The San Juan Islands: Crown Jewels of the Pacific Coast

Amazon.com

The San Juans are a group of islands with a common geological history and unique past that attract travelers and islanders alike with their beauty. In The San Juan Islands author Mark Gardner, a professional photographer and resident of San Juan Island, provides a short, in-depth history of the islands with local insight. Striking color photographs follow his introduction, taking readers to some of the most serene and breathtaking locations in the San Juans.

Unlike the Washington mainland, the islands have a Mediterranean-type climate and receive half the amount of rain as Seattle. The landscapes vary on the islands from the golden, open prairies of the southern islands to the green, forested slopes of Mount Constitution on Orcas Island. Gardner explains the flora and fauna of the islands, as well as the general characteristics of island residents. Each island is distinctly defined by its residents: Lopez Island is recognized for its locals' friendliness; Shaw Island for its solitude and its two resident orders of nuns and one order of monks; Waldron Island for its self-sufficient residents who are "determined to preserve the last island frontier"; and Spieden Island for its exotic animals from Africa and Asia, left from the previous owner's safari park.

The protected waters that surround the islands draw many visitors. Surfacing Orca whales delight those on the shore, while those diving under the surface encounter giant octopus, white anemones, and wizened wolf-eels. Wanting relief from the mainland's pressures, many travelers come to the islands to enjoy the galleries, shops, restaurants, and outdoor activities. Island residents are aware of the rising population and interest in the San Juans. Gardner's hope in creating this book is to inspire people to preserve the islands so they will remain a magical place for the next generation. --Jenny Burritt

Book Description

The San Juan Island archipelago is a collection of 172 islands beloved for their remoteness, tranquility, scenery, and wildlife. This beautiful and informative giftbook offers an intimate and memorable portrait of the islands, one of the Northwest's most popular destinations. Mark Gardner's stunning and serene images depict both the familiar-- ferry crossings, Roche harbor, and orca whales-- and the surprising, such as uninhabited islands, red fox, and old-growth forest. An essay highlights the human and natural history of the islands, and royalties from sales of the book with support the non-profit group Friends of the San Juan Islands.

Book Description

Comprising some 40 islands and cays in the northeast corner of the Caribbean, the British Virgin Islands are low-key and uncommercial. Topside, they offer lush subtropical forests and endless pristine beaches. Underwater, divers and snorkelers delight in coral-covered pinnacles, caverns, walls and shipwrecks, including the famed 19th-century RMS Rhone. Once a notorious pirate hideaway, today's British Virgin Islands continue to be a sailors' paradise and are counted among the Caribbean's premier yachting destinations. This book describes 63 of the British Virgin Islands' best dive sites, with full-color photos throughout.

You'll get specific information on:

depth range, access and conditions
Common and hazardous marine life
Topside activities and attractions
Diving services, live-aboards and yacht charters
8 easy-to-read maps

Customer Reviews:

An essential guide to BVI diving and snorkeling.......2000-07-10

This book picks out the twenty-one best diving sites in the British Virgin Islands and gives a page or two of descriptive text about each. Each dive site has one or more pictures to show the reader what to expect. Each dive site also has some general descriptions such as the typical depth, the current condidtions, how to access the site, and what expertise is required. There is a map on which all of the sites are located. There is a rating system the book uses to inform the diver whether a place is suitable for a beginner or an expert. The book also serves as a general guide to the BVI, including history, food, culture, lodging, and tourist information. The book includes some helpful tips on diving in the BVI and warns about the dangers underwater.

Very comprehensive.......2000-03-30

Our group used this guide in doing dives from our yacht in the BVI. I found it to be comprehensive enough to help us to find the dive sites fairly well without asking too many questions of the locals. There were only one or two sites which we wanted to dive which we didn't find.

I liked the ratings of the dives from beginner to expert but I think adding a 'star' rating would help people to determine what particular dive to choose when there are many choices. Also helpful would be to include a map of the dive site (some other dive books do this) which would help in planning the dive. These are the only reasons I didn't give this book a 5 star rating.

