads this book could come away uncertain of the value of mathematics for theory development as well as empirical analysis. Model building can simplify and clarify, enhancing our intuition. Watts would never argue that all sociologists should drop what they're doing and begin running computer simulations, just that we should be open to such approaches. As he points out, "For any complex system, there are many simple models we can invent to understand its behavior. The trick is to pick the right one. And that requires us to think carefully, to know something about the essence of the real thing." Sociologists know something about the real thing. That's why we can't leave all the modeling to physicists and economists.



2. No more other words to say, I am really satisfied with the service!



3. We used this book in a doctoral seminar addressing shifting practices of "meaning making" in a networked society. It was the one book that everyone agreed was outstanding in all areas: aside from the depth and level of scholarship in Watts's work, he also has an extremely approachable style, one that will make the book useful to scholars and laymen alike.



4. Random Graph Theory: Image throwing a box full of buttons on a table and then choosing a pair of buttons at random and connect them with a piece of string. What would the buttons look like over a period of time. "In particular, what features could we prove that all such networks must have?" If you pickup one of the buttons what would be its connected component? "The fraction of the nodes connected in a single component change suddenly when the average number of links per node exceeds one." If we add enough thread so each button has one thread the fraction of the graph that occupied by the largest component suddenly jumps from almost zero to one. A phase transition from unconnected to connected and the point this happens is called the critical point. "Phase transitions of one sort or another occur in many complex systems and have been used to explain phenomena as diver as the onset of magnetization, the explosion of disease epidemics, and the propagation of fads. In the particular case, the phase transition is driven by the addition of a small number of links right near the critical point that have the effect of connecting many very small clusters into a single giant component, which then proceeds to swallow up all the other nodes until everything is connected." "So the presence of a giant component means that whatever happens at one location in the network has the potential to affect any other location." "The line between isolation and connectedness is thus an important threshold for the flow of information, disease, money, innovations, fads, social norms, and pretty much everything else that we care about in the moder society. The global connectivity should arrive not incrementally but in a sudden, dramatic jump tells us something deep and mysterious about the world." Almost everything we know about complex networks tells us that "they are not random." "Nevertheless, if we would like to understand the properties and behavior of real-world networks, the issue of nonrandom structure is one that eventually has to be faced."



5. This text is an introduction to the science of networks, addressed to the layman. In it, Duncan Watts sums up the most recent (until 2003) developments in network theory, offering summaries of actual scholarly papers written by him or other network scientists that an ordinary Joe would not otherwise have had the technical means to understand.
   This text goes a little deeper into theory than [[ASIN:0393324427 Nexus: Small Worlds and the Groundbreaking Theory of Networks], a feature which - in my view - puts it in the "introductory science books" category rather than in the "popular science" one.

5 comments about Resilience Thinking: Sustaining Ecosystems and People in a Changing World.

1. This is a great book. I've read several books on this topic, and so far, they have all had a similar issue: They are written by people who are scientists first, writers second. This book has two authors. One is a scientist and the other is a science writer. This made for a well put-together, understandable explanation of complex adaptive systems, which are what ecosystems are currently understood to be.
   
   The authors have done a few things to make the book great. First, they have broken the topic down into a set of subtopics, with one chapter explaining each subtopic. At the end of each chapter is a summary of important points so it's clear what the authors are hoping you get out of the chapter. Each chapter is then followed by a case study that is used to illustrate the ideas just covered.
   
   If you are looking for an introductory book on ecosystems and how humans affect their ability to maintain themselves, this is the book to read. The authors also provide several good resources at the end of the book if you would like to expand your knowledge further.



2. A MUST read for environmentalists. And for business, community and anyone willing to adapt the thinking to their situation. Brian and David have done a superb job in translating resilience theory and its close ties to complex adaptive systems. I have been looking for a book to recommend to my clients and students and this is it. I would also strongly recommend that the 'old guard' sustainability brigade have a look at this. The strategies that sustainability largely pursues are unsustainable. Resilience thinking is a more accurate path for us to head toward something that resembles sustainability. Well done.



3. This book is Latour's actor network theory in another guise, with the physicalization of Kuhn's paradigm shift thrown in for good measure. It is a very interesting book on an emerging way to look at environmental crises (note, not the environmental crisis. We seriously need local knowledge and local experience to manage each individual ecosystem).
   
