Books about Condensed from Amazon.com

For more than two decades, numerous experts have predicted a major depression in America Many of these forecasts were written in the early 90s as an aftershock of the 87 Crash. While most ignored these warnings, cautious investors withdrew from the capital markets. But the expected turmoil never appeared, at least not for over a decade. In the mid-90s, the Internet was released. Soon, hundreds of companies sought to harness this new technology. By 1999, the Internet stock bubble had swollen beyond belief, and everyone wanted a piece of the action. And we all remember what happened at the start of the new millennium. While this correction revealed the most recent illusions embedded within the economy, it s only a prelude of what to expect in the coming years. Today, economics control the investment cycle rather than hype generated by Wall Street. Accordingly, Washington can only hide the realities of America s decline for so long before the truth is revealed. Currently, we are in the middle stages of a secular bear market that began in 2001. Upon examination of the Dow Jones Industrial Average since 1900, it s clear that the stock market must correct downward, or else encounter a period of modest returns through 2012. But still, muted gains will only partly compensate for the spectacular appreciation of the 90s; a period fueled by excess consumption. Today we see that competitive forces from abroad are much more influential than in the past. In the mid-1990s, President Clinton signed off on NAFTA and the World Trade Organization, promising free trade would deliver better jobs and higher wages for all. But for the majority of Americans, the opposite has occurred. America entered the free trade paradigm as a losing participant from the start since all other nations place the burden of healthcare and pension costs with the government. While it still remains as the centerpiece for the global economy, America now relies on record debt to maintain its status as the world s strongest consumer marketplace. For over three decades, more money has been leaving America than coming in. As a result, the U.S. is now the world s largest debtor nation. Rather than increases in net wealth, America s growth has been fueled by credit spending. This has created the illusion of impressive productivity, while serving to mask declining living standards for the majority. As corporate America continues to achieve record profitability, these gains have come at the expense of its core citizens; the middle class. As a result of these trends, the United States is now more dependent upon foreign nations than anytime in its history. Declining oil reserves and a foreign-funded credit bubble have positioned its fate in the hands of the world. And its vulnerable role in the New Economy threatens to erode its empire status. Already, the effects of America s decline have registered. Declining competitiveness and reliance on foreign debt can be seen by noting the weakness of the dollar. As foreign nations lose interest in financing Washington s deficits, interest rates will soar. Soon, America will face the economic burden of 76 million aging boomers. Beginning in 2011, expenditures for Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security will start to grow rapidly. During this same period it is likely that peak oil will have been reached; this alone promises to cause worldwide devastation. In summary, I have presented what I feel to be a strong case for America s declining economic position and weakened competitive landscape by addressing the major issues at hand the trade imbalance and federal debt, free trade, healthcare, Social Security, pensions, the real estate bubble, the war in Iraq, tensions in the Middle East, the global oil shortage, and the effect baby boomers will have as they enter what they expect to be their Golden Years..
Price: $31.45 [Notify me when price goes down.]

Loaded with meaty trivia and tasty, bite-sized facts!

mental_floss is proud to offer a delicious, hearty helping of brain-food that's sure to fire up your neurons and tantalize your synapses Condensed Knowledge is a mouthwatering mix of intriguing facts, lucid explanations, and mind-blowing theories that will satisfy even the hungriest mind!

Ingredients include:

5 tiny nations that get no respect • 4 civilizations nobody remembers • 5 classics written under the influence • 4 things your boss has in common with slime mold • 3 schools of thought that will impress the opposite sex • 4 things Einstein got wrong • 5 classical tunes you know from the movies • 3 famous studies that would be illegal today • 2 religious mysteries solved by chemistry • 5 scandals that rocked art, and much more ...

.
Price: $5.90 [Notify me when price goes down.]

Hidden History is a detective novel as much as a scholarly tour de force. But the murder is not the butler. Neither is the victim a rich old man with many heirs. The victim is man himself, and the role of the assassin is played by numerous scientists. Dr. Michael Rothstein, Politiken Newspaper, Denmark.
Price: $8.95 [Notify me when price goes down.]