This book was also valuable in explaining potential problems with dives such as currents or choppy seas. It also provided the maximum and minimum depths and these were pretty much on target. The book was definitely a valuable asset on our trip.

Egyptian Grammar: Being an Introduction to the Study of Hieroglyphs (Egyptology: Griffith Institute)
Average customer rating:

Good Resource For Intermediate and Advanced Researchers

Fast and very fine condition

Expanding Horizons

The Best Egyptian Language Resource Ever!

Gardiner's Egyptian Grammar - A Must Have

Egyptian Grammar: Being an Introduction to the Study of Hieroglyphs (Egyptology: Griffith Institute)
Sir Alan Henderson Gardiner
Manufacturer: Griffith Institute
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

African | Instruction | Foreign Languages | Reference | Subjects | Books
General | Foreign Languages | Reference | Subjects | Books
Vocabulary | Words & Language | Reference | Subjects | Books
General | Reference | Subjects | Books
All Titles | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
Similar Items:

Concise Dictionary of Middle Egyptian (Egyptology: Griffith Institute)

Ancient Egyptian Calligraphy A Beginner's Guide to Writing Hieroglyphs

Middle Egyptian: An Introduction to the Language and Culture of Hieroglyphs

How to Read Egyptian Hieroglyphs: A Step-by-Step Guide to Teach Yourself, Revised Edition

An Egyptian Hieroglyphic Dictionary : With an Index of English Words, King List, and Geographical List with Indexes, List of Hieroglyphic Characters, Coptic and Semitic Alphabets (Vol 1)

ASIN: 0900416351

Book Description

Although the first edition of the study appeared over seventy years ago, Gardiner's Egyptian Grammar remains the most comprehensive presentation of Middle Egyptian available, and is still an essential reference tool for all advanced work in the language. The latest, third, edition, appeared in 1957 and is now in its tenth reprinting. After each new element of grammar the learner is given a set of exercises, and the book also contains useful resources such as a list of hieroglyphic signs and information about the development of the language.

Customer Reviews:

Good Resource For Intermediate and Advanced Researchers.......2007-07-26

I found this book to be more for those with some level of linguistics background as well as a good grasp of English grammar. Have a thesaurus and dictionary handy as some archaic terms are used (this book was written in mid-20th century by a Brit).
This book is a good resource for those wanting to study the Mdr-Ntr. It should be in your library if you are serious about learning this ancient language. It can also be a primer for learning Arabic and Hebrew. The only thing this book lacks is an answer key to help you if you get stuck in some of the many exercises included within.

Fast and very fine condition.......2007-07-09

all i could hope for in a hopelessly erudite text being mailed to me which was ordered off the internet at a mass-market website. who knew!

Expanding Horizons.......2006-08-18

Formerly I was mainly familiar with Hieroglyph of the Ptolemic Period and needed more information for a project. Sir Alan H. Gardiner's Text Book not only filled this needed, but increased my interest in pursuing the subject even more comprehensively than I have had before. At my age (74) this keeps my mind active and gives another purpose to my life.
I feel this volumn is well worth the cost of acquirement and is an excellent addition to my library.

The Best Egyptian Language Resource Ever!.......2006-05-12

I think this is the ultimate textbook for any beginning, intermediate, or advanced Egyptologist because it is so detailed and thorough. I couldn't possibly wish for anything more in an Egyptian textbook. I've only read up to page 190. I have been studying Egyptian since 1996 when I first borrowed Mercer's handbook, but since I got this book just over ten weeks ago I have learned more about the Egyptian language than I ever learned before. I can't wait to finish the book.

Gardiner's Egyptian Grammar - A Must Have.......2005-09-15

If you're truly interested in learning how to read Egyptian hieroglyphs and have already bought and read one of the many "How To" beginners books currently being published, you've no doubt realized how limited the scope of your purchase is. You've been taken to the precipice, shown the wisdom of the ages, only to find out that, just when things were getting interesting, the story ends.

