4 comments about Fiber Optics Technician's Manual.

1. This is the second edition by Jim Hayes an instructor with Fiber U of "Instructors Guide to Fiber Optics Technicians Manual" WARNING You need the "other" manual issued in Feb 2000, not this one issued in March 2002 for the full 17 chapter overview!



2. Hi, I'm Jim Hayes, editor/author of The Fiber Optic Technicians Manual, with the third edition just released.
   I'd like to clear up the confusion created by Mr. Cooke. Delmar Learning, the publisher of the book, also offers two companion books, an Instructor's Guide that provides guidance to instructors using the book in their classes and a laboratory manual for guiding students through hands-on activities that develop skills in fiber optic installation.
   The Instructor's Guide has suggestions on how to structure classes using the book as well as answers to all the chapter exercises. The Lab Manual has step-by-step instructions on setting up and teaching labs in fiber optics. The instructor teaching a class with this book should have both manuals in addtion to the textbook to teach a class. A reader interested in developing skills in fiber optic installation only needs the Lab Manual.
   We also offer complete instructor teaching packages based on the books and self-study programs through VDV Academy ([...])
   If you want to learn about fiber optics and how to design and install networks using fiber optics (or teach it), this is a booked aimed directly at you.



3. Its a very good book, which starts reviewing from basics to intense data related to the topic of Fiber Optics.
   Basics its very important , its like the foundation of knowledge to me, like breakfast is the most important food of the whole day..
   I recommend this book.



4. Purchased this book for my son who is continuing his education in Fiber Optics. This book is a wonderful companion as an aid in fiber certification. Well written with end of chapter quizzes.

5 comments about The Perfect Machine: Building the Palomar Telescope.

1. Florence's narrative brings alive the fascinating saga of the great Mt. Palomar reflector, in its time the world's largest telescope and a pioneering example of "Big Science." The instrument's gestation period, beginning in 1928 and interrupted by the second World War, was so long that three of the principal figures didn't live to see it dedicated in 1948. Included in this group was the project's founding father, George Ellery Hale, for whom the telescope is named. The author uses Hale's remarkable abilities and seemingly unending physical and mental travails as a unifying theme throughout the book.

   A renowned telescope developer and respected solar astronomer, Hale had the establishment clout and scientific connections to launch such a grand project and assemble a team to carry it out. While suffering from a chronic nervous condition that often left him isolated in a darkened room, he was nevertheless able to lead the program through its most critical periods and help rescue it from a multitude of financial and organizational crises.

   The immense 200-inch (nearly 17 ft) diameter of the Palomar telescope's main mirror gave it twice the theoretical resolution and four times the light grasp of its Hale-inspired predecessor, the 100-inch reflector on Mt. Wilson. Everything about the 500-ton machine was Brobdingnagian, perhaps best symbolized by the fact that an observer at the prime focus actually sat inside the telescope tube, with plenty of clearance for starlight to stream past him to the mirror some fifty-five feet below.

   In the hands of Florence, what might have been a confusing welter of facts becomes a coherent and utterly engrossing suspense story. He seemingly overlooks nothing about the relevant issues of Astronomy, optics, engineering, business, politics and personalities; yet there is no sense of overkill and one always feels eager to begin the next chapter. The dozens of interacting characters are portrayed with enough subtlety, irony and humor to make them seem real and familiar. I have seldom gotten so much pure enjoyment from a book.




2. Not only does Ronald Florence give a vibrant account of the design and construction of the Hale telescope, he manages to make the reader share his fascination for an admirable project and an awe-inspiring science machine. The book is better than well written, it is captivating. Having been closely involved in a major telescope project, I can only state that his account of the production of the "giant eye" rings true. Rarely has a science writer shown so much understanding of the intricate processes, technologies, and human relations underlying a large science project. Still, there are a few disturbing inaccuracies in Florence's story. On a number of occasions, the author wrongly gives credit to the Palomar telescope designers for innovations that had been experimented long before, such as the principle of the support of the primary mirror, actually due to Lassel (Malta, 1861). The account of the in-situ finishing of the primary mirror sounds completely implausible, the metrology of the time (I saw the Hartmann screen on the occasion of a privileged visit in 1995) being of too low resolution to allow any meaningful verification of local refiguring as reported by Florence. The post-1950 period would also have deserved a somewhat broader and fairer account; the Russian 6-m may not have been a success comparable to the Palomar but paved the way for modern mechanical designs, and the advent of entirely new and far-reaching concepts, such as active optics, in the hands of European designers and suppliers is completely ignored. Still, the vision and the endeavour underlying the making of the Palomar telescope emanate from every page; it is a nearly perfect book about a nearly perfect machine.



