Book Description
A vibrant collection of essays on the cosmos from the nation's best-known astrophysicist.
Loyal readers of the monthly "Universe" essays in Natural History magazine have long recognized Neil deGrasse Tyson's talent for guiding them through the mysteries of the cosmos with stunning clarity and almost childlike enthusiasm. Here, Tyson compiles his favorite essays across a myriad of cosmic topics. The title essay introduces readers to the physics of black holes by explaining the gory details of what would happen to your body if you fell into one. "Holy Wars" examines the needless friction between science and religion in the context of historical conflicts. "The Search for Life in the Universe" explores astral life from the frontiers of astrobiology. And "Hollywood Nights" assails the movie industry's feeble efforts to get its night skies right.
Known for his ability to blend content, accessibility, and humor, Tyson is a natural teacher who simplifies some of the most complex concepts in astrophysics while simultaneously sharing his infectious excitement about our universe.
Customer Reviews:
Educational, eloquent, entertaining.......2007-10-15
Reading this book isn't a big investment in time. With a few dozen short chapters covering different topics, you can read it in spurts (like I did) when you've got a few minutes to spare.
A great primer on a variety of astronomical topics, written for the layperson.
Educational and entertaining.......2007-10-02
I have long known Tyson to be an excellent speaker and purveyor of scientific ideas with a Saganesque ability to convey the excitement of scientific findings with a bit more hipness and swagger to his talks than Sagan. This book is an excellent read through and through. I couldn't beat the feeling as I sat on the roof of a 14 story building in Curitiba, Brazil watching the sunset alone on the summer solstice (their winter solstice) while reading the section on Stick-In-The-Mud-Science and watching the long shadows creep across the sky and have Tyson explain to me all the celestial happenings around me (this really happened). Quite a magical read. The author presents complex scientific ideas in short, readable, cohesively-themed articles. Each article is on a topic familiar to us, upon which he expands towards scientific ideas which may be unfamiliar to us. There is enough overlap in the independent sections that the read feels like one is being 'taught' rather than just reading information. And Tyson is first and foremost a great educator. Although I did find myself trying to remember something from a previous chapter and flipping back through, I feel like I have learned a great deal about astrophysics from a book that was downright entertaining.
An enjoyable read for those with an interest in science and astronomy.......2007-09-27
The qualities that make Neil deGrasse Tyson so annoying on Nova Science Now are absolute positives when it comes to the written word. He is an intelligent and entertaining writer with an uncanny ability to reduce complex scientific concepts to bite sized chunks even I could (mostly) understand.
Death by Black Hole by Neil DeGrasse Tyson.......2007-09-19
An astrophysicist for the American Museum of Natural History, director of the world famous Hayden Planetarium, and columnist for Natural History magazine, Neil DeGrasse Tyson brings to the non-scientific world the ideal book for those fascinated with space, the cosmos, black holes, and all the questions and wonders therein. Death by Black Hole is the perfect book for the reader who wants answers to questions about the universe in a simple and clearly defined way so that even if they know next to nothing about science and it's jargon, Tyson makes it easily understandable.
While I was hoping for something a little more in depth in the style of Brian Greene's The Fabric of the Cosmos or Lee Smolin's The Trouble With Physics, Death by Black Hole nevertheless provides quick and simple answers to many questions everyday readers without a science background have about physics, the universe, space, and most matters dealing with the cosmos. The book is a selection of his columns in Natural History that are organized in a somewhat textbook fashion. Tyson starts with the idea of science and nature in its basic form, how humanity views Earth, the solar system, the universe. Along with this discussion, Tyson also gives minor history lessons on the development of different ideas in physics and astronomy, what people came up with what big ideas and how the progression led to the development of the big theories of our current time with string theory and relativity. Going on from here, Death by Black Hole address the crucial steps that led to the formation of the universe and its development over the many billions and billions of years, again explaining how it is that scientists know what they do and what instruments were used, as well as the history of who invented and used said instruments.
It is then that Tyson finally turns to the subject matter of the title of the book in the section "When the Universe Turns Bad: All the Ways the Cosmos Wants to Kill Us." Here he addresses the complex and still relatively unknown subjects of chaos theory, dark matter (which constitutes over 90% of all matter in the universe, while we still know next to nothing about it), and finally black holes. Tyson takes the reader on a hypothetical journey with what would happen if one were to be sucked into a black hole and how as they approached the event horizon, they would become stretched until the elasticity point of their skin was surpassed and the body would be torn into thousands then millions of little pieces.
With many questions now answered, in the next section Tyson discusses how science is viewed by the media, Hollywood, and people around the world in general. The final section addresses the concept of science and religion, again taking the reader on a historic journey through the development of first religion, then science, and the struggle that has ensued for centuries. It is the perfect end to a book on science, as Tyson lectures the importance of supporting fact and reality in a time when there are many who believe more in faith, even when all the evidence is to the contrary.
