Giant Molecules: Here, There, and Everywhere...

Book Description

Lively, informative, and easy-to-understand, this book is a fascinating read for scientists across many disciplines and the educated/interested layperson. Beautifully presented with eight pages of color illustrations, Giant Molecules: Here, There, and Everywhere addresses the nature and role of giant molecules, which are the"source"for polymer chains. Grosberg and Khokhlov explain what giant molecules are, how they are formed, where they are applied, and whythey are important in everyday life and in science. The simple, non-technical style is complemented by full-color illustrations.
A CD-ROM enclosed with the book provides simulation of typical behavior of polymers, which is an extremely useful tool for teaching purposes. This feature will be of special interest to the expert in polymers across many disciplines, including molecularbiology, materials science, physics, and chemistry. The CD-ROM also allows the user to create a broad variety of movies simulating an almost arbitrary polymer system, customized to the user's specific needs.
Giant Molecules presents the subject matter much more clearly than the standard scientific text. It provides a unique opportunity to grasp the most advanced methods of polymer physics with the guidance of world leaders in the field. The book features a foreword written by Pierre-Gilles de Gennes, a Nobel Prize Laureate, and each chapter in this fascinating volume is preceded by a quote from such notable sources as Goethe, St. Exupery, and Mark Twain. Written in a simple, non-scientific style, Giant Molecules should be understandable to interested readers at any level, and the color illustrations and CD-ROM add to the appeal of this lively book.

Key Features
* Includes a foreword written by Pierre-Gilles de Gennes, Nobel Laureate
* Written at a level both the scientist and non-scientist can appreciate
* Uses a clear, comprehensive manner to describe giant molecules
* Features a CD-ROM with movies showing the simulation of polymer behavior
* Presents a simple approach to the most complex phenomena, using very limited mathematics
* Considers aspects of polymers as materials

Customer Reviews:

This book explains things........2005-06-08

I am a physics professor working on semiconductor materials. Polymer is not my area, but they always attracts me a lot.
I can't believe this great book hasn't been reviewed yet. Yes, it is written by two Russian scientists. But who said Russians can only write rigorous math books? This book is not a monograph but for everyone interested in polymer physics, material or popular science. It explains a lot of phenomena in a clear, consise and humours language. There is a little math, not hard at all. Freshmen level calculus would be sufficient to understand the book. In fact, all through the book, the authors were showing the interactions between different factors. These factors are the reason that polymers have so many tantalizing and sometimes contradicting properties. To explain those, math is necessary.
The movies included in the accompanied CD are great, think about how much work is put on making them!

Average customer rating:

Chromosomes Giant Molecules an
WALLACE
Manufacturer: W W Norton & Co Ltd
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Science | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0393063437

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Giant molecules, (Life science library)
H. F Mark
Manufacturer: TIME INCORPORATED
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

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Chromosomes Giant Molecules & Evolution
Bruce Wallace
Manufacturer: W W NORTON & CO @
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000Q062MY

Chromosomes, Giant Molecules, and Evolution

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Chromosomes, Giant Molecules, and Evolution
Bruce Wallace
Manufacturer: W.W. Norton & Co.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000IY24FC

Chromosomes, Giant Molecules, and Evolution. Illustrated By Frances Ann McKittrick

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Chromosomes, Giant Molecules, and Evolution. Illustrated By Frances Ann McKittrick
Bruce Wallace
Manufacturer: NORTON
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000JVGY3M

Crystals As Giant Molecules (Lecture Notes in Chemistry, Vol 9)

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Crystals As Giant Molecules (Lecture Notes in Chemistry, Vol 9)
A. Julg
Manufacturer: Springer-Verlag
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Crystallography | Chemistry | Science | Subjects | Books

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Exploring Giant Molecules
Raymond Wohlrabe
Manufacturer: William Collins Pub
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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The Giant Molecules
Parsons & Dover
Manufacturer: Ginn & Co
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000K6LEMC

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Giant Molecules
Time Life
Manufacturer: Time Life Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000UFHX5K

Amazon.com

Michael Crichton's Jurassic Park introduced readers to the once improbable notion that, thanks to advances in genetic science, dinosaurs could be brought back from the grave. Richard Stone's Mammoth offers a kindred scenario: the establishment of a "Pleistocene Park," in which long-extinct creatures like the mammoth, saber-toothed tiger, and woolly rhino could be resurrected and given sanctuary.

