For sceptics and believers alike!, 26 Nov 2008
It surprises many and perplexes some that someone could go from studying mathematics at university to graduating from law school and then on to a successful business career and yet end up as a full-time psychic. But that is my story. Most of the time these seemingly incongruous points of my past give me no trouble. Secretly, of course, I'd have to admit that I would love for science to produce irrefutable evidence for what I do now as a psychic.

But the world of the scientist and the world of the psychic remain as irreconcilable as always. Right? Well, maybe not. I recently came across a very interesting book whose author may be able to offer an olive branch to the ever-warring camps of the believer and the sceptic.

Ervin Laszlo is a distinguished scientist and philosopher, who believes that science has produced a very impersonal and cold view of the world. But because it is a view that is incomplete and, in many ways, inaccurate, he feels that it is one that should be challenged.

In his book Science and the Akashic Field, Laszlo argues that what science needs is a single theory to explain everything. Now I'll grant you that sounds like a tall order. But when you find out that this is exactly what many top scientists are trying to do, it somehow seems less like a Holy Grail.

It turns out that scientists are today searching for what is called an integral theory of everything (ITOE) because research in the areas of cosmology, physics, biology and consciousness are producing head-scratching puzzles and anomalies that break our so-called "laws" of science.

It would seem that things in the universe don't work as we once thought they did. So, a new view of science is emerging. And it's a view that supports, if not demands, the single paradigm of an ITOE. Laszlo explains that these riddles are solved and models start to hang together again when we take into account a field that connects everything and everyone, supports an exchange of information and is capable of instant communication.

This might sound like some New Age folly, but such a field has been known to mystics and spiritual traditions for thousands of years and it already has a name - the akashic field. While it might have been considered a myth of cultural history, Western science seems to be on the verge of accepting it - as having very nearly proved its existence in the laboratory.

The scientist in Laszlo strives to make the very technical information accessible to and digestible for the layman reader. Be prepared, as you will find yourself reading and re-reading passages to understand areas such as string theory, non-locality and quantum mechanics. But as in many things, persistence pays off.

For me, however, the really exciting bit is when the philosopher in Laszlo comes forth. What information does the akashic field hold? How do we access it? Why would we want to? What are the implications to human evolution? I won't give it away but suffice it to say that the answers are very interesting indeed.

Be you a sceptic or a believer, Science and the Akashic Field will get you thinking and keep you thinking long after you've finished it. To me, that's the hallmark of a good book!

Great book!, 08 Jun 2008
Even if I am not completely convinced that this Akashic field really exists like he describes it, I love the book!

I could almost feel that he is a pianist when reading the book, because it felt almost like music to read it.

My Review, 18 May 2008
All depends on what you're looking for, Metaphysics is a complex subject in its self and takes time to read and re read, to grasp new concepts.

This books description looks good. I can only speak from my own personal view. I found it far too intellectual. Cold and clinical. So much technical and science fact or speculation, as you read each chapter you seem to be reading the same over and over, it's a bit like a book with no start or end. I don't like spending all my time looking up in a dictionary what every second word means why not say the word "joined" rather than some English graduate concept. Any book should have a clear understanding, for me sadly I got very bored and have not finished reading this book. It's one I shall forget about or sell, it's not for me. I have Studied hard for 20 years, this book dose give some insights but you have to have one hell of an Intellect to process what it is and I would even go so far as to say, what is it really talking about, there seems to be a total lack of joining anything, It's like opening a book at a random page and feel you are missing something!

From my own studies, basics in Metaphysics are posed as questions, in fact is already spiritual science and for the moment accepted as how things are, so this book misses many things.
I personally can not recommend it, It may be good for some, limited people. with high IQ or lived in Higher education all there life.
Not for the man in the street or even a student of the Spiritual Sciences
AG

For sceptics and believers alike!, 26 Nov 2008
It surprises many and perplexes some that someone could go from studying mathematics at university to graduating from law school and then on to a successful business career and yet end up as a full-time psychic. But that is my story. Most of the time these seemingly incongruous points of my past give me no trouble. Secretly, of course, I'd have to admit that I would love for science to produce irrefutable evidence for what I do now as a psychic.

But the world of the scientist and the world of the psychic remain as irreconcilable as always. Right? Well, maybe not. I recently came across a very interesting book whose author may be able to offer an olive branch to the ever-warring camps of the believer and the sceptic.

Ervin Laszlo is a distinguished scientist and philosopher, who believes that science has produced a very impersonal and cold view of the world. But because it is a view that is incomplete and, in many ways, inaccurate, he feels that it is one that should be challenged.

In his book Science and the Akashic Field, Laszlo argues that what science needs is a single theory to explain everything. Now I'll grant you that sounds like a tall order. But when you find out that this is exactly what many top scientists are trying to do, it somehow seems less like a Holy Grail.

It turns out that scientists are today searching for what is called an integral theory of everything (ITOE) because research in the areas of cosmology, physics, biology and consciousness are producing head-scratching puzzles and anomalies that break our so-called "laws" of science.

It would seem that things in the universe don't work as we once thought they did. So, a new view of science is emerging. And it's a view that supports, if not demands, the single paradigm of an ITOE. Laszlo explains that these riddles are solved and models start to hang together again when we take into account a field that connects everything and everyone, supports an exchange of information and is capable of instant communication.

This might sound like some New Age folly, but such a field has been known to mystics and spiritual traditions for thousands of years and it already has a name - the akashic field. While it might have been considered a myth of cultural history, Western science seems to be on the verge of accepting it - as having very nearly proved its existence in the laboratory.

The scientist in Laszlo strives to make the very technical information accessible to and digestible for the layman reader. Be prepared, as you will find yourself reading and re-reading passages to understand areas such as string theory, non-locality and quantum mechanics. But as in many things, persistence pays off.

For me, however, the really exciting bit is when the philosopher in Laszlo comes forth. What information does the akashic field hold? How do we access it? Why would we want to? What are the implications to human evolution? I won't give it away but suffice it to say that the answers are very interesting indeed.

Be you a sceptic or a believer, Science and the Akashic Field will get you thinking and keep you thinking long after you've finished it. To me, that's the hallmark of a good book!

Great book!, 08 Jun 2008
Even if I am not completely convinced that this Akashic field really exists like he describes it, I love the book!

I could almost feel that he is a pianist when reading the book, because it felt almost like music to read it.

My Review, 18 May 2008
All depends on what you're looking for, Metaphysics is a complex subject in its self and takes time to read and re read, to grasp new concepts.