Magic is a doorway through which we step into mystery, wildness, and immanence We live in a world subject to extensive and seemingly, all-embracing systems of social and personal control that continually feed us the lie that we are each alone, helpless, and powerless to effect change. Magic is about change. Changing your circumstances so that you strive to live according to a developing sense of personal responsibility; that you can effect change around you if you choose; that we are not helpless cogs in some clockwork universe. All acts of personal/collective liberation are magical acts. Magic leads us into exhilaration and ecstasy; into insight and understanding; into changing ourselves and the world in which we participate. Through magic we may come to explore the possibilities of freedom..
Price: $10.49 [Notify me when price goes down.]

This text on the electrical, optical, magnetic, and thermal properties of materials stresses concepts rather than mathematical formalism. Suitable for advanced undergraduates, it is intended for materials and electrical engineers who want to gain a fundamental understanding of alloys, semiconductor devices, lasers, magnetic materials, and so forth. The book is organized to be used in a one-semester course; to that end each section of applications, after the introduction to the fundamentals of electron theory, can be read independently of the others. Many examples from engineering practice serve to provide an understanding of common devices and methods. Among the modern applications covered are: high-temperature superconductors, optoelectronic materials, semiconductor device fabrication, xerography, magneto-optic memories, and amorphous ferromagnetics. This third edition has been revised and updated throughout and includes new sections on thermoelectric phenomena; piezoelectric, ferroelectric, and electrostrictive materials; and liquid-crystal and other flat-panel displays..
Price: $71.22 [Notify me when price goes down.]

This book explains the ideas and techniques of statistical mechanics--the theory of condensed matter--in a simple and progressive way. The text begins with the laws of thermodynamics and the basic ideas of quantum mechanics. The conceptual ideas are then developed carefully, and the mathematical techniques are developed in parallel to give a coherent overall view. The text is illustrated with examples not just from solid state physics, but also from recent theories of radiation from black holes and recent data on the background radiation from the Cosmic Background Explorer. This second edition includes additional advanced material often found in undergraduate courses. It includes three new chapters on phase transitions at an appropriate level for an undergraduate student, and there are numerous exercises at the end of each chapter, along with brief model answers for the odd-numbered problems. It is a useful and practical textbook for undergraduates in physics and chemistry..
Price: $58.40 [Notify me when price goes down.]

Professor Ziman's classic textbook on the theory of solids was first pulished in 1964. This paperback edition is a reprint of the second edition, which was substantially revised and enlarged in 1972. The value and popularity of this textbook is well attested by reviewers' opinions and by the existence of several foreign language editions, including German, Italian, Spanish, Japanese, Polish and Russian. The book gives a clear exposition of the elements of the physics of perfect crystalline solids. In discussing the principles, the author aims to give students an appreciation of the conditions which are necessary for the appearance of the various phenomena. A self-contained mathematical account is given of the simplest model that will demonstrate each principle. A grounding in quantum mechanics and knowledge of elementary facts about solids is assumed. This is therefore a textbook for advanced undergraduates and is also appropriate for graduate courses..
Price: $54.00 [Notify me when price goes down.]

Quantum physics allows us to understand the nature of the physical phenomena which govern the behavior of solids, semi-conductors, lasers, atoms, nuclei, subnuclear particles and light. In Quantum Physics, Le Bellac provides a thoroughly modern approach to this fundamental theory. Throughout the book, Le Bellac teaches the fundamentals of quantum physics using an original approach which relies primarily on an algebraic treatment and on the systematic use of symmetry principles. In addition to the standard topics such as one-dimensional potentials, angular momentum and scattering theory, the reader is introduced to more recent developments at an early stage. These include a detailed account of entangled states and their applications, the optical Bloch equations, the theory of laser cooling and of magneto-optical traps, vacuum Rabi oscillations, and an introduction to open quantum systems. This is a textbook for a modern course on quantum physics, written for advanced undergraduate and graduate students..
Price: $76.74 [Notify me when price goes down.]