This is not a science-fiction vision, we learn from science journalist Stone's absorbing journey into recent prehistory. Already, scientists from Russia, Canada, the United States, and other nations are studying the possibility of restoring a stretch of northern Siberia to its Pleistocene condition, thereby creating what they call a "mammoth steppe" populated by bison, Yakutian horses, and elephants--and one day, perhaps, creatures such as the woolly mammoth, genetically "summoned from the world of the dead." The materials are readily available, Stone writes, in the form of DNA-bearing "muscles and ligaments and fat" found in mammoths now buried in arctic permafrost. Whether those remnants can be made to bring back to life what Siberians call the "rat beneath the ice" is another question, but it's one that many scholars are busily exploring.

While looking into what he calls a "watershed in efforts to study lost ecosystems," Stone provides a lively natural history of the mammoth and evaluates conflicting theories on its extinction. His book makes for a memorable journey into unknown scientific territory--and a glimpse at a possible future that is surpassing strange. --Gregory McNamee

Book Description

The true story of a daring band of 21st-century mammoth hunters and their fascinating search for the long-extinct beast.

No fabled creature of the Pleistocene Era has a more powerful hold on the imagination than does the woolly mammoth. Cave paintings of the giant beasts hint at the profound role they played in early human culture-our Ice Age ancestors built igloo-shaped huts out of mammoth bones and even feasted on mammoth tongues. Eager to uncover more clues to this mystical prehistoric age, explorers since the time of Peter the Great have scoured Siberia for mammoth remains. Now a new generation of explorers has taken to the tundra. Armed with GPS, ground-penetrating radar, and Soviet-era military helicopters, they seek an elusive prize: a mammoth carcass that will help determine how the creature lived, how it died-and how it might be brought back to life.

In this adventure-filled narrative, science writer Richard Stone follows two teams of explorers-one Russian/Japanese, the other a French-led consortium-as they battle bitter cold, high winds, supply shortages, and the deeply rooted superstitions of indigenous peoples who fear the consequences of awakening the "rat beneath the ice." Stone travels from St. Petersburg to the Arctic Circle, from the North Sea to high-tech Japanese laboratories, as he traces the sometimes-surreal quest of these intrepid scientists, whose work could well rewrite our planet's evolutionary history. A riveting tale of high-stakes adventure and scientific hubris, Mammoth is also an intellectual voyage through uncharted moral terrain, as we confront the promise and peril of resurrecting creatures from the deep past.

Customer Reviews:

Mammoth-size information . . . Minute-size conclusions.......2006-09-12

This book contains valuable references to and quotations from across the tundra of perspectives of how/why/when the mammoths died off. Like so many Evolutionists, the author stands firm in the mire of peers who keep finding more and more physical evidence of the immediate death and preservation of mammoths (and their environments). Yet, Stone and his peers remain united in their scoffing at a literal interpretation of the Biblical account of the Flood in the days of Noah.

The reader must wonder why the Biblical, "young Earth," account is not treated as a valid explanation, after the author debunks contrary theory after contrary theory.

For example, Stone only makes passing reference to the many mammoths which have been unearthed in Florida. The reader must realize on her/his own that this fact alone refutes almost all of the variations of Evolutionary postulating that gradual climate changes killed off these magnificant creatures.

The thinking reader will wonder how the theories ever get past the mammoth-size problem of herds of mammoths having been found under what is now land too far north to produce the food supply needed for even one of them for a day, let alone herds of them for life-times. The eons of gradual change required in the theories of Evolution cannot account for the repeatedly-found evidence of healthy, well-nourished, gluttonous, quick-frozen mammoths. Stone discusses this evidence, but stears clear of giving serious credence to that 40-day dumping of rain and ice as claimed in the Bible.

Stone never addresses the cellular evidence in these mammoths which conclusively shows that they were quick-frozen at temperatures far below any temperatures existing on Earth. This fact demands an explanation which includes the injection of temperatures found only in outer space, (or in substances such as liquid nitrogen).

Nor does Stone discuss the problem of lack of evidence of internal decay. Mammoths killed by slow starvation would die and decay on the inside while their outer layers froze, if dropped in current-day arctic regions. Once the blood stops pumping, this process of inner rot happens far quicker than a huge beast would freeze to its core. Yet, mammoth after mammoth has been found in these northern regions frozen entirely.

Most glaringly absent is discussion of a mammoth found in the far north with sub-tropical vegetation found still in its mouth. That discovery should have narrowed the amount of valid theories by enough to make this book a lot shorter. (Hint: they did not find a chewing tobacco can in its back pocket.)

Stone's recounting of the 1887 writings of Sir Henry H. Howorth are more formidable than Stone admits to. Stone admits that Howorth's cataclysm theories have been vindicated more and more during Stone's professional career, yet that bias against a literally accurate Biblical account is treated like laughing-stock material.

My suggestion is that if the mammoth fits, wear it!