Perhaps, if you've followed my misguided steps while surfing your new-found wave of enthusiasm, you further indulged your need for immediate gratification by purchasing the hefty, two-volume Egyptian dictionary set by Budge. After you've lovingly brushed off the dust and handed over your discretionary income for the next month, you realize that you're acting on impulse but rationalize your post-purchase cognitive dissonance by assuring yourself that "they wouldn't still be publishing this work after all these years if it wasn't any good, right?" Of course, a week later while cruising the net, your bubble bursts as you realize that everybody who's anybody in the world of Egyptology is warning you to "Beware of Budge".

If this in any way resembles you and your desire to learn this enigmatic language from the past still burns bright, do yourself a tremendous favor and buy this book! Yes, relative to what you've purchased so far, Gardiner's Egyptian Grammar is expensive and, unless you want to give up your next paycheck for shipping charges, it will take a week or two to arrive. I promise you, hand-on-heart, that it will be worth every pfennig of your investment and well worth the wait. After only the first couple hours (which will pass like minutes) you'll realize how very limited everything else you've read really is. After a couple weeks, you will be able to figure out for yourself why our more learned colleagues encourage us to take anything from Budge with a grain of salt.

At the time of writing this endorsement (while factual, I make no pretense of being objective), I've owned Egyptian Grammar for three months. Applying myself moderately (I have a wife, child, four cats and a day job - none of which tolerate being ignored), I've already achieved a surprising level of competence at transliteration (converting hieroglyphs into phonetic Egyptian) without need of a reference. While happy with my progress to date, I've not yet succumbed to delusions of adequacy. I still have a long path to walk and must rely heavily upon Mr. Gardiner for translating all but the simplest of passages.

As I'm sure you've already guessed, I am giving this book a five-star rating. Is Egyptian Grammar perfect? No. The wonderful thing about Egyptology is that with every passing year, we learn more about this fascinating culture. As with any material in print, there's a level of currency missing from its pages. Perhaps a more relevant question to pose would be, "Is there anything out there that I can buy that's better than this book by Gardiner?" I don't think so. If there is, it's either not currently being published or not available in English. Either way, I've yet to discover it.

Egyptian Grammar : Being an Introduction to the Study of Hieroglyphs

Average customer rating:

Egyptian Grammar : Being an Introduction to the Study of Hieroglyphs
Alan H. (1879-1963) Gardiner
Manufacturer: Oxford at the Clarendon Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000RPWX3A

Egyptian Grammar. Being an Introduction to the Study of Hieroglyphs. Third edition revised.

Average customer rating:

Egyptian Grammar. Being an Introduction to the Study of Hieroglyphs. Third edition revised.

Manufacturer: Geriffith Inst,/Oxford Univ
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000HJBHTC

Average customer rating:

Egyptian Grammar: Being an Introduction to the Study of Hieroglyphs
Alan Gardiner
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding
ASIN: B0000CJP9C

Egyptian Grammar: Being an Introduction to the Study of Hieroglyphs, 2nd Edition, Fully Revised

Average customer rating:

Egyptian Grammar: Being an Introduction to the Study of Hieroglyphs, 2nd Edition, Fully Revised
Alan Gardiner
Manufacturer: OXFORD UNIV PRESS LONDON
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000TLX6L0

Average customer rating:

The standard bearer

Egyptian grammar;: Being an introduction to the study of hieroglyphs
Sir Alan Henderson Gardiner
Manufacturer: by Oxford University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B0007K0UQC

Customer Reviews:

The standard bearer.......2005-10-24

I actually learned hieroglyphs beginning with a different text, but then the course quickly graduated to Gardiner's text for those pursing historical studies in earnest, at the University of London in the 1980s. I have assembled a collection of more accessible books on how to learn hieroglyphs as refreshers (four such other texts, each of which has merits) but 'Egyptian Grammar' by Gardiner remains the standard bearer of hieroglyph study.

If you are truly interested in learning Egyptian hieroglyphs for an upcoming trip to Egypt or to visit a museum with a collection (I amazed a friend once by being able to read an inscription at the museum; I confessed that of the hundreds of 'paragraphs' of hieroglyphs in the collection, that that was one of only two I could decipher without my notebook), this text might not be the first choice. However, if you are serious about studying hieroglyphs and think it might become a lifelong avocation or even professional study, this is the text to get.

