Books received
Lectures on Quantum Mechanics by Berthold-Georg Englert, World Scientific. In three companion volumes, hardback ISBN 9812567909, £66 ($115) for the set. (Each volume is also sold separately with an individual ISBN number.)
These three volumes of lectures are independent of each other and largely self-contained. Volume 1: Basic Matters introduces quantum mechanics and does not assume prior knowledge of the subject. It emphasizes the general structure as the necessary foundation of any understanding. Volume 2: Simple Systems covers the step to Dirac's more abstract and much more powerful formalism, followed by reviews of quantum kinematics and quantum dynamics. Volume 3: Perturbed Evolution includes the basics of kinematics and dynamics, such as discussions of Bohr's principle of complementarity and Schwinger's quantum-action principle. Undergraduates in physics, chemistry, mathematics and engineering, as well as physics lecturers will find volumes 1–2 useful; graduate students in physics will find volume 3 of interest.
Genève et ses savants by Isaac Benguigui, Éditions Slatkine. Paperback ISBN 2832102352, SwFr33.
This book, written in French, focuses on the achievements of physicists, mathematicians and chemists from 18th- and 19th-century Geneva. The discoveries and inventions made by these scientists came from meticulous and long-term work. The extraordinary rise of science in Geneva was due to its favorable environment at the crossroads to the European currents of ideas. Physicists, mathematicians and chemists travelled the continent forming a network of relations, thus allowing them to benefit best from the advances in their respective sciences.