5 comments about Biomaterials Science, Second Edition: An Introduction to Materials in Medicine.

1. It's hard to cover EVERYTHING related to biomaterials in one book, but the topics that are covered in this book are done so in detail. I don't really like how the book is pretty much a collection of works, but I understand how this allows each topic to be covered by an expert in that field. Overall, I find this book to be very useful in all of my classes.



2. This is a great text that sums up the body's response to biomaterials. It has good introductory sections to materials science issues, tissue engineering, and immunology.



3. I had this book required for a class, and although it certainly has a lot of information, it is a very poor textbook especially for an introduction. There is WAY too much information on some subjects and unnecessary detail. It reads more like a collection of peer reviewed articles than it does a textbook. The authors need to learn to HIGHLIGHT the important results and summarize information in a concise way. Even graphs are presented in very confusing manner (variable symbols not consistent in comparable graphs. Many authors also makes for different style changes...
   
   Then again, I have little background in biology, and only moderate interest in the subject, so that might slant my opinion.



4. Not a product for the new biomaterialist. Recommended for persons in the field or planning to enter the field. Chapters are complete, concise and detailed allowing for quick analysis. The book is organized very cleanly and permits one to use either as a reference or as an in depth reference on the subject. Solid for use in lab.



5. This book is widely used for grad-level biomaterials courses and for a good reason: it is a compilation of the forefronts of biomaterials research, including chapters written by well-regarded experts in the field. Any biomaterials researcher can look through the list of contributors and tell you that almost every single one listed is a big name when it comes to biomaterials conferences. As such, the material is presented in a way that will benefit someone who's reading it for background or reference to projects in academic research/industrial R&D.
   
   This is a very heavy book materials-wise, and is NOT for anyone who is looking to have an easy, leisurely nighttime read. The topics may seem disconnected for the unprepared. For example, out of the entire "Types of Biomaterials" unit, there are individual chapters on hydrogels, metallic biomaterials, inorganic biomaterials, etc that took up maybe a good 200 pages, and it's almost difficult to go from one chapter to the next in one sitting and take it on like you would a textbook. For more of a structured textbook, you may want to refer to a book by Temenoff and Mikos published recently.
   
   Instead, this book is more of a fixture in the reference shelf of any biomaterials researcher. It is one that you pick up and read a few chapters out of depending on what you're planning on running experiments and furthering the field of. If you treat this book more as a reference book than a textbook, then you will find the reasons why it deserves 5 stars.

5 comments about The Complete Book of Locks and Locksmithing (Complete Book of Locks & Locksmithing).

1. It's all in there, just like it says. If you want to know about locks and locksmithing, this is a good book to have.



2. This book is probably the best book for the beginning locksmith to read in order to get a good basic knowlege of most locking mechanisms and also a good knowlege of locksmithing techniques. This is also a good reference book for the advanced locksmith also.



3. If your a beginner or a locksmith thats brushing up on the business
   this is a must for the reference library. I only know 1 thing and that its well worth the money to invest.



4. This book is well written. It covers basic information that will be helpful to budding locksmiths. The book touches just about any matter that a locksmith will encounter. It is laid out well and has many pictures and diagrams. Some of the reviews listed for this book are a tad overblown...but this book would definitely be a good one to have if you are studying locksmithing.



5. This book tells you all most any thing you could ever want to know a bout lock. I can pick most lock an less then a minute, and this book tells you how to bump key locks. It tells you how to pick UL rated locks, but it did not tell me as much as I needed to know on how to pick UL locks. I would say buy this book.

3 comments about The Blacksmith's Craft: A Primer of Tools & Methods.

1. If you are interested in blacksmithing,
   have no metal working experience and
   are short on funds, I cannot recommend
   this book enough.
   
   Originally entitled "Country Blacksmithing",
   when it was first published in the early 80's
   Charles McRaven:
   
   http://www.charlesmcraven.com/index.html
   
   has revised (slightly) and reissued this
   book as "The Blacksmith's Craft A Primer
   of Tools and Methods." The author is an
   expert in building with stone and timber
   framing. Finding himself in need of tools,
   he decided to make his own and so learned
   blacksmithing in a way which combines
   19th techniques with 20th century
   materials "recycling".
   
   I discovered the first edition
   and immediately coveted it because McRaven
   writes WELL! He is lucid and the photographs
   are plentiful. Reading this is almost like
   having a conversation with an experienced
   "Country" or farm yard blacksmith as it is
   clear and concise and colorful.
   
