Product Description
If you work with Materials Management and SAP ERP Financials, this book teaches you about the intersection points between them. It explains how to configure the system effectively so that you can streamline your business processes, and continually improve your procurement processes with MM and SAP FI. You'll learn about account and controlling postings as related to FI compliance, and their impact on MM functional design and configuration. And you'll find many real-world examples, troubleshooting techniques, step-by-step descriptions that make the material straightforward, practical, and easy to use. ... Read more

Product Description
This comprehensive exploration of restorative dental materials presents everything readers need to know to correctly use dental materials in the clinic and dental laboratory, from fundamental concepts to advanced skills. The scientific basis for technical procedures and manipulation of materials is provided, and the book's problem-solving approach focuses on applying new information to practical situations. At the end of each chapter, a case-based scenario presents the opportunity to work through problems and verify solutions. Extensive figures and tables of data throughout the book clarify the text.* Comprehensive information on restorative dental materials provides insight into both the fundamentals and the latest practical knowledge in the field. * Problem-solving approach presents cases with solutions at the end of each chapter, providing an opportunity to apply and test important principles. * Thoroughly revised content includes the latest information on: optical, thermal, and electrical properties; mechanical properties; preventive materials; composites; and impression materials. * The latest standards in the field are covered, including biocompatibility and standards of dental materials. * Easy-to-follow organization progresses according to the way in which material is most often taught in dental schools. * An appendix contains useful references such as weights and measurements, conversion tables, metric weights, and more. * Each chapter concludes with a list of references for further reading, divided by topic sections. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

exactly what I was looking for
I had to buy this book for class and buying it here was 25 dollars cheaper!
The book is good, but you better have a good science background to understand a lot of it ... Read more

Product Description

Now available in its fifth edition, The Potter's Dictionary of Materials and Techniques presents a comprehensive survey of all aspects of making ceramics for craft potters and ceramic artists. With its sound, practical explanations of ceramic processes, this indispensable reference book has gained a reputation as "the potter's bible." Professional potters, beginners, students, and collectors will find authoritative information clearly and logically presented.

Frank and Janet Hamer explain the sources and character of materials, the behavior of clays and glaze minerals during forming and firing processes, forming methods, and glaze construction. In addition to brief outlines and detailed articles with cross references to illustrations, color photographs illustrate glaze effects and surfaces featured in the work of inventive, contemporary potters. The varied techniques of Raku, maiolica, crystalline glazes, salt and soda, stoneware, and porcelain are also presented in a new color section.

This new edition has been updated to include auto-reduction, crystalline glazes, insulation, stains, and specialized firing and fuming techniques. With upwards of 800 illustrations to clarify everything in the ceramic world, in its fifth edition The Potter's Dictionary of Materials and Techniques will continue to serve as the authority on all things ceramic.

Customer Reviews (11)

Smiles on Christmas Morning
My niece is an art major.She was thrilled to receive this book for Christmas.

If you only have 1 pottery book get this one
First of all, this is not a "how-to" book. If you want a book on pottery making or throwing techniques, don't buy this book. However, if you want an exhaustive encyclopedia of ceramic information, you need this book. Want to know why your pottery cracked the way it did, this book will tell you why. Want to know why a glaze recipe differs from batch to batch, the info will be in this book. This is the book that never gets lent out yet always quoted. Irregardless of wording or cultural bias, if you plan on being a professional clay artist, this book is the definitive authority on ceramic science.

Carol H,
An excellent reference book for anyone interested in pottery or in the conservation/restoration of ceramics.Well written with a world of information. An expensive book but worth every penny!

Indispensable, but not infallible
This really is an indispensable book for anyone seriously interested in pottery as an art or profession.It contains lots of great information.It also contains some errors, most of which are little.Also, the rendition of the Chinese character for "raku" is ugly and missing a stroke.The title says this is a dictionary of materials and techniques - but it's more than that.It can serve as a jargon glossary, too.Also, some articles seem more concerned about meaning and interpretation and make practically no mention of materials or technique, and in the case of the "Teapots" entry, I thought it culturally-biased and incomplete.That said, get it anyway, this book is a must-have.

Extensive, Exhaustive, Excellent
The Potter's Dictionary offers details and facts about everything ceramic.Clay and glaze materials are explained more in-depth in this book than any other I have read.Subjects are presented in a clear and concise manner and the alphabetical order makes things very easy to find.It's more like an encyclopedia than a dictionary.When needed, great graphics complement many of the articles.No wonder this book has been published since 1975, A+!!! ... Read more

Product Description

Architecture is defined by its materials and surfaces. Not infrequently, it is their look and feel that determine whether a project succeeds or fails. For this reason, it is crucially important that planners choose the right materials and use them correctly, a task that is especially challenging today, when they are confronted with an almost dizzying variety of design possibilities and almost unlimited industrial production techniques.

In Detail: Materials for Interiors provides detailed and specific information on the use of appropriate materials in interior design. The book leads off with an overview of the range of available products for interior design, including large-format photographs of each material and interiors that use them. This is followed by detailed discussions of relevant aspects and production methods of the individual material groups, including selected examples. The processing of the materials is illustrated by production photographs from the construction site and numerous detail drawings. In the accompanying texts, expert planners who specialize in the various materials share their practical knowledge of how to use them. The technical articles and example projects focus on the surface of the material and how it is produced or comes to be and contain corresponding decision support for planners. Additional technical information on the materials used and a list of manufacturer and vendor addresses round out the volume.

