2 comments about Handbook of Photovoltaic Science and Engineering.

1. I used to sell solar electric PV systems as an ARCO Solar dealer back in the early 1980's. At the time no one could pronounce the name of the technology, and most thought is was angel dust. Solar powered calculators were just coming in, same with watches. Solar powered emergencyy freeway phones were 15 years away, unheard of at the time.
   This technology is the most fascinating and yet due to cost, the most frustrating of all the renewable energy technologies. It is not widely used in mainstream electrical production, yet will fill vital niches in the renewable energy portfolio of any advanced economy.
   
   The big energy companies have spent big bucks on research and have patents in all directions, yet the most widely sold solar cell modules use twenty year old technology.
   
   Now that Germany has finally taken the plunge in supporting solar in a big way, other countries are taking a second look. California's governor tells the German chancellor that "we will do it even better." So the interest in the technology is growing.
   This book is a bridge between the Popular Science or Scientific American articles and the chaotic science papers so much in vogue among academics trying to publish-not-perish. It is readable, for an educated individual who has some high school science.
   Once you are over the rahrah and want to know "How does it actually work? or Could I get into manufacturing? this book will help. Trying to get answers to these questions is tough. No way will the marketing staff at BP Solar or Sharp or Shell tell you how they manufacture solar cells and assemble them into modules. So you wander in a sea of science papers, some in expensive collections like the IEEE proceedings or the obscure conference papers. Perhaps you stumble across the US DOE ENREL web site, or the patent information. But without the foundational knowlege, it is all hard to evaluate. So now comes the Wiley Handbook of Photovoltaic Science and Engineering. Take the time to use the "look inside" feature to see the table of contents. The writing style varies, each chapter is written by a different author. What unifies the presentation is that it is understandable. You will read some paragraphs three times but hey, this isn't Jules Verne. Yes it will take some effort, and you definitely need to know at least high school chemistry and physics, but when you really want to know something, you will find a way. So how to justify the cost? Well it comes out to 4 cents a page. And based on the used book prices, you can resell it later if you care to. The down side? Most of the research that is digested here is 2002 or earlier, but hey, some of the basic physics is over 100 years old, so there is quite a bit of catching up to do. I have not found another intermediate to advanced level book with the understandable detail this one offers. And something that gets you up to speed with state of the art 2002 does provide a good foundation for the field.
   
   Now if I could only find a solar cell manufacturing cookbook... lets see-- 99 parts silicon, two parts boron one part phosphorous, heat the oven to 1150 degrees and stir ever so slowly.. pull the taffy out with a crystal and let it cool for eight hours, slice with diamond dust and sprinkle with silver and tin. Wrap in tedlar,place under glass. Serves millions, should not spoil even in full sun for 25 years...yup it is angel dust.



2. This Handbook is a collection of writings by many authors with expertise and experience in the field of solar photovoltaics. It brings the reader an excellent brief review of the history of PV, exposes the reader to just the right amount of theoretical foundation behind the workings of PV, and doles out to the reader fair amount of practical advice in the makings of PV products that eventually provide clean - and green - electricity to the humankind. It covers different types of photovoltaic products, from crystalline to amorphous based on the Group IV semiconducting elements and their various compound forms. In addition, this Handbook also offers insights into the economics of photovoltaics in an increasingly environment-aware society.
   
   If there is a place where this Handbook could be improved, I think the editor could find more industrial practitioners of photovoltaic products to offer more hands-on advice about how to make a better - more efficient - solar cell.
   
   Overall, this is an excellent handbook and could serve as a good reference to anyone who's interested in solar PV.

1 comments about Speckle Phenomena in Optics.

1. Another phenomenal book from Joe Goodman - everything you really need to know about Speckle presented with crystal clarity, as usual. Simply superb.

5 comments about Laser Fundamentals.

1. This book is one of the best that I have read, and I have read most of them. It is clear and to the point. It is both fundamental and practical. I use it as a reference and dont care much about the small errors it may have. Its advantages far outway its small number of errors. Its not a text book, its not supposed to teach the reader quantum physics or optics. I highly recommend this book for anyone that works with lasers.
   -KC, NRL



2. I also recommend Orazio Sveltos book "Principles of Lasers"



3. I was looking for a good laser book tried svelto, siegman but they were written at a comparatively higher level, so I found this book, boy! what a relief. I guess the best part of the book is that the author doesn't stress too much on mathematics, electromagnetics or advanced optics. Moreover the early chapters deals with all the fundamentals required to understand lasers (that is covered in later chapters)

   Bottomline: If you need a quick yet thorough introduction to lasers, this is the book.