For more book reviews, and other writings, go to www.alexctelander.com
Conversational Cosmology 101 - Superb!.......2007-09-19
New York Planetarium director and astrophysicist Tyson has been writing a column for "Natural History" magazine for some 11 years - that makes about 132 short essays. Tyson says this monthly chore is "one of the most exhausting and exhilarating things I do." Forty-two of these essays appear in this volume, "mildly edited for continuity and to reflect emergent trends in science."
He divides these essays into seven sections:
1. THE NATURE OF KNOWLEDGE - The challenges of knowing what is knowable in the universe.
2. THE KNOWLEDGE OF NATURE - The challenges of discovering the contents of the cosmos.
3. WAYS AND MEANS OF NATURE - How nature presents herself to the inquiring mind.
4. THE MEANING OF LIFE - The challenges and triumphs of knowing how we got here.
5. WHEN THE UNIVERSE TURNS BAD - All the ways the cosmos wants to kill us.
6. SCIENCE AND CULTURE - The ruffled interface between cosmic discovery and the public's reaction to it.
7. SCIENCE AND GOD - When ways of knowing collide.
"Natural History" is the same magazine Stephen J. Gould wrote 300 essays for, overlapping with Tyson for seven years. In both cases, the authors excelled in making their respective fields (evolutionary biology and cosmology) easily readable for the general public, adding to their already impressive credentials.
From page 33: "This universality of physical laws tells us that if we land on another planet with a thriving alien civilization, they will be running on the same laws that we have discovered and tested here on Earth - even if the aliens harbor different social and political beliefs. Furthermore, if you wanted to talk to the aliens, you can bet they don't speak English or French or even Mandarin Chinese. You don't even know whether shaking their hands - if indeed they have hands to shake - would be considered an act of war or of peace. Your best hope is to find a way to communicate using the language of science."
The format provides for benign redundancy as the Big Bang, formation of galaxies, creation of the chemicals in the periodic chart, and predictable physics versus chaos of interactions are looked at over and over from differing perspectives. This book is highly entertaining and I recommend it for anyone who wants to buff up their knowledge of astronomy (cosmology, astrophysics...) or for the confirmed science nut like me. First rate!
Product Description
Never before has the history of the air war on the Eastern Front been written in such depth, in such detail, and so carefully balanced between both sides. The air war on the Eastern Front in World War II was history's largest and longest air campaign. Nevertheless, it has been one of the least known and least understood chapters of aviation history. This is because prior to the release of the Black Cross/Red Star series, publications on this immense subject have been based on material taken almost exclusively from the German side. Black Cross/Red Star, presented in several photo-laden volumes, has evolved as the most complete and detailed series ever published on the air war on the Eastern Front. Volume 3, Everything for Stalingrad covers the German summer offensive in 1942; the subsequent fierce air battles over the Caucasus; the Luftwaffe's onslaught on Convoy PQ-17; the hard air war over the Central and Northern combat zones, when the Soviets launched their relief offensives in the summer and fall of 1942; and, mainly, the huge Air Battle over Stalingrad. This volume contains a large number of photos along with 37 high-quality aircraft color profiles by Claes Sundin.
Customer Reviews:
Impressive and Valuable Book.......2007-06-06
The series "Black Cross Red Star" is a milestone in many respects. If you are interested of the air war over the Eastern Front these books are goldmines of information and contain many fabulous photos.
All books in the series are also well-balanced in the perspective as they have been made by specialists on both the German and Soviet air forces.
In this third volume the air war over Stalingrad and the Caucasus is highlighted. But unlike most other books on the Eastern Front this does not mean that the northernmost sector, over Murmansk, is forgotten. On the contrary the authors report extensively on this plus also on special female pilot detachments of the Soviets and the last great German successes, over Leningrad and Rzhev.
Being an author myself I am in awe at the amount of research that Christer Bergström and his friends have done. They have not spared themselves, that's for sure.
Finally I wish to stress that the photos, maps, paintings and lists are in themselves reason enough to acquire these books.
A Wealth of Information Previously Unknown in the West.......2007-02-08
Sub-Title: Everything for Stalingrad
This series of books, now in it's third volume (out of I believe four total) is a breakthrough in the description of the air war in the eastern front. For the first time we here in the west have been able to take advantage of the information being released out of the former Soviet Union. In this volume, the information is just about evenly balanced between information from the German and the Soviet sides in the battles. This includes not only the text, but also the pictures.
I didn't count them, but this book probably has about 200 pictures. You get the feeling that just about every type of plane flown by both sides. This includes more Me-109 variants than you can imagine as well as the Soviet and American planes such as P-39's, P-40's and B-25's given to the Soviets as part of Lend Lease.
The sub-title referring to Stalingrad shouldn't be taken as meaning the book is only about Stalingrad. It spends a lot of time talking about the battles around Leningrad, and has a quite complete description of the air attacks on convoy PQ-17.
This is a large format book, printed and bound using high quality materials.