Product Description
There are thousands of products available for use in interior environments, every one with its assets and disadvantages. The process of selecting the right interior material for the job can be bewildering and--occasionally--perilous. This book is a guide to knowing, evaluating, and selecting materials that will look good, work well, and respect human and environmental needs.

Organized by types of materials, and applications this guide helps designers successfully address material evaluation and selection of interior components. Technical information for each material is presented in a concise reference format to aid designers in their design solutions.

Covering all aspects of interior design materials, this book includes:

* Health and Safety Codes

* Human Factors and Material Selection

* Economic Criteria

* Environmental Criteria

* Finishes for Walls, Windows, Ceilings, Flooring, and Millwork and Furniture Materials

* Practical estimating and installation tools, industry standards, testing and code requirements, and written specification guides for each application.

Engagingly written, highly detailed, and helpfully illustrated with more than 250 color and black-and-white illustrations, Materials for Interior Environments is a comprehensive guide to everything a designer needs to know about the materials available for interiors--from aesthetic qualities to manufacturing and fabrication, applications, installation and maintenance, and specifications for materials used in commercial and residential applications. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Fast and Easy
When I was caught without a book for a test, I figured I would try amazon. I had never tried them before and am always doubty about buying things online. But the whole process was very easy and I ended up getting the book the next day, even when I ordered the two-day delivery. Overall, I was very pleased with my purchase.

Excellent service and value!
Ordered all of my daughter's textbooks from Amazon.Excellent communication, books arrived before promised dates and were in new (or close to it) condition.I paid about half of the retail prices, and checked several different book sellers before I made a purchase.Amazon offered the best deals.Am very happy with my purchases, and would highly recommend this seller (and all I dealt with) to any buyer out there!Thanks and will check back with you next semester! ... Read more

Product Description
* Use of Free-Body Diagrams. Authors, Riley, Sturges and Morris, feel that a proper free-body diagram is very important in all mechanics courses. Whenever an equation of equilibrium is written, a complete, proper free-body diagram accompanies it.
* Problem Solving Procedures. Statics and Mechanics of Materials: An Integrated Approach provides students with an effective methodology for problem decomposition and solution, the ability to present results in a clear, and logical manner is emphasized throughout the text.
* Homework Problems. Over 1100 homework problems allow for varied problem assignments. Each set of problems represents a range of difficulty and is grouped according to this range of difficulty.
* SI vs. U.S. Customary Units are used in equal proportions in the text for both example and homework problems. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

Great Quality for a Great Price!
At the bookstore on campus, I bought this book for about 120$. Buying it on Amazon only cost me 40$, which it the best deal I've ever gotten with anything. The book came in really nice condition, basically brand-new and took about 2 weeks to actually arrive at my doorstep. That's a little longer then I would have hoped, but I was still able to sell my bookstore statics book back to the college for a full refund so no real problem. For a third of the price this is a deal that can't be passed up.

Statics and Mechanics of Materials
The book came in great condition, and it shipped very fast. Im absolutely pleased with this transaction. Thank you :)

Good Buy
This was a good purchase. The book is in excellent shape and the transaction was very timely.

Do Not Recommend
I really tried to follow this book, but I had a hard time keeping up with the poorly written text and mediocre examples. There are lots of good, well-written problems, but no way to see them solved out step by step. The back contains some answers to random questions, but I was really expecting more out of it. There is no online site for students to accompany the text, and I really just could not wrap my head around the material as a beginning engineering student. Maybe this text would be preferable for someone with a background in statics or a foundation in the material already. If this is a required text for your class, I might consider some other supplementary material...

Perfect...
It was shipped fast and it was in great condition. The corners were a little bent because they used an envelope instead of a box...but it was in a nice condition overall... ... Read more

Product Description
Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy is renowned for its mystery and magic. What’s the truth behind it all? Is the golden compass actually based in science?How does the subtle knife cut through anything? Could there be a bomb like the one made with Lyra’s hair? How do the Gallivespians’ lodestone resonators really work? And, of course, what are the Dark Materials? Drawing on string theory and spacetime, quantum physics and chaos theory, award-winning science writers Mary and John Gribbin reveal the real science behind Philip Pullman’s bestselling fantasy trilogy in entertaining and crystal-clear prose.


From the Hardcover edition. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (9)

Not what I had hoped
I can see how this book would be interesting to some people, but for me it was just not worth struggling through. There are two problems with this book for me: 1) I'm not that into Philip Pullman and 2) I'm not that into science. I suppose I shouldn't have bothered to pick this book because of those two reasons, but it came highly recommended by friends. I found that if you are not thoroughly into Philip Pullman then you tend to be a little lost at times. There are parts that you have to know from reading his books. They don't give you much of explaining the book parts that they are using when talking about the science. The science part was very interesting. The theories were talked about in depth. It would be fascinating to someone that cared about that sort of thing. I'm just not that type of person.

