Product Description
After the Black Knight breaks King Arthurs sword in battle, Arthur gets a new one from the Lady of the Lake. But this is no ordinary sword. ... Read more

Product Description

Customer Reviews (12)

Informative, entertaining, but marred by technical errors
I enjoyed this book and recommend it. It is a highly entertaining, informative, and well-researched book. If you've read Wali's bio "Chandra", you should read this book, which gives a somewhat darker view of Chandrasekhar the man. I particularly liked the detailed endnotes, which give many historical insights.

The villain in this story is Eddington, who did excellent work in his early career, but simply lost the power of rational argument in his old age. Like Linus Pauling, Eddington suffered from "great old man disease". (It only strikes males, perhaps because testosterone levels are involved.) The course of this disease is: tremendously successful early career causing self-confidence to morph into hubris, followed by the belief that one's intuition is so powerful that it cannot be wrong. In late stages, the disease causes the victim to attempt to alter experimental evidence to match beliefs.

I think the author exaggerates the importance of the Chandra-Eddington "debate" in 20th century physics, but that does not detract from the book's value.

Unfortunately, this book is marred many technical errors. Clearly, the author is not a scientist and the book was never edited by someone with a technical background.I list a few statements, some of which are wrong, and others are, as Wolfgang Pauli would say, "are not even wrong".

p.45 Referring to Sirius A, the brightest star in the sky: "The fact that it can be observed with a telescope shows how extraordinarily bright it is."Is this a typo? Did the author mean "without a telescope"? Doesn't matter, since the sentence makes no sense either way.
p.48,49. Explaining that Eddington incorrectly assumed that a star has a chemical composition similar to Earth's (rather than the Sun's actual compostion of 3/4 H, 1/4 He which gives it a molecular weight of 2) and so "Eddingtion adopted a mean molecular weight of 2.1."At first I assumed this was a typo, but the mistake is repeated throughout the text.
p.54. "Another mystery that Eddington wanted to crack was how a white dwarf could be so small yet so dense."Throughout, the author makes puzzling statements about density.
p.69. "... the electrical charge of the electron, which is 10^-10 in terms of size (measured in centimeters);...;the Planck constant, as measure of scale in the atomic world and smaller still, 10^-27; ..."Which is bigger: 20 pounds for 400 inches?
p.157 Referring to a teaspoonful of stellar matter: "The same tiny amount of neutron star matter would weigh a billion tons, probably enough to take it plunging through Earth."Yes, probably.
p.160. Kapitza is referred to as "a discoverer of superconductivity"(confusing superfluidity with superconductivity)
p.165 "Another question was whether fusion could be initiated by thermonuclear reactions."fusion is a thermonuclear reaction

Throughout, the author uses the word "dim" and it is never clear whether he intends the word to mean intrinsic luminosity, apparent brightness, surface brightness or what.This leads to very odd statements such as p.180 referring to a white dwarf, "It has burned up nearly all of its fuel, making it dim, but has undergone extreme contraction... making it hot."or p.221 "If Cygnus A were closer ... it would have a "luminosity" 10 million times that of the entire Milky Way."
The author reports all stellar distances in miles, never light-years, and he refuses to use scientific notation: p.221 Cygnus A is "4500 million trillion miles away"
p.225. Referring to Chandra's calculations of a supermassive stellar remnant in a quasar "it would have to collapse completely and would therefore cease to exist."
p.227 "its spin is the number of times it rotates per second".Confusing angular momentum and angular velocity.
p.225 Author explains that the Large Hadron Collider will be able to produce photons with a wavelength equal to the Planck length. I wish!
p.269, Referring to neutrinos: "They interact so weakly that they can fly through space for 3 trillion miles unhampered."Through space? Empty space? (As Dave Barry would say, I'm not making this up.)

Excellent History of Astrophysics
This is really a book on the history of astrophysics - the science of stars. However, in developing this exposition, the author has chosen to focus on two of the main contributors to the field: Eddington and Chandrasekhar. Both were geniuses of the highest order - one (Eddington), feared for his venomous attacks (in scientific fora) on those who disagreed with his theories but who, otherwise, was a truly likeable gentleman; the other (Chandrasekhar), a more complex individual "confident in his own brilliance, yet permanently bitter at never having received the recognition he thought was his due" (p. 297). The writing style is clear, engaging and free of unnecessary technical jargon, thus making the book accessible to a wider audience. Various theories on how it was thought that stars shine and eventually die are presented, culminating with modern day theories. This excellent book will likely be most appreciated by science buffs.