This books description looks good. I can only speak from my own personal view. I found it far too intellectual. Cold and clinical. So much technical and science fact or speculation, as you read each chapter you seem to be reading the same over and over, it's a bit like a book with no start or end. I don't like spending all my time looking up in a dictionary what every second word means why not say the word "joined" rather than some English graduate concept. Any book should have a clear understanding, for me sadly I got very bored and have not finished reading this book. It's one I shall forget about or sell, it's not for me. I have Studied hard for 20 years, this book dose give some insights but you have to have one hell of an Intellect to process what it is and I would even go so far as to say, what is it really talking about, there seems to be a total lack of joining anything, It's like opening a book at a random page and feel you are missing something!

From my own studies, basics in Metaphysics are posed as questions, in fact is already spiritual science and for the moment accepted as how things are, so this book misses many things.
I personally can not recommend it, It may be good for some, limited people. with high IQ or lived in Higher education all there life.
Not for the man in the street or even a student of the Spiritual Sciences
AG

A detailed glimpse into applied qunatum physics, 05 Jan 2002
The book develops the ideas founded upon quatum physics and describes their relation to the basis of crystalline structures amongst others. It is ideal for physicists at an undergraduate level and beyond incorporating all of the fundamental topics required to fully understand this topic. Constructed in a clear and methodical fashion it can be classed as essential reading for any academic in the field, perfectly balanced in weight and depth.

For sceptics and believers alike!, 26 Nov 2008
It surprises many and perplexes some that someone could go from studying mathematics at university to graduating from law school and then on to a successful business career and yet end up as a full-time psychic. But that is my story. Most of the time these seemingly incongruous points of my past give me no trouble. Secretly, of course, I'd have to admit that I would love for science to produce irrefutable evidence for what I do now as a psychic.

But the world of the scientist and the world of the psychic remain as irreconcilable as always. Right? Well, maybe not. I recently came across a very interesting book whose author may be able to offer an olive branch to the ever-warring camps of the believer and the sceptic.

Ervin Laszlo is a distinguished scientist and philosopher, who believes that science has produced a very impersonal and cold view of the world. But because it is a view that is incomplete and, in many ways, inaccurate, he feels that it is one that should be challenged.

In his book Science and the Akashic Field, Laszlo argues that what science needs is a single theory to explain everything. Now I'll grant you that sounds like a tall order. But when you find out that this is exactly what many top scientists are trying to do, it somehow seems less like a Holy Grail.

It turns out that scientists are today searching for what is called an integral theory of everything (ITOE) because research in the areas of cosmology, physics, biology and consciousness are producing head-scratching puzzles and anomalies that break our so-called "laws" of science.

It would seem that things in the universe don't work as we once thought they did. So, a new view of science is emerging. And it's a view that supports, if not demands, the single paradigm of an ITOE. Laszlo explains that these riddles are solved and models start to hang together again when we take into account a field that connects everything and everyone, supports an exchange of information and is capable of instant communication.

This might sound like some New Age folly, but such a field has been known to mystics and spiritual traditions for thousands of years and it already has a name - the akashic field. While it might have been considered a myth of cultural history, Western science seems to be on the verge of accepting it - as having very nearly proved its existence in the laboratory.

The scientist in Laszlo strives to make the very technical information accessible to and digestible for the layman reader. Be prepared, as you will find yourself reading and re-reading passages to understand areas such as string theory, non-locality and quantum mechanics. But as in many things, persistence pays off.

For me, however, the really exciting bit is when the philosopher in Laszlo comes forth. What information does the akashic field hold? How do we access it? Why would we want to? What are the implications to human evolution? I won't give it away but suffice it to say that the answers are very interesting indeed.

Be you a sceptic or a believer, Science and the Akashic Field will get you thinking and keep you thinking long after you've finished it. To me, that's the hallmark of a good book!

Great book!, 08 Jun 2008
Even if I am not completely convinced that this Akashic field really exists like he describes it, I love the book!

I could almost feel that he is a pianist when reading the book, because it felt almost like music to read it.

My Review, 18 May 2008
All depends on what you're looking for, Metaphysics is a complex subject in its self and takes time to read and re read, to grasp new concepts.

This books description looks good. I can only speak from my own personal view. I found it far too intellectual. Cold and clinical. So much technical and science fact or speculation, as you read each chapter you seem to be reading the same over and over, it's a bit like a book with no start or end. I don't like spending all my time looking up in a dictionary what every second word means why not say the word "joined" rather than some English graduate concept. Any book should have a clear understanding, for me sadly I got very bored and have not finished reading this book. It's one I shall forget about or sell, it's not for me. I have Studied hard for 20 years, this book dose give some insights but you have to have one hell of an Intellect to process what it is and I would even go so far as to say, what is it really talking about, there seems to be a total lack of joining anything, It's like opening a book at a random page and feel you are missing something!

From my own studies, basics in Metaphysics are posed as questions, in fact is already spiritual science and for the moment accepted as how things are, so this book misses many things.
I personally can not recommend it, It may be good for some, limited people. with high IQ or lived in Higher education all there life.
Not for the man in the street or even a student of the Spiritual Sciences
AG

A detailed glimpse into applied qunatum physics, 05 Jan 2002
The book develops the ideas founded upon quatum physics and describes their relation to the basis of crystalline structures amongst others. It is ideal for physicists at an undergraduate level and beyond incorporating all of the fundamental topics required to fully understand this topic. Constructed in a clear and methodical fashion it can be classed as essential reading for any academic in the field, perfectly balanced in weight and depth.

An essential undergraduate text, 04 Jun 2004
Most physics degree courses don't cover the topic of Statistical Mechanics until some way through the second year and this is mostly due to students requiring a reasonable grounding in thermodynamics, which is traditionally a 2nd year topic. Statistical Mechanics: A Survival Guide is an excellent book for any student studying this subject as it starts off by explaining the basics of statistics in such a manner that is very easy to understand. The foundations that it sets in the first chapter ensure that you have a very clear understanding of these basics, which are extremely important for grasping the idea of a microstate, essential to deriving the distribution functions for the various types of particle. It gives very complete discussions on quantum statistics and its applications along with the standard sections on ideal gases. The links between thermodynamics and statistical mechanics are frequently highlighted so as to show how the two subjects go hand in hand. This is an excellent text on a subject that can become very complicated and the presentation and explanations in the book cannot be faulted.

My only quibble is the price - I would have expected just a little bit more for my money but nonetheless I still consider it an essential book for a physics student to have on their shelf.

For sceptics and believers alike!, 26 Nov 2008
It surprises many and perplexes some that someone could go from studying mathematics at university to graduating from law school and then on to a successful business career and yet end up as a full-time psychic. But that is my story. Most of the time these seemingly incongruous points of my past give me no trouble. Secretly, of course, I'd have to admit that I would love for science to produce irrefutable evidence for what I do now as a psychic.