Black Cross Red Star volume 3.......2007-02-07
This is the best volume so far of this series. A fast reading and excellent discription of the air war around Leningrad. The best was the portion of the book in the Caucasus air war. The description of the battle around Stalingrad was good but only gave one side of the description from either side in details many times about incidents.Christer Berstrom as always gives a very interesting view of the air war in the Arctic. I still believe it's one of the best descriptions so far to come of this aspect of the war in Russia. This seems to be winning team working on these volumes. Now I'm waiting for volume 4 to finish the story for this campaign in the south. Check out Vlad Antipov's book on "Dragon's On Bird Wings" for further reading of the southern air war from a Russian fighter regiment's view of Stalingrad and the war in the south.
Average customer rating:
- snowreview
- A gripping tale of suspense and intrigue
- Carrier aviation at its best
- Great book!
- Brick Maxwell and General Zhang Yu mix it up over the South China Sea
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Black Star Rising
Robert Gandt
Manufacturer: Signet
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ASIN: 0451220145 |
Book Description
As China expands its industrial might, it becomes one of the biggest oil-consuming countries in the world. And the only thing blocking China's access to an unlimited fuel supply is the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. When a Vietnamese oilrig is destroyed, China is obviously the culprit. The U.S.-recently joined in a defense pact with Vietnam-calls upon Commander Brick Maxwell to pilot the hyper-advanced Black Star stealth jet against the Chinese. But the Chinese have technology to match America's-and an old adversary of Brick's who is hunting him with a vengeance.
Customer Reviews:
snowreview.......2007-08-02
This is a Don,t put me down novel . Greatly enjoyed all three of the authors books. Full of action and incident.
A gripping tale of suspense and intrigue.......2007-03-30
I never know quite what to expect from the devious mind of this consummate writer of military suspense. What I do know, however, is that each of Gandt's action-packed novels has proven to be even better than the one before. Who would have dared to dream, for example, that in Black Star Rising our very own military forces would join the Socialist Republic of Vietnam in defending its crucial oil resources from the marauding Republic of China. Once again, alter ego Commander Brick Maxwell transports us from the carrier deck to the killing skies as he engages his arch nemesis over land and sea. And, yes, just the right amount of earthly love and lust!
Carrier aviation at its best.......2007-02-27
Bob Gandt's Brick Maxwell series is probably the most authentic naval aviation fiction being produced today. You even vicariously pull several "G's" as Brick's plane gets flung off the carrier's catapult or tries to roll inside his opponent -- it's that authentic. Gandt has a unique way of explaining the obscure naval term or aviator's jargon that keeps you feeling "with it" while not interfering in the slightest with the continuity of the plot.
Gandt's knowledge of contemporaneous world events and his continuous exposure to naval carrier operations help greatly in lending contemporaneous authenticity to each of his novels. Try his works -- you'll love them!
Great book! .......2007-02-16
My husband reads all Gandt's books and LOVES them. Says he's one of the best aviation authors ever.
Brick Maxwell and General Zhang Yu mix it up over the South China Sea.......2007-02-12
Sit down and shut up as Gandt stuffs us into the seat of the military's finest aerial hardware. This time it is the secret stealth jet - Black Star. The flying sequences are top notch. Even if you are not a shithot Navy pilot, Gandt knows how to draw the reader into the cockpit in a very visceral way. I even find myself grunting on the cat launches! It is precisely why I love his writing. The author has obviously "been there and done that". The plot line has the typical good guy, bad guy sequence and obligatory love interest. Brick Maxwell is the James Bond/Robert Gandt of the U.S. Navy. Good stuff!
Average customer rating:
- A Breakthrough in Undergraduate Texts
- Good book if you like mathematics!
- Amazing Introduction to a Very Esoteric Subject
- Excellent delivery!
- Gives an intuitive understanding of General Relativity
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Exploring Black Holes: Introduction to General Relativity
Edwin F. Taylor , and
John Archibald Wheeler
Manufacturer: Benjamin Cummings
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ASIN: 020138423X |
Customer Reviews:
A Breakthrough in Undergraduate Texts.......2007-03-15
A book I really wouldn't have thought could have been written. There are a lot of books on general relativity at the superficial level, call these books 'mathless.' There are monumental tomes aimed at the graduate student level, call these books 'tensor calculus.' Here is a book exquisitely positioned between these others. The student will need to have had differential calculus, and perhaps a bit of basic physics, and with these he will get a pretty good, introductory understanding of General Relativity.
The real key to this book is that it explains a lot, but then it open up a bunch of other questions, questions that we really haven't answered yet -- things like dark matter, dark energy, accelerating expansion of the universe, and more.
The book ends with: 'How can physics live up to its true greatness except by a new revolution in outlook which dwarfs all past revolutions? And when it comes, will we not say to each other, Oh, how beautiful and simple it all is! How could we ever have missed it so long.'
That's just the awe, the vision, that we want new and budding physicists to have.
Good book if you like mathematics!.......2007-01-05
This is the best book about General relativity ( GR ) that I have ever read. Instead of trying to explain GR with words the author is using mathematics to to illustrate some of the consequences of GR. This means that some mathematical knowledge is required ( but not knowledge about tensors and dfferential forms ) and that the reader need to spend some time with paper and pencil to truly understand the text. The examples is concentrated on what is happening around black holes but the advance of Mercury's perihelion and the slowing of light around the Sun is also described. A very good book!