Fascinating, informative, but not altogether convincing
This biography of the astrophysicist and mathematical prodigy Subramanyan Chandrasekhar is a very good survey of the twentieth-century flowering of astrophysics.Physics, chemistry, and astronomy were beginning to feed into each other and reach critical mass, which would result in the supernova of celestial discovery that marked the rest of the century.In this telling, Chandra had a brilliant insight which, although it would prove to be the key to most future theorizing about black holes, was at the time unsupported by anything except a seemingly airtight set of mathematical calculations.These were rejected by Sir Arthur Eddington, the foremost astrophysicist of the day, in a most public and humiliating way.As is the way of science at its best, time and the accretion of aggregate research finally proved Chandra correct and Eddington wrong.

The public hiding Eddington gave Chandra rankled the young Indian for the rest of his life.Even winning the Nobel prize didn't make bygones be bygones.Chandra is depicted as being alternately resentful and ostentatiously collegial with Eddington, a sign of his conflicted feelings. Eddington isn't around to stick up for himself, and as the author notes, there is very little in the way of biographical information about him.The author goes on about class, racism, and even closeted homosexuality in an effort to explain Eddington's refusal to accept Chandra's insight.Those qualities were indeed extant in 1930s England, but the author comes very close to unfairly tarring Eddington by implication.There's no proof, so he should have let the mystery stand as is.

That said, the story of Chandra is a great starting point for telling the story of astrophysics over the last 80 years. As such, it is warmly recommended.

Some fair use quotations:

"On next Monday I am 21!I am almost ashamed to confess it. Years run apace, but nothing done!I wish I had been more concentrated, directed and disciplined in my work.
-- Subrahmanyan Chadrasekhar, letter to his father, 1932, in Arthur I. Miller, Empire of the Stars: Obsession, Friendship, and Betrayal in the Quest for Black Holes, 2005"

"Technical journals are filled with elaborate papers on conditions in the interiors of model gaseous spheres, but these discussions have, for the most part, the character of exercises in mathematical physics rather than astronomical investigations, and it is difficult to judge the degree of resemblance between the models and actual stars.Differential equations are like servants in livery: it is honourable to be able to command them, but they are "yes" men, loyally giving support and amplification to the ideas entrusted to them by their master. -- Paul W. Merrill, The Nature of Variable Stars, 1938, quoted in Arthur I. Miller Empire of the Stars: Obsession, Friendship, and Betrayal in the Quest for Black Holes, 2005"

"In my entire scientific life, extending over forty-five years, the most shattering experience has been the realisation that [New Zealand mathematician Roy Kerr's] exact solution of Einstein's equations of general relativity provides the *absolutely exact representation* of untold numbers of massive black holes that populate the universe.This "shuddering before the beautiful," this incredible fact that a discovery motivated by a search after the beautiful in mathematics should find its exact replica in Nature, persuades me to say that beauty is that to which the human mind responds at its deepest and most profound.
-- Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar, 1975, quoted in Arthur I. Miller,
Empire of the Stars: Obsession, Friendship, and Betrayal in the Quest
for Black Holes, 2005"

"You may think I have used a hammer to crack eggs, but I have cracked eggs!
-- Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar, on his habitual use of zillions of equations in his papers, quoted in Arthur I. Miller Empire of the Stars: Obsession, Friendship, and Betrayal in the Quest for Black Holes, 2005"

Ample, Clear, Informative, Intelligent
If you like books described by the title above, you'll enjoy Empire of the Stars. The core of the book is a straightforward biography of Chandrasekhar, but that story is well wrapped in a social history of the international scientific community of the 20th Century. Author Arthur Miller does not convince all readers of his bold thesis that the clash between Chandra and Eddington impeded scientific progress by decades, but the interest of the book does not hinge on that dramatic device.

Lacks Focus
An interesting read, but this book lacks focus. Sometimes it is a biography of Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar with a little physics background; sometimes it's a history of thinking in the astrophysics community with a little biographical background; and sometimes it feels like a who's who of astronomers and physicist from the 30's to the 80's. As an extra-added bonus, we get a random collection of information about the Manhattan Project and nuclear weapons design. ... Read more

Product Description
Arthur Wharton was the world's first black professional footballer, and the first African to play professional cricket in Yorkshire and Lancashire leagues. Those promoting Empire as an expression of white supremacy found him a supreme irritation, and he eventually died in poverty. ... Read more

Product Description

Taking the influential work of Arthur Huff Fauset as a starting point to break down the false dichotomy that exists between mainstream and marginal, a new generation of scholars offers fresh ideas for understanding the religious expressions of African Americans in the United States. Fauset's 1944 classic, Black Gods of the Metropolis, launched original methods and theories for thinking about African American religions as modern, cosmopolitan, and democratic. The essays in this collection show the diversity of African American religion in the wake of the Great Migration and consider the full field of African American religion from Pentecostalism to Black Judaism, Black Islam, and Father Divine's Peace Mission Movement. As a whole, they create a dynamic, humanistic, and thoroughly interdisciplinary understanding of African American religious history and life. This book is essential reading for anyone who studies the African American experience.

