2 comments about Remote Sensing: The Image Chain Approach.

1. Most hard-core remote sensing engineers would love this book, especially those interested in the overall design and physics of sensors themselves. I don't reference it as much as other texts I own on the subject, although I do reluctantly consider it a "must have" for remote sensing students who are interested in pursuing the field further. The price tag was not student-friendly, however.



2. The other books on the subject of remote sensing mainly look like they were written by and for geologists. There is usually lots of tabular data, tons of prose on the subject, and very little in the way of mathematics or algorithms. This just won't do if you are a programmer or engineer who needs to know how the final product got to be the final product, from optics to sensors to image processing. Engineers understand via equations and figures, and this book delivers those details.
   
   Granted, the author does and must skip quite a few details when he is deriving equations such as the governing equation on the light that hits a sensor that appears to be coming from a target point. However, if the author was to go into those details the book would be 6000 pages long, not 600 pages. The part on image processing is OK, but still weaker than Gonzales and Woods book Digital Image Processing (3rd Edition). That book is essential if you want to manipulate the final product. Once again though, Schott had to delete some of the details in order to keep the book on track and on topic and prevent it from becoming an unwieldy tome. Highly recommended for engineers interested in remote sensing from an engineering standpoint.

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.

2 comments about Optical Illusions: The Science of Visual Perception (Illusion Works).

1. One of the most beautiful and wonderful books I own is Al Seckel's "Masters of Deception: Escher, Dali & the Artists of Optical Illusions" (2004). Unlike most other books on illusions, the book itself is a creative tour de force. And Seckel supplements his creation with visually striking and important media at his website. I think I've already given away as many as ten copies of that book to family and friends since its release.
   
   Another of Seckel's books that I refer to frequently "Incredible Visual Illusions: You won't believe your eyes" (2003). That book has twenty chapters, each containing a different class of illusion. As a sensory scientist who teaches courses on sensation, perception and cognition, I find this book useful because it organizes a nice collection of illusions into meaningful categories that are relevant to me. In this work, as in Seckel's many others, the author acknowledges many renowned vision scientists. I imagine that the book's organization benefited from Seckel's association with these people.
   
   Seckel's new book is "Optical Illusions: The Science of Visual Illusions." This is a fine book, with 281 optical illusions (one per page). The book begins with a four page essay on illusions. This is followed 281 pages of illusions, each printed to fill one page. Many of the illusions have been published by Seckel and others previously. A few of the illusions are new. The illustration section is followed by 24 pages containing BRIEF explanations of each illusion. Each explanation is, on average, seven or eight sentences.
   
   I have one major criticism of the new book. The title is highly misleading. The book title suggested to me a book that would delve into science, in a scholarly way, at least at the level of a Sensation and Perception undergraduate textbook. I was hoping for something of a sequel to Masters of Deception (e.g., "The Science of Deception"?). However, this book is not about the science of visual perception or of illusions. It is not even about "optical" illusions, as most illusions are explainable in terms of perceptual and cognitive processes beyond simple optics. Sure there are 24 pages of explanation at the very end of the book, but these are generally not deep, satisfying explanations. And there is no reference list that would allow the casual reader to track down important scientific articles.
   
   One superb, beautiful resource on the science of visual illusions is Michael Bach's website, "Optical Illusions and Visual Phenomena". Bach's dynamic site is visually striking, presenting some great illusions. The explanation of each illusion is accessible to the novice, but detailed enough to satisfy and impress other perceptual scientists. Bach generously acknowledges the artists and scientists associated with each illusion, providing scholarly references in each case. Bach lists and explains scientific controversies regarding many of the illusions. I should add that Bach is a first-rate sensory scientist from the University of Freiburg. His electophysiological and psychophysical research is highly-regarded, important, and of high quality. When I have spoken to him in the past (at conferences and at the Smith-Kettlewell Eye Research Institute in San Francisco), I have always been impressed by his knowledge and intellectual passion. Bach and his website are the real deal.
   
