Soil Organic Matter in Sustainable Agriculture (Advances in Agroecology)

Book Description

Recognition of the importance of soil organic matter (SOM) in soil health and quality is a major part of fostering a holistic, preventive approach to agricultural management. Students in agronomy, horticulture, and soil science need a textbook that emphasizes strategies for using SOM management in the prevention of chemical, biological, and physical problems. Soil Organic Matter in Sustainable Agriculture gathers key scientific reviews concerning issues that are critical for successful SOM management. This textbook contains evaluations of the types of organic soil constituents-organisms, fresh residues, and well-decomposed substances. It explores the beneficial effects of organic matter on soil and the various practices that enhance SOM. Chapters include an examination of the results of crop management practices on soil organisms, organic matter gains and losses, the significance of various SOM fractions, and the contributions of fungi and earthworms to soil quality and crop growth. Emphasizing the prevention of imbalances that lead to soil and crop problems, the text also explores the development of soils suppressive to plant diseases and pests, and relates SOM management to the supply of nutrients to crops. This book provides the essential scientific background and poses the challenging questions that students need to better understand SOM and develop improved soil and crop management systems.

Sustainable Management of Soil Organic Matter

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Sustainable Management of Soil Organic Matter

Manufacturer: CABI
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Sustainable Development | Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Soil Science | Agricultural Sciences | Science | Subjects | Books

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Agronomy | Agricultural Sciences | Science | Subjects | Books

Sustainable Agriculture | Agricultural Sciences | Science | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0851994652

Book Description

The functioning of soils and their ability to supply nutrients, store water, release greenhouse gases, modify pollutants, resist physical degradation and produce crops within a sustainable management system is profoundly influenced by their organic matter content. This volume contains papers from an international conference held by the British Society of Soil Science in Edinburgh in September 1999. It explores the results of recent research studies examining how organic matter functions in soils, factors affecting organic matter quality and quantity and how management of organic matter can be optimized in order to achieve sustainable farming practices.

Sustainable Soils: The Place of Organic Matter in Sustaining Soils and Their Productivity

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Sustainable Soils

Sustainable Soils: The Place of Organic Matter in Sustaining Soils and Their Productivity
Benjamin Wolf , and George H. Snyder
Manufacturer: Food Products Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Soil Science | Agricultural Sciences | Science | Subjects | Books

General | Agricultural Sciences | Science | Subjects | Books

Agronomy | Agricultural Sciences | Science | Subjects | Books

Crop Science | Agricultural Sciences | Science | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 1560229160

Customer Reviews:

Sustainable Soils.......2003-11-13

A must have book for anyone that deals with soils for a living.

The vast amount of usable knowledge contained in this book is impressive. Even though the information is highly technical the book is structured so that it is easy to understand. Covers most, if not all, areas that will be encountered by someone in agronomy.

Book Description

In paperback for the centenary of the discovery of relativity, "a fresh and highly visual tour through Einstein's astonishing legacy" (Brian Greene).

The year 2005 marks the 100th anniversary of the publication of the paper that launched Einstein's career, made E=mc2 famous, and ushered in a revolution in science—the paper that announced the theory of special relativity. And there's no better short book that explains just what Einstein did than Einstein's Cosmos. Keying Einstein's crucial discoveries to the simple mental images that inspired them, Michio Kaku finds a revealing new way to discuss these ideas, and delivers an appealing and always accessible introduction to Einstein's work.

Customer Reviews:

An easy read........2007-05-27

The professor, Michio Kaku, has easily become one of my favorite authors. That Einstein was the greatest scientist of the past century there's no doubt. And the author in addition to being a physicist is able to explain, in a warm, and caring way, how Einstein pictured, in his mind, what eventually became his theory of special relativity. But there's more; Prof. Kaku provides us a glimpse of the life, thoughts, frustrations, and accomplishments of Einstein the man as well. An easy, and interesting read for sure.

Einstein For The Rest of Us.......2007-04-21

Physicists will already be acquainted with nearly everything in this book. For the rest of us, Professor Kaku provides a comfortably woven account of Einstein's personal and professional life. While nearly everyone is familiar with the famous scientist's reputation, few know much about him as a man or his incredible body of work. Einstien's humanity and self-deprecating humor only add to his charm. Surprising to me was his dogged, single-minded pursuit of the solution to relativity. His determination nearly ruined his health and his relationship to his family.

