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Song Hits Magazine March 1972 Partridge Family (David Cassidy) (Song Hits Magazine, 36-73)Friends of DistinctionKris Kristofferson ... Read more

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Song Hits Magazine May 1972 David Cassidy (Song Hits Magazine, 36-75)Gene ChandlerJerry Reed ... Read more

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From April through December of 1945, ten of Nazi Germany's greatest nuclear physicists were detained by Allied military and intelligence services in a kind of "gilded cage" -- at Farm Hall, an English country manor near Cambridge, England. The physicists knew the Reich had failed to develop an atomic bomb, and they soon learned, from a BBC radio report on August 6, that the Allies had succeeded in their own efforts to create such a weapon. But what they did not know was that many of their meetings as well as private conversations were being monitored and recorded by British agents. Farm Hall was stately and comfortable, but it was a prison, and it was bugged.

This book contains the complete collection of transcripts that were made from the secret 1945 recordings. A startling and sobering set of documents, it provides an unprecedented view into the thoughts and feelings of these scientists as they contemplated the destruction of the Reich, their failure to deliver a bomb into Hitler's hands, and the state of their own consciences.

The Farm Hall transcripts, along with Bernstein's commentaries and a wide-ranging and thought-provoking introduction by historian David Cassidy, are an invaluable resource for anyone who wants to understand the history of physics and warfare.

Jeremy Bernstein was a staff writer covering science for The New Yorker for more than 30 years. The author of numerous books on science and Professor Emeritus of physics at the Stevens Institute of Technology, he is also the recipient of the John Case Award, the Brandeis Creative Arts Medal, the Britannica Award, and the Gemant Award.

Customer Reviews (7)

Excellent work!
Excellent work - historically and personally. I can recommend this book to all readers interested in the topic of History of Science in the 20th century. (And I know the facts, as I published 8 books on Otto Hahn, who was my grandfather).

Kindle edition misses essential notes and comments
Unfortunately, the Kindle edition of this important and interesting book does not link correctly to the editor's notes and comments. These are absolutely essential -- this is a transcript, and the notes and comments clarify both historical and technical context. I finally had to get a printed copy of the book -- my Kindle edition was a waste of money!

Having read the printed copy, I give that edition very high marks. But don't buy the Kindle edition unless they fix the editorial notes and comments.

Myth or Reality?
For decades after the end of the WWII there has been a debate among the physicists and science/history researchers about the reasons why Germany didn't manage to develop a nuclear weapon in the 1940's. This was despite the fact that the Nazi regime had a six-month head-start in the uranium fission research (discovered at Otto Hahn's lab in 1938) and also among their ranks, Werner Heisenberg, one of the most brilliant theoretical physicists at the time. Bernstein's book discloses both the secret recordings and his comments, on the dialogues taken place among some ten leading German nuclear scientists who were detained after the war at the Farm Hall, England, while their conversations were bugged and transcribed without their own knowledge. (The 1945 recordings were first released in 1992 and made available in the book "Operation Epsilon" published in 1993.) Based on the documents and other assorted evidence, it appears that Heisenberg, the main scientific leader of the uranium research under the Third Reich, had largely overestimated the amount of fissionable material needed to manufacture a nuclear bomb, and so he had instead steered towards a policy-program for building a working nuclear reactor, using heavy water as moderator. However, the latter substance was never enough in his possession due to destruction of the heavy water establishment in Vemork, Norway, in 1943 by a British partisan attack. In reality, despite the popular literature concentrating on him, Heisenberg was not the primary figure pursuing the German A-bomb, rather it was Paul Harteck (see below), a physical chemist working at Hamburg.

It is interesting to note, while the American scientists had resorted to highly purified graphite as a moderator, Walter Bothe in Germany via an experimental error --after Heisenberg's initial suggestion-- had excluded its usefulness. The Manhattan Project had also undertaken the gaseous diffusion and electromagnetic separation methods to extract U235 from U238, something only Paul Harteck and Erich Bagge among the ten detained Germans had seriously worked on, this again according to the transcribed conversations. (Harteck had also persued the centrifuge method.) Aside from the technical issues, the book suggests that a couple of these scientists had barely any significant part in the uranium project, and also several were content with the assumed fact that a nuclear weapon was infeasible for Germany to produce during the war, contemplating the moral and humanistic consequences of its usage. The highlight of the transcripts is the blackboard lecture of Heisenberg for his colleagues on the days after the Hiroshima attack, in which he nearly accurately explains how such a device must have been produced. The last few documents contain the detainees' exchanges about their future life after the war, for example even going to work for the Russians, or moving to Argentina to establish the commercial uses of the new technology and to make money in the process. In conclusion, I highly recommend reading this title to all the science researchers and history enthusiasts alike.