Now in its third edition, the Gardiner text has been continually updated since its first publication in 1927 (the printing I have is from 1978). It consists of 33 lessons, each of which covers a particular facet of grammar, followed by a section on vocabulary and exercises. There are also several additional pieces, Excursus A, B and C, which cover historical information such as calendrical studies, funerary rites, and royal speech and address. The appendices cover vocalisation (Middle Egyptian), proper names, extensive lists of hieroglyph symbols and meanings (nearly 100 pages of such), and vocabulary arranged in both Egyptian/English and English/Egyptian formats.

All that is needed for the language is covered in this text. The vocabulary follows interesting patterns, as does grammar and sentence structure, whichh can vary in ways similar to the direction of the writing. The pattern of hieroglyphs is variable. Generally, you always want to 'read into the face', i.e., the picto-glyphs will be facing the direction from which to start -- more often right to left than left to right, and columns go top to bottom. There are no punctuation marks and no word breaks -- this can make meanings hard to decipher.

Consider the example:

IAMNOWHERE
which could be broken into
I AM NOW HERE
or
I AM NOWHERE
and in this case, context might not help provide which meaning is the true one. Or perhaps the author is poetical and sees the trouble of distinction and means that trouble to be present.

No wonder hieroglyphs are hard!

This is a heavy, academic text. It is not always user-friendly. The book assumes a high level of comfort with grammar and linguistic construction not only of English but of other languages as well. The student is introduced to transliteration early in the text, but the lessons continue using both picto-characters and transliterations throughout the entire volume.

Of course, the Gardiner text is by far the best academic and research tome (600+ pages), but hardly meant for the popular press. Look for this when beginning a doctorate or M.Phil. in Egyptology or Linguistics of the ancient world.

Average customer rating:

Egyptian Grammar, Being an Introduction to the Study of Hieroglyphs
Sir Alan Gardiner
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000N2WO0Y

Average customer rating:

Egyptian Grammar - Being An Introduction to the Study of Hieroglyphs, Third Edition, Revised
Sir Alan Gardiner
Manufacturer: Griffith Institute
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000VKA2IE

Average customer rating:

Egyptian Grammar - Being An Introduction to the Study of Hieroglyphs, Third Edition, Revised

Manufacturer: Griffith Institute
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000HK44Z0

Average customer rating:

Egyptian Grammar Being an Introduction to the Study of Hieroglyphs

Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, Oxford
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000I9F2MY

Book Description

A useful scientific theory, claimed Einstein, must be explicable to any intelligent person. In Deep Down Things, experimental particle physicist Bruce Schumm has taken this dictum to heart, providing in clear, straightforward prose an elucidation of the Standard Model of particle physics -- a theory that stands as one of the crowning achievements of twentieth-century science. In this one-of-a-kind book, the work of many of the past century's most notable physicists, including Einstein, Schrodinger, Heisenberg, Dirac, Feynman, Gell-Mann, and Weinberg, is knit together in a thorough and accessible exposition of the revolutionary notions that underlie our current view of the fundamental nature of the physical world. Schumm, who has spent much of his life emmersed in the subatomic world, goes far beyond a mere presentation of the "building blocks" of matter, bringing to life the remarkable connection between the ivory tower world of the abstract mathematician and the day-to-day, life-enabling properties of the natural world. Schumm leaves us with an insight into the profound open questions of particle physics, setting the stage for understanding the progress the field is poised to make over the next decade or two.

Introducing readers to the world of particle physics, Deep Down Things opens new realms within which are many clues to unraveling the mysteries of the universe.

Customer Reviews:

Particle Physics Made Easy.......2007-03-02

This book should be a must read for anyone that tries to understand particle physics. I've been looking for something like this for a long time. The Standard Model is explained with great skill and clarity, and with minimal use of math. This is not a mathematical book, but where minimal mathematics becomes necessary (group theory), it is introduced with the assumption that the reader knows next to nothing (which was my case) and developed to the point where, combined with physics, it makes sense. Most of the math only requires logic, not computations, and all you are required to memorize are a few rules -- conventions -- that only take a couple of lines. Beautiful.
The author limits himself to what is known and generally agreed about particle physics. The limits of the theory are also very well explained, but no significant steps into the unknown are made, which I think it is a good thing for once.
If you like Brian Greene, Michio Kaku, Lisa Randall, and others like them, do them, and yourself, a favor: read "Deep Down Things". It will open new horizons in the way you see, and appreciate, their work. These more popular authors cross into the unknown with beautiful, breathtaking constructs, but none explains the basics as Bruce Schumm does.