3. I have no trouble pinpointing the splendid-ness of this book. All I have to do is mutate a cliche and say that "the angel is in the details." Florence's full, dramatic account of the various attempts to create the mirror for this enormous telescope -- first by General Electric and then by Corning -- is worth many times the price of admission. What you get is an exciting story of engineering hurdles met, overcome, and sometimes not overcome ... I am not an engineer, but probably should have been one. My father _was_ an engineer and, while reading this book, decided he would probably find it enthralling, and I was right.

   Florence is such a careful and masterful writer, that this tale of seemingly-insurmountable obstacles and struggles should appeal to anyone. He makes molten glass come to life. Bravo. One of the better books I've read in the past 5 years - and I read a lot.




4. I purchased this book at the telescope gift shop on Mount Palomar back in 1996. I read it in the next few days. It is the fascinating tale of George Hale, a remarkable man who had to battle personal demons (in the form of debilitating mental breakdowns) to build the world's largest telescope--then do it again and again! I can't remember the first one offhand, but the 100-inch Hooker Telescope on Mt. Wilson was next, then the 200-inch Hale telescope on Mt. Palomar. This book talks about all the technical, financal and other difficulties that were overcome to make the giant telescope possible. It explains large earlier telescopes and how the problems encountered in their construction provided lessons for the designers and builders of the Palomar telescope. Anyone interested in the history of technology or astronomy should give this book a look.



5. I've been fascinated with the 200" Hale telescope on Mt Palomar since I read "The Glass Giant of Palomar" as kid. "The Perfect Machine" meets the highest standard you can apply to a non-fiction book--it reads like a novel. Not only does it correct the many errors and omissions of "The Glass Giant of Palomar," but it weaves interleaving stories in a fscinating and riveting way. There's the story of the glass blank of Pyrex and the difficulties casting it, the extraordinary vision of George Ellery Hale, and even the Surrier Truss design first used on this telescope tube. Then there is the site selection, constuction problems, and most of all a vivid portrait of the personalities involved in the construction of this giant. It is even more mind-boggling to realize that all this happened in the first few decades of the 20th century!
   
   After reading this book I finally made my pilgrammage to Mt. Palomar to view the monster for myself. Knowing the details of the telescope's construction added even more to the sense of awe I felt standing in the visitor's gallery gazing in disbelief at this huge, huge machine, and knowing all the discoveries made with it over the years. It was an incredible experience. No photograph of the Hale telescope does it justice.
   
   This is an extraordinary book.

No comments about Introduction to Digital Image Processing with MATLAB.

5 comments about Absorption and Scattering of Light by Small Particles (Wiley Science Paperback Series).

1. This book must be on the table of every researcher in light scattering field.



2. I have found this to be a very useful reference for calculations of light-scattering properties of particles of various sizes and shapes. Discussions of subjects ranging from geometrical optics to Mie theory appear clear and complete. The book also includes computer algorithms for computing scattering properties of homogeneous spheres, coated spheres and cylinders.



3. The authors' lively and `user-friendly' style of presentation help bring material of an advanced nature within the reach of a larger number of readers than most books that deal with the subject at this level. I highly recommend this classic reference.



4. Very good choice of topics. Clear presentation. Caters to a wide variety of audiences.

   I'd give it a 5 if it included a chapter devoted practical aspects of experimental light scattering measurements, techniques, and instrumentation.




5. Bohren and Huffman present a coherent and comprehensive description of absorption and scattering by small particles. The text is written in a very amusing style, where ideas are presented in a conversation like manner, as if the authors are directly addressing the reader, providing jokes and examples to illustrate their point. This text builds upon the description provided by Hulst in classic text, and provides a deal of useful information particularly related to absorption (not covered by the text of Hulst)!
   