4. This book is incredible! It will take the reader with an understanding of Calculus and Differential Equations and provide them with inside to a sufficient level of science and notation (from quantum mechanics, Russell-Sauders, etc) and give you all the skills required to design a laser. I have the good fortune of taking the class from the Author, who created the first blue-helium metal vapor laser. His book is providing the insight to the lectures, so I think I could have learned it all just from the text. By the end of this text, I will have designed my first laser, and considering I had never seen one until a few weeks ago... I am fully thankful to this great book, and all the experiences that the contributor gave us. The text has sufficient derivation to see that he's not just dropping down equations, and it is combined with the many figures which explain the physics and actual test data which give you a 'feel' for what is happening. I particularly like the chapter intros that tell you where you are going, but the chapters are packed with information. This was my first formal introducion to quantum mechanics, laser design, material gain, etc. and it is definately coherent. I predict that this book will be in my collection long after my other texts have been donated to other students or colleagues, because I will not part with it.



5. This book is lacking on examples. Sections will drag on for pages with no examples whatsoever. Some of the questions at the end of the chapters, seemingly, have nothing to do with the chapter whatsoever. I would not recommend this course to someone who intends to learn what they need from the book. The index is also a terrible reference. The text also needs to repeat what some variables are. Often times the author will introduce a new variable or a variable with an augmented subscript and not explain what it is. How frustrating.....!

4 comments about Quantum Optics: An Introduction (Oxford Master Series in Physics, 6).

1. I developed an interest in quantum optics in my last year of undergraduate school but I became discouraged with it since every book that I picked up on the subject was esoteric and too involved for an introduction. It seemed as if NONE of the quantum optics textbooks available were appropriate as an introduction. But then I found this book.
   
   Although not as mathematically intensive as I was hoping for it to be, it explains the physics very well. And although it doesn't compensate for many years of post-graduate study, I was able to better understand research papers in quantum optics due to this book.
   
   The book follows a rather traditional approach to developing quantum optics...first starting off with a discussion of important results in electromagnetism, classical optics, and quantum mechanics...then progressing to the theory of photons (discussing photon statistics, coherent states, and second quantization (with regard to photon number states)). Furthermore, it discusses the essential "backbone" of quantum optics (light-matter interactions) and then applications of quantum optics (quantum computing, quantum entanglement, etc.).
   
   I broke the rules and skipped ahead to the applications section and I must say that everything seems to make sense because of Fox's ability to convey difficult ideas in a simple, easy-to-understand manner.
   
   For anybody just starting to take an interest in quantum optics (like I was at one point), I would strongly suggest this book. It's not as mathematically sophisticated as Loudon's "The Quantum Theory of Light" (which is another must-have for quantum optics), but it's an excellent introduction.



2. At last we have a text that provides a comprehensive introduction to quantum optics for the beginner - both theory and experiment - and one which takes you through many of the most recent concepts and potential applications in computation, cryptography and teleportation etc.
   
   A feature of this text is the clear explanations and carefully explained jargon - it's NOT just mostly a collection of math like some other supposedly introductory texts.
   
   If you want to find out what quantum optics is all about - this is a great book to start with.



3. This is our textbook and is easy to understand. It also has answers for the exercise questions. That helps a lot.



4. Fox does a great job explaining a complex and dense field from an intuitive and experimental standpoint. I read this book after one term of 1-D introductory Q.M. and everything made sense. The experiments and set-ups described throughout the book are a great tool and were particularly handy since I was using the book to get ready for a summer internship in a Quantum Optics group. The only downside is that the book is quite lacking from a theoretical standpoint. If you are a bit more comfortable with Q.M., say at the level of Shankar, Liboff, or Sakuri, try Knight instead. Nonetheless, this is a great book.

2 comments about Dynamic Light Scattering: With Applications to Chemistry, Biology, and Physics.

1. Dynamic Light Scattering is a classic text, that presents a comprehensive and in-depth overview of the underlying physics and principles of DLS. The description is developed with the associated mathematics of fluctuations and time correlation functions, as well as various physical aspects of Brownian Motion. Examples drawn from physics, chemistry and biology are used to illustrate the usefullness of DLS in studying a diverse range of problems including cell motility, macromolecular dynamics, dynamics of anisotropics objects (rod-like particles, viruses), electrolytic solutions, etc. The book is ESSENTIAL for everyone with interest in 1) dynamics of complex fluids 2) Brownian Motion of particles and 3) Single Molecule Imaging!
   
