Subjects:  1. Calcium-Binding Proteins   2. Calpain   3. Calpastatin   4. Cells   5. Life Sciences - Biophysics   6. Mammals   7. Physical Biochemistry   8. Reference   9. Science   10. physiology   

Customer Reviews (1)

One man's outlook on the history and developoment of engines
Takashi Susuki's "The Romance of Engines" trikes me as being three books in one.The first, the one I thought I was going to read,is an interpretation of the development of the engine thrugh history. From the earliest steam efforts of Huygens, Newcomen and Watt, through Otto, the Carnot cycle and the work of Diesel, an interesting but scattered history of engines is provided. Tales and vignettes of aero and automotive designs. successes and flops, were the most enjoyable parts of the book for me. I particularly found the story of the Packard radial diesel and the reason for its failure to be a very compelling one of which I was completely unaware. Dr. Suzuki offers his insight as to why many designs failed. Some of these are inteesting, some are obvious, and some are an academic approach to hindsight from a person of a differnt time and culture. A staunch proponent of engineering science, Dr. Suzuki emphasizes the important role of failure analysis throughout the book. The second book I found in this work might be called "Diesel Cumbustion Theory." The author was employed by the Hino concern in the field of diesel development so naturally he included a great deal of this materiel. This topic is intermixed with historical materiel in a strange nonlinear chronology. Time and time again he brings up the important role of injection timing and pressure in controling diesel emissions. Also intermixed with nearly all parts of the book is the third theme, the socialogical and ecological responsibilities of engine design and application. The need for higher effeciency and cleaner running engines must be the jprime target of all engine design engineers. Dr. Suzuki finally states the the whole world must adopt the Japanese concept of harmony with nature, as opposed to to the foolish western notion of battling against natural forces. A little jingoistic here, I would say. Some of the book seems to be devoted to a defence from the western belief that the Japanese blatantly copy others' designs. The author indicates that everyone copies and that it is just good engineering to thoroughly study the works of others. I wondered if the Hino built Renault 4CVs were any better than the French ones. There were some surprising omissions, too. The most cutting edge of engine design has often been in the motorcycle field, yet this goes almost unmentioned. This is particularly surprising coming from Japan. I also thought the Caminez and the barrel type aero engines should be inculded, as well as the two-strokes of Bourke and Orbital. Some errors were noted, including labeling an SJ Duesenberg as a V8. Overall, having had a lifelong romance with engines myself, I am glad to have this title in my library. It has a good bibliography, is nicely illustrated, including cartoons by the author himself, and offers a high degree of browsability. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Crafts & Hobbies   2. Engineering - Mechanical   3. General   4. Heat Engineering   5. Heat-engines   6. History   7. Hobbies/Crafts   8. Technology & Industrial Arts   

Subjects:  1. Hara, Takashi   

Customer Reviews (2)

Expensive Book - Not Much Content
I purchased this book hoping to find some useful information. The book is expensive and in reality, I did not find anything inside that is practical.

I suggest looking elsewhere for a useful reference.

Product Design Review: A Method for Error-Free Development
Strengths:

1) This book presents a very critical subject which is going to play an important role in improving productivity, customer satisfaction via avoided costs (seen through reduction in installation and waranty costs, reduced costs of transfering product to volume manufacturing).

2) Presents consolidated information from various Japanese companies.

3) Gives a glimpse of how Japanese companies are actually practicing this important technique.

Weaknesses:

1) I would have liked the cases to be more detailed describing every step of design review in more details. This would have given readers a good head start if they were looking for a template.

Overall: Considering there is very little literature available on this important subject since most of it is company confidential, this book at least addresses this important subject and presents at least some details via case studies.

A must read for someone who wants to understand, write DR procedures.

thanks, ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Business / Economics / Finance   2. Design, Industrial   3. Development - Business Development   4. Entrepreneurship   5. Industrial Design   6. Industrial Design - General   7. New products   8. Reliability (Engineering)   9. Reliability Engineering   10. Science/Mathematics   11. Technology   12. Total Quality Management   

Subjects:  1. Asia, Southeastern   2. Sociology   3. Southeast Asia - History   

Subjects:  1. Aeronautics & Astronautics   2. General   3. Science/Mathematics   4. Technology   5. Technology & Industrial Arts   

Subjects:  1. Gardening/Plants   

Subjects:  1. Health/Fitness   

Subjects:  1. Health/Fitness   

Subjects:  1. Engineering - General   2. Science/Mathematics   3. Technology   4. Deltas, estuaries, coastal regions   5. Soil & rock mechanics   

Subjects:  1. Congresses   2. International Relations - General   3. Military Policy   4. Political Freedom & Security - International Secur   5. Political Science   6. Politics - Current Events   7. Politics/International Relations   8. Security, International   9. United Nations   

Subjects:  1. Differential Geometry   2. Geometry - Differential   3. Mathematics   4. Physics   5. Science/Mathematics   6. Topology - General   

Subjects:  1. Anime & Manga   2. Comics & Graphic Novels