Use of plants in the reclamation of lands degraded and salinity. Process of reclamation with gypsum and organic residue and crop legume.

I originally purchased this book in London and read it on a flight back to New York. It has been out in England for a couple of months and has been reviewed in the press over there. The book outlines a radical but intelligent solution to the problem of global warming, without shutting down the world's economy or adopting the draconian mandates of the Kyoto Protocol. This is more timely now, given Bush's decision to end US participation in the climate change negotiations. I should also add that the book is actually very well written and quite funny. It would certainly irritate the most righteous environmentalists of the world, and for that alone it is worth buying and reading.

This book gives a detailed treatment of the theory behind the physical properties of carbon nanotubes, and is written by some of the leading scientists in the field. However it cannot be recommended as an introduction to the subject of carbon nanotubes, as much of the mathematics will be beyond those without specialist knowledge of solid state physics. Also the illustrations are very poor quality. In its favour, the book is quite cheap.

This book of renowned scholars from MIT and from the University of Electro-Communications in Tokyo provides a systematic description of the structure of carbon nanotubes and of their physical nature. The volume starts from background information on the structure and properties of graphite and related carbon materials. Based on the geometric structure of carbon nanotubes, the electronic properties and phonon dispersion relations are explained on simple physical models. The book starts from the first principles and through the physical models explains and interprets numerous experiments.

After twobackground chapters the book continues with nine specialized topics. The geometrical structure of nanotubes is described and linked to their electronic features. A comprehensive article deals with synthesis of carbon nanotubes. The following chapter concentrates on quantization produced by confinement of electrons in one-dimensional nanotubes. Physical connections of carbon nanotubes are then discussed - their geometry and electrical conductance. Transport properties of nanotubes are analyzed in the next chapter, using quantum transport in a one-dimensional wire. Phonon modes of nanotubes follow and are treated by the zone-folding technique. Raman spectra of nanotubes are then surveyed. The volume ends with a chapter on elastic properties of nanotubes.

The book is a well organized systematic treatise that should be enjoyed by any researcher in the field as well as by graduate students. Theories and experiments are truly organically linked in the text and this is its unique feature. The volume has 259+xii pages, lists 238 references, and also includes some useful Fortran computer codes for geometry generations. The book is published by Imperial College Press and distributed by World Scientific Publ. Co.

ISBN: 1-86094-093-5

This is a very good introductory book for all those who are thinking of doing research in the (constantly evolving) field of carbon nanotubes. It is a very didactic book and contains essential information which are very useful. Since it was written in an early stage of the research on carbon nanotubes, some of its material may look outdated, but is simply basic information over which the present knowledge on carbon nanotubes was built. I have used the information from the book heavily in my PhD. thesis, on which I am currently working.

The book begins from the very basics: a review of the types of carbon bonds and hybridizations. Being a theorist, one of my favorite chapters is the one on the early tight-binding calculations for the electronic structure of carbon nanotubes. These calculations are immensely useful for understanding the electronic structure of carbon nanotubes. It also presents a review of the elastic properties of carbon nanotubes and of the phonon properties, as well as the group theory involved in understanding carbon nanotubes' properties.

However, this field could not have progressed without the huge mass of experimental work done in the area. Therefore, the book contains lots of material on the experimental aspects of research in the area, like synthesis of carbon nanotubes, Raman scattering (a whole chapter is devoted to the subject) and transport experiments. This probably is the part in which the material is most outdated, since new experimental techniques and new experiments are always being devised and performed. However, the experiments described in the book provide a good starting point for having a general idea of what has been going on in the experimental area.

Many topics, like Coulomb blockade, Luttinger liquid behavior and mechanical effects on the electronic structure are lacking since only two years since the launching of the book were enough to allow these topics to be discovered or become of interest in research. Nevertheless, the books remains (and perhaps will always be) basic reference and an almost mandatory citation in articles published on the subject in the most important scientific research magazines in the world.

This book was written to counter many of the arguments used against nuclear technology in simple and easily understood terms. Recommended for people with little technical background that want an introduction to the topic.

The book was a short, concise, fact filled introduction to nuclear power and its history. This book was logical and easy to read and nobody should be afraid of reading it because of its scientific and technical content. One major point of the book is that nuclear power is extremely safe and clean compared to its fossil fuel based alternatives. It also debunks the many falsehoods and myths the anti-nuclear power movement have succeded to spread. A very convincing and important book. Nuclear power may actually save us from the great disaster. Don't judge the previous statement before reading the book. I am personally very impressed! Thank you Prof. Max Carbon I truly enjoyed your book!

There are some interesting concepts in this book, as other reviewers have stated, but that wasn't enough to make me enjoy this one. I tend to judge books by how much I want to get back to them when I have to put them down to, say, feed the dogs or go to work. 'Altered Carbon' just wasn't a big enough draw for me to finish it.