   It's not what you would call comprehensive,
   with respect to the subject, but there
   is more than enough here to get a backyard
   toolsmith started making his own tools.
   If you are serious about banging on iron,
   this should not be your only metal working
   tome, but it is an excellent start
   IMHO and in fact might be about the only
   book you need.



2. 
   Very few titles go into much depth on the vanishing art of blacksmithing as does Charles McRaven's The Blacksmith's Craft: A Primer Of Tools And Methods - which is why any would-be blacksmith will want to see this on a reference shelf and even in a home collection. From setting up your own forge and making common items to using recycled materials, learning and acquiring the basic tools, and using blacksmithing skills to restore homes, The Blacksmith's Craft is a 'must' for any rural resident or student craftsman thinking of taking up the art of blacksmithing for fun or profit.



3. A very introductory book on the craft of blacksmithing. Unfortunately, he only hints at how to do some of the difficult projects. "The Complete Modern Blacksmith" by Alexander Weygers has alot more projects and "The Skills of a Balcksmith" by Mark Aspery is the best introductory book.

5 comments about An Introduction to Thermal Physics.

1. Great book, scratch that, fantastic book. Compared to my HJ Pain Waves and Vibrations book, it's absolutely incredible. The author goes through each step clearly, and as well as explaining how he does it, explains why he does it. So many books today just give derivations(HJ Pain) and never actually explain why they do them. A must have if your into thermal physics, or if you need it for a class. Probably the latter.



2. As a physics major going back to school after a long hiatus, I needed this book to review for a thermal physics class. I wanted to study on my own in preparation for the course, but I am having trouble with the subject, only because I don't know if my solutions are correct or not. specially the applied problems which have numerical answers, but the book does not provide a way to check them. It reads ok, it could use more examples; I think the author took the easy way out by omitting many examples that could clear up some of the confusions. Answers are a must for any textbook at this level,or any level for that matter.



3. This is probably the one book you wish to look at if you need a quick and phenomenal introduction to Thermal Physics and Statistical Mechanics, and you wish not to pour over the mammoth volumes of Landaus's legendary teatises; I have already been aware of Dan Schroeder through his Field Theory text with Michael Peskin, which made jump to get this one without hesitation for my qualifying exams. The text is lucid and written in a narrative style, which takes away all formidable fears one may have in approaching Statistical Mechanics; the techniques are intuitive and the organization if perfect!



4. The writting style of this book is very informal, much like Griffiths's books, making the material in the book accesible to anyone particularly for self-study; plus it's relatively cheap. The problems in the book were a highlight. There were many that were fun and had really cool results. The only problem was it was too short. The book didn't showcase all the great things to know about statistical mechanics. I highly recommend this book as an introduction to thermal physics followed by a more comprehensive book on statistical physics.



5. This book is good if you are planning on teaching your kindergartener thermodynamics before bedtime. It even includes a brief discussion of Humpty Dumpty's inability to be put back together again. You can explain enthalpy or Gibbs free energy to your child as a magic spell, making this book a great addition to the Harry Potter series!
   If you enjoy the incorrect explanation of energy as a fluid, this book is for you!

1 comments about Engineering Mechanics, Statics.

1. The greatest feature of this book is the generous use of examples throughout. For every type of problem, there is some close example that you can refer to.

   Even though I didn't particularly enjoy the class for which this text was assigned, I think that the book itself is a great resource, and should be recognized as so.

5 comments about Schaum's Outline of Strength of Materials 4th Edition.

1. This book is very good. First year students will find it very user friendly. Even a graduate engineer may need it to brush up previouly learned skills. All topics - e.g. material properties, stress, beam deflection, bending moments, columns, etc. are covered in very lucid manner. A must book for EVERY engineer.



2. I have already finished courses in strength of materials etc., and am using this book as a reference, instead of those voluminous handbooks. The book is very well written and William Nash has an excellent, straight forward way of putting forth the key points. The book has all the information you might need for a first course in strength of materials. I also use this book in conjunction with a finite element text to give me the theoretical values for comparison. In summary, if you need a solid backup for your textbook and a useful reference, you won't go wrong with this one.



3. I found the book to be very useful in that it summarizes my class textbook and offers many worked out example problems. I have since purchased Schaum's for my other classes and I find them equally useful



4. This is an excellent book. Very well written and with very explicit examples for a beginner or a pro.
   The new facts are the programs for some beams, columns and typical elements of strength of materials.
   The reading is easy and the processes are very simple and the exmaples are very clear.