   My major issues with this book are twofold. One is that it is not well written, though not altogether poorly written, you can simply tell when the science writer came in to jazz things up. Secondly, the authors spend a little too much time trying to convince the reader that resilience thinking is NEW, DIFFERENT, SUBVERSIVE, and the like. We get, on page 29, something that I just cannot stand: a little briefer than brief history of challenge to dogma. Galileo spoke out about the Copernican model (which was still perfect circles, Kepler had it right but Galileo ignored him) and the church shot him down. Darwin dared to say species change and the world exploded! Now, we, the humble new scientists bring you a new challenge to the dogma of ecology today. Give me a break! I would have thought a science writer on the team would have had the experience to leave out this trite nonsense. Just tell me about your idea and spare me the drama! Sorry, but poor history of science is a real pet peeve. :-)
   
   But either way, this is still an important book that should be read by ecology students, politicians, resource managers, and anyone interested in new ideas. The case studies are really informative and clear, and the message is properly urgent



4. This is a gem of an educational book. Mixing case studies with elaborating chapters on key concepts, it's as a good a volume as I have found for teaching undergraduates, graduates, and practitioners (farmers, factory managers, investors) the core ideas needed to restore a sustainable social-ecological system.
   
   Highlights for me:
   
   + Optemization is a false premise, simplifies complex systems we do not understand, with the result that we end up causing long-term damage.
   
   + Resilience thinking is systems thinking. I cannot help but think back to all of the excellent work in the 1970's and 1980's--the authors were simply a quarter century ahead of their time.
   
   + In a nut-shell, resilient system can absorb severe disturbance.
   
   + System resilience is affected by context, connections across scales of time and space, and current system state in relations to threshholds.
   
   + Fresh water, fisheries, and topsoil depletion are major failures.
   
   + Drivers of environmental degradation are poverty, willful excessive consumption, and lack of knowledge (from another book, I recall that changes to the Earth that used to take 10,000 years now take three, one reason we need real-time science).
   
   + Key concepts are threshholds and adaptive cycles. Adaptive cycles have four phases: Rapid Growth; Conservation; Release; and Reorganization.
   
   + Redundancy is NOT a dirty word (just as intelligence--decision support--should not be a dirty word within the United Nations)
   
   + Ecological networks cannot be understood nor nurtured with a tight linking and understanding of the social networks that interact with the ecological networks.
   
   + Subsidies are a form of social denial, as they subsidize unsustainable practices and prevent adaptation and change.
   
   + Lovely--absolutely lovely--chart on page 89 about time-scales of climate and natural disasters like major fires.
   
   + One size does not fit all--solutions for one social-ecological network, e.g. in the USA, will not be the same as for another, e.g. in Norway.
   
   + Diversity is the key to regeneration.
   
   + Governances must be able to see and act upon key intervention points.
   
   + A Resilient world would be characterized by:
   
   1. Diversity
   2. Ecological variables
   3. Modularity
   4. Acknowledgement of slow variables
   5. Tight feedbacks
   6. Social capital
   7. Innovation
   8. Overlap in governance
   9. Ecosystem services
   
   Within this small and very easy to absorb book one finds a great annotated bibliography of recommended readings, a fine reference section, and a very solid index.
   
   Other books that come to mind as complements to this one (limited to ten links by Amazon):
   The leadership of civilization building: Administrative and civilization theory, symbolic dialogue, and citizen skills for the 21st century
   Society's Breakthrough!: Releasing Essential Wisdom and Virtue in All the People
   Ecological Economics: Principles And Applications
   Natural Capitalism: Creating the Next Industrial Revolution
   Green to Gold: How Smart Companies Use Environmental Strategy to Innovate, Create Value, and Build Competitive Advantage
   Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things
   The HOK Guidebook to Sustainable Design
   High Noon 20 Global Problems, 20 Years to Solve Them
   Pandora's Poison: Chlorine, Health, and a New Environmental Strategy
   The Blue Death: Disease, Disaster, and the Water We Drink



5. Brian Walker, Program Director Resilience Alliance and a scientist with the CSIRO. Canberra Australia, has, with the assistance of science writer David Salt, written the best and most straightforward work on ecological resilience entirely suitable for a wide audience of readers; activists, teachers, scientists from any number of disciplines, interested in gaining a familiarity with a study area that is of critical importance in this present world of catastrophe, forever changing with the calamitous onset of climate change and where stategies of adaptation are quite indequate mechanisms for survival in the white-water world we will have to navigate.
   