But the world of the scientist and the world of the psychic remain as irreconcilable as always. Right? Well, maybe not. I recently came across a very interesting book whose author may be able to offer an olive branch to the ever-warring camps of the believer and the sceptic.

Ervin Laszlo is a distinguished scientist and philosopher, who believes that science has produced a very impersonal and cold view of the world. But because it is a view that is incomplete and, in many ways, inaccurate, he feels that it is one that should be challenged.

In his book Science and the Akashic Field, Laszlo argues that what science needs is a single theory to explain everything. Now I'll grant you that sounds like a tall order. But when you find out that this is exactly what many top scientists are trying to do, it somehow seems less like a Holy Grail.

It turns out that scientists are today searching for what is called an integral theory of everything (ITOE) because research in the areas of cosmology, physics, biology and consciousness are producing head-scratching puzzles and anomalies that break our so-called "laws" of science.

It would seem that things in the universe don't work as we once thought they did. So, a new view of science is emerging. And it's a view that supports, if not demands, the single paradigm of an ITOE. Laszlo explains that these riddles are solved and models start to hang together again when we take into account a field that connects everything and everyone, supports an exchange of information and is capable of instant communication.

This might sound like some New Age folly, but such a field has been known to mystics and spiritual traditions for thousands of years and it already has a name - the akashic field. While it might have been considered a myth of cultural history, Western science seems to be on the verge of accepting it - as having very nearly proved its existence in the laboratory.

The scientist in Laszlo strives to make the very technical information accessible to and digestible for the layman reader. Be prepared, as you will find yourself reading and re-reading passages to understand areas such as string theory, non-locality and quantum mechanics. But as in many things, persistence pays off.

For me, however, the really exciting bit is when the philosopher in Laszlo comes forth. What information does the akashic field hold? How do we access it? Why would we want to? What are the implications to human evolution? I won't give it away but suffice it to say that the answers are very interesting indeed.

Be you a sceptic or a believer, Science and the Akashic Field will get you thinking and keep you thinking long after you've finished it. To me, that's the hallmark of a good book!

Great book!, 08 Jun 2008
Even if I am not completely convinced that this Akashic field really exists like he describes it, I love the book!

I could almost feel that he is a pianist when reading the book, because it felt almost like music to read it.

My Review, 18 May 2008
All depends on what you're looking for, Metaphysics is a complex subject in its self and takes time to read and re read, to grasp new concepts.

This books description looks good. I can only speak from my own personal view. I found it far too intellectual. Cold and clinical. So much technical and science fact or speculation, as you read each chapter you seem to be reading the same over and over, it's a bit like a book with no start or end. I don't like spending all my time looking up in a dictionary what every second word means why not say the word "joined" rather than some English graduate concept. Any book should have a clear understanding, for me sadly I got very bored and have not finished reading this book. It's one I shall forget about or sell, it's not for me. I have Studied hard for 20 years, this book dose give some insights but you have to have one hell of an Intellect to process what it is and I would even go so far as to say, what is it really talking about, there seems to be a total lack of joining anything, It's like opening a book at a random page and feel you are missing something!

From my own studies, basics in Metaphysics are posed as questions, in fact is already spiritual science and for the moment accepted as how things are, so this book misses many things.
I personally can not recommend it, It may be good for some, limited people. with high IQ or lived in Higher education all there life.
Not for the man in the street or even a student of the Spiritual Sciences
AG

A detailed glimpse into applied qunatum physics, 05 Jan 2002
The book develops the ideas founded upon quatum physics and describes their relation to the basis of crystalline structures amongst others. It is ideal for physicists at an undergraduate level and beyond incorporating all of the fundamental topics required to fully understand this topic. Constructed in a clear and methodical fashion it can be classed as essential reading for any academic in the field, perfectly balanced in weight and depth.

An essential undergraduate text, 04 Jun 2004
Most physics degree courses don't cover the topic of Statistical Mechanics until some way through the second year and this is mostly due to students requiring a reasonable grounding in thermodynamics, which is traditionally a 2nd year topic. Statistical Mechanics: A Survival Guide is an excellent book for any student studying this subject as it starts off by explaining the basics of statistics in such a manner that is very easy to understand. The foundations that it sets in the first chapter ensure that you have a very clear understanding of these basics, which are extremely important for grasping the idea of a microstate, essential to deriving the distribution functions for the various types of particle. It gives very complete discussions on quantum statistics and its applications along with the standard sections on ideal gases. The links between thermodynamics and statistical mechanics are frequently highlighted so as to show how the two subjects go hand in hand. This is an excellent text on a subject that can become very complicated and the presentation and explanations in the book cannot be faulted.

My only quibble is the price - I would have expected just a little bit more for my money but nonetheless I still consider it an essential book for a physics student to have on their shelf.

Better than most, 08 May 2008
It is a pity this book has not been written with a consistent level of care and attention to detail (as regards exposition, language); otherwise it would have been splendid. The overall plan and the emphasis on physics is excellent. There is a lot in this book which you would not easily find in other sources. In particular the exercises are very well done as miniprojects containing substantial further topics. There is an element of trendiness in the title: look up "Entropy" or "Order parameter" in the index and you'll find lots of page references, as behooves key terms appearing in the book's title; but look up "complexity" and you are referred to a series of exercises; one feels "complexity" was added to the title for want of a sexy buzzword that would distinguish this from any number of other stat mechs books.

For sceptics and believers alike!, 26 Nov 2008
It surprises many and perplexes some that someone could go from studying mathematics at university to graduating from law school and then on to a successful business career and yet end up as a full-time psychic. But that is my story. Most of the time these seemingly incongruous points of my past give me no trouble. Secretly, of course, I'd have to admit that I would love for science to produce irrefutable evidence for what I do now as a psychic.

But the world of the scientist and the world of the psychic remain as irreconcilable as always. Right? Well, maybe not. I recently came across a very interesting book whose author may be able to offer an olive branch to the ever-warring camps of the believer and the sceptic.

Ervin Laszlo is a distinguished scientist and philosopher, who believes that science has produced a very impersonal and cold view of the world. But because it is a view that is incomplete and, in many ways, inaccurate, he feels that it is one that should be challenged.

In his book Science and the Akashic Field, Laszlo argues that what science needs is a single theory to explain everything. Now I'll grant you that sounds like a tall order. But when you find out that this is exactly what many top scientists are trying to do, it somehow seems less like a Holy Grail.

It turns out that scientists are today searching for what is called an integral theory of everything (ITOE) because research in the areas of cosmology, physics, biology and consciousness are producing head-scratching puzzles and anomalies that break our so-called "laws" of science.

