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Kafatos, Menas
The non-local Universe Oxford University Press, 1999ISBN: 0195132564
cover
Mentioned in
Local Realism
Co-author
Nadeau,Robert
Many people have sought a mystical side to the new discoveries in physics, in particular in quantum theory. I think of these attempts as a mostly harmless amusement, but I have to say that I felt that The non-local universe possibly wasn't so harmless. Maybe the later parts of the book aren't so bad. The authors speculate about the evolution of the mind - a bit of a just-so story perhaps, but interesting and readable. The last part of the book gets on to the postmodern take on science. The authors clearly think that there's something wrong with this, but don't want to insult the postmodernists - I thought it was rather funny really. Continued..
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Kaiser, David
How the hippies saved physics Norton, 2011ISBN: 0393076369
cover In the middle of the 20th Century, thinking about the meaning of quantum theory was strongly discouraged - physicists were supposed to work on practical applications (like bombs). But eventually people started to question this stance and delve into what quantum theory meant and how it was linked to other aspects of life. In How the Hippies Saved Physics: Science, Counterculture, and the Quantum Revival David Kaiser tells the story. Continued..
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Kaku, Michio
Parallel worlds Allen Lane, 2005ISBN: 0713997281
cover
Mentioned in
Full Review
Science fiction presents us with many wacky ideas, and you may wonder whether they have any connection to reality. Well in this book Michio Kaku describes plenty of ideas which seem like fiction but have been given serious consideration by physicists, for instance wormholes, warp drives and time travel. The book is in three parts, starting with a look at the current state of cosmology which is followed by a look at various ideas in physics related to parallel universes. The final part considers how we might reach such a universe. The book is easy to read, and is recommended to anyone wanting to find out more about the strange ideas from science fiction. Continued..
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Einstein's Cosmos Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2004ISBN: 0297847554
cover Albert Einstein's theories had a revolutionary effect on physics at the start of the 20th century, but these theories are often hidden in mathematical equations and can be hard to understand. In this book Michio Kaku takes the reader through the simple ideas which lead Einstein to his theories. Thus we heard about Einstein's early struggles culminating in his 'miracle year' of 1905. This was followed by the development of general relativity and Einstein's rise to fame when it was experimentally confirmed. Then, in the last 30 years of his life, Einstein worked away from mainstream physics in his search for a unified theory. It's a well written book, being highly informative as well as having an easy to read style and is to be recommended to anyone wanting to find out about Einstein's work. Continued..
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Physics of the future Allen Lane, 2011ISBN: 1846142687
cover In Physics of the future: how science will shape human destiny and our daily lives by the year 2100 Michio Kaku uses the information from interviews with experts in many fields to predict how our lives are going to change in the next century. Continued..
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Kaler, James B
The hundred greatest stars Copernicus Books, 2002ISBN: 0387954368
cover
Mentioned in
Full Review
In this original way of looking at the variety of stars and star systems, James Kaler picks out 100 stars and writes about the special characteristics of each one. Each star has a double page to itself with an illustration and summary of its vital statistics on one side, and a self-contained essay about it on the other. Apart from the Sun which, because of its special place in our affections, appears in a place of honour as star zero, the remainder are dealt with in alphabetical order - maybe a bizarre ordering, but it does emphasise the sheer variety of stars and star systems. Continued..
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Kandel, Eric R
In search of memory Norton, 2006ISBN: 0393058638
cover
Mentioned in
Full Review
In Search of Memory is Eric R Kandel's account of his life as a scientist studying the workings of the brain, but as well as giving details of his own investigations he includes the relevant scientific background, thus making the book a useful resource for learning about this subject. The autobiographical approach helps to make the science more accessible, and it also shows how success as a scientist often depends what you choose to study - choices that may be difficult and against the advice of your colleagues (such as using the marine snail Aplysia for the study of memory), but which in Kandel's case lead to him being awarded the 2000 Nobel Prize in physiology and medicine. Continued..