Great for insight into the early stages of the German nuclear program
Bernstein's approach to the transcripts of these recordings is interesting in that he provides running commentary on specific points alongside the transcript.This enables points to be clarified and/or interpreted as the reader peruses the transcript.However, it can be a bit bothersome at times.

He debunks the idea that all of German nuclear research during the war years was for peaceful purposes, but sometimes presses too hard on this point.

The inclusion of some of the transcript in German is particularly useful for those interested in sorting the nuanced differences between the English translation and the German original.

Definitely a great reference work and should be read by anyone interested in the early years of nuclear energy.

Get it from the horse's mouth, Werner Heisenberg himself.
This book consists of expertly annotated transcripts of conversations of German scientists taken at Farm Hall after the end of the WWII in Europe.The book is based on the recently de-classified "Farm Hall Transcripts", a revealing set of informative statements which demonstrates the low level of understanding that the German Scientists had of how to build Atomic Bombs.It is written and annotated by an American physicist, so you get some insights as to Heisenberg's mistakes. The book is a refutation of the book "Heisenberg's War" by Thomas Powers, a revisionist history that claims that Heisenberg, Germany's top scientist, really knew how an Atomic Bomb worked, but withheld this information from his colleagues and the German Government.

Heisenberg remains a mystery.He won a Nobel Prize in Physics in the early 1930s for his "Uncertainty Principle" which deals with Quantum Mechanics.Yet despite his brilliance, he sounds pretty ignorant at Farm Hall.Was he faking?I think not.To paraphrase Watergate: the question still is "What did Werner Heisenberg know and when did he know it?At Farm Hall, when he found out about Hiroshima, his ego deflated like an untied balloon.His comments were made at a vulnerable and candid moment.They reveal a knowledge one would expect from someone you picked at random at a shopping mall.

The Manhattan Project was at least as much engineering as science, and Heisenberg was more of a theologian than a nuts 'n bolts guy.

But hey, don't take my word for it.If you are really interested, I recommend this book along with "Heisenberg's War" so you get both sides.Then read "Alsos" by Samuel Goudschmidt, the scientific leader of the famous Alsos Mission, who along with Col. Boris T. Pash ("The Alsos Mission"), followed the allied armies into France and captured Heisenberg and the others.Goudschmidt was a physicist who offered the earliest (1947) and perhaps the most philosophical postmortem on the German A-bomb "program". ... Read more

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Tasty Recipes
Over 400 recipes a guide to healthier and better eating for today. From Dip to dessert, a cooking-for-life book that reflects current medical opinion on the need to restrict daily intake of cholesterol and saturated fat. ... Read more

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Chapters: Brian Carney, Pat Richards, Barrie Mcdermott, Terry O'connor, David Barnhill, Mick Cassidy, Ryan Tandy, Gary Connolly, Bob Beswick, Joe Lydon, Shayne Mcmenemy, Chris Joynt, Steve Prescott, List of Ireland National Rugby League Team Players, James Lowes, Luke Ricketson, Tommy Martyn, Kevin Campion, Simon Finnigan, Eamon O'carroll, David Allen, Danny Williams, Tim Jonkers, Gareth Haggerty, Marcus St Hilaire, Scott Grix, Francis Cummins, Ryan Sheridan, Michael Mcilorum, Jason Golden, Damien Blanch, Stuart Littler, Ian Dowling, Richard Smith, Lee Doran, Karl Fitzpatrick, Sean Gleeson, Chris Bridge, Ben Harrison, Stevie Gibbons, Wayne Kerr, Lee Hanlan, Des Foy, Ross Barbour, Johnny Lawless, Mark Forster. Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 136. Not illustrated. Free updates online. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt: Brian Carney (born 23 July 1976) is a former Irish rugby player. He most recently played rugby league for the Warrington Wolves, but during his career has played for the Gateshead Thunder, Hull FC, the Wigan Warriors and the National Rugby League side Newcastle Knights, before crossing codes to play rugby union for Munster, from 2007 to 2009. He also played Gaelic football as a junior. He has earned caps for international representation, for Ireland in both rugby league and rugby union, and also Great Britain in rugby league. Carney played Gaelic football for Valleymount GAA and won a junior championship medal in 1998 with the club. He also played rugby union at Clongowes Wood College and Lansdowne R.F.C. His first rugby league experience came with Irish amateurs Dublin Blues. He first made an impression on the rugby league scene playing for the Irish Students side in a home international tournament in 1998. His impressive form led to a number of Super League clubs vying for his talents and he opted to sig...More: http://booksllc.net/?id=2933997 ... Read more