It would seem that things in the universe don't work as we once thought they did. So, a new view of science is emerging. And it's a view that supports, if not demands, the single paradigm of an ITOE. Laszlo explains that these riddles are solved and models start to hang together again when we take into account a field that connects everything and everyone, supports an exchange of information and is capable of instant communication.

This might sound like some New Age folly, but such a field has been known to mystics and spiritual traditions for thousands of years and it already has a name - the akashic field. While it might have been considered a myth of cultural history, Western science seems to be on the verge of accepting it - as having very nearly proved its existence in the laboratory.

The scientist in Laszlo strives to make the very technical information accessible to and digestible for the layman reader. Be prepared, as you will find yourself reading and re-reading passages to understand areas such as string theory, non-locality and quantum mechanics. But as in many things, persistence pays off.

For me, however, the really exciting bit is when the philosopher in Laszlo comes forth. What information does the akashic field hold? How do we access it? Why would we want to? What are the implications to human evolution? I won't give it away but suffice it to say that the answers are very interesting indeed.

Be you a sceptic or a believer, Science and the Akashic Field will get you thinking and keep you thinking long after you've finished it. To me, that's the hallmark of a good book!

Great book!, 08 Jun 2008
Even if I am not completely convinced that this Akashic field really exists like he describes it, I love the book!

I could almost feel that he is a pianist when reading the book, because it felt almost like music to read it.

My Review, 18 May 2008
All depends on what you're looking for, Metaphysics is a complex subject in its self and takes time to read and re read, to grasp new concepts.

This books description looks good. I can only speak from my own personal view. I found it far too intellectual. Cold and clinical. So much technical and science fact or speculation, as you read each chapter you seem to be reading the same over and over, it's a bit like a book with no start or end. I don't like spending all my time looking up in a dictionary what every second word means why not say the word "joined" rather than some English graduate concept. Any book should have a clear understanding, for me sadly I got very bored and have not finished reading this book. It's one I shall forget about or sell, it's not for me. I have Studied hard for 20 years, this book dose give some insights but you have to have one hell of an Intellect to process what it is and I would even go so far as to say, what is it really talking about, there seems to be a total lack of joining anything, It's like opening a book at a random page and feel you are missing something!

From my own studies, basics in Metaphysics are posed as questions, in fact is already spiritual science and for the moment accepted as how things are, so this book misses many things.
I personally can not recommend it, It may be good for some, limited people. with high IQ or lived in Higher education all there life.
Not for the man in the street or even a student of the Spiritual Sciences
AG

A detailed glimpse into applied qunatum physics, 05 Jan 2002
The book develops the ideas founded upon quatum physics and describes their relation to the basis of crystalline structures amongst others. It is ideal for physicists at an undergraduate level and beyond incorporating all of the fundamental topics required to fully understand this topic. Constructed in a clear and methodical fashion it can be classed as essential reading for any academic in the field, perfectly balanced in weight and depth.

An essential undergraduate text, 04 Jun 2004
Most physics degree courses don't cover the topic of Statistical Mechanics until some way through the second year and this is mostly due to students requiring a reasonable grounding in thermodynamics, which is traditionally a 2nd year topic. Statistical Mechanics: A Survival Guide is an excellent book for any student studying this subject as it starts off by explaining the basics of statistics in such a manner that is very easy to understand. The foundations that it sets in the first chapter ensure that you have a very clear understanding of these basics, which are extremely important for grasping the idea of a microstate, essential to deriving the distribution functions for the various types of particle. It gives very complete discussions on quantum statistics and its applications along with the standard sections on ideal gases. The links between thermodynamics and statistical mechanics are frequently highlighted so as to show how the two subjects go hand in hand. This is an excellent text on a subject that can become very complicated and the presentation and explanations in the book cannot be faulted.

My only quibble is the price - I would have expected just a little bit more for my money but nonetheless I still consider it an essential book for a physics student to have on their shelf.

Better than most, 08 May 2008
It is a pity this book has not been written with a consistent level of care and attention to detail (as regards exposition, language); otherwise it would have been splendid. The overall plan and the emphasis on physics is excellent. There is a lot in this book which you would not easily find in other sources. In particular the exercises are very well done as miniprojects containing substantial further topics. There is an element of trendiness in the title: look up "Entropy" or "Order parameter" in the index and you'll find lots of page references, as behooves key terms appearing in the book's title; but look up "complexity" and you are referred to a series of exercises; one feels "complexity" was added to the title for want of a sexy buzzword that would distinguish this from any number of other stat mechs books.

Thankyou Mark Fox for making Quantum Optics accessible and enjoyable!, 21 Oct 2007
I wish this book had been published when I first started as a grad student! Instead there was Loudon's "The Quantum Theory of Light" and Marlan Scully's "Quantum Optics" - both excellent books, but both lose sight of the fundamental physics, and do not really bridge the gap between most physics degrees and the subtle mathematical world of quantum optics. This is a book which really introduces the subject from a concise fundamental physics footing, taking into account that new grad students are not experts in the field - it is enough work for some students to come to terms with a lot of new mathematics, let alone try and understand where many physical approximations creep in - some quantum optics lectures simply introduce expressions without explanation, and this book seems to answer most of them.

A case in point is the quantum treatment of the Hanbury Brown-Twiss experiment, where in the treatement of one of the beamsplitter output ports, a subtraction appears. This book is the only place where I've clearly seen sufficient explanation, in a margin note, that this arises through conservation of energy (actually you are not handed this on a plate, but given a guided problem that shows how it arises, which is a good idea).

And here lies the only complaint about the book, that it uses margin notes. It might sound a strange complaint, perhaps its just me being stupid, but if you've spent a few years reading books and papers where you're used to scanning through single column blocks of text for a vital bit of information, your eyes don't immediately notice an off-set, small block of margin text (in small font, so it looks like a figure caption). A few times I've been caught out searching for explanations in the main body of the text, only to realise after much head scratching that its in the margin notes!

In all, I find this the best book I've ever read - it makes quantum optics enjoyable, simply because of the grass-roots physics. Not everybody in quantum optics is a theorist, some people actually have to do experiments, which is the hardest part of quantum optics.

Thankyou Mark Fox for making Quantum Optics accessible and enjoyable to all!

For sceptics and believers alike!, 26 Nov 2008
It surprises many and perplexes some that someone could go from studying mathematics at university to graduating from law school and then on to a successful business career and yet end up as a full-time psychic. But that is my story. Most of the time these seemingly incongruous points of my past give me no trouble. Secretly, of course, I'd have to admit that I would love for science to produce irrefutable evidence for what I do now as a psychic.