A Review From a Non-Physicist.......2007-01-01

Two items set this lay physics book apart: clarity of writing and minimum of speculation. It covers only material amenable to experimentation. This rules out both string theory and multiple universes - each mentioned only briefly. Nor does it dwell on Einstein's theories of special or general relativity - the gravitational physics of the large. "Deep Down Things" is like an introductory text on quantum phenomenon and particle physics without the explicit math and with more explicit wordage.

Particle physics studies the smallest units of matter and how they interact with each other. This led to ever larger particle accelerators during the last 68 years of the 20th century. More than 150 exotic particles have been discovered - every one having differing combinations of properties that boggle the mind. An exotic particle that results from the collision of two protons may exist for only 10 to the minus 12 seconds before it decays into something else. Traveling at close to the speed of light, this is just enough time to leave a (highly sought after) 1 mm mark on a recorder, documenting the brief life of that particle. The Particle Data Group from Berkeley exists just to keep physicists updated on these particles.

For something so fleeting, why do we bother? Because this research is centerstage in explaining the Big Bang and all of cosmology. As by-products, we achieved huge gains in any industry you can name. Unless you live like a Mennonite or are on a boy scout camp-out, these technologies effect the way you live your daily life - ground floor activity on the internet itself came about because physicists desired a more immediate way to share research with each other.

The use of common sense was not a factor in the investigations of particle physics. Instead, knowledge was and is gained through particle accelerators, predictions from abstract mathematical models, and meticulous use of the scientific method by thousands of physicists. The author mentions frequently that the math works out, predicts something, disproves something, needs a cheat factor, etc. This made me want to see the math, but I'm at least a couple of college courses from there, so I guess I'll have to take his word for it. For non-physics, non-math majors, consider reading on despite lack of total understanding or you might bog down in details. As the point of view changes, concepts are restated and you'll get another stab at it. The author starts a sentence on page 187, "If you've understood, even vaguely..." and ends it with "it gets even better (or worse...) as we move on to other properties of elementary particles."

On page 351, he closes with congratulations to anyone who made it to the end - then inserts a joke about the Higgs field that only an "insider" (a physicist or one who read the book) would understand. This is a great book that I highly recommend for any physicist who wants to brush up on particle physics, any undergrad or grad student in physics, or any other scientist types who are persistent enough to want a better handle on this fascinating but difficult subject.

It really is "Breathtaking".......2006-11-30

This is a book about quantum mechanics, and gauge theory in particular. It's essentially non-mathematical, having just a few equations, and requires little mathematical expertise. For readers with math anxiety, or those unfamiliar with partial differential equations, the few equations in the book can be skipped without missing much, as Schumm focuses almost exclusively on providing a qualitative understanding of what's at the heart of the Standard Model of quantum mechanics.

This isn't your typical book on quantum mechanics, aimed at your typical armchair scientists. There's virtually no discussion about various speculative macroscopic aspects of QM, such as freewill. God doesn't come into the picture except as a non-personal synonym for "the universe." Schrödinger's cat isn't discussed. Neither is tunneling, time travel, teleportation, or Bell's inequality. This text is what I'd describe as a nuts-and-bolts qualitative look or introduction to the Standard model. I think it would be excellent reading for anyone contemplating a class in QM, before taking a quantitative and detailed course on the subject. Of course, I'd also recommend it for casual yet serious readers who want to know the basis for modern quantum theory.

The first half of the book lays the groundwork with a discussion of forces of nature, patterns, the building blocks of nature, and symmetry. I particularly liked Schumm's explanation of how symmetry relates to conserved quantities. I think he does an especially nice job of describing Lie groups and segueing the topic into the heart of this book, which is gauge theory.