A little slanted, but good
I really enjoyed the writing and the explanations offered in this book, which break down some of the happenings in The Golden Compass into an understandable reality, such as the Subtle Knife and how it is based in the 'String Theory.' All if this is fine. The authors go awry, however, in chapter four when they decided to trash my favorite occult pastime (Tarot card reading) by declaring that an experienced card reader can not read cards as well as Lyra naturally reads the Golden Compass. Of course she can read it well - neither SHE nor the Golden Compass exist! She's a fictional character! And the Golden Compass - based in I Ching as it were - doesn't exist either! I found this aspect and criticism to be totally unwarrented and totally out-of-place in a book that otherwise is very entertaining and informative. IMHO, that section needs to be tossed out!

Unlocks What Otherwise is Magical Fantasy
Fantasy for the sake of escapism is wonderful.Explanation of the same may become problematic.To the reader who enjoys escaping reality for fantasy, explanation for what otherwise has no reason is as inviting as the many hurtful "growing up"moments: e.g. when we learn that there is no Santa Claus or Easter Bunny or Tooth Afairy.

One of Great Britain's greatest fantasies is the Dark Materials' trilogy - where little children take on magical odysseys to cure what adults ruin.Similar to "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" or any of the J.K. Rowling "Harry Potter" books, Philip Pullman's fantasy has been the torch which lit many of a certain generation's children's dreams.A contemporary to Rowling, his writinghas been the source of discussion and movie material.

And, so it is this book that makes it so unlike interpretations of many of its peer novels.Harry Potter novels are decried as the source for the intense growth of devil worshiping satanic cults. To the contrary, "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" has been accused of being a Christian lesson in mythic tale. Narnia - the land of "The Lion . . . " - is separate from our own. It is heaven or the "other world." Potter's world coexists with our own - he is different, he is the devil incarnate. Or, so critics tells us.

Pullman's world is both "other" as well as part of our own.He has Lyra and Will meet, even though they are from different worlds.With magic knife, Will cuts his way into our world.How, the authors ask, can this be?

Metaphysics. This book teaches us about the fourth dimension, string theory, dust, dark materials, quantum physics and more - and how each relates to what we thought was a children's novel. Peeling away at the layers of plot in the Pullman books, the authors of this book teach us more science than we probablyhave learned in decades.At times I wondered whether I was learning more science in this book than I had forgotten in a lifetime.

And, so the authors explain that our childlike imaginations are actually rooted in truths - scientific truths.That our fantasy is actually reality. That our escape is merely a change in direction to what we otherwise do not know. In short, science is as magical as it is logical.Science can be as much fun as . . . dare I say it. . . Rowling or Pullman or C.S. Lewis.

I learned a lot from this book.And, although it awakened me to learn something that I may have otherwise been just as comfortable as not knowing, I have no regrets.To the contrary, I regret having been so ignorant.I enjoyed reading this book which unlocked many mysteries which have been hidden from me for years. And, I only wish that science could have been taught in a similar manner.

inconsistant
This is a brilliant concept, and was executed relatively well. My main complaint is that the tone of writing is not consistent. I felt 'talked down to' in some chapters and then unexplained terms, concepts and/or examples were used that went over my head in other chapters. For example, the authors give a detailed definition of what "experiments" are, but then assume readers know what "polarized lenses" are. I don't know about others, but I knew what an 'experiment' was about a decade before I had any experience with polarized lenses, and I'm still not 100% sure I'm thinking of the right thing. Particularly toward the end of the book the authors seemed to have jumped ship on breaking concepts down with the same voracity as in the beginning.
Obviously, this is a companion to the trilogy. Although I felt the editing should've been better for this book, it really is an invaluable addition to the His Dark Materials experience.

The Science of Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials
Mary & John Gribbin have created a well organized and eaily understood science guide to the authentic physics behind Philip Pullman's epic work.The Gribbins combine good, clear writing with a thurough understanding of phyisics that leads to simple explanations a layman can understand.With out this valualbe work, Mr. Pullman's fantastic tale would remain simply a 'story' underpinned by fanciful and extremely complex and difficult science that might or might not be real for our world.As it happens, much of it is real for our world. ... Read more

Product Description
Harnessing the energy of provocative theories generated by recent understandings of the human body, the natural world, and the material world, Material Feminisms presents an entirely new way for feminists to conceive of the question of materiality. In lively and timely essays, an international group of feminist thinkers challenges the assumptions and norms that have previously defined studies about the body. These wide-ranging essays grapple with topics such as the material reality of race, the significance of sexual difference, the impact of disability experience, and the complex interaction between nature and culture in traumatic events such as Hurricane Katrina. By insisting on the importance of materiality, this volume breaks new ground in philosophy, feminist theory, cultural studies, science studies, and other fields where the body and nature collide. ... Read more

Product Description
Designers are becoming more directly involved in the fabrication process from the earliest stages of design. This book showcases the design and research work by some of the leading designers, makers and thinkers today.

This highly illustrated text brings together a wealth of information and numerous examples from practice which will appeal to both students and practitioners.

Customer Reviews (1)

Another excellent book on Digi-architecture
Materials and effects are age-old themes of architecture.
Tectonics, joinery, and permanence are the key themes that
resurface over and over again in the theory and practice of
architecture. Now the grounds are fast shifting due to awesome
new tools available for architects.

Digital parametric design and manufacturing process has freed
"formal imagination" and "material imagination".
In this volume, use of materials and their aftermath
effects are pushed to edge. Using both emergent materials
and innovative application of conventional materials,
desired dynamic and adaptive formal/surface/spatial
effects are achieved.