While I liked the protagonist, i really didn't care at all about the mystery he was hired to solve. I thought the interaction between him and the veteran female cop was clumsy. Morgan's writing style is good, but i was jarred one too many times by being thrust into a scene that took 2 or 3 pages to understand.

Morgan shows promise so I will definitely check out his next offering. I'm just totally indifferent to this one.

Altered Carbon was an amazing first novel for Richard Morgan. This guy has a future! The book is dark and slick. It defintely has a Blade Runner feel to it along with some Matrix and Maltese Falcon (or even China Town)like mystery thrown in for good measure. The hero (Kovaks)can handle himself in a fight (he is enhanced) but is quite witty at the same time. His one liners cracked me up. The technology of sleeving (down loading one's mind through science into another body) is also fascinating and scary. Overall this is a great summer beach book. If you are looking for a good detective novel set in a futuristic Gibson/Blade Runner like society with lots of action and phylosophy concerning the nature of the human soul get Altered Carbon!

Richard Morgan's debut novel is a perfect example of the new breed of UK sci-fi and fantasy writers that are revolutionizing the genre. From Alastair Reynolds gothic space operas to China Mieville's baroque genius, this group is the best thing that happened to discriminating readers in ages, genre aficionados or not. Morgan's book is a solid slice of cyberpunk noir set in a brutal future san francisco that seems haunted by william gibson, raymond chandler and the warchoski brothers. His writing is sharp, full of energy. His plotting is solid and his characters snap with wit and invention. Violent and no-nonsense, this novel is a joy to read, a high-octane injection of fun, intelligence and sheer storytelling. Save yourself from the lame, formulaic and tired drivel that jams the shelves and plunge into virtual scifi-heaven, or hell...

I bought this book a while ago when I started programming for the Macintosh. I was looking for a good Carbon book but this book was not what I had hoped for.
The problem with the book is that it explains a lot about how to program on Mac OS 8/9.x (which still works in Carbon) but not really how to start with a real Carbon program. Most of the examples use the old event handler but not the new recommended Carbon event handler.
It also uses the old style *.rsrc resources and not the new much simpler nib-file approch to resources.
Now that I'm porting my Mac OS X program to Mac OS 9 I find it actually very helpful because it covers a lot of Mac OS 9 stuff.

Over all I would say if you want to write pure Carbon programs for Mac OS X buy another book. If you also want to learn how to program on Mac OS 9 then it is a good choice. It has example code to every chapter which is very helpful.

Ok, that's a lie. Many things have changed since OS 9. But they all build upon what's in OS 9. To do carbon, you need to know how OS 9's apis are structured. Most of the changes in Carbon are behind the scenes on OS 9's existing APIs (for example, HIView, etc). Besides, the important changes in Carbon are listed (namely, Carbon Events). The text focuses on being able to run on both OS X and OS 9. If you don't care, you'd probably want to use NIBs with Interface Builder instead of clunky, overpriced Resorcerer.

I wish there was a chapter on NIBs. That'd be nice. But you can piece together what's necessary from examples & documentation once you've read the book.

Simply put, there is no better book on the topic, and this one, while not perfect, is very good. Well written, easy to follow. Just the right number of details, good examples with great explaination.

The simple title "Carbon Programming", is a hint to the straight forward, no-nonsense style of this book.

This is THE book on Carbon Programming. I wish it came in hard cover, because it will see a lot of use on my workspace.

At over 1500 pages, after you've digested all the info contained therein, you can use it to bludgeon the next person who offers you a copy of "Window XPee".

Buy this book. Write the code.

Although I haven't read this book since 1977, I remember it well. Its exciting, informative, and gets you thinking.

What a great book! I failed organic chemistry because I was told to memorize things rather than understand them, and I couldn't do it. This book explains organic molecules in both an interesting and informative way. Everyday chemicals, from coal to caffeine, are described. I would recommend it to anyone who wants an introduction to organic chemistry, but especially anyone who NEEDS to understand the fundamentals of both organic- and biochemistry.

This book brings the world of organic chemistry alive. The study of SN2 reactions can sometimes get a little stale. This book gives your education a direction. Even though it is out of print this book is worth searching to find a copy. It should be required reading for anyone taking college level chemistry courses.