   There are plenty of other excellent scientific sources on illusions. Richard Gregory, for instance, has written and spoken about many illusions, and he is the prime mover, director, and creator of London's Explororey. Another great innovator and scientist is Christopher Tyler, a vision scientist at the Smith-Kettlewell Eye Research Institute. Among sensory scientists, Tyler is widely regarded as a genius and computational/theoretical wizard. He's the guy who invented the autostereogram (aka "The Magic Eye"), and who makes unique observations about art and symmetry. He contributed considerably to San Francisco's Exploratorium. He presents a variety of interesting things at his S-K website. The Exploratorium has a wonderful website on illusions and their explanations that is definitely worth a look. Project Lite and Viperlib are two other impressive, important sites related to the science of illusions.
   
   Seckel mentions at his website that he has even more books on illusions that are coming soon. The one that got my attention is the following:
   
   "Your Mind's Eye: A Comprehensive Scientific Examination of Visual and Sensory Illusions. Boston: The MIT Press." Seckel writes, "This will have a dual platform (Mac and PC CD Rom) featuring hundreds of interactive illusions, and very rigorous scientific explanations. University level." I hope that this book lives up to its billing. There's no doubt that Seckel's work, combined with a healthy dose of good science, would be an important contribution. I'd love to see Seckel promote scientists and their explanations with the same enthusiasm that he promotes their illusions. Moreover, I feel confident that Seckel has important insights into illusions, and that his ideas have scientific importance. I'm not sure that Seckel has succeeded in expressing these ideas... yet.



2. This is a great book. Very fun for all in the family. Fast shipping.

4 comments about Foundations of Image Science.

1. The authors have done a great work. The book is complete and detailed. It is helping me a lot in the beginning of my Ph.D. It's really a must have in the field!



2. This book always amazes me whenever I use it for the absolutely incredible amount of material that it covers in such depth. I had the tremendous good fortune to have taken a Physical Optics course with Prof. Barrett, and it would be impossible to believe that one person can know so much unless you have personally talked with him about science or had a class with him. The rumor in the department is that Dr. Barrett is the only professor to at one time or other have taught ALL of the department's core graduate courses during his career at the College of Optical Sciences. Furthermore, he is one of the rare scientists who is an authority in his field both theoretically and experimentally, so you do not get a one-sided perspective as can often happen with science texts. The book reflects his vast knowledge, expertise, rigor, and thoroughness.
   
   Of course, the book has several chapters on mathematical formalism, including the linear algebra, dirac delta function, Fourier theory, and group theory. The imaging theory is there, as well as diffraction theory. He covers photon statistics and detection, including the necessary quantum mechanics. He covers several advanced imaging concepts that I haven't any idea about myself. You probably could not find a more comprehensive book in the field of imaging and physical optics. Another benefit is that, at least for the chapters I have used, the individual chapters seem to stand well on their own and you are not forced to study the book in order.
   
   This book is not for the faint of heart in any respect. The material itself is not for the faint of heart: it is extremely rigorous and will require your careful attention, but I believe it is well explained and manageable for someone who is serious about learning it. The size of the book is not for the faint of heart. I would hate to have to carry this thing around much (>1500 pages!!). The price is nothing to sneeze at either, at least for an impoverished graduate student like me, but Dr. Barrett told us that if you calculate the cost per equation, it may be one of the cheapest books on the market. Well, you get what you pay for. As far as anyone in the class found out, there are no typos, either. (Really. We were looking for them). This is certainly a relief for anyone who has much experience shelling out hundreds of dollars for expensive science textbooks.
   
   I do not consider this book to be introductory material, but it is quite likely as close to exhaustive as anything you are apt to encounter in the physical sciences. If you are very serious about imaging or physical optics, this book will be an invaluable resource.



3. I was the reviewer for this book in the Journal of Electronic Imaging.
   
   The quotation from my review in JEI as it appears on this site should read:
   
   "...a worthwhile addition to the armamentarium of any serious researcher in image science and will be an oft-quoted reference for many years to come." (Journal of Electronic Imaging, April-June 2005)
   
   The corrections pertains to the word, oft-quoted, which has, for some reason, appeared as "opt-quoted" on this site in addition to the reference, "Journal of Electronic Imaging" instead of "Journal of Electrical Imaging"
   
   This book, of course, is outstanding as I have stated in my review in the JEI.



