Steven Vogel (1) (1940–2015)

What a fun book. Steven Vogel has a great voice - it's like having your fun, very smart uncle sit you down and open your mind to a bunch of science that applies to plants. Everything is built up from common intuition about shapes and our everyday experience, so it's quite accessible. He also has the actual equations floating around in the footnotes for the more quantitatively minded. I learned a bunch of fun facts, but more importantly it opened my eyes to a new way of thinking about things show more in nature. show less

Mostly the physics of leaves, not their molecular biology. I learned many interesting things - that you can float using a wet pillow-case, but not a dry one, why your gas mileage goes down so quickly with increased speed, and a review of the peculiarities of water (the way it adheres to itself, the way its density changes with temperature) that permits life as we know it. Also, why you have to use a dish cloth when you clean dishes; the velocity of a viscous fluid at the luminal surface is zero.

Far from a textbook, yet written by someone who obviously loves his subject, and knows a lot about it. 'At this point I was going to recommend that (the reader) go out and buy an embalmed heart.'

I finished reading it during the two days that I was sick. The author enjoys his subject. He enjoys writing about the normal system and how marvelous it is.

In the last chapter he comments that there are lots of books about disease, therefore this book covers the normal working state. It is a very show more marvelous system show less

Quite readable book on wheels, wheel technology, hoists and mills and such. Explores why things turn, what turning is, and why it is useful. The author has a dry wit which comes out unexpectedly, such as his comment that the springs used in lawnmower draw strings used to start the motor are both tightly sprung, and malevolent. Good illustrations for ancient hauling, grinding, turning and propelling systems, and for modern uses. An excellent section on non-circular movement using circles, show more circular motions without rotation, and epicyclic gears and such. Also a good section on making models of circular machines, which is a nice resource for science fair projects.
Well published with a good bibliography and footnotes. However, I feel the next edition should include a good index and glossary.
Recommended for public libraries and high schools with engineering or good science programs. Also recommended for engineering collections and private collections of science and technology. show less