The gauge principle says that objects within a system are subject to precise laws of interaction. It also says that the wave equation is invariant with respect to local changes in phase. The connection between these two notions (phase invariance and laws of interaction) provides a quantitative theory for causation, known as the gauge principle. [pp. 276-277] I commend Schumm for presenting the basic principles and arguments of gauge theory in a way that can be clearly understood at a qualitative level. Here's a summary of how he does it.

Start with the Schrödinger wave equation. Next, apply the condition that information cannot be instantaneously transmitted or transmitted with arbitrary speed over arbitrary distances. This is a principle that seems deeply ingrained in Einstein's relativity, that no object with non-zero mass energy can travel faster than the speed of light, and is the position taken by Yang and Mills in their 1954 paper in the Physical Review, where they argue the following:

"As usually conceived, however, this arbitrariness is subject to the following limitations: once one chooses [the phase of the wave function] at one space-time point, one is then not free to make any choices at other space-time points. It seems that this is not consistent with the localized filed concept that underlies the usual physical theories. In the present paper we wish to explore the possibility of requiring all interactions to be invariant under independent [choices of phase] at all space-time points. [p. 217-218]

Back to the Schrödinger wave equation, Schumm considers the case of an isolated electron (no potential). To make the wave function invariant with respect to local changes in phase, Schumm describes a trick used by Yang and Mills, in which they added a new term to the wave equation, a so-called "cheating" term, A(x). A(x) changes when the phase of the wave function changes, in just the right way so that the overall wave function is unaltered by local changes in the wave function's phase. This might seem like an obvious and trivial thing to do, but interestingly, when you do this you find that the cheating function, A(x), represents the quantum of the electromagnetic field - the photon. As Schumm explains:

"The inclusion of A(x) thus incorporates, within the field-theoretical description of the particle's behavior, the possibility that the particle emits or absorbs a photon, that is, the possibility that the particle emits or absorbs a quantum of the electromagnetic field."

This is a nifty trick. Start with the Schrödinger equation for an isolated particle, apply the relativity principle by insisting on invariance of local phase shifts, add a "cheating" factor to make phase invariant, and the "cheating factor" ends up being the quantum force mediator of the particle described by the Schrödinger equation. The nature of the cheating term depends on the symmetry of possible changes to the wave function. That's where Lie groups come in, and that's why it's so helpful the way Schumm lays the conceptual foundation with his chapter on Lie groups.

Mathematically, the symmetry of a quantum particle is described by the Lie group that describes possible changes to the particle's wave equation. If the group has only simple phase-change symmetry we end up with quantum electrodynamics, or the quantum theory of the electromagnetic force. For wave functions described by more complicated Lie groups (wave equations that have rotational symmetry in some internal symmetry space), we must add different cheating terms, as many as there are generators of the Lie group. This is the basic idea behind the gauge principle, which is at the heart of the Standard model of quantum mechanics. Of the four known forces of nature, three (electromagnetic, weak nuclear, and the strong nuclear interactions) are explainable from the well-established methods of gauge theory.

This was one of the best books I've read this year. It's long (just short of 360 pages) with lots of material between the covers. You'll want to read the Appendix and notes, and you'll most likely find yourself reading over parts of the book several times, digesting the meaning behind the words. In the end, I think you'll agree with the author's assessment that quantum mechanics - the study of "deep down things" really does reveal a breathtaking beauty of the natural world.

A 'big-picture' conceptual guide to the Standard Model.......2006-08-28

Fed up with useless metaphors which equate the Higgs particle with hangers-on at a party slowing a celebrity's passage? Exasperated at continual references to Lie algebras and gauge theories, which are never explained?

In Peter Woit's recent book `Not Even Wrong', he comments (p. 205) that relativistic quantum field theory is not even studied until the second or third year of graduate school. For the rest of us, there is `Deep Down Things'.