But the world of the scientist and the world of the psychic remain as irreconcilable as always. Right? Well, maybe not. I recently came across a very interesting book whose author may be able to offer an olive branch to the ever-warring camps of the believer and the sceptic.

Ervin Laszlo is a distinguished scientist and philosopher, who believes that science has produced a very impersonal and cold view of the world. But because it is a view that is incomplete and, in many ways, inaccurate, he feels that it is one that should be challenged.

In his book Science and the Akashic Field, Laszlo argues that what science needs is a single theory to explain everything. Now I'll grant you that sounds like a tall order. But when you find out that this is exactly what many top scientists are trying to do, it somehow seems less like a Holy Grail.

It turns out that scientists are today searching for what is called an integral theory of everything (ITOE) because research in the areas of cosmology, physics, biology and consciousness are producing head-scratching puzzles and anomalies that break our so-called "laws" of science.

It would seem that things in the universe don't work as we once thought they did. So, a new view of science is emerging. And it's a view that supports, if not demands, the single paradigm of an ITOE. Laszlo explains that these riddles are solved and models start to hang together again when we take into account a field that connects everything and everyone, supports an exchange of information and is capable of instant communication.

This might sound like some New Age folly, but such a field has been known to mystics and spiritual traditions for thousands of years and it already has a name - the akashic field. While it might have been considered a myth of cultural history, Western science seems to be on the verge of accepting it - as having very nearly proved its existence in the laboratory.

The scientist in Laszlo strives to make the very technical information accessible to and digestible for the layman reader. Be prepared, as you will find yourself reading and re-reading passages to understand areas such as string theory, non-locality and quantum mechanics. But as in many things, persistence pays off.

For me, however, the really exciting bit is when the philosopher in Laszlo comes forth. What information does the akashic field hold? How do we access it? Why would we want to? What are the implications to human evolution? I won't give it away but suffice it to say that the answers are very interesting indeed.

Be you a sceptic or a believer, Science and the Akashic Field will get you thinking and keep you thinking long after you've finished it. To me, that's the hallmark of a good book!

Great book!, 08 Jun 2008
Even if I am not completely convinced that this Akashic field really exists like he describes it, I love the book!

I could almost feel that he is a pianist when reading the book, because it felt almost like music to read it.

My Review, 18 May 2008
All depends on what you're looking for, Metaphysics is a complex subject in its self and takes time to read and re read, to grasp new concepts.

This books description looks good. I can only speak from my own personal view. I found it far too intellectual. Cold and clinical. So much technical and science fact or speculation, as you read each chapter you seem to be reading the same over and over, it's a bit like a book with no start or end. I don't like spending all my time looking up in a dictionary what every second word means why not say the word "joined" rather than some English graduate concept. Any book should have a clear understanding, for me sadly I got very bored and have not finished reading this book. It's one I shall forget about or sell, it's not for me. I have Studied hard for 20 years, this book dose give some insights but you have to have one hell of an Intellect to process what it is and I would even go so far as to say, what is it really talking about, there seems to be a total lack of joining anything, It's like opening a book at a random page and feel you are missing something!

From my own studies, basics in Metaphysics are posed as questions, in fact is already spiritual science and for the moment accepted as how things are, so this book misses many things.
I personally can not recommend it, It may be good for some, limited people. with high IQ or lived in Higher education all there life.
Not for the man in the street or even a student of the Spiritual Sciences
AG

A detailed glimpse into applied qunatum physics, 05 Jan 2002
The book develops the ideas founded upon quatum physics and describes their relation to the basis of crystalline structures amongst others. It is ideal for physicists at an undergraduate level and beyond incorporating all of the fundamental topics required to fully understand this topic. Constructed in a clear and methodical fashion it can be classed as essential reading for any academic in the field, perfectly balanced in weight and depth.

An essential undergraduate text, 04 Jun 2004
Most physics degree courses don't cover the topic of Statistical Mechanics until some way through the second year and this is mostly due to students requiring a reasonable grounding in thermodynamics, which is traditionally a 2nd year topic. Statistical Mechanics: A Survival Guide is an excellent book for any student studying this subject as it starts off by explaining the basics of statistics in such a manner that is very easy to understand. The foundations that it sets in the first chapter ensure that you have a very clear understanding of these basics, which are extremely important for grasping the idea of a microstate, essential to deriving the distribution functions for the various types of particle. It gives very complete discussions on quantum statistics and its applications along with the standard sections on ideal gases. The links between thermodynamics and statistical mechanics are frequently highlighted so as to show how the two subjects go hand in hand. This is an excellent text on a subject that can become very complicated and the presentation and explanations in the book cannot be faulted.

My only quibble is the price - I would have expected just a little bit more for my money but nonetheless I still consider it an essential book for a physics student to have on their shelf.

Better than most, 08 May 2008
It is a pity this book has not been written with a consistent level of care and attention to detail (as regards exposition, language); otherwise it would have been splendid. The overall plan and the emphasis on physics is excellent. There is a lot in this book which you would not easily find in other sources. In particular the exercises are very well done as miniprojects containing substantial further topics. There is an element of trendiness in the title: look up "Entropy" or "Order parameter" in the index and you'll find lots of page references, as behooves key terms appearing in the book's title; but look up "complexity" and you are referred to a series of exercises; one feels "complexity" was added to the title for want of a sexy buzzword that would distinguish this from any number of other stat mechs books.

Thankyou Mark Fox for making Quantum Optics accessible and enjoyable!, 21 Oct 2007
I wish this book had been published when I first started as a grad student! Instead there was Loudon's "The Quantum Theory of Light" and Marlan Scully's "Quantum Optics" - both excellent books, but both lose sight of the fundamental physics, and do not really bridge the gap between most physics degrees and the subtle mathematical world of quantum optics. This is a book which really introduces the subject from a concise fundamental physics footing, taking into account that new grad students are not experts in the field - it is enough work for some students to come to terms with a lot of new mathematics, let alone try and understand where many physical approximations creep in - some quantum optics lectures simply introduce expressions without explanation, and this book seems to answer most of them.

A case in point is the quantum treatment of the Hanbury Brown-Twiss experiment, where in the treatement of one of the beamsplitter output ports, a subtraction appears. This book is the only place where I've clearly seen sufficient explanation, in a margin note, that this arises through conservation of energy (actually you are not handed this on a plate, but given a guided problem that shows how it arises, which is a good idea).