   It is not a scientific treatise but a work from which all interested readers will benefit substantially no matter what their background or credentials. This is a twentyfirst century production coauthored with a skilled science writer and a model for any NGO or scientific group who wish to influence and inform policy makers with something they can readiliy understand.. Resilience capability and building such capacity is perhaps the best, but still uncertain, way to buffer social-ecological systems--your everyday environment--from unpredictable, disastrous events and accompanying change. Adaptation and models based on orthodox science are unfortunately inadequate to meet such crises. I recommend this book to any concerned person no matter their level of understanding. They will find something new and enlightening here.

5 comments about Acoustic Design for the Home Studio.

1. The equipment available today at the 'advanced amateur' level far exceeds that which was available to the professional only a few years ago. But the quality of the recordings being made do not come up to professional standards. Apart from skill at using the equipment, the biggest difference is the studio where the work is being done.
   
   If the sound is being bounced all around the room in an uncontrollable manner, this will be recorded faithfully by the equipment. The equipment cannot distinguish the sounds you want (and hear) but takes in what your ears are rejecting.
   
   This is an excellent book that gives a bit of the theory of acoustics and studio design and then gives practical examples of studios that were constructed using these principles. There are a number of designs described which cover a range in cost from near nothing to designs that you'd better discuss with your wife before you start spending money. Most of these designs do not involve altering the basic structure of the room itself, just panels you might attach and then take down when you move.
   
   This book is an excellent introduction to a fairly arcane subject.



2. It used to be that musicians went to a professional studio to make recordings; but with all the advancements in computer and recording technology, such a studio is affordable for the home - and ACOUSTIC DESIGN FOR THE HOME STUDIO tells how to make a room perfect for the recording sound desired. Tips on how to sound-proof a home or project studio tell how to use an existing room, whether it be garage or bedroom, and provide diagrams, photos of revamped rooms, and tips on getting the most from such a project.
   
   Diane C. Donovan
   California Bookwatch



3. There are a lot of books on setting up and working in a home studio - very few on treating the frequency response - fewer on doing it on the cheap using the room you have. This is such a book. The case studies are useful and after seeing a few, a pattern emerges and the mystique falls away and you realize that its not such a black art and you can do it yourself using various inexpensive materials. I definitely found this to be a great reasource for getting my room response under control while spending just a couple hundred dollars.
   
   This book is a gem.



4. Before this book I read Basic Home Studio Design by Paul White. This book was very introductory and helped me get somewhat comfortable with the terminology and some standard ways of treating rooms.
   
   Mitch Gallagher's book was definitely a step up from that. It was much more informative and introduced many ways of treating a room (broadband absorbers, bass traps, foam, ceiling clouds, etc.)
   
   This book will without a doubt help one get associated with acoustics. Read the book in its entirety. The only crucial thing that I don't think it focused on much was how to measure your room yourself (acoustically, for flutter echo, decay time, frequency response, etc.)
   
   But, it does give some information that one will be able to figure out and apply properly with a little internet research.
   
   All in all, a very good book that will be very helpful.



5. I have read many articles online concerning acoustics as well as have had the pleasure of working in some wonderful million dollar + studios. I must say that this book is perfect for the Novice who is just getting into acoustics as well as someone like me who has a backing and understanding as well as experience in the field. For its price, I recommend it to EVERYONE!

5 comments about Harmonograph: A Visual Guide to the Mathematics of Music (Wooden Books).

1. For anyone wanting to learn some interesting math related information without taking classes that make you sweat bullets then the Wooden Books are a great source to turn to. For the series in a whole, the information is easily grasped and the diagrams and pictures are intersting.
   
   As far as the Harmonograph book in particular, I had no idea that such things existed. I used this as a source for my senior research project entitled "The Mathematics of Music". I got the information I needed, but even afterwards, I couldn't put the book down. Fortuneately, not being able to put the book down is a problem that will only last about an hour. The book is short and to the point, which Mathematics students will love.
   
   After reading this book, all of my friends were impressed with all of the cool things that I told them about Harmonographs and other devices that geometrically plot music. They called me geek, but they were still impressed.
   