Schumm's objective is to take us on a conceptual tour of the Standard Model of quantum mechanics, without requiring a mastery of the technical apparatus. The first half of the book introduces the four fundamental forces, wave-particle duality and the wave function itself. The approach is historical and visual - plenty of Feynman diagrams - and Schumm assumes the reader is happy with complex exponentials. By chapter 5 we are deep in the eightfold way, and the classification of quarks, leptons (electrons, muons, neutrinos) and bosons (the force quanta).

Chapter 6 begins the process of diving deeper with a discussion of Lie groups and Lie Algebra, motivated by plenty of examples. A Lie group is defined via: (i) a continuous set (i.e. a real or complex manifold such as R^n or C^n) with (ii) operators which are continuous functions over the manifold. Chapter 7 introduces Noether's theorem: `To every differentiable symmetry generated by local actions, there corresponds a conserved quality' and this is linked with symmetries under transformations by the Lie group operators (such as rotations in isospin space which interchange protons and neutrons).

Introductory quantum mechanics courses talk about the physical irrelevance of the phase of the wave function when it comes to the calculation of probabilities of observables. We thus have the concept of global phase invariance. However, this is unphysical - we cannot have the universe adjusting phase by the same amount everywhere at the same time. Yang and Mills in the mid-50s proposed to force the wave function to be invariant under local changes of phase: it turns out the only way to achieve this is to add a new term of the form gA(x)psi(x) where g is a charge parameter associated with the particle, psi(x) is the wave function and A(x) is a new term which turns out to be the field potential function for the relevant force field (electromagnetic in chapter 8). The freedom of choice in choosing the function A is called a gauge freedom, hence gauge theory.

Choose a fundamental particle. Write down its wave function. Identify the spaces in which the particle participates (space-time, isospin, ...). Identify the Lie group which rotates the wave function (state vector) in each of these spaces - U(1), SU(2), SU(3). By the principle of local phase invariance, adjust the original wave function with gauge terms gA(x)psi(x) as above. From making this work mathematically, out pop the corresponding force quanta (= the number of generators of the corresponding Lie algebra above). As the chapter heading puts it: `Physics by Pure Thought'!

Chapter 9 explains how the standard model assigns a mass of zero to all force-field quanta. Any attempt to add mass destroys the local phase invariance that we just discussed. The only way to retrieve the situation is to assume the existence of a new field (the Higgs field) which somehow pervades the universe and which interacts with non-zero-mass force quanta (via the weak force) in a `screening' way which gives them mass. The Higgs field is also responsible for the masses of quarks and leptons. If this is true, there should be a Higgs particle within reach of CERN's Large Hadron Collider in 2007.

This is a really excellent book. If you dimly recall how to solve a differential equation, and are unfazed by the notion of an abelian group, then this book is accessible. By book-end you have the sense that you `get' the big picture of the standard model and its remaining conceptual weaknesses. I would say that if you were an undergraduate interested in theoretical physics and wanted a tour d'horizon, this is the one book which will give it (Penrose's `The Road To Reality' is still too difficult for this purpose).

Best popular particle/quantum physics books I have read.......2006-05-02

Bottom line: Buy it.

If you are tired of books that throw out words like "symmetry" and "gauge theory" without ever explaining (at least conceptually) what these terms mean and how these concepts relate to a deep understanding of particle physics then this is the book to buy.

The author explains the mathematical concepts quite simply and in such a way that if you can read ANY popular book on physics then you can understand how Lie Algebras and Gauge Theories help derive the eightfold way, the charges on some bosons, the probability of the Higgs field/particle, and therefore lead to the Standard Model of particle physics.

Imagine a book which covers these topics (Lie Groups, Lie Algebras and Gauge Theories) without ever seeming mathematically challenging or complex. Here it is.

My only disappointed? It doesn't cover more, because this is the best exposition -- real teaching at a world class level -- of the subjects it does cover. If Schumm ever writes another book I will buy it, sight unseen.

If you have read, or wanted to read "The Road to Reality" by Penrose (which I highly recommend if you have the determination to read it), this will make several sections of that book much easier to understand -- were all of Penrose's explanations as high quality as "Deep Down Things" there would likely never be a better book on these subjects.

For anyone considering this book, the answer is simple: buy it and enjoy reading it.

Books:

Books Index

Books Home

Recommended Books