4. This is one of the few books that I will always treasure. Why? Because it is very clear. It has very very good discussions on everything it treats, and it treats a ton of material. In my engineering career, I have read or tried to read many many textbooks and this stands up as one of the absolute best. Barrett and Meyers give exquisite expositions on all of the mathematics necessary to study image science and many other related fields. For example, its treatment on probability, random processes, decision and estimation theory is actually better, more clear and more complete than many standard textbooks on the subject. If I get stuck reading any of them, I refer to this book and am saved.
   I only wish they would issue it in two or three volumes. It is so ponderous (yet beautifully put together) if you carry it around you will get big muscles and get a good cardio workout!
   I own it and leave it at home and I had the library at work get me a copy which I leave at work. If I want exercise I will go to my health club!
   IT IS WORTH EVERY PENNY OF THE 146 BUCKS IT COSTS.
   If you want a great textbook to learn this technology from dont hesitate to buy it. You may need two - one for home and one for work, if your company wont buy you one.
   Really impressed.

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.

3 comments about Nanophotonics.

1. Excellent reference book for the contemporary research and development work. I learned alot by reading this book. I actually followed up on the concept of wavelength up converters and down converters.There is a significant potential in these class of materials for use in medical technology, especially scintilation efficincy improvement. By deposition of converter emulsion in front of a scintilator which emits at UV- or near visible (400NM);short wavelnegth scintilation photons can be translated to two longer wavelength photons where semiconductor detectors have two to three times responsivity. therefore, on could use ordinary si-APD to work with NAI, etc. scintilators. i was also impressed by level of detail dedicated to polymers and their potential applications.



2. Excellent reference book for the contemporary research and development work. I learned alot by reading this book. I actually followed up on the concept of wavelength up converters and down converters.There is a significant potential in these class of materials for use in medical technology, especially scintilation efficincy improvement. By deposition of converter emulsion in front of a scintilator which emits at UV- or near visible (400NM);short wavelnegth scintilation photons can be translated to two longer wavelength photons where semiconductor detectors have two to three times responsivity. therefore, on could use ordinary si-APD to work with NAI, etc. scintilators. i was also impressed by level of detail dedicated to polymers and their potential applications



3. I have to agree with the "editorial reviews" above...this is a great book. It provides an excellent introduction to the field of nanophotonics, and covers a wide range of topics. It is not particularly math heavy, nor does it assume knowledge of much jargon, so is suitable for a fairly wide audience (advanced undergraduate or graduate level), but when you need more specific information it sends you to the right places. I find myself returning to it frequently.

1 comments about Atomic Physics (Oxford Master Series in Atomic, Optical and Laser Physics).

1. This book has two types of material; both well done. The first could have been written decades ago, and is the "traditional" atomic physics. Where you start with the hydrogen atom, and investigate its spectroscopy with the Schrodinger equation. Then the book takes the next logical step by going to helium and thence to heavier atoms. LS and JJ coupling and other refinements. Such material is now quite well known and you need this for a solid background.
   
   But the book also has much more recent material. On quantum computing using qubits. These attempt to use the quantum states of small groups of atoms, to perform computations fundamentally different from current digital efforts. Enough detail is given for you to appreciate the severe experimental travails of the field, and how much more remains to be done, if qubits are ever to become useful.

2 comments about Nonimaging Optics.

1. This book has various mathematical errors in some of the key equations. Even the equation for the basic CPC is wrong.
   
   Yet, in the first book, by Welford and Winston, the key equations are all correct. [Welford was a meticulous proof reader.]
   
   This latest edition is a badly flawed book because of poor (if any) proof reading.
   
   Get the 1st edition if you can (1978 version), to get the correct basic math, then use this edition for a reasonable review of more recent stuff.