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Kaplan, Robert L
The nothing that is Penguin BooksISBN: 0140279431
cover Although we use the number zero all of the time, and understand that it represents the concept of nothing, it has not always been that way. In this book Robert Kaplan shows us how this idea came gradually, and sometimes met a lot of resistance. Starting with the Babylonians we see how it spread to Greece and to India, and how a placeholder notation eventually took root in western civilisation. The second half of the book moves away from history towards more literary and philosophical ideas of nothingness including mathematical questions such as the nature of infinitesimals. Continued..
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Karlen, Arno
Biography of a germ Victor Gollancz, 2000ISBN: 0575066059
cover Anyone who goes for a walk in the woods in the USA should know about the need to guard against Lyme disease. But thinking about deer and their ticks tends to obscure the organism which is actually responsible, a bacterium called Borrelia burdorferi or Bb for short. This book tells its story, and of the challenges it faces as it moves between its various hosts. The book requires no previous knowledge of the subject, and teaches the reader a fair amount of biology along the way. Despite the nature of the subject, it makes an excellent choice for a little light reading. Continued..
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Kaye, Richard
Models of Peano Arithmetic Clarendon Press, 1991ISBN: 019853213X
Mentioned in
fermat undecidable
Goedel's incompleteness theorem tells us that no finite set of axioms can capture the essence of the integers - there will always be non-standard models of such a set of axioms. In Models of Peano Arithmetic Richard Kaye takes a look at such nonstandard models. The book is not for the fainthearted though - there's no gentle introduction, from the start it is full of highly abstract symbols. The book is aimed at aimed at postgraduates starting research into the subject, and assumes some previous experience of model theory. Continued..
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Kean, Sam
The disappearing spoon Little, Brown, 2010ISBN: 9780316051644
cover The periodic table is a familiar sight to those who have sat in a science class, but the poster on the wall does little to suggest the stories which lie behind the elements it lists. In The Disappearing Spoon: And Other True Tales of Madness, Love, and the History of the World from the Periodic Table of the Elements Sam Kean tells us some of these stories. Continued..
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Kirshner, Robert P
The Extravagant Universe Oxford University PressISBN: 0691058628
cover The 1990's brought some big surprises in cosmology. Some thought that the universe was fairly low density with gravity having little effect, others that it had the critical density, so that gravity would asymptotically bring the expansion to a stop. Then suddenly people were talking about an accelerating universe. This book is about some of these developments. More precisely its main subject is the work done studying supernovae by Robert Kirshner and his colleagues in order to learn more about the expansion of the universe. If you're interested in how a research group in astronomy tackled this important question then you should read this book. Continued..
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Klein, Stefan
Time: A User's Guide Penguin, 2006ISBN: 9780141034638
cover Time - we are constantly finding new ways to save it, but still we seem to have enough of it. Time: A User's Guide: Making Sense of Life's Scarcest Commodity Stefan Klein examines a number of different aspects of the nature of time, and looks at what we can do to avoid the feeling of never getting enough done.

Note: The US version of this book is entitled The Secret Pulse of Time Continued..

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Kline, Morris
Mathematics, The loss of certainty Oxford University Press, 1980ISBN: 0195030850
cover
Mentioned in
Excluded muddle
fermat undecidable
Mathematics has an air of being the most secure form of knowledge. In Mathematics, The Loss of Certainty, however, Morris Kline shows that this is not necessarily deserved. He shows how, rather than mathematics being an obvious progression of knowledge, in fact many ideas in the subject were strongly resisted when first introduced, and even when accepted often rested on insecure foundations. He explains how Euclidean geometry turned out not be as 'obviously true' as people thought, how calculus was based on the shaky ground of infinitesimals, and how grudgingly imaginary numbers came to be accepted as a valid way to do calculations. Continued..
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Kluger, Jeffrey
Simplexity John Murray, 2007ISBN: 9780719508114
cover Interesting things don't tend to happen in the simplest of systems, nor in the most complex, but somewhere in the middle. In Simplexity:The simple rules of a Complex World Jeffrey Kluger takes a look at this phenomenon, and how it applies to a wide range of topics. He starts with the problems we face when everyone is following the trends set by others, whether it's leaving a burning building or investing in the stock market. Later he examines the effects of scale in living things, and in particular how long they live, and see whether this can be extended from organisms to organizations. Continued..