This is a wonderful book for the general reader. No special knowledge of science or physics is needed to thoroughly enjoy it. Highly recommended.

A crystal-clear window into Einstein's world.......2007-04-16

In this small book Prof. Kaku has created a marvelously entertaining and easy-to-read biography of the scientist whose very name has, somewhat illogically, become synonymous with any and all flavors of genius. As a physicist himself, Kaku enriches the narrative with lucid explanations and personal scientific judgments. He consistently shows a sure hand for striking a nice balance between the extremes of expecting too much, or too little, from the general reader.

The author describes vividly the many fascinating aspects of Einstein's life, including a brief obsession with religion at 11, an uneasy relationship with conventional education, difficulty finding a job, a stint as a patent examiner combined with startlingly original contributions to physics, escape to America from an increasingly Nazified Germany, the triumph of General Relativity, and finally life as a scientific elder statesman at Princeton, doggedly chasing the elusive unified field theory and insisting to the end that the intrinsically probabilistic quantum theory he helped establish could not represent ultimate reality.

Woven into the narrative by Kaku the biographer are many valuable insights from Kaku the physicist. For instance, he counters the popular misconception that relativity brought classical physics crashing down, and that Newton's equations were suddenly revealed as useless or wrong. Relativity did perform the astonishing feat of reducing classical dynamics to a special case, but it is an exceedingly important case which is still used daily by engineers and scientists around the world. In the author's words (p. 65), "...for everyday velocities, Newton's laws are perfectly fine." Kaku contrasts Einstein's accomplishments with today's physics in some interesting ways, including a remark on page 224 proposing that the encyclopedic Standard Model of quantum particle behavior is, despite its predictive success, "...perhaps one of the ugliest theories ever proposed in science." So much for the notion that truth and beauty always go hand in hand.

The author provides an edifying resolution of the famous "twin paradox" by emphasizing that although the relative velocity histories of the moving and stationary twins must be symmetrical and indistiguishable, their histories as recorded by separate accelerometers attached to each twin would be very different. The traveling twin encounters the time stretching effect of large velocity changes with respect to inertial space, hence returns younger than her stay-at-home sibling. The key is to recognize that the required accelerations move the problem out of the limited realm of special relativity.

The book's story line skillfully blends Einstein's professional life with illuminating vignettes of his nonscientific side. For instance, he was not an unqualified pacifist and supported the use of force when challenged by an enemy, such as the German/Japanese alliance in World War II, which pursued destruction of life as an end in itself. Occasionally Einstein could appear shockingly naive, as when he suggested locating the Jewish state in a country such as Peru to avoid replaying the "promised land" conflicts described so vividly in the Old Testament. Odd as it seems, this proposal was consistent with Einstein's way of looking at things, which supported some aspects of Zionism but simply could not countenance any claim to supernatural land grants.

I found only two drawbacks: First, the absence of illustrations was a letdown, especially since Einstein was known for thinking in pictures. Second, lack of an index is frustrating in any non-fiction book, and especially in one as good as this.

Genius is Simplification - this book does that.......2006-08-06

The author loves Einstien. Good simplification of Einstiens' work. I gave this a 4 star because I understand more about einsteins theories now than before I read it.

I have gained even more respect for Einstein. From the book, I am impressed that he seems like a real down to earth decent person. He also suffered from many trials and tribulations (like hating school and almost not passing entrance exams, etc.).

Among the Best Books on Einstein and his Works.......2006-07-19

Michio Kaku, a respected theoretical physicist at City College of New York, has created an outstanding examination of Einstein's life and technical accomplishments, certainly among the best books on Einstein that I have encountered. Einstein's Cosmos targets the layman and as such it avoids mathematics, and yet I am quite certain that it will appeal to technically inclined readers also. Michio Kaku's explanations of Einstein's monumental work, especially the Special Theory of Relativity and his General Theory of Relativity, are remarkably clear and will be readily understood by nearly all readers.

