Travel With Books: Africa: The Physics of Skiing: Skiing at the Triple Point

The Physics of Skiing: Skiing at the Triple Point
enlarge	Authors: David A. Lind, Scott P. Sanders Publisher: Springer Category: EBooks List Price: ~~$74.95~~ Buy New: $53.96 You Save: $20.99 (28%) Rating: 3 reviews Sales Rank: 65572 Format: Kindle Book Media: Kindle Edition Edition: 2nd Number Of Items: 1 Pages: 266 Dewey Decimal Number: 796.9301531 ASIN: B000PY3NGY Publication Date: November 30, 1996 Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours


Editorial Reviews: Product Description Understanding the properties of snow and how it changes and interacts with the skis will help you appreciate the special phenomena that occur at the triple point, where the solid, liquid, and vapor phases coexist. You'll learn about alpine, cross-country, and speed skiing techniques, wax performance, and you'll get scientific data that is not readily available on the technical specifications and performance of ski equipment. The new edition will include a chapter on biomechanics & physiology of skiing. Other chapters will be revised & brought up to date. The discussion of Alpine skiing will include an extensive discussion of the new "turning" skis.

Customer Reviews: Poorly written August 30, 2008 I go skiing at least once a year; I am also a University lecturer in Physics. I bought this book several years ago with the expectation that it would be a fascinating read. Unfortunately, it has failed to "grab" me. Some of the problems are fairly minor: for instance, the illustrations leave a lot to be desired. The references are often not just outdated but also obscure. For example, the main reference to the phase thermodynamics of water is a "US Army Corps of Engineers Special Report No. 81-6" - surely, a more widely-available, mainstream reference could have been found for such a textbook topic! Other problems are more fundamental: (1) The book lacks a unifying approach and a discussion of the basic concepts (this was also pointed out by one of the other reviewers). As a result, it reads more like a collection of disjointed technical notes than a book. (2) It fails to provide any insights into the practise of skiing beyond what one would pick up from a private lesson with an instructor. I am really not sure, what kind of target audience the authors had in mind when writing this book. But I do know that it has not been useful to me either as a skier or as a Physics lecturer. lots of data; lack of concept; slightly out-of-date January 25, 2003 5 out of 5 found this review helpful I am a firm believer that understanding of the mechanics of a carving ski and of the forces transferred between the skis and the skier as he makes his way down the slope are necessary to better understand why one or another skier's action may help to intiate a turn, or shorten its radius, or, in contrast, will lead to a skidded turn. "The physics of skiing" is the only book I could find which addresses the mechanics and physics of skiing. It starts with the physical properties of snow and its formation in the atmosphere, then discusses the properties of snow equipment (mostly downhill skis, briefly snowboards and cross-country skis), and then goes into dynamics of gliding, wedging, and carving. The book is written as a college textbook with numerous (although fairly simple) equations and diagrams of forces. It requires a sufficiently strong background in physics. Although it contains a large amount of interesting data, I was not quite satisfied with it for two reasons. First, it lacks a concept. It is more a review of different literature sources on skiing-related topics than an analysis combining understanding of physics of skiing with a discussion of how this knowledge is applicable to modern skiing techniques. It provides the readers with the background theory, but does not lead to any suggestions how to benefit from this understanding and improve their skiing technique. Too bad that the authors did not have a good ski instructor in their company to make the book more useful and down-to-earth. Secondly, since it is based on references published between 1977 and 1997, part of the discussion is more applicable to the old almost straight skis than to modern supersidecut skis. Want to Know about Skiis and Snow? This book will tell you September 30, 2001 2 out of 3 found this review helpful As a ski instructor the subject of how and why these damn things work as well as how to set up your skiis has always been of interest. This book will give you 95% of the answers to those questions. The book covers down hill, cross country as well as a catagory called adventure skiing. I will be ordering extra copies to give to my skiing friends W. E. M.