   
   So my overall diagnostic is: The language is eloquent and simple, and you'll wow all of your friends with all of the cool junk you'll learn in this easy-to-read book.



2. After about 5 pages into this thing I found myslelf becoming more and more baffled, as the author continually threw out various terminology with no explanation of it. I kept at it for a while and it didn't get any better. He has all sorts of drawings and diagrams, but again -- he does not define his terms or even give you a clue as to where find any definitions. If the book had a glossary this would be marginally tolerable, but it doesn't and it isn't. This is too bad, because the topic is fascinating and the author is obviously very knowlegeable. Unfortunately he seems incapable of sharing this knowlege with the reader.



3. Short and easy to read with beautiful illustrations, this is a nice addition to your collection if you are interested in the connections between sounds and visuals.



4. I didn't know what quite to expect with this book; I wasn't familiar with the term "harmonograph" before getting this text.
   
   This is a small book with about 25 topics, each discussed on 1 or 2 pages. It links together many concepts from our past (including the 19th century harmonograph) and the mathematics underneath them. This is one book which satisfyingly explains the concept of an even-tempered scale -- something I had been pondering for a long time.
   
   You could say this book is a group of different stories about the vibrations in music, and the relationship between those vibrations. Vibrations are important for us to understand: our bones float; our bodies are springy and resilient. The math and physics of vibrations -- scientists call it "simple harmonic motion" -- can get rather tricky. Most of use stop our math classes before they get to this point. On the other hand, there are many topics in this field that are understandable without all of those complicated scribbles; this book lovingly explores many of them.
   
   My main gripe is that there are few links for the DIY types to go try this stuff hands-on. There must be some websites which have virtual harmonographs; the author should have found these. And it's a darn shame that so few of these machines are around. I make it a point of seeing lots of science museums; I've never seen a harmonograph.
   
   We forget how many wonderful things before we had computers. Things like the harmonograph have a delightful physicality; that's something we've lost in our "modern" society.
   
   I highly recommend this book to a young high-school student. There are hidden delights in the drawings and historical references. For such a small book, there is a surprising depth of detail.
   
   I can't wait to explore the rest of this series.



5. Humans have known or intuited that sound not only has form but it organizes matter.
   Throughout history individuals have found ways to demonstrate (and make visible) this profound fact.
   We know that music & sound is vibration. (within the audible range)
   Scientists and mystics understand that EVERYTHING is vibration.
   Therefore Everything is Sound.
   The notion that EVERYTHING is in perfect order & can ultimately be understood by number is purely a Pythagorean notion. "Harmony of the Spheres" were his expression that "our solar system, the cosmos, everything that IS... IS a perfect symphony".
   The "Harmonograph" is a simple classic for the individual interested this subject.
   I recommend it for children and adults alike.

5 comments about Sonar 7 Power!: The Comprehensive Guide.

1. As I entered the world of DAW (digital audio workstation) Music Creation and Recording, I found that the technology was way over my head and therefore sought to familiarize myself so as to get up to speed. I plunged straight into Sonar 7 Producers' Edition by Cakewalk and was equally overwhelmed as I was fascinated with this monster software. I bought the Know-it-all tutorial video and wasn't much less overwhelmed because of the fast pace at which the instructor covered the material. It seemed that that video was for someone who already knew it all...
   In my quest for knowledge, I found the Sonar 7 Power book on Amazon and have been thrilled that this book, may as well call it a TEXTBOOK, is easily understood and gives in-depth, hands-on instruction in navigating the program. It not only gives written instruction, but it contains screen shots so as to give the pupil a visual reference. I'd literally be lost without Sonar 7 Power as my roadmap!Sonar 7 Power!: The Comprehensive Guide



2. This book is a must have for every Sonar 7 user. I have found my way around the progam much easier after reading it. Sonar is a difficult program to grasp if you are a beginner, but if you have some basic knowledge of midi and audio recording the book will help out a great deal.



3. I've been using the Garrigus Power books series since Cakewalk 9. I think they're great for learning Sonar.. probably I didn't need this book but I I think they're so great and you always learn something new that I decided to buy it. Sorry for my english.