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Koestler, Arthur
The ghost in the machine ArkanaISBN: 0140191925
cover
Mentioned in
Consciousness
'The Ghost in the Machine' is Koestler's classic work on the human mind and human society. Despite taking Ryle's jibe at dualism for its title, the book isn't specifically on the philosophy of mind. Rather it criticises the whole area of mechanistic models of humans and human behaviour. Koestler packs a great deal of discussion into the book, looking at the nature of humans on all levels from neurons to global society. Koestler was going against the tide of the new thinking in biology, and I'm not convinced that the book heralded a revolution in the life sciences, as some would claim. However the arguments are skillfully put and this overview of the human condition is well worth reading. Continued..
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Kolata, Gina
Flu Macmillan, 1999ISBN: 0333751051
cover The flu outbreak of 1918 was one of the worst killers in history, but for some reason it doesn't feature very much in history lessons. In Flu, Gina Kolata takes a look at this outbreak, and the influence it has had since that time. However, this book is not primarily a history of the 1918 outbreak. Nor does it explain the details of the science of the flu virus to the reader. Rather it is a collection of stories related to the outbreak, and in particular those of scientists who have sought to prevent a recurrence. Continued..
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Kozen, Dexter C
Theory of computation Springer, 2006ISBN: 1846282977
cover When I started Theory of computation by Dexter C. Kozen I had the feeling of being thrown in at the deep end. This is not the sort of book with a gentle introduction to the subject of computational complexity. Rather it is aimed at the postgraduate level, and so assumes that the student will have previous experience of the subject. That said, it seems remarkably self contained, with at least a sketch of the important proofs of the subject. It also has an extensive set of exercises for each chapter with solutions, and so would be an excellent choice for independent students, provided they have sufficient background knowledge of the subject. Continued..
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Krauss, Lawrence
The Physics of Star Trek PerennialISBN: 0060977108
cover
Mentioned in
Interstellar travel
A look at which of the devices of Star Trek might be produced and how they would work
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Beyond star trek Perseus BooksISBN: 0060977574
cover
Mentioned in
Interstellar travel
In Beyond Star Trek, Laurence Krauss builds upon The physics of star trek to look at the science which lies behind other science fiction. Its a bit more critical than his previous book, starting off by demonstrating the impracticalities of interstellar travel. The trouble is that it all seems a bit negative - science fiction fans will want to know how what they read about might be achieved, not about how it can't be done. Some of what Krauss had to says was more positive, such as his views on extraterrestrial life, but even here I had feeling that he didn't have a convincing argument for his ideas. Continued..
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Kumar, Manjit
Quantum Icon books, 2008ISBN: 9781848310292
cover Quantum theory is often shrouded in a veil of mystery, and you may wonder what all the fuss is about. Is it a case of those in the know trying to make it seem more difficult, or is there really something weird about it. In Quantum : Einstein, Bohr and the Great Debate About the Nature of Reality Manjit Kumar explains how such a view of quantum theory came about. Continued..
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Kurzweil, Ray
Fantastic Voyage Rodale, 2004ISBN: 1405077603
cover
Co-author
Grossman,Terry
With each new advance in medicine we gain the possibility of living a bit longer - but it seems that death will eventually come to us all. But can we be so certain of this? In Fantastic Voyage: Live long enough to Live For Ever Ray Kurzweil and Terry Grossman claim that immortality is a possibility for many of those alive today. Continued..
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Kuttner, Fred
Quantum Enigma Duckworth, 2007ISBN: 9780715636541
cover
Co-author
Rosenblum,Bruce
Most of you will have heard about the strangeness of quantum theory. Many writers use this as an excuse for the promotion of a mystical world view. Quantum Enigma: Physics Encounters Consciousness by Bruce Rosenblum and Fred Kuttner is different: here the authors show that however down-to-earth you try to be - remember that quantum theory is involved in the production of many of the devices we use in our everyday lives - you have to acknowledge that there are some questions about the theory which are difficult to answer. The book looks at the differences between classical and quantum physics then moves on to look at the EPR paper and Bell's theorem, ending up with a discussion of the authors' ideas on the links between consciousness and physics. Continued..
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