And here lies the only complaint about the book, that it uses margin notes. It might sound a strange complaint, perhaps its just me being stupid, but if you've spent a few years reading books and papers where you're used to scanning through single column blocks of text for a vital bit of information, your eyes don't immediately notice an off-set, small block of margin text (in small font, so it looks like a figure caption). A few times I've been caught out searching for explanations in the main body of the text, only to realise after much head scratching that its in the margin notes!

In all, I find this the best book I've ever read - it makes quantum optics enjoyable, simply because of the grass-roots physics. Not everybody in quantum optics is a theorist, some people actually have to do experiments, which is the hardest part of quantum optics.

Thankyou Mark Fox for making Quantum Optics accessible and enjoyable to all!

Brilliant, 19 Aug 2004
For any senior undergraduate or first-year physics/materials science graduate needing an introduction to optical properties of solids, this is the book for you. Don't go near the standard texts (at least not until you've read this one) as I think they are too complex for the introductory reader. This is really clearly written, giving you a good overview and a solid understanding of the basics of the subject without getting bogged down in mathematics. If I was teaching a final year solid-state class, this is the book I would use. The book has plenty of illustrations and examples and is very user-friendly. Thankfully (unlike some) the author has kept all explanations concise and clear. I found I could go ahead and perform experiments and get meaningful results based on what I had learnt in this book. Get it! You will be glad you did!

For sceptics and believers alike!, 26 Nov 2008
It surprises many and perplexes some that someone could go from studying mathematics at university to graduating from law school and then on to a successful business career and yet end up as a full-time psychic. But that is my story. Most of the time these seemingly incongruous points of my past give me no trouble. Secretly, of course, I'd have to admit that I would love for science to produce irrefutable evidence for what I do now as a psychic.

But the world of the scientist and the world of the psychic remain as irreconcilable as always. Right? Well, maybe not. I recently came across a very interesting book whose author may be able to offer an olive branch to the ever-warring camps of the believer and the sceptic.

Ervin Laszlo is a distinguished scientist and philosopher, who believes that science has produced a very impersonal and cold view of the world. But because it is a view that is incomplete and, in many ways, inaccurate, he feels that it is one that should be challenged.

In his book Science and the Akashic Field, Laszlo argues that what science needs is a single theory to explain everything. Now I'll grant you that sounds like a tall order. But when you find out that this is exactly what many top scientists are trying to do, it somehow seems less like a Holy Grail.

It turns out that scientists are today searching for what is called an integral theory of everything (ITOE) because research in the areas of cosmology, physics, biology and consciousness are producing head-scratching puzzles and anomalies that break our so-called "laws" of science.

It would seem that things in the universe don't work as we once thought they did. So, a new view of science is emerging. And it's a view that supports, if not demands, the single paradigm of an ITOE. Laszlo explains that these riddles are solved and models start to hang together again when we take into account a field that connects everything and everyone, supports an exchange of information and is capable of instant communication.

This might sound like some New Age folly, but such a field has been known to mystics and spiritual traditions for thousands of years and it already has a name - the akashic field. While it might have been considered a myth of cultural history, Western science seems to be on the verge of accepting it - as having very nearly proved its existence in the laboratory.

The scientist in Laszlo strives to make the very technical information accessible to and digestible for the layman reader. Be prepared, as you will find yourself reading and re-reading passages to understand areas such as string theory, non-locality and quantum mechanics. But as in many things, persistence pays off.

For me, however, the really exciting bit is when the philosopher in Laszlo comes forth. What information does the akashic field hold? How do we access it? Why would we want to? What are the implications to human evolution? I won't give it away but suffice it to say that the answers are very interesting indeed.

Be you a sceptic or a believer, Science and the Akashic Field will get you thinking and keep you thinking long after you've finished it. To me, that's the hallmark of a good book!

Great book!, 08 Jun 2008
Even if I am not completely convinced that this Akashic field really exists like he describes it, I love the book!

I could almost feel that he is a pianist when reading the book, because it felt almost like music to read it.

My Review, 18 May 2008
All depends on what you're looking for, Metaphysics is a complex subject in its self and takes time to read and re read, to grasp new concepts.

This books description looks good. I can only speak from my own personal view. I found it far too intellectual. Cold and clinical. So much technical and science fact or speculation, as you read each chapter you seem to be reading the same over and over, it's a bit like a book with no start or end. I don't like spending all my time looking up in a dictionary what every second word means why not say the word "joined" rather than some English graduate concept. Any book should have a clear understanding, for me sadly I got very bored and have not finished reading this book. It's one I shall forget about or sell, it's not for me. I have Studied hard for 20 years, this book dose give some insights but you have to have one hell of an Intellect to process what it is and I would even go so far as to say, what is it really talking about, there seems to be a total lack of joining anything, It's like opening a book at a random page and feel you are missing something!

From my own studies, basics in Metaphysics are posed as questions, in fact is already spiritual science and for the moment accepted as how things are, so this book misses many things.
I personally can not recommend it, It may be good for some, limited people. with high IQ or lived in Higher education all there life.
Not for the man in the street or even a student of the Spiritual Sciences
AG

A detailed glimpse into applied qunatum physics, 05 Jan 2002
The book develops the ideas founded upon quatum physics and describes their relation to the basis of crystalline structures amongst others. It is ideal for physicists at an undergraduate level and beyond incorporating all of the fundamental topics required to fully understand this topic. Constructed in a clear and methodical fashion it can be classed as essential reading for any academic in the field, perfectly balanced in weight and depth.

An essential undergraduate text, 04 Jun 2004
Most physics degree courses don't cover the topic of Statistical Mechanics until some way through the second year and this is mostly due to students requiring a reasonable grounding in thermodynamics, which is traditionally a 2nd year topic. Statistical Mechanics: A Survival Guide is an excellent book for any student studying this subject as it starts off by explaining the basics of statistics in such a manner that is very easy to understand. The foundations that it sets in the first chapter ensure that you have a very clear understanding of these basics, which are extremely important for grasping the idea of a microstate, essential to deriving the distribution functions for the various types of particle. It gives very complete discussions on quantum statistics and its applications along with the standard sections on ideal gases. The links between thermodynamics and statistical mechanics are frequently highlighted so as to show how the two subjects go hand in hand. This is an excellent text on a subject that can become very complicated and the presentation and explanations in the book cannot be faulted.

My only quibble is the price - I would have expected just a little bit more for my money but nonetheless I still consider it an essential book for a physics student to have on their shelf.

Better than most, 08 May 2008
It is a pity this book has not been written with a consistent level of care and attention to detail (as regards exposition, language); otherwise it would have been splendid. The overall plan and the emphasis on physics is excellent. There is a lot in this book which you would not easily find in other sources. In particular the exercises are very well done as miniprojects containing substantial further topics. There is an element of trendiness in the title: look up "Entropy" or "Order parameter" in the index and you'll find lots of page references, as behooves key terms appearing in the book's title; but look up "complexity" and you are referred to a series of exercises; one feels "complexity" was added to the title for want of a sexy buzzword that would distinguish this from any number of other stat mechs books.