   The first eight chapters illustrate the basic theory of scattering and absorption, introducing expression and physics relevant to spheres, spheroids and a whole array of particles. This section is quite similar in spirit to the text by Hulst, requires a background in electrodynamics (to make it most useful) . In part II and part III, the authors discuss the optical constants of bulk matter and small particles respectively, citing examples of metallic as well as semiconducting particles. This book fills the need for a textbook for studying extinction coefficients of all kinds of particles, and is useful for physicists, chemists, meteorologists, material scientists, etc. Nonlinear optics is not covered, as also the effect of multi-particle scattering (and thankfully so)!
   
   The book is very useful for people studying absorption (and scattering) of nanoparticles. It contains a good description of basic physics of plasmon resonance, extremely relevant to the research of people studying metallic particles. Bohren has written some really amusing as well as insightful "science" books on experiments and observations of physical phenomenon in daily life (and atmospheric sciences). This book is similar, with additional detail in terms of mathematical equations:)! Extremely useful for researchers and scientists even remotely associated with studies of absorption and scattering by particles! In terms of usefulness, this book is much better than the text by Kerker on similar topic!

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.

2 comments about Optical Coherence and Quantum Optics.

1. This book is like an encyclopedia of quantum optics. Its a good book to have on your shelf as a reference but to learn the subject, its a little overwhelming.



2. This book is a self contained one on Quantum Optics. It gives systematic treatment of nearly very aspects of this field, good mathematical description of some methods and idea and even some historical developments of the topics. Though it seems a huge volume, it is really worth reading for EVERY beginner in this field. With this book, one does not need to look for other references to understand the topics.

3 comments about Quantum Optics.

1. This is the best introductory text on quantum optics that I've read. Its very clear and up to date. The only book that compares as far as clarity of presentation is Loudon's "Quantum Theory of Light" which is a little out of date. This book is a must have for any grad. student in AMO physics !



2. 
   I am a mathematician with extensive experience in electrodynamics and
   quantum mechanics. I read this book to teach myself quantum optics.
   Since I read it as a self-study text,
   I will review it from that perspective.
   
   I didn't find this to be a good pedagogical book.
   It is the first quantum optics book that I read,
   and I didn't get much out of it.
   Thinking that perhaps the problem was inadequate background,
   I then read from cover to cover Elementary Quantum Optics by Gerry and Knight.
   Although there are some problems with the latter
   which are addressed in a separate review,
   it did make more sense.
   
   With Gerry/Knight under my belt,
   I returned to reread Scully/Zubairy.
   It didn't make much more sense the second time than the first.
   
   The presentation of Scully/Zubairy is often sloppy
   and too diffuse. Like too many physics texts, it
   doesn't always carefully define all its symbols, and
   it frequently sneaks in important assumptions
   without explicit mention.
   It demands a lot of guesswork from the reader.
   
   For example, Chapter 1 tells us that
   
   "as we will discuss in [Chapter 4],
   the probability of exciting an atom ...
   is governed by [formula (1.5.12)]".
   
   This is a crucial formula, one of the most important in the book.
   If the reader turns ahead to Chapter 4,
   he does reassuringly find it in equation (4.2.4).
   The impression given is that it has somehow been derived
   in the intervening 100-odd pages.
   But it hasn't,
   so far as I have been able to discover.
   
   Is this crucial formula
   a new assumption of quantum optics,
   or does it somehow follow from
   established quantum-mechanical principles?
   The reader is left to guess.
   Readers who are satisfied
   to accept unmotivated statements on authority
   may be happier with this book than
   readers who seek a fundamental understanding of
   the logical structure of the subject.
   
   I was particularly interested in the
   Hanbury Brown and Twiss experiment treated in Chapter 4,
   so I read that chapter particularly carefully.
   Indeed I read it very carefully several times,
   but I was forced to consult other sources
   to understand this experiment.
   I think that the text's treatment omits important,
   non-obvious assumptions and contains some errors.
   However, study of other sources finally convinced me that
   the text's final result, equation (4.1.26),
   is probably correct.
   (Incidentally, I think that the treatment
   of this important experiment in Gerry/Knight is also inadequate.)
   