Before Carl Sagan (whom, one learns, was himself turned on to science through the words of Sir Arthur), Arthur C. Clarke, in addition to being one of the world's leading and best science fiction writers, was perhaps the most important, and most widely read, science writers of the 20th century. He published several books that are classics in the field of astronomy and physics, such as Interplanetary Flight (the volume that turned on Sagan), The Exploration of Space (the first English language boook to lay out the basic principles, and Clarke's first successful publication), The Promise of Space, Voices From The Sky, Profiles of The Future, and many, many others. Unfortunately, due to the somewhat ephermal nature of these works - as opposed to his science fiction - most of them have been out of print for many years. This is a shame, as Clarke's writing brilliance, smooth of prose, elegant wit, and wry sense of humor come through just as clearly in his non-fiction as in his fiction. He has that great talent of explaining difficult concepts in simple fashion, through analogy, metaphor, and other practible devices, while still remaining informative and literate, and without resorting to condescending. Thankfully, this book has solved much of our problems. Many of Sir Arthur's best and most invigorating essays, covering a nearly 60-year period, are reproduced here, in permanent form - and what a beautiful volume it is, too. A lot of the writing focuses on scientific topics, yes - particularly astronomy and physics - but a good deal of the book deals not with science, but with a variety of other subjects. These include Clarke's numerous postings to the Journal of the British Interplanetary Society, Royal Astronomical Society, and various magazines; personal reminisces (including several documentary-style writings on his scuba diving adventures - unlike many reviewers, who have commented that these essays seemed boring to them, I found them quite a good and fun read, and they led me to decide to go back and read some of Clarke's entire books on this subject, long ignored by me for this same oversight); forwards to books by other people; reviews (it is interesting to see how Clarke views certain classic science fiction movies and books, as well as his fellow science fiction authors and scientific colleagues - many of whom are mentioned, and recounted in loving detail (the book includes tributes to Robert A. Heinlein, Isaac Asimov, Carl Sagan, Stanley Kubrick, Willy Ley, Jack Williamson, Robert Bloch, among others... in addition to many mentions of other such notables as Ray Bradbury, Stephen Hawking, Werner van Braun, and many others) speeches, television appearances, etc. Most all of these are informative, many of them entertaining, and all of them readable. Better selections could perhaps have been made, it is true: I would rather have seen more of his incredible 1960's essays from Voices From The Sky and Profiles of The Future (several of which, for instance, describe a future computer network - the internet - before Clarke could possibly have known...) in place of some of the earliest essays in this book, which mostly consist of Clarke's postings to the Journal, and are thus rather vengeful and out of character attacks on various peoples. Still, one cannot go wrong with this book. Of particular interest to ACC fans (who will already have much - though by no means all - of this material, it also includes a lot of autobiographical information on Clarke - and background on the essays - in the form of introductions the the various sections, quite a few pictures of the man (there's an insert in the middle of the book), afterwards, and an extensive About The Author section. In the final analysis, I would reccommend unceasingly this book to anyone who is into Clarke's factual writing, or science writing in general, as well as to anybody who loves his fiction and would like to try some of his non-fiction out. This is a good - though perhaps not the best (I would still reccommend Profiles of The Future as the best starting point for ACC's non-fiction works) - place to start, and a nice companion volume to his recently released collection of short fiction, The Collected Stories of Arthur C. Clarke. It's a fine place to start for his non-fiction in general. However, don't take it as the final word on his science writing, as it doesn't focus specifically on that, and many of his best science articles were left out of this book. If you enjoy this book, and you want to read more of his scientifically oriented stuff, I unceasingly reccommend Profiles of The Future (recently re-published in a beautiful, lavish new updated volume) and The Promise of Space (if you can find it - an out of print masterpiece)... and perhaps Ascent To Orbit: A Scientific Autobiography if you want something a bit more technical.

This books comes highly reccommended from me to all carbon-based bipeds.

This is a good collection of Arthur C. Clarkes essay's on several subjects from over the course of his career. Anybody who reads a lot of Science writing and/or Science Fiction would like to read this book.

Clarke is one of the best writers of Science fact and Science Fiction of the century. Great author. Great book.

The fiction of Arthur C. Clarke has educated and enlightened multiple generations of readers with works that brought the future to us at an accessible, understandable level. Some of my favorites include Imperial Earth, The Fall of Moondust, and The Fountains of Paradise. And in this year, one must honor the classic "2001: A Space Odyssey."

Neil McAleer's biography of Sir Arthur C. Clarke is perhaps one of the best books to give a full understanding of this most versatile and visionary thinker of the twentieth century; but it is only through reading the non-fiction writings that one truly gets to know what a brilliant visionary that Arthur C. Clarke truly is. He has put out numerous papers, articles and books--but they generally have been out of print for many years--which is what makes this collection of essays so wonderful. Here is a logically organized anthology that brings together diverse areas of thought including science, science fiction, politics and more. It does not strive to be a complete collection, but more an essential sampler serving as a tribute to this most knowledgeable and witty intellect.

If you have not had the joy of reading Arthur C. Clarke's non-fiction, this is a wonderful place to start. If you have not read any in the last decade, this is a nice rememberance. And if you grew up reading his fiction and non-fiction as I have, it makes for a wonderful tribute to a truly phenomenal man.