Thankyou Mark Fox for making Quantum Optics accessible and enjoyable!, 21 Oct 2007
I wish this book had been published when I first started as a grad student! Instead there was Loudon's "The Quantum Theory of Light" and Marlan Scully's "Quantum Optics" - both excellent books, but both lose sight of the fundamental physics, and do not really bridge the gap between most physics degrees and the subtle mathematical world of quantum optics. This is a book which really introduces the subject from a concise fundamental physics footing, taking into account that new grad students are not experts in the field - it is enough work for some students to come to terms with a lot of new mathematics, let alone try and understand where many physical approximations creep in - some quantum optics lectures simply introduce expressions without explanation, and this book seems to answer most of them.

A case in point is the quantum treatment of the Hanbury Brown-Twiss experiment, where in the treatement of one of the beamsplitter output ports, a subtraction appears. This book is the only place where I've clearly seen sufficient explanation, in a margin note, that this arises through conservation of energy (actually you are not handed this on a plate, but given a guided problem that shows how it arises, which is a good idea).

And here lies the only complaint about the book, that it uses margin notes. It might sound a strange complaint, perhaps its just me being stupid, but if you've spent a few years reading books and papers where you're used to scanning through single column blocks of text for a vital bit of information, your eyes don't immediately notice an off-set, small block of margin text (in small font, so it looks like a figure caption). A few times I've been caught out searching for explanations in the main body of the text, only to realise after much head scratching that its in the margin notes!

In all, I find this the best book I've ever read - it makes quantum optics enjoyable, simply because of the grass-roots physics. Not everybody in quantum optics is a theorist, some people actually have to do experiments, which is the hardest part of quantum optics.

Thankyou Mark Fox for making Quantum Optics accessible and enjoyable to all!

Brilliant, 19 Aug 2004
For any senior undergraduate or first-year physics/materials science graduate needing an introduction to optical properties of solids, this is the book for you. Don't go near the standard texts (at least not until you've read this one) as I think they are too complex for the introductory reader. This is really clearly written, giving you a good overview and a solid understanding of the basics of the subject without getting bogged down in mathematics. If I was teaching a final year solid-state class, this is the book I would use. The book has plenty of illustrations and examples and is very user-friendly. Thankfully (unlike some) the author has kept all explanations concise and clear. I found I could go ahead and perform experiments and get meaningful results based on what I had learnt in this book. Get it! You will be glad you did!

Readable and concise , 10 May 2008
I would recommend this book for starting graduate students and final year undergrads that want to improve their understanding of magnetism. This is an excellent book to for an experimentalist to flick through and pick out topics that you have seen in papers and not understood. For me, it is consistently clear and relevant, with enough maths to be precise, but not so much to slow the pace of reading.

Being relatively short, I would not recommend this as a reference source, but it should be more than enough for most undergraduate courses.

Most importantly, I found this book very useful.

For sceptics and believers alike!, 26 Nov 2008
It surprises many and perplexes some that someone could go from studying mathematics at university to graduating from law school and then on to a successful business career and yet end up as a full-time psychic. But that is my story. Most of the time these seemingly incongruous points of my past give me no trouble. Secretly, of course, I'd have to admit that I would love for science to produce irrefutable evidence for what I do now as a psychic.

But the world of the scientist and the world of the psychic remain as irreconcilable as always. Right? Well, maybe not. I recently came across a very interesting book whose author may be able to offer an olive branch to the ever-warring camps of the believer and the sceptic.

Ervin Laszlo is a distinguished scientist and philosopher, who believes that science has produced a very impersonal and cold view of the world. But because it is a view that is incomplete and, in many ways, inaccurate, he feels that it is one that should be challenged.

In his book Science and the Akashic Field, Laszlo argues that what science needs is a single theory to explain everything. Now I'll grant you that sounds like a tall order. But when you find out that this is exactly what many top scientists are trying to do, it somehow seems less like a Holy Grail.

It turns out that scientists are today searching for what is called an integral theory of everything (ITOE) because research in the areas of cosmology, physics, biology and consciousness are producing head-scratching puzzles and anomalies that break our so-called "laws" of science.

It would seem that things in the universe don't work as we once thought they did. So, a new view of science is emerging. And it's a view that supports, if not demands, the single paradigm of an ITOE. Laszlo explains that these riddles are solved and models start to hang together again when we take into account a field that connects everything and everyone, supports an exchange of information and is capable of instant communication.

This might sound like some New Age folly, but such a field has been known to mystics and spiritual traditions for thousands of years and it already has a name - the akashic field. While it might have been considered a myth of cultural history, Western science seems to be on the verge of accepting it - as having very nearly proved its existence in the laboratory.

The scientist in Laszlo strives to make the very technical information accessible to and digestible for the layman reader. Be prepared, as you will find yourself reading and re-reading passages to understand areas such as string theory, non-locality and quantum mechanics. But as in many things, persistence pays off.

For me, however, the really exciting bit is when the philosopher in Laszlo comes forth. What information does the akashic field hold? How do we access it? Why would we want to? What are the implications to human evolution? I won't give it away but suffice it to say that the answers are very interesting indeed.

Be you a sceptic or a believer, Science and the Akashic Field will get you thinking and keep you thinking long after you've finished it. To me, that's the hallmark of a good book!

Great book!, 08 Jun 2008
Even if I am not completely convinced that this Akashic field really exists like he describes it, I love the book!

I could almost feel that he is a pianist when reading the book, because it felt almost like music to read it.

My Review, 18 May 2008
All depends on what you're looking for, Metaphysics is a complex subject in its self and takes time to read and re read, to grasp new concepts.

This books description looks good. I can only speak from my own personal view. I found it far too intellectual. Cold and clinical. So much technical and science fact or speculation, as you read each chapter you seem to be reading the same over and over, it's a bit like a book with no start or end. I don't like spending all my time looking up in a dictionary what every second word means why not say the word "joined" rather than some English graduate concept. Any book should have a clear understanding, for me sadly I got very bored and have not finished reading this book. It's one I shall forget about or sell, it's not for me. I have Studied hard for 20 years, this book dose give some insights but you have to have one hell of an Intellect to process what it is and I would even go so far as to say, what is it really talking about, there seems to be a total lack of joining anything, It's like opening a book at a random page and feel you are missing something!

