Promotions - Choice's Outstanding Academic Titles 2023 -

In this readable, fascinating book, Speller (Oxford Univ.) successfully manages an almost impossible task: present all modern concepts of materials science within the context of the basic theory, measurements, processing, and engineering applications of superconductors. The materials science coverage includes crystal structures, electricity and magnetism, heat transfer, quantum mechanics, thermodynamics, phase diagrams, phase transformations, nucleation, mechanical properties, dislocations and hardening mechanisms, grain boundaries and their effects, brittleness and fracture, and diffusion. All concepts are applied to describe superconductors and what it takes to make them practical engineering devices, ranging from large-scale (i.e., the Large Hadron Collider) to human-scale (e.g., MRI, green engineering, quantum computers) and smaller devices (sensors). The text features short "Under the Lens" descriptions and back-of-the-envelope calculations that are delightful to read. Each chapter ends with summary points. This reviewer was impressed to find even the recent discovery of 250-260 K lanthanum hydride superconductors included in chapter 10 ("A Super Future?") with Speller's assessment of their near-future applicability. All the necessary materials science and superconductivity concepts are succinctly and awesomely presented in a self-contained manner. To enjoy this wonderful volume, readers need only basic preparation in natural science. The book is for everyone from high school students to seasoned researchers.Summing Up: Highly recommended. All readers.

While it does sometimes dip a toe into more technical language, this book is an eminently readable overview of the quest for unification that goes back at least to Newton (who unified celestial and terrestrial gravity). Lincoln (Fermi National Laboratory) carefully lays out the history of the search and brings into the light many of the important players who tend to be unknown outside of specialist circles, and who would otherwise remain in Einstein's long shadow. While mostly written at the "science popularizer" level, the text still brings a lot of detail to the history of physics, providing the broad strokes of what made various models succeed or fail, including responsible caveats about how success is tentative and that a failed model might be revived if new discoveries so warrant. Despite being well read on the topic, this reviewer still learned several things from the book and had no disagreement with any of the author's points. This reviewer's copy of Lincoln's text will certainly be loaned out to students interested in learning about this topic beyond the scope of their university physics courses.Summing Up: Highly recommended. All readers.

In this superb example of expository science writing, Gbur (Univ. of North Carolina, Charlotte) succeeds in describing, in terms that all can understand, what it takes to create invisible objects. Modern applications involve stealth technology and metamaterials. However, invisibility enjoys a long tradition in human history and imagination, as popularized in the Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter books. Gbur was a student of Emil Wolf, a giant of US optics, and delightfully recounts many anecdotes from Wolf's personal and academic life, recalling his contributions to the science of optical waves' interactions with surfaces. The premise of invisibility is to ensure that light and electromagnetic (EM) waves do not reflect from, i.e., pass through, the target object. Examples of invisibility at both microscopic and macroscopic scales appear in the research literature, yet here Gbur succeeds wonderfully at bringing together the history of EM waves and quantum mechanics to explain in lay terms how invisibility shifts from science fiction to reality. This reviewer enjoyed reading this well-written, very clear book on a fascinating topic made easy to grasp. It will reward every curious reader. A bit of high school physics might be helpful, but this text can be appreciated and wondered at by all.Summing Up: Highly recommended. All readers.

This important book describes key aspects of the models climate scientists use to predict global climate changes--average temperatures, sea levels, and extreme weather events--in the context of such changing conditions as fluctuating levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide and other "greenhouse gases." The text addresses the fundamental physical processes that drive climate change, the historical development of predictive models from the 19th century, their increasing complexity as additional physical processes were added to create more realistic simulations, and the increasingly detailed measurements of temperature and other variables requiring the most powerful computers available. Saravanan (atmospheric sciences, Texas A&M Univ.) clearly explains important concepts often conflated or misused in discussions of climate and climate change: the inherent over-simplification of scientific models, boundary conditions vs. initial conditions, use of parameters to account for "known unknowns" in models, scenarios vs. predictions, ways models that differ can nevertheless collectively provide greater assurance of key results, and, of course, weather vs. climate. These discussions shed needed light on public policy issues, scientific method, risk evaluation, and decision-making under uncertainty. This well-written, balanced text, accessible for readers with an extraordinary range of interests and expertise, will be useful to all and should be on the shelf in every academic library.Summing Up: Highly recommended. All readers.

Sheehy (Univ. of Oxford; Univ. of Melbourne) is an experimental particle physicist and science communicator. In this excellent book, she describes many important discoveries in physics and exposes the nature of scientific research, exploring "the difference between theory and experiment" (p. 4). As she explains, scientific research starts with asking questions and devising experiments to provide answers. Sometimes, the results are unpredicted serendipitous discoveries, but many experiments involve detailed preparations to observe predicted phenomena. Following the author's introduction, the three-part text describes, e.g., the discovery of X-rays and the electron through the development of cathode ray tubes, light quanta via the photoelectric effect, using "cloud chambers" to discover other new particles, using early atom-splitters (the cyclotron) to produce artificial radioactivity, particle physics and the elusive neutrino, using linear accelerators to discover quarks, and onward finally to the Higgs boson. Sheehy's final chapter casts forward to further developments. Although breakthroughs are initially the work of individuals, subsequent developments involve collaboration. Thus, "discoveries" are the results not only of seemingly esoteric experiments but also of application, sometimes affecting people's everyday lives. The book should interest scientists and historians of science as well as the general public.Summing Up: Highly recommended. All readers.