Beginning with introductory essay by Prof. Kolarevic and
Prof. Klinger,the book introduces case studies of multiple
architects, researchers, and vendors. Key built projects by
Herzog de Meuron, SHoP, Barkow Leibinger, SANAA, OMA, etc
focus on the actual materiality and fabrication aspect.
Experimental projects are as much provoking, if not more,
as built projects.

This is a key publication (along with "Architecture in the
Digital Age: Design and Manufacturing", edited by Prof. Kolarevic)
for those who seek cutting-edge architectural technology,
innovative material application, and pioneering spatial effect-making.
... Read more

Product Description
Now available from Waveland Press, this outstanding text offers a comprehensive treatment of the principles of the mechanical behavior of materials. Appropriate for senior and graduate courses, Mechanical Behavior of Materials is distinguished by its focus on the relationship between macroscopic properties, material microstructure, and fundamental concepts of bonding and crystal structure. The current, second edition retains the original edition’s extensive coverage of nonmetallics while increasing coverage of ceramics, composites, and polymers that have emerged as structural materials in their own right and are now competitive with metals in many applications. It contains new case studies, includes solved example problems, and incorporates real-life examples. Because of the book’s extraordinary breadth and depth, adequate coverage of all of the material requires two full semesters of a typical three-credit course. Since most curricula do not have the luxury of allocating this amount of time to mechanical behavior of materials, the text has been designed so that material can be culled or deleted with ease. Instructors can select topics they wish to emphasize and are able to proceed at any level they consider appropriate. Outstanding features: 1) includes a large number of chapter problems that range in difficulty from straightforward to challenging; 2) offers extensive figure captions with relevant information that makes it easier for students to study the figure without referring back to the text; 3) incorporates a less-formal, refreshing writing style readers will appreciate; and 4) opens with a brief overview chapter on the concepts of mechanics and strength of materials, which serves as a refresher for some students and as a source for reviewing macroscopic concepts as they are introduced throughout the book. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

I really recommend this book
I read the book from the first page to the end; this book is written in simple yet comprehensive text; I really liked this one better than Dowling's (Mechanical Behavior of Materials (3rd Edition)). The book by Courtney mostly concerns the Mechanical Behavior of Materials from a materials science point of view; however, Dowling's book is more of a solid mechanics approach to materials behavior. It has a comprehensive overview of dislocations, plasticity and strengthening mechanisms; fracture and creep are discussed in details; however, the fatigue part has room for more details. Non-metallics, composites, and polymers parts are not very in-depth but are more than enough for an introductory materials behavior course. I think the only advantage of Dowling's book over this one is the fatigue part, which is discussed in more details in Dowling.

Overall, I really recommend this book; the text is so well written that I could read the whole book on my own.

Unhappy medium
This book lacks the depth and rigor necessary for the specialist, while being far too lengthy to serve as a useful reference for the general materials scientist.

I bought this book for a course on mechanical behavior, and immediately found it exhausting to read due to its long winded discussions.A flip through the book is enough to see the problem.Courtney will often go multiple pages without a single equation.I honestly can't critique much of the content specifically because I've never been able to survive more than a few paragraphs before beginning to skim, and soon returning the book to my shelf.

If you've even had a basic materials course, I think you'll become bored with the lengthy explanations of concepts, many of which are fairly intuitive in the first place.And you won't find much in the way of detailed or interesting derivations.

Some people might consider this book highly readable, but for me, a major criterion for readability is feeling that my time is being well spent.In that sense, a page full of equations could very well seem far more readable than the sea of text that is Courtney's book.

Great on breadth, poor on depth
Courtney has put together a nice survey of the various fields of (classical) materials science, from basic elasticity up through the mechanisms of plasticity, fracture, and so on. He covers these topics for metals, polymers and composites, and ceramics. The captions on the figures are a beautiful, beautiful thing. You can easily gain a decent understanding/review of the material by just flipping through a chapter and reading the paragraph-long captions on each of the figures- in fact, that was how I studied for my exams.

The book very much lacks examples, with perhaps only two or three half-page examples per chapter. I think the end-of-chapter problems were just a quick afterthought after the text was written. I think there are only 10 figures "new" for this book; Courtney pulled figure after figure after figure from the literature and/or other mechanics of materials books. The vast majority of the derivations in the text skip steps- a lot of steps- which makes them hard to follow. Courtney tries to discuss a lot of topics, which is fine, but sacrifices the necessary depth so that readers may gain sufficient understanding of the material. Frankly, if you want to learn about dislocations, pick up Hull and Bacon's book Introduction to Dislocations, Fourth Edition or any of the other texts entirely on dislocations.

I can't really recommend this text. Broad-brush survey books certainly have their place and proper usage, but I think this book is really lacking on substance.

Decent text, but could use more examples
This was required text for a masters level material science class. Overall the book is well written and fairly easy to understand. The problems at the back of the text are on the challenging side to difficult. Some of the problems don't seem to relate to the text well.

Difficult Book
The book lacks in detail explanation of steps in deriving equations and of the concepts. The book expects it's readers to have a complete understanding of several other subjects. ... Read more

Product Description
Construction Materials and Processes provides comprehensive coverage while following the format of the Construction Specifications Institute (CSI). The contents have been updated to include new materials an deconstruction techniques, with increased emphasis given to energy conservation and the uses of solar energy. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Construction Materials Book
This was a good purchase. It was a used book that I picked up. The book was shipped on time and packaged well. The book is in good shape.