   Figure (4.6) which purports to be
   a diagram of this experiment
   contains a component which produces a "delay time",
   but the text's analysis
   never explains the purpose of this component.
   From other sources I've learned that
   the delay time is extremely important
   for some variants of this experiment.
   This is fairly typical of the text's haphazard approach.
   
   Chapter 20 discusses a "quantum eraser" experiment whose
   result is so startling that Scully and Zubairy
   cite Jaynes as considering it
   a paradox, a "violent irrationality"
   (as Scully and Zubairy paraphrase Jaynes).
   It certainly seems that way to me,
   and I would very much like to understand this experiment better.
   
   Scully and Zubairy never make clear
   if this is an actual experiment which has been performed,
   or a "thought experiment".
   Surely the exposition of such remarkable claims should be more explicit.
   
   They present a calculation which is claimed to
   "resolve the 'Jaynes paradox'".
   I was disappointed that I could not follow this calculation because
   its exposition is far too vague.
   In particular, they obtain their main result, equation (20.3.5),
   under the assumption that "the interaction Hamiltonian ... depends
   on symmetric combinations of the field variables, so that only the symmetric
   state ... will couple to the fields".
   This might be convincing if they had ever defined their "interaction Hamiltonian",
   but the reader is left to guess at which interaction Hamiltonian they might be using.
   
   I cannot recommend this book for readers
   who are not experts in quantum optics.
   I cannot judge whether it might be useful to experts.



3. Compared to Wolf and Mandel's tome "Optical Coherence and Quantum Optics", this book gives the reader a lighter job on math without him reading over 100 pages on probability theory and fourier transform. However, this book has two major drawbacks:
   
   1. The author keeps refering to later chapters on some important concept. When I read the first two chapters, I have many undefined concept and unanswered questions, whose answer may be put in chapter 16! For those who are already familiar with this field, it may not be a problem. But a rookie may want a lucid and detailed introduction in the beginning.
   
   2. Some calculation should be elaborated because the result is far from obvious.

5 comments about Photonic Crystals: Molding the Flow of Light (Second Edition).

1. Keeping in mind, I started my research in photonic crystals with my advisor referring me to this book. So, I am speaking as a first-year graduate student with basic physics background. Hopefully, you come in this category of inexperience looking for some advice on approaching a difficult subject to understand. My only suggestion is to ask around your research group for other reading materials and also get to know your library well. In any case, you can also check out my profile which has a listing of optics and photonic crystal books that can help you out as well. So, I just wanted to let you know where I am coming from since other reviewers might be educators who already have a good understanding of photonic crystals. In some ways, it pretty much assumes alot of knowledge like my advisor who assumed me to be much the same which I was not.
   
   In this fairly thin book, Joannopoulos basically rehashes the concepts of photonic crystals from his review papers in journals. Although this book may be appropriate who have read his articles, it probably is not the best source for undergrad/grad students who want to really get the details. The book has some illustrations which may or may not get the point across to readers. For beginners, I would suggest going to "Scientific American" article which Joannopoulos writes to a general audience with little or no background in optics. This gives a wonderful explanation about total internal reflection and how it relates to fiber optics. Then, it ties into the idea of crystals trapping light. Afterwards, you can consult with an undergrad optics book (Hecht or Pedrotti) which will go into basic optics. The price of this book is also quite expensive for just a short overview. So, I would have to advise strongly against purchasing without at least borrowing/reading it ahead of time. Just ask your professor/advisor who will most likely have a copy on his bookshelf. Although this is widely used as a reference, it is decent and also the only one out there. But in my opinion, it's hard to write a book on emerging technology for budding scientists. Also, technology changes so this information will later be dated with new findings.



2. The greatly expanded and revised second edition of this book is currently in production and is due out in March 2008. Just so you know, in case you were planning on purchasing the 1st edition soon.



3. As a co-author of the new edition, I'm obviously a bit biased, but I think this book occupies a unique position in this field as a broad advanced-undergraduate/beginning-graduate introduction to photonic crystals and light in periodic media, focusing on timeless fundamentals and richly illustrated with examples of many different structures. Compared to the first edition, it is greatly expanded and improved, with almost every chapter seeing significant revisions and several entirely new chapters; the second edition is roughly double the length of the first.
   