Amazing Introduction to a Very Esoteric Subject.......2006-06-11
Einstein's general theory of relativity is perhaps one of the most mathematically intense areas of research any physicist or astronomer could undertake. However this book takes the subject and turns it into a joyous romp through curved spacetime.
By avoiding the field equations and focusing on their solutions the authors impart to the eager student an overview of general relativity and set the stage for a more rigorous approach to be undertaken later. This book is the perfect introduction to the subject.
The book is well suited for advanced undergraduates who have had several hours of physics and mathematics. It is likewise suited to serve as a introductory text for graduate students that are studying astrophysics and astronomy. In the latter case the text serves well as an overview of what general relativity is, many of its findings, its predictions, and its relevance to observational astronomy.
If you have a basic understanding of calculus and have studied the special theory of relativity in some detail then this book is well suited to your needs.
Excellent delivery!.......2005-09-25
This book was delivered in immaculate condition and is exactly how I was hoping it would be. Thank you for your product and i hope to do business with you again!
Sincerely,
Travis
Gives an intuitive understanding of General Relativity.......2005-08-18
This book sidesteps the hard work needed to motivate and develop the Einstein field equations, and goes directly to one of the most important solutions of the equations, the Schwarzschild solution, which gives rise to the concept of a black hole. By exploring what observers in different parts of space-time would experience along their different trajectories (whether falling into a black hole or watching from a safe spot far away), Taylor and Wheeler manage to convey an intuitive understanding for such typical GR "paradoxes" such as the fact that the same "event" (the crossing over of an object through the event horizon) can be seen to take 15 minutes, or forever, depending on who's watching it.
Because of what it omits, this book is not a complete presentation of GR. It does present the most fun part of GR, however, in a way that is mathematically accessible.
Along the way, a few side questions are adddressed, like "How painful would it be to be squished/torn apart as I fall into a black hole?" A lot of time is also spent explaining how the weird trajectories of light within the event horizon will transmogrify what is seen by the observer.
This is a great book and a lot of fun. I am also left with a greater motivation to go back to a more complete presentation, to be convinced that "this is where you have to end up". Although much longer, this book is a worthy successor to the original output of this dynamic duo, "Spacetime Physics".
Book Description
As Leia must deal with a new threat to the fragile alliance that binds the New Republic, Lando becomes a prisoner aboard a runaway spacecraft of unknown origin. The ship is following an unstoppable path to its homeworld, destroyed by Imperial forces. Luke continues his quest to learn more about his mother among the Fallanassi, where his every belief about the use of the Force is about to be challenged. And while Leia ponders a diplomatic solution to the aggression of the fierce Yevetha race, Han pilots a spy ship into the heart of Yevethan space and finds himself a hostage on one of the vast fleet of warships under the command of a ruthless leader.
Customer Reviews:
Love this series.......2007-06-22
I'm not sure why all the negativity...this is a very well-written yarn. I remember reading it 10 years ago, and enjoying the plot but feeling uncomfortable with the characters...yet reading it again now (at age 38) I love it. The characters have great depth, and the story is intricately interesting. It all felt very realistic to me. Maybe this is just not a story for a younger reader, or a reader who just wants action. But this is a thoughtful story, doesn't deserve the kind of panning that The Crystal Star got, certainly.
Kept making me mad..........2007-05-18
By the time I reached this book, I was half tempted to give up while I was ahead. But I must like punishing myself (or be very obsessed about reading each and every Star Wars book), because I started AND finished this one.
Pretty much nothing of consequence happens in this book. Luke is still off with his newfound girlfriend, still hunting for his mother. Han is kidnapped. Lando is having fun exploring his ship while people are dying. Leia is behaving like a whiny child. And Chewie, well, Chewie is Chewie. He is that character everyone brings into the story and then goes, "Uh, oh. What do I do with him?"
I hated how the book was divided into sections dedicated to each character. Instead of learning a bit about everyone throughout the book, you have to wait to reach each section to learn what happens to each character. Though I really shouldn't have been upset since nothing really happens to anyone, or at least nothing that won't be repaired before the end.
I won't blame the series for sounding too much like the Vong, because technically this came before the Vong. Still, I guess (???) this was better than the continuous "Oh, the Empire developed a new superpower. Luke, grab your lightsaber and help Leia and Han defeat it!"
Have I said yet this is a terrible series? Have I warned you to avoid at all cost? In case it isn't clear, buy the books to complete the set. Just don't open them!
Wow!.......2006-03-18
The book rocked. I like the parts were Luke looked for his mom. It recovered for the bad beginning. Part three on Leia just made it even better.
Better than the first.......2006-01-05
Ok so this one started out a lot better. It continued with lando's adventure, which was a great start. The author had the book devided in three sections. THe first section starts with Lando, the next is Luke's story, and the Last deals with leia. Granted the storyline with luke is still awful and he still doesnt do Luke justice he did manage to pull off a decient leia. so all in all I would say better than the first but still not up there with star wars authors like Zahn.