As for the presentation of the book, it is not a heavy-read. Stone's writing style is understandable, even to folks like me who simply want to think and learn.

The pictures are a bit of a letdown. I had hoped for more pictures of mammoths and their body parts. You can find more such pictures on ebay than in this book.

Overall, a valuable resource for the thinking descendant of Noah.

Mammoths, Mammoths, everywhere..........2006-02-26

The Woolly Mammoth, long gone from the world but not yet forgotten, was a major source of food, fuel and material for our early ancestors. Our early culture must have understood them but to us are still, in some way, a mystery.
How did they die, was it overchill or overkill? Did we do them in or did a germ do it? How come they lived through so so much to finally die in what seems a blink of an eye? This book is the tale of trying to find out the answers and, maybe, just maybe, find a way to bring them back to life. Yes, maybe if we could find a frozen body to get undamaged, useful, Mammoth DNA from we could do more than just understand them - we could clone them.
This book has many tales. The Mammoth Hunters trying to find a whole creature, the Scientists who want to understand the myster, the Discovery Channel trying to get a story and the Russians just trying to make a living and a quick buck.
Fun, but the ending was clear before I opened the book. As there is no baby Mammoths running about I know that they failed to clone them. Yet the book does give you a good overview of the history of Mammoth research and our knowledge of them. And some of the ideas, like bringing Canadian bison to Siberia
and African rhinos and elephants to North America are both amazing and risky.

Excellent, Quick Read.......2005-04-03

This book is a very interesting discussion of three topics:

1) Why did the mammoths go extinct?
2) Is it possible (and desirable/ethical) to bring back the mammoths via cloning or interbreeding with modern elephants?
3) How did the demise of the mammoth and similar large mammals affect the vegetation and climate of the areas in which they lived (in this case Siberia). Russian scientists theorize that when the mammoths no longer grazed and churned up the ancient grasslands, the vegetation changed completely, into the tundra-wasteland that it is today.

Overall a very enjoyable short book that does not try to puff up the page count with hundreds of pages of irrelevant material.

TMR

A Shaggy Elephant Story.......2004-01-25

This fascinating little book is about a large and extinct creature, the mammoth. Evidence of this creature, which last walked the earth 37 centuries ago, seems to be scattered all over the place in North America and in Siberia. This book describes the work of a mixed band of mammoth enthusiasts as they search for mammoths frozen in the tundra of Russia's Far North.

There is an international cast in this story-a French arctic travel guide, Russian academics, Japanese experts in reproductive science, a Dutch amateur with a house stuffed with mammoth bones and, of course, the folks at the Discovery Channel trying to make this all into Good Television or, at least, Show Biz. Unfortunately, this book comes a bit too early--biotechnology has not advanced to the point where a mammoth might be cloned from scattered remnants of DNA and a superb specimen, frozen in the ice with useful bits intact, had not been found by the time the book went to press. Instead, author Richard Stone does an admirable job in sewing parts together to tell this story.

We learn that the inhabitants of Siberia believe that digging up the bones of mammoths brings bad luck, but there is nothing wrong with taking tusks when they are found. Huge numbers of tusks, estimated from 50,000 animals, have been shipped out in the last century. Scientists made arduous journeys trying to discover more about mammoths and our strong interest in them continues to this day. The book details how mammoths probably lived and alternative explanations about how they became extinct--through climactic change, being hunted or wiped out by disease.

This is quite interesting and the sections about cloning mammoths are highly imaginative and entertaining. Mr. Stone has done good research and writes engagingly of his voyages beyond the beyond. And he does not shy away from commenting on the ethical question of cloning extinct species. But at the end of the day, one has to wonder about the resources invested into the quixotic expeditions he details when there are pressing issues in habitat conservation today, including the protection of that much-loved and much-decimated relative of the mammoth, the elephant.

Recommended for those with an interest in science on the fringes...

Mammoth: The Resurrection of an Ice Age Giant.......2003-01-20

Mammoth: THe Resurrection of an Ice Age Giant written by Richard Stone is a book about adventure, but not just your oridinary adventure. The Adventure here is about the unearthing of giant animals from the Pleistocene Era... Giant Wooly Mammoths in the permafrost of Siberia. This is a very provocative book as the science is beautifully clear.

The Wooly Mammoth roamed Europe, Asia and North America and grew to huge proportions, but later became extinct and all that we know of their existance is being uncovered by some very good scientific research. Now, a new generation of explorers has taken up the challange, to find out more about the mammoth and the life and times that existed during their lifetimes. Armed with ground-penetrating radar, GPS, and helecopters the large expanse of Siberia is begins to yield some interesting finds and the clues that go along with more and more information.

