Physics Book Reviews

 The history of Ireland outside the realm of academia, is seldom discussed beyond historic circles with the notable exception of the 19th and 20th century. Modern Irish history has often been favoured more, owning to the impact it had not only on Ireland itself, but on the world. It was in this period that the beliefs and structures of  imperialism, expansionism, religion and globalisation were challenged and changed for ever.     It is no understatement that Ireland's contribution to this history is unsurmountable.  Nevertheless, texts on this period often neglect to talk about Irish history in its own right, cherry picking around for the events that majorly affected institutions in addition to Ireland itself (notably Britain) . This approach is not surprising, when one recalls the complicated history that has existed between nations for over a millennium. However, this is at the detriment of the pursuit to  chronologise  Irish history itself....

 The European imperialism and the right of the crown faced perhaps its greatest challenge in the years 1760-1820.  Often referred to as the age of Atlantic Revolutions, this period in history saw the American revolution, the French Revolution as well as revolutions in Spanish and French holdings in the carribean and in the americas. These events were heavily interlinked with one another interns of their long and short term impacts upon the nature of colonialism as well as geopolitical relations for remainder of the 19th century.  As argued in the introduction of.this three volume series, these events are seldom written about in tandem, with texts often referring to these events in isolation to the rest. This series masterfully illustrates the interweaved connections between this era main events. An individual volume is dedicated to the British, French and Spanish interests respectively, as well as their positions in the greater theatre of European politics.  I recomm...

Contemporary research in string theory has predominately revolved around so-called matrix models and non-commutative geometry (an interesting and rich mathematical field in its own right). This work though technically brilliant, has become far removed from the usual skill set of most high energy physicists. Introductory material into the subject has often been phrased at level far too technically involved for a naive beginner.  This text provides perhaps the first bridge for the uninitiated into this interesting field of research.  The introductory chapters of this text are perhaps its finest, which beautifully defines and explains the essential concepts needed for the proceeding discussions.  Moreover, this book provides more than just a broad survey of historical results in the field, in the latter quadrants of the text, recent research is outlined in full, giving the reader a current outline of the field. Even though this text is perhaps the best introduction for physi...

 The modern definition of Genocide (in respect of being a heinous crime against humanity), was first imprinted into the fabric of history in the aftermath of the Second World War, in response to the great evils committed during the course of said war. Even at that time, it was seen then that this definition was given under the understanding that its implications would retrospective apply to genocides committed throughout human history, which otherwise had faded into obscurity, or simply classed as a "casualty of war".  To this end, the definition of genocide aimed to achieve two things; the first was to prevent the horrors of the Holocaust (and similar crimes against humanity) from ever happening again; the second (and perhaps less appreciated) was to begin a deep (and indeed uncomfortable) introspection of humanity's past actions and highlight that theses atrocities made manifest over the preceding 2 decades, were indeed present time and time again throughout history. Th...

 David Griffiths' Introduction to Electrodynamics remains one of the premier introductions to electromagnetism that one can possibly find. The text covers enough content to cover a firm grounding in electromagnetism for both an undergraduate and graduate education. It first covers the essentials of vector algebra and calculus at a level suitable for beginner undergraduates; before delving into elementary electromagnetism (the vacuum Maxwell equations in both integral and differential form). The text then moves on to discuss electromagnetism from the perspective of multipoles, fields in media and radiation. It ends on what is perhaps is my favourite chapter on special relativity and relativistic electromagnetism, which remains one of favourite introductions to the subject.  This new edition is now typeset to match the usual Cambridge University Press textbook style, with the textbook now being of similar dimensions to other CUP textbooks. Furthermore, many of figures in the tex...

 Often described as a physicist's physicist, Sidney Coleman is regarded as one of the greatest teacher of Modern Theoretical Physics (as well as being one of it's greatest practictioners during the 20th century). His Harvard course on Quantum Field Theory has been synonymous within the field of theoretical high energy physics, for being clear, concise and most importantly understandable. This last attribute, led many to  herald him as an engaging and dedicated teacher, whose methods have  long been the gold standard for teaching in theoretical physics. For many years, this exceptional course has only been accessible through rather grainy recordings from  the 1970s; or more recently, a typed up transcript of the lecture course, from meticulously kept hand written notes from one of the teaching assistant. This newly published edition is culmination of the later transcription as well as notes, memories and recollections of a whole host of  Physics- 253a alumni (whi...

The causation and consequences of the napoleonic era has remained one of the most hotly debated topics in human history for over 200 years.  Politically, this era in history was born out of perhaps the first definitive challenge against the ruling classes that had ruled over Europe in one form or the other since the recession of roman influence throughout the dark ages.  In addition, this newly found political rebirth, rebounded into perhaps the most ardent display of expansionism, and even autocracy that Europe had seen for centuries. Napoleon is often celebrated as one of greatest tacticians and military leaders of all time, as well as one of its greatest tyrants who threw it all away.  This 3-volume set covers in explicit detail the triggers, battles and legacies  of this era, in painstaking depth. A defining feature of this set is that it explores in great detail, the entire era from perspectives of the other players (both in Europe and the rest of the world), ra...