My Grandpa put his heart and soul into this book. Enjoy!!
I used this book when I went to college at Pierce College and the principles still ring true today. I employ some of the materials and processes in my restaurants designs today.

It is great for people it volatile weather or natural disaster area as he specialized in those types of projects and performed several earthquake retrofits throughout Los Angeles's pre 1920 masonry buildings. ... Read more

Product Description

Customer Reviews (3)

Great for inspiration, thin on detail
This book takes the reader through a basic overview of LOTS of jewelry materials, including lots of non-traditional things you may not think of in terms of jewelry -- aluminum and steel, plastics, leather, feathers & hair, paper, rubber & silicone, cement & ceramics -- and has some lovely photos to show you why you might want to expand your thinking to include these.It also does a good job of giving the most basic considerations of using each material -- what its strengths and limitations are when considering it for use in jewelry -- and what techniques can be used to shape / use each material in jewelry applications.It is great for inspiration, and will help you look beyond traditional materials and point you to techniques to use with them.

Where it falls short is in details -- if you wanted to LEARN these techniques, this isn't the book.If you were curious about how a particular type of stone setting is achieved, the book's quarter-page basic description will tell you; if you want to learn to do it, it will at least give you the concept and terminology to find a better resource.The simple basic descriptions of techniques also make many processes sound easy -- simple is not necessarily easy -- and skips over quite a few basic safety precautions (yes, mother-of-pearl and shell ARE pretty easy to cut, anyone with a Dremel can run right down to the basement and do it -- but the dust of all shells is at least a severe lung irritant and many are TOXIC!!).And I don't even want to think about the the trouble you could get into with the acids and solutions in there, with basically no more advice than add acid to water and use ventilation!

[It also began to annoy the heck out of me that dimensions of things were given in fractional inches, with millimeters in parentheses following, when it was obviously written in mm and some editor went through and converted and rounded (I mean, 1/64th inch is variously "converted" to 0.4mm, 0.5mm, 0.6mm -- sometimes on the same page! a 50% difference isn't significant??)Hey, jewelers work in mm even in the USA, and while I can understand that using gauge numbers (the way most of us buy and think of metal goods) can be problematic as there are different scales, trying to acquire sheet metal 1/64 of an inch thick (approximately!) is tougher than trying to convert mm to whatever unit is being sold.]

So -- VERY good for inspiration and expanding your thinking, pretty good for helping you determine if a material would be suitable for use in a particular way, not sufficient to help you actually do most of it.For a beginner, go for it, it'll give you lots of things to think about but the book expects some familiarity with lots of jewelry tools and techniques, so some parts may be beyond you for now -- but much of it will be helpful.For an experienced jeweler, go for it, it'll give you lots of things to think about and and is a really good way to break out of a creative box. Just be aware that this is a "choosing" book, not a "teaching" book (as it says in the title, after all).Look at Amazon's "Look Inside" pages to see the format and the type of info given and not given, and you will likely be very happy with your purchase.I would have given it four stars, but for the safety concerns.

excellent reference resource
This is a 5star in my opinion because it is unique and apart from the masses of jewellery making subject books out there. This book does not have projects or techniques as such - it actually focuses on material choices and whats available to use in jewellery and how. It covers a lot of materials, like no other book, and gives a brief description of how each material can be used and with what etc.. Its very very useful in helping to choose a medium to combine, say with silver or gold, as inspiration for adding unusual materials to your work and what you would need to do so.
The contents are;
Base metals.
precious metals.
natural materials; wood, bone, ivory, horn, shell and jet, leather, feathers hair and quills.
Plastics and rubber.
other media.
stones and settings.
Basically its a fantastic book this is.(Its also spiral bound and stays open on the bench)
It has some recipies at the back for etching, colouring metals and a handy size chart for USA sizes and UK sizes.
All in all I wouldn't be without it now. I find more use for it every time I refer to it and there is much more that I cannot fit in a review.
Very very useful.

A Serious Amount of Info for Serious Jewelry Designers
If you are really into the craft of jewelry making, then I feel comfortable recommending this book as a reference style text. I gave it five stars because I do not think it is intended for the beginner; there's just too much information here for a newbie to handle without getting totally overwhelmed. For my complete review, copy and paste the following URL into your browser:
[...] ... Read more

Product Description
Comprehensive in nature, this newly updated book extensively explores construction materials and properties as well as current methods of residential and commercial building construction.Revisions reflect the changes based on the 2004 Edition of Construction Specifications Institute (CSI) MasterFormat and follows the logical sequence of a construction project.The Second Edition is complete with current information that is the result of input from hundreds of manufacturers and professional and trade organizations, and makes frequent reference to building codes relating to various construction materials and methods. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

construction material, methods & techniques
this is the book at that is needed for a class I am taking.The book arrived in plenty of time and was in great condition. ... Read more

Product Description
According to Peter van Inwagen, visible inanimate objects do not, strictly speaking, exist. In defending this controversial thesis, he offers fresh insights on such topics as personal identity, commonsense belief, existence over time, the phenomenon of vagueness, and the relation between metaphysics and ordinary language. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

A theory that deserves rejection -- and love
Any man who believes in the existence of angels but does not believe in the existence of chairs has a lot of explaining to do.Van Imwagen takes the position that only living creatures and elementary particles exist.He is aware that this position would seem nonsensical to the non-philsopher (and to many philsophers as well), but he adduces many sophisticated arguments and considerations in favor of this "radical thesis."No one would accuse a philosopher of being deliberately provocative just so he can sell books -- the market for technical philsophy is far too small for that.But I would suggest that van Imwagen's theory is (a) stated much more radicaly than he needs to state it; and (b) provides an inadvertent primer in why people like Wittgenstein object to philosophical theories generally.