Customer Reviews (1)

Good won't have impact of (1944) book though
This book attempts to critique and expound on Arthur Fauset's classic "Black God's of the Metropolis"attempted with the use of a cast of 11 writers. The most successful are Nora Rubel and her analysis of Fauset's Prophet Cherry Black Hebrews movement (Chapt 3) and how it had a likeness to the Moorish Science Temple of the day.

Jacob Dorman does a fine job with (Chapt6) "A true Moslem is a true spiritualist Black Orientalism and Black Gods of the Metropolis". He gives insightful information on a little known leader named Father Hurley and the U.H.S.A. movement of 1923. Sylvester Johnson in (Chapt7)(Proper Religion and the Colonial State) reveals how various govt agencies set out to destroy said movements by any means necessary. Daniella Sigler(Chapt 2) breaks down the Daddy Grace movement and mentions how he refused to be called negreo, black or colored (he said he was Portugese and from Jerusalem).

Overall a pretty good read except for Chapter 5 by Edward Curtis IV it seems he has been chasing the origins of Noble Drew Ali's doctrine for quite some time now with little success. Mr Curtis seems to be confused with the syncrentized teachings of D Ali. but I must be clear in no way does the Shrine House fraternity impart more than minimal knowledge of true Islam to an individual. Mr. Curtis revisits this hypothesis to often, to the point of over redundence. This will happen time and again when the sources of information flows from outside of Temple sources. Thus what could have been a 4 star has to be limited to a 3 star. ... Read more

Product Description
The author discusses topics including UFOs Deodorant, Canucks, Bores, Papillions and much more. ... Read more

Product Description
A biography of the first black man to win at Wimbledon. ... Read more

Product Description

Product Description
Presents the life of an important black athlete and tennis player, Arthur Ashe. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Arthur Ashe
The book I read was Arthur Ashe.
Written by Ted Wessberg.

Arthur Ashe was born in 1943 in Richmond, Virginia. Arhtur was a world champion tennis player. He was 10 when he strated playing tennis. He also helped the country win the Davis Cup in 1968 one of 7 times he was part of a victories. The 22 year old conners, a self taught southpaw from Belleville, Illionois, had burst onto the tennis scene only a couple of year earlier and was now taking the tennis worlk by storm. Arthur Ashe was almost 32, when he died of a heart attack.

I rate this book
four stars ... Read more

Product Description
This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923.This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process.We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide.We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book. ... Read more

Product Description

ForeWord Magazine Book of the Year finalist - Nature Books, 2003

Alberta Book Cover Design of the Year Nominee

In this spirited mix of humor, science and adventure, naturalist Jamie Bastedo takes you on an uncommon romp through snow. Share in the quest of early snow scientists to unravel snow's many riddles:

• Meet a madcap balloonist who risked it all to inspect snowstorms five miles up.
• Join snow ecologists as they gauge the importance of snow in shaping the lives of plants and animals.
• Pull your hair out with urban leaders, road crews, and train engineers as they do battle with paralyzing piles of snow.
• Discover the imprint of snow on native languages and some of our best art and literature.
• Explore the outer limits of snow-based recreation.
• And follow in Bastedo's foot, ski and snowshoe tracks as he guides you across creaking glaciers, through hushed evergreen forests and over frozen arctic seas in a playful exploration of the many facets and meanings of snow.

Product Description

Product Description
The author of Black Tie and Tales and Black in the Saddle Again, both winners of the Stephen Leacock Medal for Humour, returns with a new collection guaranteed to tickle your funny bone and make you scratch your head at the absurdities of life in the early years of the new millennium. In slyly ironic, pointedly witty essays, Black takes aim at the vagaries of the English language, the moribund political correctness movement, and a host of rural and urban eccentrics. In fact, there's not much that Black won't write about, be it the banality of bumper stickers, the ingenuity of crows, or such everyday subjects as outhouses, hammocks and blue jeans. So sit down, settle back and loosen your belt to leave room for a belly laugh or three. Flash Black is witty, weird, one hundred percent Canadian and guaranteed to delight. ... Read more