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Understanding Quantum Physics: A User's Manual

I. WHAT'S IT ALL ABOUT?: A QUALITATIVE INTRODUCTION.

1. Introductory: Why Quantum Physics?
2. Into the Microworld: Duality and the Double Slit.
II. STARTING FROM SCRATCH.
3. First Postulates: The State Function and Its Interpretation.
4. An Illustrative Interlude: Wave Packets in One Dimension.
5. Observables in Quantum Physics: A Pragmatist's Approach.
6. A Quantum Equation of Motion: The Schrödinger Equation At Last.
7. Simplifying Matters: The Time-Independent Schrödinger Equation.
III. EXAMPLES, EXAMPLES, EXAMPLES.
8. States of a Particle in One Dimension I: Mainly Piecewise-Constant Potentials.
9. States of a Particle in One Dimension II: Mainly Continuous Potentials.
IV. TOOLS OF THE TRADE; MORE FORMALISM.
10. Operators in Quantum Mechanics I: The Importance of Being Hermitian.
11. Operators in Quantum Mechanics II: To Commute or Not to Commute.
12. Eigenfunction Expansions: How to Solve Any Problem in Quantum Mechanics.
13. Altered States: The Great Measurement Mystery.
Appendixes.
A. SI Units (The International System of Units. B. Fundamental Constants in SI (and CGS) Units. C. Order-of-Magnitude Estimates. D. Conversion Tables. E. Prefix Dictionary. F. A User's Guide to Atomic Units. G. The Greek Alphabet. H. Handy Trigonometric identities. I. Integrals You Should Know. J. Integrals Involving the Gaussian Function. K. Review of Complex Numbers. L. The Dirac Delta Function.
Bibliography.
Index.
May, 1990: Prentice Hall Engineering, Science & Math
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Understanding More Quantum Physics: Quantum States of Atoms
1. Recollections of Quantum Theory: A Survey Chapter.
2. Solution of the Central Force Problem.
3. The One-Electron Atom.
4. The Wonderful World of Approximation Methods (Time Independent).
5. More Approximation Methods (Time Dependent).
6. Spin.
7. Spin in the Hydrogenic Atom.
8. Introduction to the Quantum Mechanics of the Multielectron Atom.
9. The Shell Model of the Atom.
10. Quantitative Approaches to Multielectron Atoms.
Appendices.
May, 1991 by Prentice Hall Engineering, Science & Math 
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Quantum States of Atoms, Molecules, and Solids

This book, now out of print, augments the material in UMQP (on quantum mechanics and atomic physics) with sections on molecular and solid-state physics. Used copies are usually available at abebooks.com, at bibliofind.com, and at albris.com

Trajectories of the Fantastic: Essays on Science Fiction, Horror, and Fantasy in Fiction and Film

The essays in this volume examine elements of the fantastic in a variety of media. From the fiction of Toni Morrison, Stephen King, and Chinua Achebe, to the rock songs of David Bowie, the fantastic is seen as adaptable to any art form. In an accessible manner, the contributors present fresh approaches to examining the elements of the fantastic in literature, film, music, and popular culture. The collection features an essay by Ursula K. Le Guin and also includes an introduction and an essay by me entitled ``A Few Remarks About a Couple of Things: Hawks and Carpenter Reconfigure Campbell.''
Contents
-- Introduction -- The Kingdom of the Fantastic -- Changing Kingdoms by Ursula K. Le Guin -- Myth and Gender in SF and the Gothic -- No Paradise to Be Lost: Deconstructing the Myth of "Domestic Affection" in [Mary] Shelley's Frankenstein by Rosemary Hathaway -- Using the Fantastic to Disrupt the Domestic: An Examination of Marriage and Family in Angela Carter's Nights at the Circus and Wise Children by Anna Katsavos -- Androgyny and Difference in SF by Brian Attebery -- Androgynous Architecture: Fantasies of Genre-Bending in the British Gothic Novel by Tanya Gardiner-Scott -- Fantasy, Genre, and the Mainstream -- The Role of the Fantastic in African Narratives: From Sundiata to Things Fall Apart by William E. Mallory -- Behemyth Evolving: Whale/Ape/Rocket by Joseph Andriano -- Apocalyptic Grotesque: The Day of the Locust by Catherine Merrill -- Unraveling the Mystery of Toni Morrison's Beloved by Beverly Skinner -- King as Classic: Excellence, Relevance, Endurance by Edwin F. Casebeer -- The Seductive Doom in Young Adult Fantasy by Greer Watson -- Fantastic Rock -- The Moorcock/Hawkwind Connection: A Rock SF Multiverse by Michel Delville -- Future Legends: David Bowie and Science Fiction by Maureen King -- Cinema Fantastique I: Fantasy in Representation and Critique -- Architecture as Duality and Fantasy: Mise en Scene and Boundaries in Tim Burton's Films by Leonard G. Heldreth -- Beauty in the Beast: Technological Reanimation in the Contemporary Horror Film by Mark J. Charney -- Screening Desire: Posthuman Couplings in Atom Egoyan's Speaking Parts and David Cronenberg's Videodrome by Rob Latham -- Cinema Fantastique I: Twice Told Tales -- A Few Remarks about a Couple of Things: Hawkes and Carpenter Reconfigure Campbell by Michael A. Morrison -- Version/Inversion: Paranoia in Two Cases of Bodysnatching by Michael Collins -- Greek Gifts: Vision and Revision in the Two Nights of the Living Dead by Mary Pharr -- Index
Published in 1997 by Greenwood Press
Reviews at Amazon.com

A Dark Night's Dreaming : Contemporary American Horror Fiction

A Dark Night's Dreaming collects eight essays by well-known horror critics such as Douglas E. Winter (author of Stephen King: The Art of Darkness). The book opens with an introduction (by me and my partner in crime, Tony Magistrale, in which we define the shape of horror fiction today, illuminating the genre's narrative themes, psychological and social contexts, and historical development. The first full essay (by me) is on the nature and archetypes of "horror at the end of the century" (picking up in 1980, where Stephen King's Danse Macabre leaves off). There follow essays devoted to Thomas Harris, Stephen King, Anne Rice, Peter Straub, William Peter Blatty, and Whitley Strieber. The last essay is on the interplay between horror fiction and film. Included is an thorough 13-page bibliography of primary (emphasizing fiction in the years 1988-94) and secondary sources.
Published in 1998 by The University of South Carolina Press
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