Van Imwgen's less problematically-stated point is that inanimate objects have vague boundaries, that it is impossible to state the necessary and sufficient conditions for the existence of composite inanimate objects, that the determination of whether a composite inanimate object is really a "something" rather than an arbitrary convention is impossible, and that these facts make it impossible to see such objects as part of the ultimate furniture of the world are both defensible and rather familiar.Cf Democritus' "Hot and Cold exist by convention.Nothing exists in [ultimate] reality but atoms and the void."

But to draw from these observations the conclusiuon that such objects do not exist at all seems excessive and Clintonian:it all depends upon what the meaning of "is" is.Jonathan Barnes once caricatured the type of argument which held that a composite is ipso faco unreal by parodying it thus: "Grass is green in view of such-and-such a subatomic structure.Therefore, grass is not green."Van Imwagen's argument suffers from the same flaw.

That said, there is a great deal to admire in Van Imwagen's book.First, he does present very convincing arguments for his genuine thesis (that the ascription of independent "thinghood"(e.g. "This is a chair) to any inanimate object is arbitrary, and is a social construct, not a metaphysical reality.Second, his approach is a devestating critique of the theory of natural kinds.Third, his claim that there is a difference in kind (and more radically, a difference in existence) between living beings and inanimate objects, while suspect, is well argued and very stimulating.Fourth, the kinds of arguments and considerations van Imwagen advances is perhaps a better argument for the claim that "it all reduces to word-weaving" than the arguments of those (like Wittgenstein) who advance it make themselves.

And finally, even his philosophically unjustifiable tactic of stating a thesis in a bizarre and radical form in order to call attention to a more moderate and defensible one has pedigogical merit.It stimulates his readers (all ten or twelve of them) to keep turning the pages in order to see how or whether this guy lost his mind.Despite my rather trenchant criticisms, therefore, this is a wonderful and extremely sophisticated work of philosophy.It deserves to be on every philosophy graduate school student's shelf, if only to provide a great exercise in criticizing it.It fully deserves five stars.

contemporary metaphysical classic
"Peter van Inwagen's _Material Beings_ is an excellent book. Van Inwagen defends with great skill and cogency the contention that the only real material beings are physical simples on the one hand, and living organisms on the other. There is much to be learned from this book, whether one ultimately accepts its conclusions or not. And as an example of sustained philosophical argumentation, it is exemplary: the writing is lucid; the overall dialectical state of play is kept constantly in view; and there is plenty of ongoing give-and-take with potential objectors who are never mere straw persons." -Terence Horgan, from "On What There Isn't", _Philosophy and Phenomenological Research_ LIII (1993): p. 693

My sentiments exactly. Peter van Inwagen is probably my favorite living philosopher besides Kripke, and the quality of this book is representative of the reasons why. It would be hard to overstate the respect I have for van Inwagen's clarity, logical rigor, and unwillingness to overextend one's case to contingent matters. This book should be read as a case study for how to present a philosophically important case.

In _Material Beings_, van Inwagen, with brilliantly straightforward chutzpah, simply asks what it takes for simples to compose a whole, over and above a collection of simples. He surveys various options, and finds the single answer to be: if and only if such simples are caught up in the life of an organism. The result is that there are no other ordinary objects: just aggregates of physical simples. A crucial hinge along the way is van Inwagen's contention that the Denial, as he calls it, does not contradict ordinary beliefs. To defend this idea, he appeals to a sort of contextualism: In saying "There are no chairs," one is making a metaphysical statement--partly enumerating one's ontology--that the layperson simply does not do. Hence, he argues, the Denial does not contradict a statement like "There are two valuable chairs in the next room." Van Inwagen devotes a whole chapter to defending the contention that the Denial does not contradict ordinary beliefs, but I'm inclined to intuit that it actually does in some way, though I don't at present have an argument of my own for that position.

In arguing for the thesis that there are no chairs or any other ordinary inanimate objects, van Inwagen gives compelling reasons for, given his view on the nature of composition, excepting organisms from his Denial. In doing so, he reveals a good grounding in general biology. What he does give short shrift to, and shows little to no recognition for, is the nature of chemical bonding. He passes over possible answers to his Composition Questions involving physical bonding far too quickly, in my opinion, and that's a big issue where he and I part ways.