   The text is a beautifully written treatise on various applications of DLS, with a very insightful commentary on how various dynamics is detected by light, how underlying structure and relaxations translate to observable, how observables can be deduced by mathematical principles based on statistical mechanics (including non-equilibrium thermodynamics). This is a fairly advanced text, so I would advise someone to get a soft introduction to his/her topic of choice (polymers, gels, rods, colloids, cells, polyelectrolytes, etc.) and basic statistical mechanics before picking this text. Being a Dover publication, the book is priced cheaper than it ought to be:), and hence must make its way to the shelf of people who have any lasting interest in DLS. The book by Wyn Brown is a useful supplementary text (and includes more modern references, but comes at a high price). This book is an exercise in the mathematics of correlation functions, and associated hydrodynamics equations, and definitely requires concerted effort to become beneficial to the reader.



2. I find that Dover's books are simply excellent and this text is no exception. The order of the material in the book is logical: starting with the basics of autocorrelation to how Maxwell's equations lead to intensity of scattered radiation. Then, that crucial leap from the theory of scattering to how radiation is measured by different detectors is made and what they lead to in terms of correlation functions. The book expands on the basics of ideal, non-interacting isotropic scatters to more complex situations. Many references are provided. Since DLS has applications in protein dynamics, I used this text as background.

1 comments about The Geometrical Optics Workbook.

1. Easy to understand and lots of sample problems to follow along as you try to understand equations. At the end of the chapters, there are 20-30 problems with answers. Unfortunately, the questions at the end of the chapters do not have an explanation of how they came up with the answer, but it's not hard to figure out. This book is great aid for first year optometry students.

3 comments about Optics, 2E.

1. This book is about the only one at its level: Significantly more in-depth than the classic by Hecht, but significantly easier than the brilliant but arduous work by Born and Wolfe. As such, it fills a niche that needs to be filled. It nicely covers all the main features of linear, classical optics at a level that is very useful for an advanced undergrad or beginning grad student in physics or engineering. Unfortunately, it is plagued by unaddressed errors. These make it downright dangerous to use as a reference. Caution must be used before applying equations found in this work. Although I learned out of it more than a decade ago, I have seen no sign of a corrected edition or a list of errata. This makes it impossible for me to recommend this book unless one reads it with pen in hand and a keen interest in rederiving each equation while marking-up ones copy.



2. The errors that appeared in the early printing of this text have been corrected in the later printings that are now being made available from the publisher.

   This book is one of the only comprehensive classical optics textbooks at the advanced undergraduate level, and as such, fills an important niche. Practical material, such as image aberrations and radiometry, are handled here at a very accessible level, which makes the book a valuable professional reference.




3. The content in this book really isn't bad at all. It covers all the topics one would encounter in an advanced undergrad or first year grad course in optics. But content is only as good as it is trustworthy. The reason why I hate this book is that it is completely frustrating to follow derivations when they are laced with typos. Add to that frustration the frustration of working problems that are badly worded and reference figures that are different than what is described in the problem and you have a recipe for long nights of banging your head against a table. You'd think that they would've found most of the errors after the 1st edition, but they haven't.
   I've only used two other optics books before, Hecht and Pedrotti & Pedrotti. Hecht is a nice, basic reference, but is not very advanced. It doesn't give you many details of what it describes. P&P is a pretty good book that I hated when I used it just because it often tried to describe in words some things that would be much clearer with a drawing. P&P and Klein and Furtak are aimed at a similar level, but for my money, P&P is the better choice if for no other reason that it's accurate.

5 comments about Image Sensors and Signal Processing for Digital Still Cameras.

1. The optics chapter (2) is pretty lousy. The part for sensors are just excellent. I found it systematically reviewed I've been reading fragmently from here and there for the past few months. My life would have been much better if I got this book earlier!!



2. This is an excellent book. It covers a wide range of topics in a very detailed manner, suitable for university level students and professionals.
   
   So far I have found only one error in the book. There is something terribly wrong in paragraph 2.2.2, page 32. It is stated that "Depth of the field - ... - is proportional to the square of the focal length of the imaging optics." In fact, the depth of field is inversely proportional to the focal length. Then Eq. 2.11 on page 33 is described once as giving a hyperfocal distance (above the equation) and below the equation is described as giving the depth of the field. I think this part seems to be missing some lines.
   