Horrible. This if for the people who defend this trash.......2004-05-30
This book is lousy. Its pointless and dragged out. If these 3 books were made into 1, it may be decent. But this 2nd book is just horrible.
I seen one person say "I am sorry that your limited intellect cannot stand plot development and intricate story lines"
1st of all, plot development is suppose to lead to a plot right? NOTHING HAPPENS. Lando solves nothing in book 2, Luke figures out nothing in book 2. Nothing happens.
2nd of all whats so intricate about a vessal that was made by a long lost race. Sure its in interesting ship, but it could have been wrapped up in about 50 pages. Not page after page, book after book.
Oh No, a Hitler like character in Nil Spaar. Dont get too intricate on me. Boring story.
Book Description
In the wake of a shattered alliance, the New Republic fights a relentless new enemy in an all-new adventure in the bestselling Star Wars saga...
Faced with an alarming image of Han as a battered hostage of the Yevetha, Chewbacca takes on an urgent mission. Meanwhile, Leia calls upon the Senate to take a stand and eliminate the Yevetha threat--even at the cost of Han's life. As a former Imperial governor takes his battle to the runaway Qella spaceship, Luke's continuing search for his mother brings him dangerously close to Nil Spaar's deadly forces. And as the Yevetha close in on the forces of the New Republic, Luke takes a desperate gamble with an invisible weapon...
Customer Reviews:
Still angry, but at least it's over..........2007-05-18
Finally! We have reached the end of this terrible series!
Luke breaks off with this girl, learning that she lied to him. What a dork! How could he allow himself to be deceived by her and drag him all over the galaxy doing nothing and then just walk away as if nothing happened? Obviously, she must have been HOT.
Lando's little ship journey finally turns out to be not as much of a waste of time as it was in the first two books. Chewie goes out to rescue Han. And the whole Yevetha plotline is neatly wrapped up and thrown away (it was that bad).
This is probably the best of the three books (not saying much). Something actually happens in the book, and it is actually quite exciting (a word not known in the previous two books). I mean, I think my heart rate went up for a brief time (no, it wasn't related to getting closer to the end of the book). The characters are still badly portrayed, but if we were looking at good portrayals, we would be reading Timothy Zahn, not this series.
As I closed this book, I was happy. Happy that there were no more books and that this terrible, terrible series was over. Happy that this author has never written a Star Wars novel since these. Not so happy that I wasted so much time on these, but beggars can't be choosers.
Oh, and by the way, read this series at your own risk!
poorly written, but entertaining.......2007-01-09
I thought this was the best after I got hooked on this trilogy- I really wish i hadn't thoguh!
Didn't Enjoy It At All.......2006-06-23
I didn't like this trilogy. This was the best one but it was still awful. Not going into the plot. Amazon does that for me but this book was boring. I hate the Lando sections. Just wasn't exciting and other than the story of Chewie and his son didn't further the characters. I don't recommend you get this book unless you've suffered through the other two in the trilogy and want to find out how it ends.
Good end to Bad trilogy.......2006-01-13
Ok, so it is finally over. For such a bad series the end was good. It makes much more sense now (not). The only thing that really made sense was the fact that Luke was searching for his mother and basically it boils down to the fact that he was lied to. He went on a wild goose chase. The author did a really bad job with all of the characters except for Chewie and Lando. Luke would never act like that and Leia (it was worse than the other two and that is saying a lot). In the first two books the author didnt do a bad job with Han, but he really was not in the much. But this time he was it quite a bit, he gets kidnapped (Han Solo kidnapped, you have got to be kidding). All and all I would say skip this series it really has no connection to the rest of the star wars universe.
Great Book.......2005-09-05
Michael P. Kube-McDowell is a superb writer. He beautifully conveys his stories and at the same time actively involving his reader in entertaining and fun ways. I would recommend this series to anyone looking for an exciting fast-paced read that will expand on a familiar theme and story line.
As for the seller, the book was in great condition and I appreciated the quick clean delivery. Thank you! ***** for you too!
Book Description
Part of the reissued Oxford Classic Texts in the Physical Sciences series, this book was first published in 1983, and has swiftly become one of the great modern classics of relativity theory. It represents a personal testament to the work of the author, who spent several years writing and working-out the entire subject matter. The theory of black holes is the most simple and beautiful consequence of Einstein's relativity theory. At the time of writing there was no physical evidence for the existence of these objects, therefore all that Professor Chandrasekhar used for their construction were modern mathematical concepts of space and time. Since that time a growing body of evidence has pointed to the truth of Professor Chandrasekhar's findings, and the wisdom contained in this book has become fully evident.
Customer Reviews:
A goldmine of information.......2003-09-12
First of all let me say that this book is a member of the hypersonic suppository school of presentation. I wish those that attempt to learn the tetrad and Newman-Penrose methods from this book only good luck. That said, this book contains the most extensive treatment of black holes I have seen anywhere. Period. The section in this book on Kerr black holes inspired me to seek and find a physically meaningful interior solution for the Kerr black hole. I have to admit it: the tetrad and Newman-Penrose treatments inspired me to master these techniques. In the long run that is what this book has done - inspired me. Anything by S. Chandrasekhar does that to me.