From my own studies, basics in Metaphysics are posed as questions, in fact is already spiritual science and for the moment accepted as how things are, so this book misses many things.
I personally can not recommend it, It may be good for some, limited people. with high IQ or lived in Higher education all there life.
Not for the man in the street or even a student of the Spiritual Sciences
AG

A detailed glimpse into applied qunatum physics, 05 Jan 2002
The book develops the ideas founded upon quatum physics and describes their relation to the basis of crystalline structures amongst others. It is ideal for physicists at an undergraduate level and beyond incorporating all of the fundamental topics required to fully understand this topic. Constructed in a clear and methodical fashion it can be classed as essential reading for any academic in the field, perfectly balanced in weight and depth.

An essential undergraduate text, 04 Jun 2004
Most physics degree courses don't cover the topic of Statistical Mechanics until some way through the second year and this is mostly due to students requiring a reasonable grounding in thermodynamics, which is traditionally a 2nd year topic. Statistical Mechanics: A Survival Guide is an excellent book for any student studying this subject as it starts off by explaining the basics of statistics in such a manner that is very easy to understand. The foundations that it sets in the first chapter ensure that you have a very clear understanding of these basics, which are extremely important for grasping the idea of a microstate, essential to deriving the distribution functions for the various types of particle. It gives very complete discussions on quantum statistics and its applications along with the standard sections on ideal gases. The links between thermodynamics and statistical mechanics are frequently highlighted so as to show how the two subjects go hand in hand. This is an excellent text on a subject that can become very complicated and the presentation and explanations in the book cannot be faulted.

My only quibble is the price - I would have expected just a little bit more for my money but nonetheless I still consider it an essential book for a physics student to have on their shelf.

Better than most, 08 May 2008
It is a pity this book has not been written with a consistent level of care and attention to detail (as regards exposition, language); otherwise it would have been splendid. The overall plan and the emphasis on physics is excellent. There is a lot in this book which you would not easily find in other sources. In particular the exercises are very well done as miniprojects containing substantial further topics. There is an element of trendiness in the title: look up "Entropy" or "Order parameter" in the index and you'll find lots of page references, as behooves key terms appearing in the book's title; but look up "complexity" and you are referred to a series of exercises; one feels "complexity" was added to the title for want of a sexy buzzword that would distinguish this from any number of other stat mechs books.

Thankyou Mark Fox for making Quantum Optics accessible and enjoyable!, 21 Oct 2007
I wish this book had been published when I first started as a grad student! Instead there was Loudon's "The Quantum Theory of Light" and Marlan Scully's "Quantum Optics" - both excellent books, but both lose sight of the fundamental physics, and do not really bridge the gap between most physics degrees and the subtle mathematical world of quantum optics. This is a book which really introduces the subject from a concise fundamental physics footing, taking into account that new grad students are not experts in the field - it is enough work for some students to come to terms with a lot of new mathematics, let alone try and understand where many physical approximations creep in - some quantum optics lectures simply introduce expressions without explanation, and this book seems to answer most of them.

A case in point is the quantum treatment of the Hanbury Brown-Twiss experiment, where in the treatement of one of the beamsplitter output ports, a subtraction appears. This book is the only place where I've clearly seen sufficient explanation, in a margin note, that this arises through conservation of energy (actually you are not handed this on a plate, but given a guided problem that shows how it arises, which is a good idea).

And here lies the only complaint about the book, that it uses margin notes. It might sound a strange complaint, perhaps its just me being stupid, but if you've spent a few years reading books and papers where you're used to scanning through single column blocks of text for a vital bit of information, your eyes don't immediately notice an off-set, small block of margin text (in small font, so it looks like a figure caption). A few times I've been caught out searching for explanations in the main body of the text, only to realise after much head scratching that its in the margin notes!

In all, I find this the best book I've ever read - it makes quantum optics enjoyable, simply because of the grass-roots physics. Not everybody in quantum optics is a theorist, some people actually have to do experiments, which is the hardest part of quantum optics.

Thankyou Mark Fox for making Quantum Optics accessible and enjoyable to all!

Brilliant, 19 Aug 2004
For any senior undergraduate or first-year physics/materials science graduate needing an introduction to optical properties of solids, this is the book for you. Don't go near the standard texts (at least not until you've read this one) as I think they are too complex for the introductory reader. This is really clearly written, giving you a good overview and a solid understanding of the basics of the subject without getting bogged down in mathematics. If I was teaching a final year solid-state class, this is the book I would use. The book has plenty of illustrations and examples and is very user-friendly. Thankfully (unlike some) the author has kept all explanations concise and clear. I found I could go ahead and perform experiments and get meaningful results based on what I had learnt in this book. Get it! You will be glad you did!

Readable and concise , 10 May 2008
I would recommend this book for starting graduate students and final year undergrads that want to improve their understanding of magnetism. This is an excellent book to for an experimentalist to flick through and pick out topics that you have seen in papers and not understood. For me, it is consistently clear and relevant, with enough maths to be precise, but not so much to slow the pace of reading.

Being relatively short, I would not recommend this as a reference source, but it should be more than enough for most undergraduate courses.

Most importantly, I found this book very useful.


An excellent texbook on a fashionable subject, 07 Feb 2003
What do colloids, polymers, amphiphiles and liquid crystals have in common? Well, nothing at first sight. Yet all these diverse materials have common structural, and most importantly dynamic properties that fall between those of crystalline solids and simple molecular liquids and gases. Many such materials are familiar from everyday life, including glues, food, pigment paints,detergents, etc. In soft condensed matter the most important features are probably the following three: Universality, effect of Fluctuations, and Self-Assembly properties. Prof. Jones, a quite well-known researcher in the
field of soft matter, in this single volume textbook has attempted to present the subject at an introductory level, yet without losing much of clarity. The book is divided in ten chapters and Prof. Jones start his discussion by defining
what soft matter really is, and discussing the intermolecular forces and timescales operating in these systems. It is worth noticing that a very clear, albeit short discussion, on the glass transition of liquids is included in the second chapter, where the free volume theory is totally exposed as inadequate. I
have to say that coming from a polymer science background this is probably one of the very few books, that simply does not explain glass transition by the much celebrated (and also mistaken) free volume theory, but proceeds further.
Following the first two chapters, the material of the book may be divided into two categories. The first category deals with specific systems of soft condensed matter, where colloidal dispersions, polymers, liquid crystals, and bio-polymers
are covered in chapters 4, 5, 7, and 10 respectively. The second category involves the discussion of more general concepts appearing in soft matter, like phase transitions, gelation, and supramolecular self-assembly.
Overall, the book is really very well written and in some parts the material included is discussed quite elegantly (for example the Casimir effect in chapter four). It is quite