   Overall, I highly recommend this book if you are looking for something at a technically advanced level.



3. I read many parts of this book and I think that
   it was well written for a wide range of users from optics to image quality metrics.
   
   I strongly recommend it to all graduate students/engineers in CMOS imaging.
   
   I wish I got it during my grad studies....but it is never late to learn and enjoy!!! :-)
   
   I give 10 stars to this book...Good luck and hope to see more like this.
   
   Note: I hope to see the optics chapter be re-written and posted with corrections on the Web. I believe this should be done soon and mentioned in amazon.com. Thank you.



4. I have reviewed quite a few books on cameras and image sensors. Being in the business, I have quite a large library of books related to this field. However, Nakamura nailed it all with this book. A very well written - almost in layman's terms - that addresses all the technical components that make up a camera. If you are looking to understand the principles of a digital camera, this book is for you.



5. This book focuses on image acquisition and signal processing in digital still cameras (DSC's). From the perspective of the flow of image information, a DSC consists of imaging optics, an image sensor, and a signal processing block that receives a signal from the image sensor and generates digital data that is eventually compressed andstored on a memory device in the DSC.
   
   Chapters one and two are at a rather high level and introductory. However, in chapter 3 the book gets much more specific. Chapter 3 discusses the functions and performance parameters common to CCD and CMOS image sensors. Chapter 4 describes in detail the CCD image sensors widely used in imaging applications. The chapter ranges from a discussion of basic CCD operating principles to descriptions of CCDimage sensors specifically designed for DSC applications. Chapter 5 discusses CMOS image sensor technology. Chapter 6, the final chapter focusing on sensors, describes methods for evaluating image sensor performances relative to DSC requirements.
   
   Chapter 7 shifts gears and begins the discussing of image processing algorithms. The discussion begins with color theory and its application to DSCs. Chapter 8 presents the algorithms utilized by DSC's in both hardware and software. Basic image processing and camera control algorithms are shown along with some image processing examples. Chapter 9 discusses the performance parameters for DSCs and digital video cameras followed by descriptions of the architectures of signal processing engines. Examples of the analog front-end and the digital back-end designs are introduced. Chapter 10 shows how each component previously described affects image quality. The final chapter discusses future DSC image sensors and explores a new paradigm for image sensors.
   
   The reader should have an electrical engineering background since there are quite a few circuit diagrams shown involving transistors, and it is hard to follow the discussion if you are not already aware of their theory of operation. It is a very good book for its target audience, but students with pure computer science backgrounds who are coming to this looking for just the mathematics or algorithms of image processing may found themselves lost in the discussions involving pn junctions, which are numerous.

4 comments about Linear Systems, Fourier Transforms, and Optics (Wiley Series in Pure and Applied Optics).

1. Jack Gaskill and his book is the most practical book on this subject. His examples and explainations are straightforeword and organized.



2. I consider Gaskill's book to be the best I've seen for advanced undergraduate and first-year graduate classes on linear systems. Gaskill approaches the subject in a clear and understandable style while dealing with the subject in a complete and quantitative manner. Though he does not eschew mathematical rigor by any means, the text is well written and logically formatted, making it refreshingly easy to follow what is, in other texts, a more difficult subject. Though I've filed Gaskill's book in my library alongside other dealing with optics, this is primarily a book on mathematics, but written more for engineers and scientists than for mathematicians.

   After a brief introduction, the author begins (in chapter 2) with a quick summary of mathematical concepts, including classes of functions, one and two-dimensional functions, complex numbers, phasors, and the scalar wave equation.

   The third chapter introduces useful functions (many of a discontinuous nature) that find application in modeling linear systems. These include step functions and the impulse function in both one and two dimensions. Development of these functions follows an intuitive path that reflects the way in which they are often used. The many figures are particularly useful in conveying concepts more effectively.

   Chapter four develops the theme of harmonic analysis by introducing the notion of orthogonal expansions and extending this development to the Fourier series, leading to development of the Fourier integral. The chapter finishes with some worked examples showing the spectra of simple functions. Chapter 7 seems a little out of place, since it deals with the Fourier transform, yet appears in the book several chapters later, after the author introduces the concepts of linear systems and the convolution.