All that said, what van Inwagen does do here, he does so well, I have no hesitation about giving this five stars. Like I said, a modern classic and an invigorating read, as with everything else by van Inwagen I've read. ... Read more

Product Description
This book on electrical, optical, magnetic and thermal properties of materials differs from other introductory texts in solid state physics. First, it is written for engineers, particularly materials and electrical engineers, who want to gain a fundamental understanding of semiconductor devices, magnetic materials, lasers, alloys, and so forth. Second, it stresses concepts rather than mathematical formalism. Third, it is not an encyclopedia: The topics are restricted to material considered to be essential and which can be covered in one 15-week semester.The book is divided into five parts. The first part, "Fundamentals of Electron Theory," introduces the essential quantum mechanical concepts needed for understanding materials science; the other parts may be read independently of each other. Many practical applications are discussed to provide students with an understanding of electronic devices currently in use. The solutions to the numerical problems are given in the appendix.Previous editions have been well received by students and teachers alike. This third edition has again been thoroughly revised and brought up to date to take into account the explosive developments in electrical, optical, and magnetic materials and devices. In particular, the book contains expanded sections on flat-panel displays (liquid crystals, electroluminescent devices, and field-emission and plasma displays) as well as discussions of recent developments in ferro- and piezoelectricity, magneto-optical memories, photonic and magnetoresistive devices, blue- and green-emitting LED's, and dielectric and thermoelectric properties.Rolf E. Hummel is Professor of Materials Science at the University of Florida, Gainesville. He received his Ph.D. in 1963 from the University of Stuttgart, Germany, and the Max-Planck Institute for Materials Research, also in Stuttgart. His previous publications include Optical Properties of Metals and Alloys (1971) Electro- and Thermo-transport in Metals and Alloys (1977), the two-volume Handbook of Optical Properties (ed.) (1996) and Understanding Materials Science (1998).

FROM THE REVIEWS:

HARPER'S REVIEW"This book will provide an excellent fundamental understanding of materials for the wide range of electrical and electronic appliances." ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Excellent quality
Came super fast in the mail. Clean and good quality. Exactly what I expected. Thank you!

Well Written
I am taking Solid State Physics and my professor recommended this book along with 9 others separate from the text required for class.The text required for class can take a hike, but this book remained strong out of the 10 I checked out from the Library.I have the older version with a red cover but I have to say its pretty darn clear especially for such an abstract subject that even my professor has trouble explaining. Sometimes you find a gem. I wouldn't say it digs deep into any one thing but it does give an overview. I would seriously consider buying this book purely for reference durning my EE degree.

A great reference text. Well organized and presented.
This is an excellent text for every electrical engineering student whether graduate or undergraduate. I found the information to be clear and concise which made the concepts easily manageable. The use of mathematical formulas are placed in such a way as to aid with the reading rather than to be overbearing as other solid-state physics texts can be. The author does a great job in sectioning the book into parts, thereby making it easier to focus on a particular area of interest without having to hunt for the deisred information. For practicing engineers, this is a good reference book, especially if you are looking to gain a further understanding of device physics.

Easy to read, concept-oriented treatment of the subject.
The author should be commended for writing a textbook that focuses on the concepts instead of mathematical formulas, making the subject easy to comprehend.At the same time, the formulas are there for more indepthunderstanding.Overall, a good textbook for an undergraduate student ofmaterials science. ... Read more

Product Description

In the middle of the nineteenth century, middle-class Americans embraced a new culture of domestic consumption, one that centered on chairs and clocks as well as family portraits and books. How did that new world of goods, represented by Victorian parlors filled with overstuffed furniture and daguerreotype portraits, come into being? A New Nation of Goods highlights the significant role of provincial artisans in four crafts in the northeastern United States—chairmaking, clockmaking, portrait painting, and book publishing—to explain the shift from preindustrial society to an entirely new configuration of work, commodities, and culture. As a whole, the book proposes an innovative analysis of early nineteenth-century industrialization and the development of a middle-class consumer culture. It relies on many of the objects beloved by decorative arts scholars and collectors to evoke the vitality of village craft production and culture in the decades after the War of Independence.

A New Nation of Goods grounds its broad narrative of cultural change in case studies of artisans, consumers, and specific artifacts. Each chapter opens with an "object lesson" and weaves an object-based analysis together with the richness of individual lives. The path that such craftspeople and consumers took was not inevitable; on the contrary, as historian David Jaffee vividly demonstrates, it was strewn with alternative outcomes, such as decentralized production with specialized makers. The richly illustrated book offers a collective biography of the post-Revolutionary generation, gathering together the case studies of producers and consumers who embraced these changes, those who opposed them, or, most significantly, those who fashioned the myriad small changes that coalesced into a new Victorian cultural order that none of them had envisioned or entirely appreciated.

Product Description
Callister and Rethwisch’s Fundamentals of Materials Science and Engineering third edition continues to take the integrated approach to the organization of topics.  That is, one specific structure, characteristic, or property type at a time is discussed for all three basic material types—viz. metals, ceramics, and polymeric materials.  This order of presentation allows for the early introduction of non-metals and supports the engineer’s role in choosing materials based upon their characteristics. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (8)

Great treatment of entry level material science
My son is interested in blacksmithing.He's a freshman in high school and we homeschool.I wanted to teach him about crystal structure and how temperature and processing affect the final product.This is an excellent text for this purpose.We skip all the math and focus on the concepts.Later, if he's truly interested, we can go back to this text and delve deeper into the concepts and calculations.I'm delighted!

Good Quality
This book was required for a class of mine, and I got it both cheaper and nicer here.I'm 100% satisfied!

