Science & Technology Books

Hillier's Fundamentals of MVT- Exactly what it says on the tin

Advantages: Read it, and you'll know all there is about engines
Disadvantages: A bit too heavy for some beginners

As a workshop mechanic, I've started doing my NVQs... why not lol. I think it's safe to say that most mechanics know what they are doing in practical terms, the experience that you pick up in a workshop environment can be invaluable. However, when going for NVQs and other qualifications, the theory behind some of the day to day work can be a bit confusing. Any mechanic could tell you where a coil pack is, and what it does.... but how it does it? ...
...into easy-ish to digest chapters, so if you are looking to find out more about 1 particular area, such as the ignition system of a petrol engine, then you can go straight to it. Alternatively, the index is good for pointing you directly to very specific subjects, such as the Wankel Engine, or Differential Spool Valves. It really is exactly as the title says, it gives you the fundamentals of motor vehicles, the basic principles that all modern cars ...

muffintop80 15.06.2009 · Read full review
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Review of Hillier's Fundamentals of Motor Vehicle Technology - Victor Hillier, Peter Coombes

Maths for primary teachers-a must

Advantages: detail of knowledge, teaching points, covers everything
Disadvantages: none I can think of

...trainee teachers prepare for the Mathematics QTS skills test. I have not used the disk as I passed the test before getting to it, but can look back and say the questions on it are good practice, and also give a good indication of where knowledge is lacking, as do the self assessment questions. I have the paperback version of the book, which I have seen at a variety of prices, between £16 and £19.99. This might sound like a lot of money for a Maths ...
...or you just need some ideas on ways to explain things to pupils who are struggling, then I think it is well worth the money. It's only 341 pages long, and doesn't take up too much space. I woudl recommend this book, it is one the I'm sure I will refer back to every now and again as Maths has a habit of finding it's way out of my brain. The ISBN number is 1-4129-1183-4 and is published by Sage publications, and can be found at a much better, lower ...

naughtyangel69 06.08.2008 · Read full review
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Review of Mathematics Explained for Primary Teachers - Derek Haylock

Look at the World in a Different Way

Advantages: Difficult concepts well explained without looking deeply at the maths behind it all.
Disadvantages: Quite a lot of descriptive information that wasn't needed.

From wildlife populations to pendulum clocks, from playground swings to stock prices, and from waterwheels to snowflakes, Chaos Theory descibes the (at first peculiar) physics behind natures greatest wonders. Definitely the sort of thing you need to read more than once to fully apprechiate some of the more complex aspects of this book and many parts take a bit of time getting your head round. The black and white diagrams throughout aid the authors ...

JamesMead 04.05.2007 · Read full review
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Review of Chaos: The Amazing Science of the Unpredictable - James Gleick

It's Science Jim, But Not As We Know It!

Advantages: surprisingly entertaining, satisfyingly informative
Disadvantages: none

...you were sucked in to a black hole? Written by one of the most brain-worthy members of our species, Stephen Hawking, Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at Cambridge University, A Briefer History Of Time aims to help you to answer these questions. And, rather than the notions of boring equations and long drawn out explanations of quantum physics that I expected, this book was surprisingly entertaining, interesting and easy to understand. Penned in ...
...marketing science to the masses, A Briefer History of Time is an adaptation of Hawking's best-selling A Brief History of Time, which was hailed as a "landmark of scientific writing". A Briefer History of Time is intended to make Hawking's ideas on the nature of space and time even more accessible to those of us who aren't Lucasian Professors of any sort. Not only is A Briefer History of Time, a darn site Briefer than the original, it has specifically ...

VC81 07.04.2006 · Read full review
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Review of A Briefer History Of Time - Stephen Hawking

Frozen feet failed to warm any interest.

Advantages: Collection of facts(providing you find them interesting)
Disadvantages: Too many answers based on just opinion

...for example the subject of why is mucous green, some of them left me feeling a bit over loaded and bored, why someone would ask for an analysis of the chemical elements that make up a human being, and what the same formula would be for aliens, is beyond me and even worse is the fact that the editors actually thought the readers would be interested in the answers or that we may be able to get some use out of this knowledge in our day to day lives, ...
...of atoms and their composition is not something that regularly takes place down the pub. While I did feel like I'd come away from the book with a few strange little facts, such as rats brains being smooth instead of textured like human brains or that the fact of the great wall of China being seen from space actually just being a myth, I didn't feel like the book gripped me enough to want to return to it to finish reading it or to read it for a second ...

piggypine 17.04.2008 · Read full review
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Review of Why Don't Penguins' Feet Freeze? And 114 Other Questions - Mick O'Hare