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Chapters: Frank Zappa, Tori Amos, Philip Glass, David Byrne, Eva Cassidy, Eubie Blake, Jc Chasez, Sisqó, Ron Holloway, Toni Braxton, Mýa, Kathleen Hanna, Mario, John Fahey, Lakisha Jones, Anne Brown, Julienne Irwin, Chris Rice, Benji Madden, Ric Ocasek, Tamar Braxton, Gary Bartz, Kev Brown, Joel Madden, Laura Bryna, Shelly Blake-Plock, Greg Puciato, Sam Watters, Niki Barr, Phil Ritchie, Dj Keenan, Brandon Thomas, Brian Mccomas, Sam Kouvaris, Sam Endicott, Chester Thompson, Carolyn Long, Paula Campbell, Sam Spiegel, Tina Harris, Mark Gross, Evan Taubenfeld, Bob Lind, Jeff Antoniuk, Greg Kihn, Terry Glaze, Gina Schock, Andy Stickel, Neil Fallon, Billy Martin, Jason Sloan, Brian Collins, Jordan Young, Nathan Larson, Keith Howland, Neal Coty, D. J. Sparr, Aaron Lacrate, Albert Dailey, Paul Thomas, Sagat, Tom Mcintosh, Ethel Ennis, Patrick Kennedy, Pete Brown, Winard Harper, Charlie Harris, Ben Wolfe, Earl Swope, Billy Mackel, David Combs. Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 195. Not illustrated. Free updates online. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt: Frank Vincent Zappa (pronounced ; December 21, 1940 December 4, 1993) was an American composer, electric guitarist, record producer, and film director. In a career spanning more than 30 years, Zappa wrote rock, jazz, electronic, orchestral, and musique concrète works. He also directed feature-length films and music videos, and designed album covers. Zappa produced almost all of the more than 60 albums he released with the band Mothers of Invention and as a solo artist. While in his teens, he acquired a taste for percussion-based avant-garde composers such as Edgard Varèse and 1950s rhythm and blues music. He began writing classical music in high school, while at the same time playing drums in rhythm and blues bandshe later switched to electric guitar. He was a self-taught composer a...More: http://booksllc.net/?id=10672 ... Read more

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DAVID & SHAUN CASSIDY cover feature ,Fred & Ben Savage ... Read more

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From the Commentary by Robert Geroch (The corresponding section of Einstein’s text can be found below the comment.Please note that in the book, the Commentary is placed after the complete text of Relativity.)