   Though one of the shorter chapters, chapter five is pivotal, and develops the idea of mathematical operators and physical systems - with the crucial development of the impulse response. The application of the impulse response is extended by chapter 6, which develops the mathematics of convolution. For a linear, shift-invariant system the impulse response convolved with the input to the system gives the system's output.

   Chapter 8 pulls together the material in the previous chapters to mathematically describe the characteristics and applications of linear filters. Examples include amplitude filters, phase filters, combination amplitude and phase filters, and some interesting applications showing (for example) how to filter the noise from a signal of interest. All this development is strictly mathematical, with no real-world worked examples (except in the abstract). Nevertheless, this chapter is very useful and (in the author's style) easy to understand and follow.

   Chapter 9 deals with two-dimensional convolutions and the two-dimensional Fourier transform. This chapter is essentially an extension of the earlier one-dimensional developments in earlier chapters, but introduces some useful mathematical tools, including the convolution and Fourier transform in polar coordinates. The Hankel transform, developed in this chapter, is particularly useful for work in optics where many examples (laser beams, for instance) exhibit circular symmetry. In these examples the two-dimensional integrals may be greatly simplified by the Hankel transform to a one-dimensional form where (even in the absence of a closed-form equation) they are far more tractable. The chapter concludes with useful tables of common transforms.

   Chapter 10 leaves the almost purely mathematical forum of the previous chapters by introducing the subject of propagation and diffraction of optical waves. Gaskill first develops the mathematics of the optical waves and then derives the equations that show how these waves are diffracted. Not surprisingly, the diffraction fields are expressible in terms of the transforms developed earlier in the book. The chapter also describes the influence of optical lenses on the diffraction patterns and the very important subject of propagation of Gaussian beams (since many laser beams, and the fundamental mode in weakly guiding optical fibers have Gaussian profiles).

   Chapter 11 continues the optical theme by explaining image-forming systems. The student will be particularly enabled in this chapter if he or she has had prior exposure to the subject of diffraction and perhaps some exposure to the idea of image aberrations. The book ends with appendix 1, on special functions, and appendix 2, on elementary geometric optics. Each chapter has a list of references, and problems for the student, and the book has a complete index making it useful as a desk references book as well as a textbook for advanced undergraduate and first-year graduate coursework.

   Gaskill's book is mathematically intense, but the author's style and frequent use of figures makes the book surprisingly easy to read. Prerequisites for this book should include a couple of years of calculus, differential equations, and a smattering of linear algebra. Some exposure to concepts in optics, including diffraction and aberrations would also be helpful.

   Gaskill's book will be helpful far beyond optics, with applications in electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, digital image processing, or anywhere else that linear systems might be encountered.




3. If you want to survive a first year graduate class on Fourier Optics, get this book. Gaskill is precise and comprehensive, presenting concepts incrementally with ample diagrams to illustrate all along the way. I've got Goodman and Bracewell on my shelf, but it's Gaskill's that's saving my life this semester.



4. This book is a textbook on linear systems, Fourier analysis, diffraction theory, and image formation. It is not a textbook on Fourier optics, but was intended to helps students with the basics before attempting that subject. This book might also be helpful to students that are studying linear systems theory or image processing alone and need an additional reference. There are problems at the end of each chapter, and the problems include both numerical calculations and derivations. No solutions to the problems are included. Numerous examples are shown with complete steps. Some examples are numerical, and many are not. Minus the optical material, I had already seen the rest of the material in the book before I used it, so perhaps I am not the best judge of how complete a textbook it was, but to me it seemed very complete and clear. Unlike many similar textbooks, the author did not assume much about the reader's background other than the Calculus, differential equations, and linear algebra that you would expect any graduate engineering student to have already mastered. I definitely recommend going through it or having access to it before you enroll in a class on Fourier optics.
   
   Chapter 2 presents an elementary review of various properties and classes of mathematical functons, as well as a description of the manner in which these functions represent physical quantities. Chapter 3 introduces a number of special functions that are of great use in later chapters. In particular the rectangle function, the sinc function, the delta function, and the comb function are very useful. Also, several special functions of two variables are described. In Chapter 4 the fundamentals of harmonic analysis are explored as well as how various arbitrary functions may be represented by linear combinations of other more elementary functions. Chapter 5 discusses the physical systems in term of linear operators, and the notions of linearity and shift invariance are introduced. Next, the impulse response function, the transfer function, and the eigenfunctions associated with linear shift-invariant systems are discussed. Chapter 6 is devoted to studies of the convolution, cross-correlation, and autocorrelation operations. The properties of these operations are explored in considerable depth. The fact that the output of a linear shift-invariant system is given by the convolution of the input with the impulse response of the system is derived and explored.
   