Thorough.......2002-08-10
I cannot give this book 5 stars because it is written in such a dry fashion that it is terrible reading, certain to put you to sleep. Nonetheless, I recommend it if you are a serious student of relativity because it contains everything you need to know about black holes and the mathematical formalism of relativity in general (i.e. good for study of gravity waves etc). While to read it from cover to cover would be an exercise in torture, it makes an excellent reference book.
Book Description
Finally, a Guide to the Zodiac About Us and For Us!
If you love following your sun sign but never seem to feel what you read is directed toward you, wait no more. Here's a guide to the zodiac that will make you say, "Wow, that's me!" From the fiery Arian to the charismatic Aquarian, you'll find examples of yourself, friends, loved ones, and even your children in this down-to-earth guide. No more cosmic adventures into your planets! Now here's a book that tells you the real deal about you and those special people in your life. You'll gain an insight into that practical Virgo brother who's always saving a penny for a rainy day or that energetic Sagittarian sister who just doesn't keep still for a minute.
Black Sun Signs offers light-hearted advice on romance, tips on money matters, discussions about health concerns, and more. You'll also find out what famous African American brothers and sisters share your sign. Whether you're a sexy Leo like Halle Berry or there's a reserved Capricorn like Denzel Washington in your life, you're sure to get the 411 on yourself and everyone you know in Black Sun Signs.
Customer Reviews:
The Truth (At least for Aries Women).......2006-01-22
Next to the Bible, I think this is one of the most important books people need to own. I definitely use it as a point of reference and I'm not even heavy into astrology. But I was called out so accurately, I had no choice but to believe. It's almost alarming how you can be described so well by something that has no pulse. I'm not saying that it'll be the same experience for everyone, but it's definitely not a waste of money--especially if you're single! *wink*
great book.......2005-01-27
I've had this book for years, and I'm sorry that it took me so long to review.
But this book breaks things down for the sistahs and the brothas. I am glad that she took it upon herself to write a book such as this, because it was needed. I keep this book beside Linda Goodman's books. I am sorry, Goodman is a force to be reckoned with!
I think Balfour does an excellent job when describing the signs. She hit the Pisces woman to a Tee for me...I don't want a man who won't work...oh no...I don't play that disability mess either...How are we gonna survive on that? LOL
interesting.......2003-08-16
When I checked my sun sign; Virgo. I was stunned that I actually act like that, some of the facts were wrong...but not every virgo are the same.
BLACK LOVE SIGNS.......2001-04-17
This book is very good it seem so true it draws a lot of atention towards it. I personaly recommend this book to any one who want's to know about there sign and want to read and find out who they are most compatible with.this book and the other books made by this lady make's all the other books I've read seem so fake. I wish I can read more of her books!
IT'S WRITTEN IN THE STARS.......2000-07-09
Thelma Balfour has taken African Americans to and through the solar system and imparted her knowledge and wisdom of the messages written in the stars. For those of us confounded by the cement jungles, ungodly laws and chaotic chemistry of our lives, Miss T. has given us a reason to look up. She helps clarify what we want, where to look for it and to ensure us that we are in fact worthy and destined to have it all. Black Sun Signs is wonderfully and intelligently presented to minds that are hungry for the light of understanding.
Book Description
In the blockbuster bestselling tradition of Heir to the Empire comes this thrilling addition to the Star Wars(r) saga, as peace gives way to a new threat...
It is a time of tranquillity for the New Republic. The remnants of the Empire now lie in complete disarray, and the reemergence of the Jedi Knights has brought power and prestige to the fledgling government on Coruscant. Yesterday's Rebels have become today's administrators and diplomats, and the factions that fought against imperial tyranny seem united in savoring the fruits of peace.
But the peace is short-lived. A restless Luke must journey to his mother's homeworld in a desperate and dangerous quest to find her people. An adventurous Lando must seize a mysterious spacecraft that has weapons of enormous destructive power and an unknown mission. And Leia, a living symbol of the New Republic's triumph, must face down a ruthless leader of the Duskhan League, an arrogant Yevetha who seems bent on a genocidal war that could shatter the fragile unity of the New Republic...and threaten its very survival.
Customer Reviews:
These books made me mad..........2007-05-18
I love Star Wars and pretty much anything related to them. I can stand the unusual circumstances that our characters go through. I put up with the eternal Empire problems that plagued a bunch of the books in that era. I live through the silly plots and junk that are typical of sci-fi. But I can't stand taking Star Wars and pretty much changing everything Star Wars about it. These books might have been good had they not starred Han, Luke, Leia, Lando, and Chewie. However, this is not the case.
To sum up, the New Republic is getting pretty used to being at peace until the Yevetha (think: pre-Vong) come blazing a trail, hacking people up because they just like to. Leia runs around touting "Peace, peace, peace!" like a hippie, Han and Chewie pretty much do nothing of consequence, Lando is off trying to find a fleet of ships, and Luke, well, he hasn't done IT in a while, so when he meets this lady...well, let's just say it's a good thing the books don't center on THAT relationship.