   However, the main reason I am posting here is that you don't need to take my word for it; the publishers have allowed us to post a PDF of the entire book online for no cost, so you can determine whether it is useful to you before purchasing the paper version (beautifully printed in full color). See ab-initio.mit.edu/book (where you can also find errata etcetera).
   
   Compared to classic textbooks like Hecht or Jackson, this book occupies a somewhat different ground. It is not concerned with geometric optics (where the wavelength is small compared to the structure) or with the handful of geometries that can be solved almost completely analytically (vacuum, planes, cylinders, and spheres). Rather, it deals with the vast array of problems in nanophotonics where the wavelength is comparable to the structure, and especially with periodic (or partially periodic) "crystalline" structures. In these cases, although completely analytical solutions are usually impossible, the book explains how there are more general principles such as symmetry and linear algebra that reveal the fundamental structure and behavior of light in such media. The book uses these principles to explain the most important optical properties of these structures, from confinement of light in 3d band gaps to periodic dielectric waveguides and optical fibers. It also introduces the powerful tool of temporal coupled-mode theory to design devices by coupling waveguides and microcavities.



4. I am a graduate student in the field of photonic and I learned most of what I know about photonic crystals from this book. It is very well written and does not assume much background knowledge, except perhaps some familiarity with basic notions in electromagnetism, which is fair considering the topic. To the mathematically inclined: Joannopoulos emphasizes concepts and numerics over analytic calculations, and therefore you might want to supplement it with another, more mathematically rigorous introduction to electromagnetism in periodic media. It is a great reference book and certainly deserves a spot in the library of every photonics researcher.



5. First, a disclaimer: I am a graduate student working within the research group of two of the authors (JDJ & SGJ). I used the first edition of this book (as did many other researchers) extensively when being first introduced to this field and have been able to compare it with this most recent edition given my familiarity with both editions. The 2nd edition is a significant improvement over the 1st edition, for many reasons: 1) the content is further polished and well presented (owing in part to the emphasis on clarity in communication placed within our group), 2) the figures, equations, and fonts are much more readable than before and 3) there are at least three new chapters that provide timely information on emerging subfields (periodic dielectric waveguides, photonic crystal slabs and photonic crystal fibers). An extensive (and expanded) bibliography and appendix (with an extra section on computational photonics) supplement the main text well. The book is at least twice as thick as the 1st edition with new and updated content and is exquisitely bound & illustrated. Indeed, it is true that a free copy of this book has been posted on the authors' website, but owning a hard copy is a valuable reference as well. The 2nd edition is not simply a superficial revision of the 1st, it is a much needed improvement for a field that has seen a tremendous amount of growth in the intervening years of the books' first publication.

1 comments about Introduction to Mineralogy.

1. This is a very informative book. It is quite helpful in the field of gemology, as well as the intended field of geology.

5 comments about Beaches.

1. The is a stunning book. The photos come from diverse parts of the globe and diverse coastal landscapes. At first, I was skeptical of the small-ish size. But the photos are very high quality and beautiful to look at. Maybe someday I'll get around to looking at the text?

   Now and then, I pull the book off the shelf and flip through the photos -- an instant retreat to the shore. Great for anyone who loves the sea but can't be there very often.




2. I am a beach lover, and as the DVD producer / cameraman of the "Waves: Virtual Vacations" Series here on Amazon.com, this book has been an inspiration to me. The spectacular shots of beaches from around the world are truly extraordinary. Having shot myself hundreds of the best beaches from California, Hawaii, Florida, the Caribbean both with stills and for the DVDs, I can easily say this book is top notch. I highly recommend it. It sits proudly on my desk. And for those who want to see and hear what some of these beaches really feel like, bring this book with you and check out our Waves DVDs here on Amazon.



3. This is a beautiful little book that would make a great addition to any ocean lover's collection.



4. I received this as a gift and could not wait to get a quiet moment to open this book and escape. I did like the beautiful photos, however found that the author had too many of the same area and could have done so much more. The last pages contained favorite beach areas but did not have any photos which I would of liked. Will go back to the book again someday but not what I was hoping for.



5. I love this book. I keep it out on my coffee table and look at it often. Excellent photographic quality.