   In Chapter 7 the properties of the Fourier transformation is investigated, as well as the importance of this transform in the analysis of linear shift-invariant systems. In chapter 8 the characteristics of various types of linear filters are described. Their applications in various types of signal processing and recovery is discussed. Also discussed is the matched-filter problem and the various interpretations of the sampling theory.
   
   Chapter 9 extends the previous material on one-dimensional systems to two dimensions. In particular, an investigation of convolution and Fourier transformation in two dimensions is conducted, and the Hankel transform and its properties are studied. Also, the line response and edge response functions are introduced. In chapter 10 the propagation and diffraction of optical wave fields in both the Fresnel and Fraunhofer regions is explored. Also studied are the effects of lenses on the diffraction process. Special attention is paid to the curious properties of Gaussian beams in the last section of the chapter.
   
   Finally, in Chapter 11, the concepts of linear systems and Fourier analysis are combined with the theory of diffraction to describe the process of image formation in terms of a linear filtering operation. This is done for both coherent and incoherent imaging, and the corresponding impulse response functions and and transfer functions are discussed in detail.
   
   Several special functions are tabulated in the first appendix for those with little or no previous training in optics, and the fundamentals of geometrical image formation and abberations are presented in the second appendix.

5 comments about Theory of Colours.

1. This was a book for a class I'm taking. It's very interesting. I totally recommend it.



2. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, probably the greatest of Germany's poets, was also an avid amateur scientist and displayed through his careful observations and his keen, what might now be called phenomenological, mind an ability to discern the depth of the phenomenon in question, in this case the origin of colours. In direct contradiction to Newton whose theory of colour formation, based on his earlier prism experiments and their interpretation, was the accepted theory of the time in all scientific circles and laymen alike, with one exception, that of painting and artistic use of colour.

   Goethe, being fascinated by the colours generated from the prism conducted his own investigations and found to his great surprise that Newton's theory was, if not incorrect, but rather mechanical in nature and based on an "interpretation" of the phenomenon rather than the truth as it stands. Goethe through his investigations into natural phenomena gave rise to the idea of the archetypal phenomenon or Ur-phenomenon, in this case meaning the movement or active form present in the phenomenon which gives it its character rather than some static image such as a Darwinian ancestor. Goethe noted that it is possible to actually experience the fullness of the phenomenon ie the coming into being of the colours themselves and that the human being can not only theorise in the conventional sense of Kant but can in fact truly know the phenomenon as it is. Contemporary science as it also was then does not acknowledge such a possibility.

   The book is basically a written account of experiments done by Goethe on the generation of colour in natural events and his own experiments to bring to the fore the ground of all colour generation. It displays great care in his observations and it gives a wide ranging explanation of colour in the sciences, the arts such as painting and also deals to some degree with the experience of colours in the physiological domain. It is all encompassing in its attempt to understand the colour phenomenon in all of its many incarnations. It is convincing in its comprehension of colours and yet at times leaves one dissatisfied because it lacks mathematical rigour or measurement that is characteristic of science today. This habitual way of thinking present in scientists is rather hard to dislodge even when the mind is open, the main reason for this being the hard edged practicality of such an approach.

   I would think that Goethe's book can be looked at as an introduction to his way of doing science and as a first attempt to fathom the real depth of the phenomenon which is inherent in his approach and sorely lacking in "normal" science. Naturally, this does not mean scientists themselves haven't used similar approaches, the names of Faraday and his investigation of electromagnetism and Heisenberg in his description of the limitation induced by the scientific method to the investigation of natural processes, come to mind. It is the cutting down of the original "life" present in their investigations that is lacking today, perhaps a Goethean approach can lead back to the intensification of science that is needed.




3. Excellent



4. Very impressed to find the book as described
   either someone was very careful or it didn't get read more than once; either way I am glad.



5. Clever, original, speculative.
   
   Ideas like Goethe's are the wellspring of new fashions in thought, whether they are 'right' or not.
   
   Maybe Newton was supported by better evidence in his analysis of light and colour, but Goethe's views are a study in how the inquisitive human mind speculates on fascinating topics and comes up with answers that demand consideration and respect - whether they are 'right' in reality or just useful as ideas in themselves.
   
   This book will provide insights into how we think, not just how we explain phenomenon.