2. Anyone contemplating buying the online-edition of this book should be forwarned: All the appendices, which constitute 77 pages of important reference material, have been left out of this edition. You can see what you're missing in the table of contents, but that's all you'll get to see. The physical book is 491 pages long, while the online-edition gives you only 414 pages.
   
   When I attempted to bring this to the attention of the Amazon customer support staff, I was informed that my message informing them of this technical error was itself lost due to another technical error.
   
   If I cannot have a refund, at least I can save my fellow customers from a frustrating experience.

1 comments about Lasers (Wiley Series in Pure and Applied Optics).

1. The hardest part about writing any scientific textbook is balancing readability with volume of content. Generally, authors fall into two categories: those including far too much material and those presuming too much prior knowledge on the part of the reader. Milonni and Eberly have found the perfect compromise in LASERS. While an excellent advanced undergrad or intermediate grad. text, it isn't as exhaustive as Siegman's LASERS. On the other hand, it contains peripheral material about non-linear optics which many texts on lasers should include, but don't. LASERS is perfect for proceeding further with more in depth studies of advanced topics in lasers (as treated in Siegman). There are only 2 faults I can find with the book: one is technical, the other editorial. In the technical area, its discussion of Q-switching is a bit trite and shallow. A topic as important as this should receive a little more attention. It would be nice to see an updated volume reflecting recent advances in technology. The authors did such a nice job the first time around, it shouldn't take alot of effort to include perhaps one more chapter on current trends in lasers.

5 comments about Vision and Art: The Biology of Seeing.

1. Margaret Livingstone has produced a book so very useful to visual artists that it may, in its density of ideas, seem definitive rather than evocative. But evocative it is. As we learn from studying it, Livingstone's book offers implications that may be developed by any artist who reads it in almost any direction. One might take as an example the very rich Chapter 8, with its notions of luminance as a balance for the salience, or pushiness of certain colors - how Leonardo handled it, how Ingres handled it, and how today's painter or digital image maker might go even further. The size and shape of the book allow for illustrations that work on the eye at the right scale. And there is an overall visual loudness to the book that is jarring and satisfying.

   The author gets to the structure of our visual systems, makes them very clear, and tells us things that are lasting and verifiable. Her spirit of personal experimentation shows in the book, and makes us think that looking inquisitively at the world will pay off.




2. After reading it, you'll want to keep it close to you. That way, you'll never forget how important art and science are in your life.



3. This is a book that every teacher of photography and serious photographer should read and study and re-read. Although the book contains no photographic examples, there are plenty of examples in famous paintings to support the visual research Dr. Livingtson so clearly writes about. The examples in paintings are easily transferable
   to a number of familiar and famous photographs.
   Ever wonder what Ansel Adams and Edward Weston were so successful with the black-and-white photographs but not with their color photographs? I have, and her book has provided me with insights into this and other photographic practices.



4. A very good book with great pictures that demonstrate key vision concepts. Near the end of the book, however, I started to skim the chapters because it became too tedious to read - very technical book overall.
   
   I bought a used copy and noticed "student underling" in the first chapter, but an abrupt end to underlining in the second chapter. You know what that means: "This course is not what I expected; I'm dropping out!"
   The student and I feel the same way, but I got a lot further.
   
   Buy it, but I found Robert L. Solso's book The Psychology of Art and the Evolution of the Conscious Brain to be a far more exciting read. That one is a five star easily.
   
   Another more engaging book covers many of the same things as Livingstone's but in a more readable style: Visual Intelligence by Donald D. Hoffman.
   
   So, if your interested in vision, etc. I'd start with Solso, then move to Hoffman, and lastly to Livingstone.



5. This is a most outstanding work on the anatomic and physiologic concepts underlying visual perception. It is aimed at any interested layman and should be required reading for visual artists, neuro-physiologists and any vision science practitioners. It requires attentive reading initially, but the extent of its insights are breathtakingly rewarding for those efforts. It is a visually stunning book that is the product of an inquiring and perceptive mind who is a senior member of the neuro-physiology faculty at Harvard. As an ophthalmologist and vision scientist-educator, I have strongly recommended it to trainees and older colleagues alike. Try it - you'll like it. MAH