Poll of the Month (July)

From the last post comes the current poll of the month.  Which is the best basic rheology book?

The Wisdom of Crowds

A recent discussion at LinkedIn's SOR group asked which introductory rheology book was best.  This was the most popular discussion in recent memory.  People mentioned--

• The Rheology Handbook by T. Mezger (twice)
• Handbook of Elementary Rheology by H. Barnes (twice)
• Rheology: Principles, Measurements, and Applications by C.W. Macosko
• Understanding Rheology by F.A. Morrison
• An Introduction to Rheology by H.A. Barnes, J.F. Hutton, and K. Walters (twice)
• A Practical Approach to Rheology and Rheometry by G. Schramm
  (This book is self-published by ThermoFisher)
• Rheological Methods in Food Processing Engineering by J.F. Steffe and C.R. Daubert (twice)
• Bioprocessing Pipelines: Rheology and Analysis by J.F. Steffe
  (Both the Steffe books are available online for free download.)
• There was a mention of a book by K. Walters; it's either the one co-authored with Barnes listed above or Rheology: An Historical Perspective co-authored with R.I. Tanner

SF Prep (#5): Book Recommendation

Most people know Tony Hillerman as a mystery writer.  Before he became a best-selling author, he worked for Santa Fe's main newspaper The New Mexican.  He put together a collection of his newspaper articles that celebrated facets of northern New Mexico into the book The Great Taos Bank Robbery.  The book should be available at the Albuquerque airport and Santa Fe hotel stores.

There's Antimony, Arsenic, Aluminum, Selenium...

The link of the moment comes from Slate. During the work week, Sam Kean is excerpting his book on the history of the elements.  I enjoyed the entry on nitrogen and phosphorus and how it pertains to future toilet design.  Kean mused that men may have to sit down to use the future toilets in order to collect phosphorus.  I think he missed an obvious solution: use public uranials as a collecion point.  Anyone who stands at a urinal will contribute to the solution.

(The title of the post is the opening line of Tom Lehrer's The Elements.)

Influential Books

A current meme in the blogosphere is that people post a list of most influential books [1].  I thought I'd join the parade.

Undergraduate

Elements of Chemical Reactor Engineering (2nd edition, 1986) by H.S. Fogler
I thought this was the best-written engineering textbook I used during my undergrad years, and this book (along with the excellent professor I had for Reaction Engineering) inspired my choice for graduate school.  This book influenced me in another way: my father co-wrote some of the chapters, and the resulting royalties helped pay my undergrad tuition.  (When in graduate school, I decided to go into rheology, based on the choices that were available at Northwestern at the time.)

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by R.Pirsig
One of my first encounters with the philosophy of science.  I particularly enjoyed Pirsig's take on hypothesis creation and his discussions of the concept of Quality.


Graduate

Theory of Polymer Dynamics by M. Doi & S.F. Edwards
Constitutive Equations for Polymer Melts and Solutions by R.G. Larson
I wrote a thesis on analysis of polymer constitutive equations.  The research by these three gentlemen guided my path.

Dynamics of Polymeric Liquids: Volume 1 by R.B. Bird, R.C. Armstrong & O. Hassager
The best graduate-level textbook I used; it was a fantastic introduction to polymer fluid behavior.

Viscoelastic Properties of Polymers by J.D. Ferry
Not just a discussion of polymeric properties, but an introduction to rheological measurements and their interpretation.

Getting What You Came For by R.L. Peters
A how-to guide to graduate school.  Some of the technological systems suggested are out-of-date, but the basic advice here still holds.


Post-Graduate

The Rheology Handbook by T.G. Mezger
Herr Mezger was a colleague of mine while I was at Anton Paar, and he wrote this introduction to rheological measurements.  I think this is the best basic rheology book on the market.

The Making of the Atomic Bomb by R. Rhodes
Not just the story of the Manhattan Project, but a great history of the experimental and theoretical work done on the atom at the beginning of the 20th Century.  If I were doing any teaching of chemistry or physics, I'd find a way to include this book in the class.  It's a geat summary of how people went about performing basic research.  It's a complete history, so it also discusses the effects of the bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Guns, Germs, and Steel by J. Diamond
A historical inquiry that asks the question why certain parts of the world have advanced technologically while others have remained static.  Diamond's thesis is that certain areas were advantaged by access to plants and animals that could be domesticated.  Once domestication took place, societies were able to develop, and technological innovation followed.


[1]     This list is amusing, as it has Moby Dick, The Great Gatsby, and ... Spider-Man!  In this post, the Spider-Man writer thanks the blog author for being favorably compared to Hemingway and Fitzgerald.