Perhaps there is hope for the future of mankind?

In "Dreamers and Schemers", by Lori Van Pelt, the reader is given a front row seat into the personal lives of some of the more colorful men and women that carved out and settled Carbon County, Wyoming. The author has done a phenomenal job of pulling together the history of these people and bringing it to life for the reader. If you've ever wondered what it would have been like to be one of the first white men to walk in the Wind River Range or what the outlaws were really like back in the old west, this is the book for you.

Vivid biographical glimpses of thiry-one colorful personalities who helped shape Carbon County's historical legacy are informative and fun to read. Delightful descriptive accounts make the reader feel as if they had been on the scene and had met the characters personally.

Entertaining and accurate history of characters from Carbon County's past including outlaws, copper kings, mountain men. I throroughly enjoyed this.

SANCTUARY is, by all standards, an odd book. A minor work by a major talent, it blends elements of Greek tragedy and tawdry potboiler to create an unusual amalgam. Faulkner himself was quite up front about it being his great attempt to write a bestseller, lathing the book with a bevy of cheap effects, yet still to imbuing page after page with one striking phrase after another.

Although not major Faulkner, it is still Faulkner, and is definitely worth reading. It is set in Yoknapatawpha county, and features many characters who either appear in other books or whose relatives appear in other books. Furthermore, the key female character in the book, Temple Drake, reappears as the major character in REQUIEM FOR A NUN, written twenty years after this one. While I do not rate this anywhere nearly as highly as many of his other books, being something of an oddity, it is nonetheless absolutely not a waste of time. While there are many sensationalist elements, there are still many magnificent sentences that read more like poetry than prose, and many of the characters are memorable.

If one is wanting to read only one or two books by Faulkner, I would not recommend this one. I would recommend instead AS I LAY DYING or, if one is feeling more ambitious, ABSALOM, ABSALOM. But if one is planning on reading all of the major works of Faulkner, then this is a book one should not skip. Minor Faulkner is better than the major works of many other writers.

Imagine it's 1929 and you're reading a book about bootlegging, couples living in sin, rape, whorehouses, with near-explicit sex scenes. Faulkner's SANCTUARY must have been mind-blowing to the genteel masses. They were reading material that they still don't show on network television today, in an age where such things are so commonly discussed in the media that we hardly look sideways at it. This book must have arrived like an explosion, shaking the sensibilities of readers everywhere, daring booksellers to put it on their shelves.

SANCTUARY is not an easy book. You'll find yourself, if you're like me, rereading passages to understand exactly what's going on. The characters, though precisely described, can be difficult to picture in your mind, especially as we move further away from the Jazz Age, with its unusual expressions, costume, and mores. Imagine Tennessee and Mississippi when cars were relatively new to the roads, when the various social strata -- some wearing suits, some overalls -- began mixing together more easily. Imagine being a teenage girl acting as a woman trapped in a moonshiner's shack, far away from the protection of her home, encountering men like creatures in a horrific play who drink liquor and watch her lie under the covers, her only protector passed out beside her.

Faulkner's reintroduced introduction is a godsend that will help you decipher the book somewhat. The editor's notes at the end of the book will help you understand much of the jargon and the motivation of the characters.

A good read in any age.

William Faulkner stands in my mind with only a few authors whose writing does not seem like writing. His novels seem more moments of real life. While I was reading "Sanctuary" you forget you are reading a book and the characters take on a virtual reality in your mind. Like all of Faulkner's books, this one is disorienting at first, simply by the author's strength of vision. The main plot revolves around Temple Drake, a coquettish college girl who likes to secretly sneak out of her college dorm to attend dances. One of her rides back from one of these dances is a boy named Gowan Stevens. He decides to stop off at an illegal moonshine operation and promptly sets about getting drunk. Temple is trapped at the house surrounded by all sorts of shady characters you would associate with such an operation. One of these is named Popeye, and trust me he is not a hero, he rapes Temple. One of the things I found slightly disturbing was the sense that Temple is a flirt and you get the sense that Faulkner felt that eventually some sex crime was going to be committed against her. She could get away with things around college boys but she fails to realize that with criminals, its a very bad move. It's the beginning of her great moral slide that was always just waiting to happen. There are other subplots going on around it. The owner of the moonshine operation is a convict and his wife supported herself through prostitution while he was in the joint, which is a source of tension between them. Horace Benbow is a lawyer who has left his wife simply because he recognizes the hollowness of his marriage. These characters are connected by the crime against Temple. The depressing thing about this novel is that noone really gets a sanctuary. The ending is not pretty. That's what makes it so powerful and so real. This book is right up there with Shakespeare and Dostoyevsky in sheer power of vision.