When I finally read these books, I had already learned that Padme was Luke and Leia's mom so the fact that this woman tromps up to Luke and says, "Your mother is one of us" kinda ticked me off. But this is forgivable given Luke and Leia don't actually know their mom. What is not forgiveable is that Luke decides, "Hey, finding my mom is way more important than saving the galaxy like I've been doing the last twelve books and this woman is hot and single, so let's go!" What happened to Luke here? And how did he become the super-Jedi that he is portrayed in here? Rebuilding his dad's sanctuary? Why would Luke even choose Vader's sanctuary given that it is probably filled with a Dark Side presence?
Leia is a complete snob. She is nothing like the fiesty princess we fell in love with in A New Hope. Han is the incompetent daddy. And Lando is off finding these ships...why?
Bad, just plain bad! If Jedi Trial had never come out, these books would have been the worst in the series. As it is, they tie. If you buy to complete your Star Wars set, first off, buy used paperbacks, and second, read at your own risk.
There is a great disturbance in the Force........2006-06-02
This trilogy is probably THE worst in the ENTIRE SW series (possibly even worse than TPM). Do yourself a favor, avoid this trilogy. You will thank those of us who warned you. Probably the worst turn in the trilogy (and probably the one that angered me the most, because it just seemed so cliché and not completely thought out) was finding out why Luke was dragged all over the galaxy: because his guide wanted to find out if she could trust Jedi. So, she based whether or not she could trust him on how he reacted to her lie (the lie that she knew ANYTHING about Padme, which was nothing).
And really, how many times are we going to have another Empire, or another form of the Yevetha or Yuuzhan Vong? Having yet ANOTHER form of the same old thing has really gotten tired. Yes, that's a word I would use for this trilogy: tired, with a healthy helping of not-thought-out.
What in the world...........2006-01-02
Ok I gave this book there stars for effort. there were some good parts to the story, but not many. The book is far to slow and makes no since to me. Luke is off trying to find his mother who has some force talent called the "white current", that really makes no since to me, seeing that im relatively new to the star wars universe beyond the movies, I was under the impression that Padme had no talent whatsoever with the force, not to mention, they have luke's mother being from a planet i have never heard off before, padme was from naboo. the author did a horrible job with luke and leia both, Han was done alright but he is not in it much, same with chewie, in fact he sends chewie back to his home planet in the first few moments of the book. he did ackbar decently not great. and characters like Wedge Antilles, were just thrown in there for what reason I dont know, he didnt have any part in the story but the one time he was mention. so all in all, 3 stars for effort 1 for the actually story. If I was you i would just skip this triliogy as I dont see and revelance to the rest of the star wars story line and this triliogy will just confuse you.
Great purchase.......2005-09-05
I would recommend The Black Fleet Crisis series to anyone looking for a fast-paced fun read that expands on the popular Star Wars story line. It gives some excellent character insight for the reader and gives the Star Wars universe a weight and gravity (or anti-gravity depending on the situation) that provides the majority of the excellence in Mr. Kube-McDowell's storytelling.
RabidFanboy.......2004-06-09
As of today I'm quite happy to say I've read through all the printed Star Wars books that fit into the storyline. It's got ups and downs. This trilogy is one of those downs. There are some decent parts, the idea for the villians are very much like the Vong (with some major exceptions) from the New Jedi Order series and sometimes it seems they might even be the template. But many aspects fall through as you continue.
In at least one section of each book a character is taken and butchered, made very much out of character or put through a useless side story. A freind of mine read the books and commented "...its's an excuse for Luke to have sex in hyperspace". Sadly, that just about sums up the kind of pointless side paths that this trilogy takes. I would say read if you must, there is some information that is nice to know, but don't expect anything grand.
Book Description
From supernovae and gamma-ray bursts to the accelerating Universe, this is an exploration of the intellectual threads that lead to some of the most exciting ideas in modern astrophysics and cosmology. This fully updated second edition incorporates new material on binary stars, black holes, gamma-ray bursts, worm-holes, quantum gravity and string theory. It covers the origins of stars and their evolution, the mechanisms responsible for supernovae, and their progeny, neutron stars and black holes. It examines the theoretical ideas behind black holes and their manifestation in observational astronomy and presents neutron stars in all their variety known today. This book also covers the physics of the twentieth century, discussing quantum theory and Einstein's gravity, how these two theories collide, and the prospects for their reconciliation in the twenty-first century. This will be essential reading for undergraduate students in astronomy and astrophysics, and an excellent, accessible introduction for a wider audience.
Customer Reviews:
Excellent book.......2007-07-22
This book probably has some of the best descriptions for novae and supernovae, that I have seen, for non-scientists.
Cosmic catastrophies by J. Craig Wheeler.......2005-08-28
Highly recommended for the cosmically curious who does not have the mathmatical background. It is easy to understand and well written.
