Springer Roots of Modern Technology: An Elegant Survey of the Basic Mathematical and Scientific Concepts

What Socrates Couldn't Know provides a comprehensive historic view on the foundations of contemporary technologies. Avoiding misleading metaphors and analogies, the text revisits mathematical and other abstract scientific concepts in an surprisingly easy-to-understand, but exact, manner. Review From the reviews:“The author has undertaken to teach a willing student … all the mathematics and physics behind the complex technology of contemporary society, ranging from basic numbers to calculus, probability theory, relativity, quantum mechanics, and even string theory. … the book is … elegant. Summing Up: … . General readers.” (M. Schiff, Choice, Vol. 48 (6), February, 2011) From the Back Cover If the ancient Greek philosopher Socrates came to life again today, he would wonder how airplanes fly and light bulbs glow, but not wonder much about the world’s political and social changes that took place since his time. The author puts himself in the position of explaining to Socrates the technological fundamentals behind all our modern conveniences . Since he takes Socrates seriously, the author accepts the challenge of introducing the relevant mathematical and technical concepts, and he does so in a remarkably easy-tounderstand and accurate way. The result is a comprehensive overview of the elements of our technical civilization, an overview properly based upon elementary but solid mathematical and scientific principles. Everyone with an inclination toward science and technology can take advantage of the clear structure, the comprehensive presentation and the many wonderfully-illustrated examples of the book.