I was especially fascinated by Kaku's analysis of Einstein's later efforts to unify gravity and electromagnetics. He argues persuasively that much of Einstein's unification efforts, almost always dismissed by writers and biographers as irrelevant and misdirected, has in recent decades pointed a new generation of physicists toward new breakthroughs and discoveries. Einstein's vision was decades ahead of most of his contemporaries. His final quest may have been unsuccessful, but his legacy remains vibrant and highly influential.

Einstein's Cosmos : How Albert Einstein's Vision Transformed Our Understanding of Space and Time was published 2004 in the Great Discoveries Series. I also highly recommend another title in this series, Incompleteness: The Proof and Paradox of Kurt Godel by Rebecca Goldstein. Godel was Einstein's closest intellectual companion during Einstein's later years at the Institute for Advanced Studies at Princeton.

Understanding Einstein's Theories of Relativity: Man's New Perspective on the Cosmos

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Good for middle schoolers
A Mathematician's View
Confusion unlimited

Understanding Einstein's Theories of Relativity: Man's New Perspective on the Cosmos
Stan Gibilisco
Manufacturer: Dover Publications
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Astrophysics & Space Science | Astronomy | Science | Subjects | Books

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Relativity | Physics | Science | Subjects | Books

Relativity: The Special and the General Theory (Penguin Classics)

ASIN: 0486266591

Book Description

Clear, concise exposition of both the special and general theories of relativity, intended for nonscientific readers with a knowledge of high school math. Topics include simultaneity, time dilation, length contraction, the possibility of travel to a distant star, non-Euclidean geometries, black holes, and the structure of the universe. 158 illustrations.

Customer Reviews:

Good for middle schoolers.......2004-01-23

My sons both used this book to help them understand relativity, and they found it easy to read. Chapter 2 (dealing with clocks and simultaneity) is a little difficult, but you can understand it if you read it twice! The rest of the book is fun and informative. Maybe it will motivate my oldest son to become an astronomer and work in the neutrino observatory they hope to build in the old gold mine!

A Mathematician's View.......2003-03-25

I have owned this book since 1984, when I purchased the original edition from TAB Books. I found the approach unique, apparently written from a mathematician's point of view. But I was led to wonder about the accuracy of some of the material in the book, particularly of thought experiments that cannot be done in real life and which therefore cannot be positively verified or denied experimentally. For example, who is going to put clocks all over the solar system and then go to every planet to check their readings? But then, other books do the same thing, for example, asking the reader to imagine riding on a train travelling at eighty percent of the speed of light.

After looking at various mentions of this title around the Web (as a phrase in Google advanced search), I have found mostly positive comments, including one from a mathematician (!) in Alabama and another from an educational association in Arizona. These experts have recommended this book as good reading for their students. One fellow dismissed the book because he turned to a page and found some mention of UFOs, but confessed that he hadn't actually read the book yet.

Gibilisco's approach differs rather dramatically from most other relativity books because it is neither highfalutin nor silly. The style is, for the most part, clear. I think the explanations of simultaneity are a little hard to understand and could be misleading to some readers. Gibilisco could do a better job of explaining the relativity of simultaneity among objects in relative motion. It would be nice to have more discussion about paradoxes associated with Special Relativity. An updated edition could clarify some of these issues and also address the question, "Can anything travel faster than the speed of light in free space?"

Confusion unlimited.......2003-01-05

This book is sadly misguided. The author not only does not understand relativity, but actually promulgates common misunderstandings as fact. For example: he says that even mathematically defined points, such as the point of intersection of moving straight lines, cannot exceed the speed of light. They can. Even worse, he says that there is no such thing as simultaneity in a distributed frame of reference. There is. He says the lack of simultaneity is due to the propagation delay of light. It is not. All these things are covered in any introductory text on Special Relativity. Reading this book will only mislead you. It was clearly never reviewed by a relativity physicist. It's sad that it was ever published.