4. I purchased Scott's Sonar 7 a few weeks ago and have had time to digest it, and put it to use. This is a great reference for Sonar 7 users. Of course it's going to overlap with the "official" manual, it has to. It is written in a clear, concise, readable style. Scott has a knack of explaining technical items by writing very plainly, and throughly. The diagrams are very helpful...although I wish they were in color.
   I strongly think you should break out and write a history book Scott. You would probably be a wonderful writer for school texts because your explanations of things bring the topic at hand to a level that young folks could easily grasp. I know because I'm a former teacher.
   Keep on keepin' on with your writing!!!



5. If you are starting or even you are an expert with synths, this is a very nice an helpful book to be always with you.Very comprehensive guide, will introduce you in the art of making music using Sonar 7.The author did a very good work here because he teaches you all the features in Cakewalk's software.
   So add it right now in your shopping cart....you won't regret it.

2 comments about Modeling and Analysis of Dynamic Systems.

1. Professional engineering these days strongly rely on accurate mathematical modelling of systems. This book is a good introduction to the subject without loosing the link to the numeral solving techniques. Advanced mathematical equations are omitted so this text will serve only as an introduction and not as a complete treatment. Nevertheless, it is a good book when starting to study mathematical modelling of physical systems.



2. I had to buy this book for my last semester in electrical engineering. It is a good choice as an introduction to mathematical tools used in representation and analysis of dynamic systems, electrical or mecanical.
   
   First, there are a few chapters about basic notions of dynamic (translational and rotational. You can pass this part quickly if you had a few mechanic classes, because it is just to show the good way to represent systems in modeling. Next, a good explanation of state variable modeling, transfert function, linear vs non linear equations, etc, is well written, with good examples, without too advanced maths. If you have learned basic notions in calculus and linear algebra, you can follow the text pretty easily.

3 comments about Musical Acoustics.

1. This book is a thorough overview of physics behind music. In the first part of the book, Hall lays the foundation with an investigation into waves, sound propagation, sound measurement, and the human ear. The middle third of the book takes up families of instruments, and how they work to create musical sounds. The last part of the book investigates room acoustics, sound reproduction, and the perception of intervals, tunings, and musical structure. Each chapter includes references and suggestions for further reading, numerous mathematical exercises for practicing the concepts covered in the chapter, and a list of potential projects for further investigation. The book includes a glossary and answers to selected problems, as well as an index.

   I read quite a few textbooks for work and occasionally just for interest's sake, but this one really stands out. After reading the first few chapters, I found myself wishing I could sit in on Hall's lectures. His style is intensely personal, and his explanations are incredibly clear. I'll admit that sometimes my eyes glossed over while slogging through some of the numbers and charts, but it was mainly my fault for not being a more active reader. In order to get the most from this book, you really need to read it with calculator in hand, or better yet, an Excel spreadsheet open, ready to try out the numbers and scenarios that Hall provides us with. Nevertheless, the math is kept quite simple- -no calculus; if you can do algebra, you should be able to get through the book.

   I've found the information in the book to be quite useful. Hall's description of how resonance works in drums has helped me make sense of my tabla teacher's pickiness about where my fingers strike the tabla heads. And at last I understand the physics behind why some rooms in my house are acoustically dead, and others are alive. Hall has opened up a new world of ideas for me, and I will be thinking them through for years to come. I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to know how music really works.




2. This book is an excellent starting place for someone who wants a somewhat quantitative treatment of the science of sound as it relates to music, but does not have the advanced math background necessary to digest something like "The Physics of Musical Instruments". The chapters and sections in this third edition are the same as in the previous edition, however some changes have been made to the content. The book is updated with more current references to the end-of-chapter bibliographies, and there is some new material, especially in areas affected by the personal computer's role in the digital processing of sound.
   
   The author provides an integrated understanding of three major areas: the production of sound by various sources, the propagation of sound from source to listener, and the perception of sound by the human brain.
   For easier reading, each chapter starts with an introductory section that sets up the chapter. There are also summaries and lists of symbols, terms, and relations highlighting the most important terms and quantitative expressions in each chapter. There are realistic and interesting exercise sets containing both qualitative and quantitative questions for each chapter, with most chapters containing 20-25 exercises. There are also projects included that provide out-of-class assignments that generally require students to do research. There are approximately three of these in each chapter. Finally, several new photographs have been added to this third edition, particularly of the inner ear structure and of the vocal cords in motion.
   