There is promiss in this book that once again the mammoth may live... how you say can this happen... well through DNA and cloning. This book takes you on a rigerous adventure through frontiers of science. Yes, theoretically it can be done, but this book examins both the profound philosophical questions about the risks and morality of executing these efforts. Liken to "Jurassic Park," you say.. and you would be correct.

Theories exist as to why the mammoth did out and became extinct... one of which is the overchill theory as the Earth became increasingly cooler the food supply for the mammoth became less and less forage for the animal, next the psychological change of being penned in by dense forest and glacier. Mammoth were used to living in the Northern cooler climates as is evidece in the finds of today. So much so, as there are finds in the small islands of the Arctic Ocean.

Book Description

Its trumpeting cries blasted into the cold Siberian air. But its mighty struggles only pulled it deeper into the soft mud. . . .

Could this have been the fate of the young woolly mammoth discovered more than 20,000 years after it died? As scientists carefully thaw this giant intact prehistoric mammal, they hope to learn more about how the species lived and why it–the largest mammal to ever live–became extinct. But most important, this animal’s well-preserved body may help answer an incredible question–can the mammoth be cloned and one day walk the earth again?

Breathtaking, accurate illustrations; full-color photographs; fascinating maps; and informative diagrams bring the story of the amazing mammoth to life in this large-size hardcover.

Customer Reviews:

Text recreates their lives, world and habits.......2001-11-05

Mark Hallett provides the eye-catching color drawings which explain the lives and fate of the woolly mammoths. Text recreates their lives, world and habits while the color drawings bring these giant creatures alive - on the page. Good reading skills required.

Mammoth: The Resurrection of an Ice Age Giant

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Mammoth: The Resurrection of an Ice Age Giant
Richard Stone
Manufacturer: FORTH ESTATE
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000OJO0WG

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Mammoth: The Resurrection of an Ice Age Giant
Richard Stone
Manufacturer: Fourth Estate
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Science | Subjects | Books

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Mammoth: the Resurrection of an Ice Age Giant
Richard Stone
Manufacturer: Perseus Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000JVEO7A

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Mammoths: Giants of the Ice Age
Adrian Lister , and Paul Bahn
Manufacturer: University of California Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Science | Subjects | Books

Book Description

A dazzling visual record of one of Earth's most extraordinary species, this updated and revised edition of Mammoths: Giants of the Ice Age integrates exciting new research to piece together the story of mammoths, mastodons, and their relatives, icons of the Ice Age. Incorporating recent genetic work, new fossil finds, new extinction theories, and more, Mammoths is a captivating exploration of how these mighty creatures evolved, lived, and mysteriously disappeared. The book features a wealth of color illustrations that depict mammoths in their dramatic Ice Age habitats, scores of photographs of mammoth remains, and images of the art of prehistoric people who saw these animals in the flesh. Full of intriguing facts, boxed features, and clear graphics, Mammoths examines the findings--including intact frozen carcasses from Siberia and fossilized remains from South Dakota, California, England, France, and elsewhere--that have provided clues to the mammoths' geographic range, body structure, way of life, and interactions with early humans. It is an enthralling story of paleontological, archaeological, and geological exploration and of the fascinating investigations of biologists, anthropologists, and art historians worldwide.
Copub: Marshall Editions

Mammoths: Giants of the Ice Age (Lost Worlds)

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A Small Book, but a Good Introduction

Mammoths: Giants of the Ice Age (Lost Worlds)
Erol Fuller
Manufacturer: Bunker Hill Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 1593730187

Book Description

The mammoth is one of the great icons of extinction. This book tells the exciting story of the mammoth, how it lived and died and how its memory lives on in the present day.

Customer Reviews:

A Small Book, but a Good Introduction.......2005-11-15

This little book is a surprisingly complete introduction to Mammoths. It talks about the fossil finds, the things we have learned about them, where they lived, basically everything there is to know about mammoths.

Although this book is probably aimed at a younger audience, it is surprisingly complete. Numerous pictures, particularily of the finds in Siberia, are included along with brief but informative text. Unfortunately I don't see the head and tusks of the Mammoth dug out of the Black Rock Desert in Northern Nevada and on display here in Winnemucca.

Mammoths have gained a respect and recognition that very few extinct animals have, especially of mammals. Even their name has entered our vocabulary as a word for big. This is neither a complex nor difficult book, but is a good introduction.

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Mammoth: The Resurrection of an Ice Age Giant
Richard Stone
Manufacturer: Fourth Estate
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000OHA662

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Mammoths Giants of the Ice Age
Adrian Lister
Manufacturer: MARSHALL PUBLISHING
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000PUUTF6

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