How stars work.......2001-02-26
I found this book a complete surprise. From the title, I expected only a story about explosions and collisions but this book is much, much more. It provides really brilliant descriptions of how all kinds of stars evolve and how they regulate their energy production. After reading this book I fully understood why aging stars produce more energy but are cooler than they were in their youth. A minor complaint might be that the content is not well organized. A type 1A supernova is explained here and a type 2 there and later some more about 1A etc. But, I shouldn't dwell on a quibble. This is a terrific book. After reading it I'll never think of iron or nickel in quite the same way again.
The biggest explosions.......2000-10-06
There seems to be an aspect of human nature that wants to search out and discover things that are the most extreme in their class. People just seem to love record setters. This is a book about cosmic record setters. Within its pages Wheeler describes the biggest, most energetic, oldest, densest, things in the universe. If cosmic record holders hold any interest for you, then I think you'll find this book as enjoyable as I did.
Wheeler begins his book by describing how stars form, how they evolve in response to gravity, how they ignite, how they burn, and eventually how they die. This is a logical introduction, since virtually all the examples of cosmic catastrophes involve stars in one form or another. Like people, though, the life of each star is unique - and the end times are very different. Wheeler does an excellent job of describing the negative feedback process that stabilizes solar activity. If the star generates too much heat it expands. This expansion reduces the temperature, and throttles back on the rate of nuclear fusion. If the star cools down it contracts, and the contraction heats it up again, keeping the rate of fusion at a remarkably constant level for long periods of time during the stars life.
Much of Wheeler's text is actually about how stars evolve. This is important because to understand their deaths, you need to understand how they are born and how they evolve over their lifetimes. Their deaths are frequently the most interesting parts of the story because they are often involved with the catastrophes that are the book's principal thesis. While I bought the book because of its discussion about cosmic catastrophes, I found it valuable for its descriptions of stellar evolution alone. This includes a nice description of the "solar-neutrino" problem as well as a nice explanation of the red-giant phase, and especially the last stages during the life of a massive star that explodes in a super nova.
The foundational understanding of the basics of stellar evolution makes it easier to follower Wheeler as he takes the reader on a tour of the major players in cosmic catastrophes: white dwarfs, super novae (of many different types), neutron stars, black holes, and gamma-ray bursts. Wheeler's descriptions of these phenomena (to the extent that modern science understands them) are among the best I've seen in a popular science textbook. There is also a smattering of discussion about the origin of the universe in the Big Bang, and some interesting speculation about time (and space) travel using black holes.
In any book dealing with modern cosmology and astronomy there are inevitable discussions about the nature of space and time and how they fit together with Einstein's theory of general relativity. Most such books have at least one figure showing a funnel-shaped construct with grid lines converging as they swoop into the tapering end where the black hole resides. Wheeler uses lots of such diagrams. However, I think he does a better job than most at helping the reader understand what the diagrams illustrate. More importantly, he helps the reader understand what the diagrams do not illustrate, and their limitations (he dispels some common misperceptions about these sorts of figures). I especially enjoyed Wheeler's explanations about how one might (with the application of the appropriate mental acrobatics) use the diagrams to actually envision what is really going on in our multi-dimensional world.
Another thing I liked about Wheeler's book is the clear and frequent illustrations. For the most part the author has anticipated those places where prose just cannot quite complete the mental picture. When this happens there is inevitably a well-constructed diagram that finishes the concept and makes things clear. There was one exception, however. Figure 7.3 really needs to have an arrow or circle marking the location of SN 1987A. [I'm pretty sure I found it, but the exposure changes between the photographs, and so I'm not quite sure. It would have been nice to have the author's help in preventing a false identification.]
Reading this book one gets the sense that even though it is a qualitative description of astronomy (there are no equations) Wheeler is not over simplifying. His discussion of super novae, for example, lists many classes and describes theoretical uncertainties that other authors gloss over or ignore all together. Of course there is much more detail to super novae than what is in Wheeler's book. But at the qualitative level Wheeler leaves the reader understanding that there are many classifications of super novae, that some of the boundaries between classifications are not always so clear cut, and that we still don't know a lot about how some types form, and how other types explode. These are concepts that other popular science textbooks don't always convey. I think the only thing missing from the chapters on super novae is a table that summarizes all the different types and some of their descriptive identifiers.
Unlike some popular science texts, Wheeler devotes quite a bit of time describing the evolution of binary stars, which play an important role in some of the greatest cosmic catastrophes. I think he does an especially good job of qualitatively describing accretion disks, and how they fit in the context of mass transfer in binary systems. It's this mass transfer that is ultimately involved in some of the most spectacular catastrophes in the sky.
Overall, this is a great book. If you enjoy astronomy I'm sure you will find it satisfying and informative. It's just the sort of book to enjoy on a vacation, or after a grueling day at the office.
Books:
- Encounter (Voyager Books)
- Ghosts of Spain: Travels Through Spain and Its Secret Past
- Government By the People, Basic Version (21st Edition)
- Great Books of the Western World (Great books of the Western world)(60 Volumes)
- History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)
- History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)
- History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)
- History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)
- History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)
- History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)
Books Index
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