Understanding the Universe: From Quarks to the Cosmos

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A fascinating and informative introduction

Understanding the Universe: From Quarks to the Cosmos
Don Lincoln
Manufacturer: World Scientific Publishing Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Astronomy | Astronomy | Science | Subjects | Books

Astrophysics & Space Science | Astronomy | Science | Subjects | Books

Cosmology | Astronomy | Science | Subjects | Books

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General | Physics | Science | Subjects | Books

ASIN: 9812387056

Book Description

The Big Bang, the birth of the universe, was a singular event. All of the matter of the universe was concentrated at a single point, with temperatures so high that even the familiar protons and neutrons of atoms did not yet exist, but rather were replaced by a swirling maelstrom of energy, matter and antimatter. Exotic quarks and leptons flickered briefly into existence, before merging back into the energy sea.

This book explains the fascinating world of quarks and leptons and the forces that govern their behavior. Told from an experimental physicist's perspective, it forgoes mathematical complexity, using instead particularly accessible figures and apt analogies. In addition to the story of quarks and leptons, which are regarded as well-accepted fact, the author who is a leading researcher at the world's highest energy particle physics laboratory also discusses mysteries on both the experimental and theoretical frontier, before tying it all together with the exciting field of cosmology and indeed the birth of the universe itself.

The text spans the tiny world of the quark to the depths of the universe with exceptional clarity. The casual student of science will appreciate the careful distinction between what is known (quarks, leptons and antimatter), what is suspected (Higgs bosons, neutrino oscillations and the reason why the universe has so little antimatter) and what is merely dreamed (supersymmetry, superstrings and extra dimensions). Included is an unprecedented chapter explaining the accelerators and detectors of modern particle physics experiments. The chapter discussing the hunt for the Higgs boson, currently consuming the efforts of nearly 1000 physicists, lends drama that only big-stakes science can give. Understanding the Universe leaves the reader with a deep appreciation of the fascinating particle realm and just how much it determines the rich beauty of our universe.

Customer Reviews:

A fascinating and informative introduction.......2004-12-13

Knowledgably written Don Lincoln (an experimental physicist and staff member of the world's premier particle physics laboratory), Understanding The Universe From Quarks To The Cosmos provides the nonspecialist general reader with a fascinating and informative introduction to the complex world of quarks, leptons, and the forces that govern particle physics. Written especially to introduce lay readers to subatomic mysteries, Understanding The Universe From Quarks To The Cosmos discusses the Big Bang, known and proven theories, suspected hypothesese that have yet to be firmly established, cutting-edge discussions of modern particle physics experiments, and much more. Black-and-white diagrams help illustrate the amazing ideas presented with a minimum of mathematics and a maximum of awe.

Archives of the Universe: 100 Discoveries That Transformed Our Understanding of the Cosmos

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An Amazing, Wonderful Book
Seeing the past and present in the heavens

Archives of the Universe: 100 Discoveries That Transformed Our Understanding of the Cosmos

Manufacturer: Vintage
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Astronomy | Astronomy | Science | Subjects | Books

General | Science | Subjects | Books

History of Science | History & Philosophy | Science | Subjects | Books

ASIN: 0375713689
Release Date: 2006-04-11

Book Description

An unparalleled history of astronomy presented in the words of the scientists who made the discoveries. Here are the writings of Copernicus, Galileo, Kepler, Newton, Halley, Hubble, and Einstein, as well as that of dozens of others who have significantly contributed to our picture of the universe.

From Aristotle's proof that the Earth is round to the 1998 paper that posited an accelerating universe, this book contains 100 entries spanning the history of astronomy. Award-winning science writer Marcia Bartusiak provides enormously entertaining introductions, putting the material in context and explaining its place in the literature. Archives of the Universe is essential reading for professional astronomers, science history buffs, and backyard stargazers alike.

Customer Reviews:

An Amazing, Wonderful Book.......2007-04-19

This book is a masterpiece! It presents excerpts from 100 seminal works from the ancient Greeks to Newton, to Einstein, and up to the last decade. Many of the excerpts are only a couple of pages long, and most or all of the math has been removed. Each group of excerpts are preceded by a short, concise piece written by the author that sets the stage for that series. Amazing! This book brings you into the discovery process. You can read pieces of the early papers on quasars, and sense the incredulity at these amazing objects. You can read Einstein work around the mass-energy equivalence, but not quite get to E=MC^^2. You'll read how Fred Hoyle, proponent of the Steady State Universe, inadvertently coined the term for the "other side" of the debate with "Big Bang." This book is full of gems. Because each section is so short, you won't have to wade far down a tunnel of complex notions--instead you'll get instant gratification. It makes for a great read when you only have a few minutes because you can follow one thread to its conclusion. Wow. If you have any interest in astronomy or cosmology this book is simply a must read!