5. I obtained this text in an older edition, around 1994. Although I had a college course in strengths, I really learned what I know through using this book and working all the problems. Later I found an even older edition of the Nash book at a used bookstore. I believe the copyright for this was around 1960 +/- 5 years. So it is probably one of the oldest Schaum titles, and it is the one I found most useful in my career in structural engineering and for passing the FE and PE exams. I have not looked at any recent editions, however provided that the editors retained the Nash chapters that use classical methods for calculating axials, shears, moments, deflections and stresses, you WILL learn by going through this carefully and working the problems in the back of each chapter. At some point this book was not available, and only the combined Strengths/Statics book by Nash was offered. I have that also (an early edition) and believe that it is not quite as good as the one devoted solely to strengths (this book.)

5 comments about A Perfect Red: Empire, Espionage, and the Quest for the Color of Desire.

1. This book is one of the very best I have seen in a long time. The author has taken great care to present historically correct and detailed information about the long history of cochineal farming, and sale of this commodity (dried beetles that can be processed to create a brilliant hue of red).
   She reveals all of the intrigue of Spain's royalty, as they sought to keep this much prized product of New Spain exclusively for the Spanish empire. Even Perkin's discovery of the color "mauve" is discussed. This book will find broad interest among scholars and the general public. It is certainly a book worth owning, if you love the history of textiles.
   
   Patricia Cummings



2. Some of the best stories are the histories of everyday objects that few ever consider. This book is an example of such a story. It traces the history of the color red; specifically, it examines the sources of red dye sought by humans over the past 700 years. Something as simple as a color can actually be quite difficult to obtain without the marvels of modern technology. This book starts of at the Venetian textile guilds of the late Middle Ages and shows the reader the state of the world's textile industry. Of all the colors, bright red is hardest to produce on clothing, and individuals and governments devote a lot of time and effort to procure new sources. Many are found, but the best one is carminic acid found in the insect cochineal, native to the Americas, and cultivated in Mexico specifically to obtain the color red. Starting with the Spanish conquest, red dye from Mexico is exported to the rest of the world, and four centuries of trade wars and political intrigue follow. The book lays all this out in chronological order, citing places, people, governments and institutions. But eventually, man's technology caught up with nature's bounty, and by 1900, synthetic red dyes destroy the cochineal cultivation industry. All the ensuing technical advances, scientific discoveries, and commercial contests are detailed clearly by the author. The book ends with a survey of the dye industry at the end of the 20th century, and a review of how red dye has influenced, and been influenced by fashion tastes throughout the centuries. This book touches many countries, and ties in history, economics, fashion, politics and science into a wonderful tale of man's obsession for a specific color.



3. This was one of two books a friend traveled across the country to share with me. I am so glad she did. I would never have picked up this book on my own. I have a terrible time finding non-fiction works that are interesting - unless they are recommended. I look at the table of books and decide something looks good. Then when I get it home, I have a hard time getting to my 100 page allowed stopping point.
   
   Greenfield does a wonderful job of describing the importance of the color red throughout history and the different compounds used to create it. With a focus on the cochineal originating in Mexico, this book covers the fortunes of Spain and the industry itself. Weaving the domestication of cochineal with the efforts of other countries to destroy Spain's monopoly, the book moves quickly. there were very few sections of the book where I was willing to put it down. Yes, I could stop at the chapters, but I only once put it down while in the middle of a chapter.
   
   I highly recommend this book - and if I didn't have to send it back to its owner, I would keep it in the library. I will be recommending it to my mother for her book club. With their focus on women authors and a mix of fiction and non-fiction, this book will give them much to discuss.



4. I live in Oaxaca, Mexico and even many people here are not aware of the impact of cochineal on the Spanish Empire and Europe. This book is fascinating! And well written.



5. I agree with the critics who claim this book . . . "a delightful, rollicking history, a fun read and well supported by research". Greenfield's account is entertaining as well as informative, not a book to put you to sleep as some histories are. I read it as a library book and decided it is a 'must have' in my library. Although her style is professional, the read is easy - no big words to look up in order to understand the full meaning. Her account of world events is so insightful and complete, you come away with more than an appreciation of how color has changed the world An understanding of world history in general is gained, both political and economical. I especially loved the personal stories that added so much interest for me.