   Like the previous reviewer, I make a habit of purchasing and reading several textbooks a year, and sometimes I am very disappointed and sometimes I am not. This is one of those purchases that I found most worthwhile. If you are interested in the intersection of math, acoustics, perception, and musical instruments I highly recommend it. A math background up to the level of algebra and geometry should be sufficient to understand the quantitative portions of the book. The table of contents is as follows:
   
   1. THE NATURE OF SOUND.
   Acoustics and Music. Organizing Our Study of Sound. The Physical Nature of Sound. The Speed of Sound. Pressure and Sound Amplitude.
   2. WAVES AND VIBRATIONS.
   The Time Element in Sound. Waveforms. Functional Relations. Simple Harmonic Oscillation. Work, Energy, and Resonance.
   3. SOURCES OF SOUND.
   Classifying Sound Sources. Percussion Instruments. String Instruments. Wind Instruments. Source Size. Sound from the Natural Environment.
   4. SOUND PROPAGATION.
   Reflection and Refraction. Diffraction. Outdoor Music. The Doppler Effect. Interference and Beats.
   5. SOUND INTENSITY AND ITS MEASUREMENT.
   Amplitude, Energy, and Intensity. Sound Level and the Decibel Scale. The Inverse-Square Law. Environmental Noise. Combined Sound Levels and Interference.
   6. THE HUMAN EAR AND ITS RESPONSE.
   The Mechanism of the Human Ear. Limits of Audibility and Discrimination. Characteristics of Steady Single Tones. Loudness and Intensity. Pitch and Frequency. Pitch and Loudness Together. Timbre and Instrument Recognition.
   7. ELEMENTAL INGREDIENTS OF MUSIC.
   Organizing Musical Events in Time. Melody and Harmony. Scales and Intervals. The Harmonic Series.
   8. SOUND SPECTRA AND ELECTRONIC SYNTHESIS.
   Prototype Steady Tones. Periodic Waves and Fourier Spectra. Modulated Tones. Electronic and Computer Music.
   9. PERCUSSION INSTRUMENTS AND NATURAL MODES.
   Searching for Simplicity. Coupled Pendulums. Natural Modes and Their Frequencies. Tuning Forks and Xylophone Bars. Drums, Cymbals, and Bells. Striking Points and Vibration Recipes. Damped Vibrations.
   10. PIANO AND GUITAR STRINGS.
   Natural Modes of a Thin String. Vibration Recipes for Plucked Strings. Vibration Recipes for the Piano. Piano Scaling and Tuning.
   11. THE BOWED STRING.
   Violin Construction. Bowing and String Vibrations. Resonance. Sound Radiation from String Instruments.
   12. BLOWN PIPES AND FLUTES.
   Air Column Vibrations. Fluid Jets and Edgetones. Organ Flue Pipes. Organ Registration and Design. Fingerholes and Recorders. The Transverse Flute.
   13. BLOWN REED INSTRUMENTS.
   Organ Reed Pipes. The Reed Woodwinds. The Brass Family. Playable Notes and Harmonic Spectra. Radiation.
   14. THE HUMAN VOICE.
   The Vocal Apparatus. Sound Production. Formants. Special Characteristics of the Singing Voice.
   15. ROOM ACOUSTICS.
   General Criteria for Room Acoustics. Reverberation Time. Reverberation Calculation. Reverberant Sound Levels. Sound Reinforcement. Spatial Perception.
   16. SOUND REPRODUCTION.
   Electric and Magnetic Concepts. Transducers. Microphones. Amplifiers. Recording. Loudspeakers. Multiphonic Sound Reproduction.
   17. THE EAR REVISITED.
   Types of Pitch Judgment. Pitch Perception Mechanisms. Modern Pitch Perception Theory. Critical Bands. Combination Tones. Loudness and Masking. Timbre.
   18. HARMONIC INTERVALS AND TUNING.
   Interval Perception. Intervals and the Harmonic Series. Musical Scales. The Impossibility of Perfect Tuning. Tuning and Temperament.
   19. STRUCTURE IN MUSIC.
   Melodies and Modes. Chords and Harmonic Progressions. Consonance and Dissonance. Musical Forms and Styles.
   20. EPILOGUE: SCIENCE AND ESTHETICS.
   APPENDIX A. WRITTEN MUSIC.
   APPENDIX B. THE METRIC SYSTEM.
   Units for Physical Measurements. Scientific Notation and Computation.
   APPENDIX G. GLOSSARY.
   APPENDIX H. HINTS AND ANSWERS TO SELECTED EXERCISES.
   Index.
   The Chromatic Scale; The Chromatic Series Slider.