Seeing the past and present in the heavens.......2006-04-14

Back during my undergraduate days, one of the most interesting courses that I took was the history of astronomy, and I wish this book had been available. While that course was very good at introducing the different ways in which the universe was perceived and conceived through the different cultures and periods of history, we were often reading second-hand or third-hand accounts. So much of education these days seems to consist of second-hand and third-hand analyses and retellings, working on the assumption that the original texts are too difficult, too arcane, or too 'something' to be useful and understood. Sometimes this might be true; however, making allowances for translation from different languages, I still believe, as obviously the author of this text does, that there is much to be gained by reading the actual words of scientists and philosophers themselves as they first formulated and wrote down their ideas.

This is a text of excerpts from primary documents that have had significant influence in the direction of astronomy and astrophysics in particular, and science and philosophy more generally. These are grouped into eight broad categories: The Ancient Sky, Revolutions, Taking Measure, Touching the Heavens, Einsteinian Cosmos, The Milky Way and Beyond, New Eyes, New Universe, and Accelerating Outward. These each include a half-dozen to a dozen different documents.

Bartusiak introduces each document with a brief essay that sets context both in general history as well as the progress of science, and discusses the importance and influence of the documents for later developments. The groupings are not set in stone, but can be useful: 'The essays introducing each moment of discovery were written to stand alone, inviting the reader to peruse his or her interests in no particular order. Yet it can be profitable to read the sections in sequence to perceive how the questions that observers asked of the heavens evolved over time.'

Some of the readings are heavy going. 'Many of the papers, particularly those from the modern era, are hardly narrative literature. The mathematics can often be unwieldy and the issues fairly complex.' Despite this, astronomy remains one of the more popular and captivating of the sciences, and Bartusiak has made a concession to the more general reader by simplifying some of the papers, omitting detail that might be of interest to professionals, but serve to cloud the view for the more general reader.

This is a great volume for those who are interested in astronomy, the history of science, or cosmological development more generally - particularly the early part, when philosophy and science were not so separate as they are today, general readers may find a great deal of insight and interest.

Secrets of the Universe: Your Guide to the Cosmos and Beyond: Planet Earth; The Solar System; Understanding the Cosmos; Mission Log; Into the Unknown; The Night Sky; Space Technology; Space Pioneers (Six Volumes)

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Secrets of the Universe: Your Guide to the Cosmos and Beyond: Planet Earth; The Solar System; Understanding the Cosmos; Mission Log; Into the Unknown; The Night Sky; Space Technology; Space Pioneers (Six Volumes)

Manufacturer: IMP
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Ring-bound
ASIN: B000KFYVWI

Book of Life: God, Cosmos, and Man: A New Understanding of Human Nature

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Book of Life: God, Cosmos, and Man: A New Understanding of Human Nature
Victor Shane
Manufacturer: Para-Anchors International
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1878832042

Book Description

This book sheds new light on the unsolved mysteries that surround human nature and explains why there is so much evil and disorder on earth. It calls for a spiritual revolution.

Computers & the Cosmos (Understanding Computers)

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Computers & the Cosmos (Understanding Computers)

Manufacturer: Time-Life Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Library Binding

Astronomy | Astronomy | Science | Subjects | Books

Computers and the Cosmos (Understanding Computers)

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Computers and the Cosmos (Understanding Computers)
Time-Life Books
Manufacturer: Time-Life Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000NY6GCE

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Computers and the cosmos (Understanding computers)

Manufacturer: Time-Life Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

Astronomy | Astronomy | Science | Subjects | Books

Telescopes | Experiments, Instruments & Measurement | Science | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0809457342

The Illustrated Encyclopedia of the Universe: Exploring and Understanding the Cosmos

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The Illustrated Encyclopedia of the Universe: Exploring and Understanding the Cosmos
Richard S. Lewis
Manufacturer: Harmony Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000V8B1JU

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