Physics Book Reviews

Can art truly be innovative?  Is innovation the pathway to power? These questions form the grand backbone of this thoughtful and homely tale of murder, betrayal and one man's obsession to find the truth.  Inspector Imanishi Investigates immerses the reader into 1960s Japan, a country whose identity at this point in time remains in flux after the terrors of the Second World War.  As with most detective stories, we begin with the discovery of a body; a manhunt ensues - to no avail at first. But slowly and surely, the dark events that led to the initial gruesome deed, unravels into a murderous rampage, leaving our protagonist, Chief Inspector Eitaro Imanishi in hot pursuit.  Imanishi in many ways is your archetypal detective: a middle-aged family man placed at odds with his sense of duty to discover the truth behind the mysterious events. Nevertheless, despite the common caricature appended to him, what sets apart Imanishi is his relatability.  Matsumot...

208 years after her untimely death, Jane Austen has greatly out shadowed the general anonymity afforded to her in life.  Celebrated for her wit, charm and sense of character, Jane Austen gave a voice to those that otherwise would not have been heard, in a time where women's rights and thoughts were trampled. Of even more renown, Austen changed the landscape of British literature forever. Jane Austen's presence in the world of literature is titanous; even within her own lifespan and that of her contemporaries, Austen's work rightly had begun to be placed within the same ranking as Shakespeare and his ilk.  This complete collection of Jane Austen is an outstanding testament of her life's work. From a purely aesthetics point of view, the books in the collection are wonderfully cloth bound,  in addition to an excellent display jacket. In compliment , the scholarly notes provided through by Janet Todd aids in the reader's immersion into the world of Jane Austen; especial...

The name Weinberg within Quantum Field Theory circles is synonymous for many reasons.  Getting the obvious one out of the way first; Weinberg himself was a Nobel Laureate and a highly regarded researcher who advanced our knowledge of theoretical particle physics (along side Abdus Salem and Sheldon Glashow) with the unification of the weak nuclear and electromagnetic forces to form electroweak theory.  Secondly, Weinberg possessed a renown as an educator of theoretical physics within the community. Principally, Weinberg produced a three-volume series on Quantum Field Theory, that has remained a crowning compendium on Modern Quantum Field Theory.  The first in this series of books explored the foundations of Quantum Field Theory. First, beginning with a historical exploration of the field, before delving into the so-called basics: from canonical methods to the path integral approach of Quantum Field Theory. In succession, the 2nd volume deals with more advanced techniques (...

When studying mathematics, one often takes for granted where it really all comes from. As we progress upwards through our mathematical education, we learn more about the theorems,  lemmas,  proofs and logic that underpins nature.  Nevertheless, we really do not consider where the notation- (the syntax of the language) we use day and day out comes from. Perhaps, we were far too encumbered and distracted by abstract beauty that mathematics offers in its own right to consider the issue any further.  However, it remains a poignant question: where does the language of mathematics (from a purely  etymological  perspective) we use day in, day out come from? The Language of Mathematics is the remedy to our ignorance. This book is a love letter to the fundamental nature of Mathematics and the syntax that has developed along side it.  It is an eye opening account of  the early history of mathematics and scientific thought in general. The book give numerous ...

 Foundations of Crystallography is an extraordinary detailed account into the key concepts needed to gain a firm understanding in crystallography.  The text is indeed authoritative ; dedicating a great many pages to the subject in comparison to other texts on the subject. This is to its credit, as it presents a much more detailed and precise description than its competitors. One example where this is evidently exhibited is in the introductory chapters.  In my own experience, I have never seen a book on condensed matter physics describe so painstakingly  what lattices are and the symmetries which they possess. This is supported by numerous illustrations and worked examples. In particular, this text makes great use of colour in images to distinguish different properties, structures and aspects of crystallography. This is indeed rare in the field and to my knowledge there exists no other text book on the subject that is as well illustrated as this one. This point i...

Tensor calculus has a huge series of applications across the physical sciences. From machine learning to fundamental physics, a solid foundation in tensor calculus and differential geometry is becoming more essential.  Despite these skills being in such high regard, the texts that currently exist to support the learning and reinforcement of tensor calculus are, for the most part, too terse and technical in nature. For students who are not inherently pure mathematicians ( as is mostly the case ), these texts are too proof-based, overtly technical and most egregiously do not show students how to apply these concepts to actual problems. For those of us with a physics background, such texts often present an insurmountable challenge to our education, and are often a deterrent for further study.  A Geometrical Introduction to T ensor Calculus is a refreshing exploration of both the theory and (drawing on the author's research expertise) application of tensor calculus.  As a tra...