MBR: The Science Shelf
Midwest Book Review
The Complementary Nature of Reality
Peter Barab
Open Way Press
4110 SE Hawthorne Blvd., #142, Portland, OR 97214-5246
9780982263709 $28.50 www.openwaypress.com
The Complementary Nature of Reality is an in-depth examination of an
ongoing conundrum in science - is there a unified model that brings
together the many different modern theories concerning the different
forces of nature? And if so, what is it? Author Peter Barab postulates
that the key to this quandary lies in the physics thesis introduced
years ago by quantum theory pioneer Niels Bohr, called
complementarity. The Complementary Nature of Reality suggests that
complementarity is a central organizing principle of nature itself,
and therein lies a model of nature's principle interacting mechanisms.
A solid blend of scientific hypothesis and philosophy, The
Complementary Nature of Reality is a thought-provoking exploratory
treatise.
Science and Decisions: Advancing Risk Assessment
Committee on Improving Risk Analysis Approaches
National Academies Press
500 - 5th Ave NW, Box 285, Washington, DC 20055
0309120462 $54.95 www.national-academies.org
Science and Decisions: Advancing Risk Assessment offers a tool for
assessing risk and making choices in science, and discusses the
science of the risk assessment process and the challenges it poses.
SCIENCE AND DECISIONS makes scientific and technical recommendations
to address these challenges, offering a compliment to a companion
volume RISK ASSESSMENT IN THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT and providing
concepts of evaluation and scientific support. College-level science
and public health libraries alike will find this a fine survey of risk-
based decision making key to understanding the entire process.
The World Is Blue
Sylvia Earle
National Geographic Books
1145 - 17th St. NW, Washington DC 20036-4688
9781426205415, $26.00 www.ngs.org
THE WORLD IS BLUE: HOW OUR FATE AND THE OCEAN'S ARE ONE provides a
fine survey of how human pollution is destroying earth's ocean and
what can be done to avert environmental disaster. The ultimate goal
should be to find responsible, renewable strategies that maintain
natural systems: THE WORLD IS BLUE tells how to do this and is key for
any conservation library.
The Manga Guide to Molecular Biology
Masaharu Takemura, Sakura, and Becom Co, Ltd.
No Starch Press
555 DeHaro Street, #250, San Francisco, CO 94107
9781593272029, $19.95 www.nostarch.com
The Manga Guide to Molecular Biology joins others in the 'Manga'
series and is a fine collection explaining key scientific and
technical subjects using Japanese-style comics. These comics make it
easy for students who are slow to absorb science: they offer
characters who 'journey' inside the body's cells to learn about core
topics in molecular biology, enhancing the learning process with
fiction and fact blends. Any school library strong in molecular
biology facts needs this.
Shells-Muscheln-Coquillages
Antoine Joseph Dezallier d'Argenville
Taschen
9783836511117 $39.99 www.taschen.com
There are plenty of light shell collector's references on the market,
but if one seeks a serious shell science packed with full-page color
photos and conchology facts, Shells-Muscheln-Coquillages is the item
of choice. The author was a an 18th century French collector
passionate about drawing his subject and clearly identifying shells:
his authoritative reference is simply not to be missed by any library
serious about its conchology representation.
Nature's Matrix
Ivette Perfecto, et al.
Earthscan
c/o Stylus Publishing
PO Box 605, Herndon, VA 20172-0605
9781844077823, $34.95, www.earthscan.co.uk
People go where there is food. "Nature's Matrix: Linking Agriculture,
Conservation, and Food Sovereignty", the collaborative work of Ivette
Perfecto, John Vandermeer, and Angus Wright, is an intriguing history
that discusses humanity, and how agriculture drives development
through ecological effects on earth. Calling upon modern research on
the subject, Ivette Perfecto and his associates, professors on the
subject, enlighten and intrigue readers about nature's invisible
mathematical hand and its impact on human society. "Nature's Matrix"
is a strong addition to environmental history collections.
The Meteorites of Alberta
Anthony J. Whyte
University of Alberta Press
Ring House 2, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, T6G 2E1
9780888644756 $34.95 www.uap.ualberta.ca
Earth is hit by meteors all the time. "The Meteorites of Alberta"
looks at several major meteorites who have crashed into the planet in
Alberta. Sixteen have made science history, and each chapter details a
rock and how it has changed our fundamental understanding of the
universe. Aimed at both professionals in this field and non-specialist
general readers, Anthony J. Whyte keeps it scientific and informative,
making " The Meteorites of Alberta" a top pick for science
collections.
The Magnetic Universe
J. B. Zirker
The Johns Hopkins University Press
2715 North Charles Street, Baltimore, MD 21218-4363
www.press.jhu.edu
9780801893025, $35.00, www.amazon.com
There is so much more to the science of astronomy than peering at the
stars through a telescope. In "The Magnetic Universe: The Elusive
Traces of an Invisible Force", J. B. Zirker (astronomer emeritus at
the National Solar Observatory) introduces the reader to the phenomena
of the magnetic fields permeating the universe. These are magnetic
fields involving streams electrically charged particles, solar and
stellar flares, pulsars and neutron stars. By studying this universal
phenomena through visible light observations, radio waves and x-rays,
a great deal of progress in our understanding of astrophysics has been
steadily advancing in terms of how magnetic forces are created and how
they affect the very shape of the universe itself. Also available in a
hardcover edition (9780801893018, $70.00), "The Magnetic Universe" is
superbly written so as to be completely accessible not only to
academia, but to the non-specialist general reader with an interest in
astronomy. Also very highly recommended for personal, professional,
academic, and community library Astronomy collections are Professor
Zirker's previous works: "Total Eclipses of the Sun" (Princeton
University Press, 9780691029528, $3.95) ; "Journey from the Center of
the Sun" (Princeton University Press, 9780691118482, $24.95);
"Sunquakes: Probing the Interior of the Sun" (Johns Hopkins University
Press, 9780801874192, $35.00); and "An Acre of Glass: A History and
Forecast of the Telescope" (Johns Hopkins University Press,
9780801882340, $30.00).
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Midwest Book Review