Section 17.Space-Time

Minkowski’s viewpoint represents a "geometrization" of relativity. These ideas have, over the years, come to the forefront: They reflect the perspective of the majority of physicists working in relativity today. Let us expand on this viewpoint.The fundamental notion is that of an event, which we think of as a physical occurrence having negligibly small extension in both space and time. That is, an event is "small and quick," such as the explosion of a firecracker or the snapping of your fingers. Now consider the collection of all possible events in the universe—all events that have ever happened, all that are happening now, and all that will ever happen; here and elsewhere. This collection is called space-time. It is the arena in which physics takes place in relativity.The idea is to recast all statements about goings-on in the physical world into geometrical structures within this space-time. In a similar vein, you might begin the study of plane geometry by introducing the notion of a point (analogous to an event) and assembling all possible points into the plane (analogous to space-time). This plane is the arena for plane geometry, and each statement that is part of plane geometry is to be cast as geometrical structure within this plane.This space-time is a once-and-for-all picture of the entire physical world. Nothing "happens" there; things just "are." A physical particle, for example, is described in the language of space-time by giving the locus of all events that occur "right at the particle." The result is a certain curve, or path, in space-time called the world-line of the particle. Don’t think of the particle as "traversing" its world-line in the same sense that a train traverses its tracks. Rather, the world-line represents, once and for all, the entire life history of the particle, from its birth to its death. The collision of two particles, for example, would be represented geometrically by the intersection of their world-lines. The point of intersection—a point common to both curves; an event that is "right at" both particles—represents the event of their collision. In a similar way, more complicated physical goings-on—an experiment in particle physics, for example, or a football game—are incorporated into the fabric of space-time.One example of "physical goings-on" is the reference frame that Einstein uses in his discussion of special relativity. How is this incorporated into space-time? The individuals within a particular reference frame assign four numbers, labeled x, y, z, t, to each event in space-time. The first three give the spatial location of the event according to these observers, the last the time of the event.These numbers completely and uniquely characterize the event. In geometrical terms, a frame of reference gives rise to a coordinate system on space-time. In a similar vein, in plane geometry a coordinate system assigns two numbers, x and y, to each point of the plane. These numbers completely and uniquely characterize that point. The statement "the plane is two-dimensional" means nothing more and nothing less than that precisely two numbers are required to locate each point in the plane.Similarly, "space-time is four-dimensional" means nothing more and nothing less than that precisely four numbers are required to locate each event in space-time. That is all there is to it! You now understand "four-dimensional space-time" as well as any physicist.Note that the introduction of four-dimensional space-time does not say that space and time are "equivalent" or "indistinguishable." Clearly, space and time are subjectively different entities. But a rather subtle mixing of them occurs in special relativity, making it convenient to introduce this single entity, space-time.In plane geometry, we may change coordinates, i.e., relabel the points. It is the same plane described in a different way (in that a given point is now represented by different numbers), just as the land represented by a map stays the same whether you use latitude/longitude or GPS coordinates. We can now determine formulae expressing the new coordinate-values for each point of the plane in terms of the old coordinate-values. Similarly, we may change coordinates in space-time, i.e., change the reference frame therein. And, again, we can determine formulae relating the new coordinate-values for each space-time event to the old coordinate-values for that event. This, from Minkowski’s geometrical viewpoint, is the substance of the Lorentz-transformation formulae in Section 11.A significant advantage of Minkowski’s viewpoint is that it is particularly well-adapted also to the general theory of relativity. We shall return to this geometrical viewpoint in our discussion of Section 27. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (11)

Who typset the math in this thing?
I realize that this is a layman's version of the theory, but couldn't someone at the publisher really take the time to typeset the equations correctly? They don't make any sense and they aren't set up right.

Also, although this is translated from Einstein's German version, there are books that better explain his theory of Relativity. He wasn't all that good at it.However, it is an inexpensive alternative for my research.

Like Science?
I am more interested in biology-related science, but someone recommended this book. I enjoy reading these 'popular' works by great scientists and this one did not disappoint. While you need an understanding of physics to read this book, the information within explains the concepts very well. The math does get more complex towards the end and was confusing to me.

I have not read the regular edition vs. this one, so I can not comment on the differences. While some concepts were difficult to understand initially, I recommend this book for people interested in science (whether this edition or another edition).

classic
This is a classic science book. While Einstein recommended it for college students, it would be appropriate for all students who would like to know more about physics and science, and Einstein.
While it does require a great deal of work for most people to get through, it is certainly worthwhile making the effort - if only to get the flavor of what modern physics is all about. The effort is also excellent mental training for serious science students from elementary school to graduate school.
This is a book that for most people is to be read and reread and to be kept in your library. Also recommended is "The Evolution of Physics" by Infeld and Einstein.

very thin and concise, directly caught the point
describing the most advanced science 100 years ago with relatively easy language. Einstein's own idea is pretty straight forward, better than most other interpretations.

Still confusing. . .
Einsein says he wrote this small book so everyone of college calibre could
understand Relativity, with a little thought and discipline. Unfortunately,
he wrote it in 1916, in Germany (Switzerland?) where college calibre people
knew more math than most current college calibre types. So even though he thinks he's being clear and logical, unless you have the math knowledge you won't be able to follow his thinking. Besides, my understanding is that, even over 100 years after he published the theory, very few people actually understand it.
Kudos to him for trying to explicate his reasoning - but unfortunately simple and clear to Einstein is something different to the rest of us! ... Read more