5 comments about Atmospheric Science, Volume 92, Second Edition: An Introductory Survey (International Geophysics).

1. (Update--there is a new edition of this textbook, out in spring 2006)
   
   It's too bad Wallace and Hobbs never got around to revising this edition of the text, written in 1977. Of all the undergraduate textbooks I had, this was by far the best.
   
   W&H cover all the important topics in meteorology and atmospheric science. Each chapter is very well written, easy to understand, and has good graphics and thought-provoking (often difficult!) questions at the end of each chapter. Each chapter ends with a series of mathematical questions--some of which require a good bit of thinking to arrive at the right equation to use; and also a series of "explain or interpret these statements." This is where you find out how much you really know!
   
   Why do I like this book? Each chapter can, to some extent, stand on its own. Even though the material is dated (Chapter 5, on clouds and storms, would need significant additions in a course taught today), fundamental principles were the same then and are explained well. The historical notes about famous scientists also add character to the text.
   
   My suggestion for a new reader: Chapters 1, 2, 8, 3, and 5 in that order. Then add Chapters 9, 4, 6, and 7. This way, you get the fundamental theory and then get to apply all you know to actual weather systems (in 3 and 5). The remaining four are almost like special topics and can be read at any time. If anyone has better suggestions, let me know!



2. Hands down this text is the best for anyone looking for an introduction to the atmospheric sciences. There is almost no topic this book doesn't provide an overview of. Personally my favorite section is Thermodynamics. In my opinion the authors give a very clear and thorough introduction to the subject. Other topics in the book are also equally as good. As an introductory text (2nd year) this book provides a very good base for students in the atmospheric sciences to build upon. I find that even in 4th year I still referred back to the text to recall some of the basics that tend to get lost when you become so fixed on the math.

   Excellent text, well worth the money (like almost any book in the field, it is expensive!). The fact that the book hasn't changed in 25yrs (even the cover is the same!) says something about it's quality.




3. A good book for very brief introduction. Some sections are treated much better than others, where it may have been better to leave out the lesser covered topics rather than include them. This book seems to be a good book for an undergraduate level introduction to atmosphere similar to an intoduction to astronomy course.



4. This is a truly well-written book; introducing the major concepts of atmospheric science in a clear and logical manner. After having the opportunity to study with the author, I am thoroughly impressed with his depth of knowledge in the field. A must-own for any aspiring atmospheric scientist.



5. Very Comprehensive Simple explanations. cover all the important topics in meteorology and atmospheric science. Very helpful in my first course of atmospheric science

1 comments about Statics and Strength of Materials for Architecture and Building Construction.

1. Items arrived in perfect shape and also arrived ahead of schedule...Great seller.

5 comments about Modern Welding.

1. As advertised, this book is comprehensive in scope - even the most esoteric forms of industrial welding are covered. It is a good reference text, but probably not a good beginner's how-to book. As a welding amateur, this book expanded my knowledge of the subject tremendously. The text is oriented more towards commercial and industrial welding that amateur welding.

   One subject that is not covered that would have been most helpful is the electrical needs of welding equipment and how they are or can be met.




2. Get started SAFELY in any type of welding: Gas, Mig, Tig, or Stick. Use this book to fill in any gaps in basic formal training (such as from a local Community College, which is highly recommended for learning proper techniques) or knowledge. The book is filled with outstandingly detailed illustrations, tables and pictures that cover the different machine particulars, proper set ups and hand movement techniques that will allow anyone to produce consistantly strong welds on just about any material. Check it out: this book has so much information, and is layed out in such a way that it is easily worth twice the asking price!



3. I purchased Modern Welding- the "paperback" version, used off of Amazon, however, when it arrived today I was dismayed to discover that the "paperback" edtion is a Lab Manual, that is, a quiz that accompanies the text book. Well, I am out some cash and back at square one- I still need a copy of Modern Welding, too bad Amzon did not state that there is no Paperback version of Modern Welding.



4. Excelente la atención de Amazon. El libro: Muy bueno, es un compendio del arte de la soldadura que ayudará a cualquiera que desee introducirse en este campo. Contiene grán cantidad de información tanto de equipos como de procesos y técnicas. Desearía si que tuviese un poco mas de profundidad en el tema de la soldadura por resistencia del aluminio. Soy ingeniero mecánico, grán parte de mi trabajo tiene relación con soldadura y recomiendo de todas maneras leer este libro.



5. the book beat other books from Alibris and was the right book unlike Alibris