3. 
   It is a nice introductory book both for music and physics.. physics students who are learning wave theory should consider reading at least some chapters of this book..

5 comments about Vibrations and Waves (M.I.T. Introductory Physics Series).

1. This is a terrific book. It would benefit slightly from incorporating matrices in one part of the text, but given the level of student it's geared toward, that's not a fatal omission. French's style is clear and thorough. I am a fan of all his books, and have no qualms recommending this one.



2. I used this book instead of the originally assigned text (H.J. Pain's truly awful "Physics of Vibrations and Waves") in a class I took recently. It was a pleasure to read.
   
   In spite of the fact that the book is quite short (and quite compact in your bag), it covers the material very thoroughly. The author writes clearly and with a lot of attention to the needs of the student. French's style is also very lively and makes you want to read on instead of feeling you are obligated to. The problems at the end of each chapter are excellent. It is also inexpensive.
   
   All in all, quite a gem in this day of boring, incomprehensible, too-heavy-to-carry $120 textbooks that arrive in a "new" less readable edition every year. If only every textbook could be like this.
   
   It isn't quite perfect -- every once in a while a derivation gets obscure and a few topics aren't covered -- but it is very, very good. I highly recommend it.



3. I recently took a class on Vibrations and Waves and the professor ended up using this book mainly for the course. It was somewhat difficult to read through and the material in the book often has little to do with the actual practice problems. Also, there are no examples and many of the chapters refuse to go into important detail of some topics, assuming the reader to know a good deal.



4. The book gives a good introduction to the concept of waves, beginning with vibrational modes of coupled oscillators of springs and strings. However, it neglects analysis of Electromagnetic waves that I feel are not a far cry from the topics presented. I also think that more information could be given on dispersion, mediums, and boundary reflections and transmissions.



5. Short Review:
   The photos and plots in this book are exemplary. They complement the material perfectly, building up intuitional understanding of the phenomena at the same time the text allows you to handle the physics mathematically.
   Each chapter follows logically. Everything builds up step by step from the most basic case of a simple harmonic oscillator, and the book has a feeling of progression that encouraged me to keep going. Every chapter brought new understanding to things I vaguely knew about, but was fuzzy on quite why it was that way.
   Although the basic systems discussed are pendulums, masses-on-springs, and linear strings, the text also contains plenty of information on how the theory built by examining these simple systems can apply to many other places where the same differential equations apply - especially electric circuits, but also acoustics.
   Vibrations and Waves does a superb job as a concise and clear introduction to how wave phenomena work.
   
   Longer Review:
   I recently read this book as review while preparing for a more advanced class on quantum mechanics (a theory about waves). I had previously taken a course on vibrations and waves using the (out of print) text by Crawford. Although Crawford's book is probably good, I never read the text carefully though because it was monstrously long.
   
   French presented itself as friendly and readable, without bogging me down in unnecessary detail. It turned out to be exactly that. The chapters were short enough I could read them in one sitting. The problems varied from straightforward applications of what was already stated in the text to ones that made me think for a while, without being so overbearing as to waste my time or become unduly frustrating. There are also answers printed in the back of the book - in my opinion absolutely essential for any book to be used for self-study.
   
   I actually enjoyed reading Vibrations and Waves, which is not the norm for reading physics texts, at least for me. The photos were gorgeous. They were black and white, and not fancy, but the experimental setup used to get the photos was often both clever and instructive. Just when it got difficult to understand just what the equations were saying, there was a picture to demonstrate the system's response. The Lissajous figures and pictures of nodal lines of 2-D surfaces were interesting enough to be worth looking at in their own right.
   
   After reading this book, I feel like I have a much firmer understanding of coupled oscillators and coupled differential equations, the wave equation, refraction, diffraction, and other boundary effects, which were all things I knew enough about to be able to describe, roughly, but not enough about to claim a useful comprehension of the subject.
   The introduction of complex numbers and the complex exponential is truly masterful.
   
   I would like to have the time to read French's other introductory physics books, but even if I don't I'll remain glad to have read this one.