Covers a lot of material, maybe too much
This book covers tons of material. It was part of 2 classes I took, and I've referred to it in several others. It has content on almost everything that will be covered in an undergraduate materials science program, then a little bit more. The amount of coverage it gives for each topic though varies quite a bit. I found its discussion on the various microstructures of steel very useful on multiple occasions. The section on fracture though left a little bit to be desired, the section discussing brittle fracture is only about half a page. It tries to condense what would probably be 3 or 4 whole chapters in a mechanical properties textbook (on fracture, fatigue, creep, impact testing, stress concentration) into a single 50 page chapter. Overall though, I found it to be a good intro textbook and a good reference for concepts.

Great book.
What can I say?This is a good book.It was $50 cheaper than the bookstore at the University of Utah.

Prepare for frustration
Don't buy it unless your professor requires it. It is extremely frustrating because there is very brief explanation of a subject and then the problems expect you to have in-depth knowledge. /you will waste a lot of time hunting for information that isn't even there.

In order to understand the material presented in this book, you will need to hunt online for clarification or find a better book. Half of the problems are based on reading tiny diagrams that are impossible to read to the level of accuracy you need to answer the problems.

Some of the qualitative explanation is OK, but you really need a better resource for quantitative analysis. ... Read more

Product Description
Factory sealed box set trilogy. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Something wrong with the listing
I ordered this item, waited a few days, a package arrived and ... it was the wrong book.What I got was a reference book ABOUT the Philip Pullman trilogy (of which I can't find a separate listing on amazon, so I can't provide a reference).I contacted the seller, who was very polite but said they would only refund my money if I mailed the book back at my own expense (to England) which would have been more than the book was worth.So, I kept it, and I ordered the trilogy again on this amazon listing which is clearly, from picture and description, a boxed set of the original books by Philip Pullman (from a vendor in the US this time), waited a few days and...it was the wrong book again.I got another copy of the reference book about the trilogy.I contacted Amazon and the 2nd seller and told them there was something apparently wrong with the listing.I never heard a word from anyone.

So, now I have two copies of a reference book about a set of books that I have ordered and paid for twice but still don't own.

Definitely DO NOT order from this listing. ... Read more

Product Description
STATICS AND STRENGTH OF MATERIALS, 7/e is fully updated text and presents logically organized, clear coverage of all major topics in statics and strength of materials, including the latest developments in materials technology and manufacturing/construction techniques. A basic knowledge of algebra and trigonometry are the only mathematical skills it requires, although several optional sections using calculus are provided for instructors teaching in ABET accredited programs. A new introductory section on catastrophic failures shows students why these topics are so important, and 25 full-page, real-life application sidebars demonstrate the relevance of theory. To simplify understanding and promote student interest, the book is profusely illustrated. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (7)

Great product
Great condition product. The seller communicated well with me. (Off record) The wierdest thing about me wrting this review was that ,inutes before i was actually thinking about writing a review about this book- the AMAZONl ink came up asking me to write one! it's like the internet KNOWS lol.

with a quickness
super fast shipping, excellent product, just like it said "like new" all it needs is the plastic wrap to be considered new. its like they never opened it to read the book! Thanks a lot Amazon!

Lacking...
This book is terrible.Examples are very poorly written, shows example and then solution with no work to show how answer was obtained.The answer key only provides answers to even problems, and only even numbered problems that have solely numerical answers (no graphs, words, etc.)No other answer key available for purchase.You would think by the Sixth Edition the author's would have perfected a student friendly text.

Poorly written textbook
I find it hard to believe that whoever gave this book five stars has actually read it and gone through the problems. The solutions in the back are often wrong. At first, I thought I was making mistakes in solving the systems, but after I approached my instructor and solved them together, we found that a lot of the author's solutions are incorrect. The text also lacks continuity and quality examples. After going through my statics and strengths class, I have a sneaking suspicion that the author had an undergrad formulate the problems. One star is too generous.

Poorly written
Although many of the examples in the book were sufficient, there were so many mistakes that it was easy to lose confidence in the material (especially the first time through it). There were problems in some of the chapters that included concepts not covered until later chapters, and there is no student solutions manual available. Overall, I'd say thanks but no thanks. ... Read more

Product Description

Customer Reviews (2)

Lesssons in history?
While I am not qualified to pass judgement on sculpture as far as methods of actually creating works of art,as a art foundry owner,I have reasonable background in usage of diferent materials connected with sculpture. I found this book to be of rather limited use to anyone seeking information on materials in use today. Almost all refererences are very dated and may be considered useful if a study of yesteryear's practices are intended.It appears to me,that information on various metals and their processingin particullar is more or less imprecise and in some cases wrong altogethrer-for example:to aneal common aluminium alloy to "pink" heat means going past melting point!To sum up,if you intend to learn current practices, go elsewhere.

A good very detailed technical reference book.
This is a very good technical reference manual onthe various types of sculpture mediums (including earth-clays, plastic, plaster of paris, casting, metal, stone, wood, and others).It goes into very specificdetail on the metalurgic, chemical, and physical composition of the variousmediums. I am just learning about sculpture but since I have achemistry/engineering background I foundthe book very informative. Thisbook will probably be difficult for those without a true passion to learnthis much technical detail or without some solid science coursework. ... Read more