How to build your own spaceship

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Jim Longuski

Methods that rocket scientists use to dream up ideas, figure things out, make decisions, and get stuff done expressed in a way that you can apply to everyday life.

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N.P. Landsman, M. Pflaum, M. Schlichenmaier

This is the first exposition of the quantization theory of singular symplectic (i.e., Marsden-Weinstein) quotients and their applications to physics in book form. A preface by J. Marsden and A. Weinstein precedes individual refereed contributions by M.T. Benameur and V. Nistor, M. Braverman, A. Cattaneo and G. Felder, B. Fedosov, J. Huebschmann, N.P. Landsman, R. Lauter and V. Nistor, M. Pflaum, M. Schlichenmaier, V. Schomerus, B. Schroers, and A. Sengupta. This book is intended for mathematicians and mathematical physicists working in quantization theory, algebraic, symplectic, and Poisson geometry, the analysis and geometry of stratified spaces, pseudodifferential operators, low-dimensional topology, operator algebras, noncommutative geometry, or Lie groupoids, and for theoretical physicists interested in quantum gravity and topological quantum field theory. The subject matter provides a remarkable area of interaction between all these fields, highlighted in the example of the moduli space of flat connections, which is discussed in detail. The reader will acquire an introduction to the various techniques used in this area, as well as an overview of the latest research approaches. These involve classical differential and algebraic geometry, as well as operator algebras and noncommutative geometry. Thus one will be amply prepared to follow future developments in this fascinating and expanding field, or enter it oneself. It is to be expected that the quantization of singular spaces will become a key theme in 21st century (concommutative) geometry.

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Robert Pollack

"The genetic age is upon us, yet most people have only a limited understanding of the wondrous chemical that encodes the formula for all living things. As DNA's secrets are revealed, they must be rescued from the obscuring language of science, and now Signs of Life does just that. Borrowing from the humanities, Robert Pollack offers an entirely fresh perspective: DNA, he argues, should be seen as a great work of natural literature, a three-billion-year-old, continuously evolving text." "An award-winning scientist and teacher, Pollack displays both a sophisticated understanding of biology and a remarkable gift for metaphor. In elegant prose, he shows precisely how DNA provides the instruction book for life. He takes us deep inside a living cell - a teeming walled city - and explains how the genetic script at its heart governs all its operations. He opens the book containing the human genome and lucidly reveals the process by which biologists and physicians have begun to read its words and sentences." "But the frontier of genetics now extends into troubling territory. Pollack identifies several areas of concern: the ambitious but flawed Human Genome Project, the widespread access to individual genetic data, the temptation to manipulate genetic codes to make them "better." Given our still-crude ability to interpret these living texts, our eagerness to rewrite them is alarming. The power to change the human genome brings with it enormous responsibilities, and Pollack offers persuasive evidence that if we fail to achieve a fuller understanding of the multiple meanings of DNA, we risk disaster." "Signs of Life is both a brilliant illumination of a biological text and a provocative meditation on our awesome new ability to alter it. With the grace of a born writer and teacher, Robert Pollack has written a book that will change the way people think about science, genetics, and the future of our species."--BOOK JACKET.

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L. P. Davies

A bizarre other world occupying the same space as ours... a place shrouded in pulsating nightmarish mists that lived and killed... where thoughts could become realities and realities were irrelevant... where primitive Toparians battled telepathic Vorteds for survival... and where three desperate aliens from earth raced against time that had no meaning to save the future...