In About Science, Myself and Others, Vitaly Lazarevich Ginzburg, co-recipient of the 2003 Nobel Prize in Physics and Editor of the review journal Physics-Uspekhi, provides an insight into modern physics, the lives and works of other prominent physicists he has known, and insight into his own life and views on physics and beyond. Divided into three parts, the book starts with a review of the key problems in contemporary physics, astrophysics, and cosmology, examining their historical development and why they pose such a challenge to today's physicists and for society. Part One also includes details of some of Professor Ginzburg's work, including superconductivity and superfluidity. Part Two encompasses several articles on the lives and works of several prominent physicists, including the author. The third part is a collection of articles that provide a personal view of the author, describing his personal views and recollections on a range of wider topics. Taken together, this collection of articles creates an enjoyable review of physics, its philosophy, and key players in its modern development in the 20th Century. Undoubtedly, it will be an enjoyable read for professional physicists and non-scientists alike.

In About Science, Myself and Others, Vitaly Lazarevich Ginzburg, co-recipient of the 2003 Nobel Prize in Physics and Editor of the review journal Physics-Uspekhi, provides an insight into modern physics, the lives and works of other prominent physicists he has known, and insight into his own life and views on physics and beyond.
Divided into three parts, the book starts with a review of the key problems in contemporary physics, astrophysics, and cosmology, examining their historical development and why they pose such a challenge to today's physicists and for society. Part One also includes details of some of Professor Ginzburg's work, including superconductivity and superfluidity. Part Two encompasses several articles on the lives and works of several prominent physicists, including the author. The third part is a collection of articles that provide a personal view of the author, describing his personal views and recollections on a range of wider topics.
Taken together, this collection of articles creates an enjoyable review of physics, its philosophy, and key players in its modern development in the 20th Century. Undoubtedly, it will be an enjoyable read for professional physicists and non-scientists alike.

I first learned of the existence of this book on high-temperature superconduc tivity when I received a copy in the office of one of the co-editors, Prof. V. L. Ginzburg, shortly after publication. I had known of the work on problems and prospects of achieving high-temperature superconductors by the members of the I. E. Tamm Department of Theoretical Physics of the P. N. Lebedev Physical Institute. I was naturally anxious to read and study this volume, which inte grates the work of more than a decade. Lest one think that the contributions contained here are of the nature of a reflective looking backward, two important considerations should be kept in mind. First, achievement of high-Tc superconductivity is very much a current and future goal. Elsewhere, one of the authors has described it in these words: "Yes, high-temperature superconductivity is a dream, but a sufficiently realistic one. " Second, the current physics literature contains reports of new and astounding findings-perhaps some of these will later be recognized as precursors to achieving the "dream.

The first edition of this book entitled Analysis on Riemannian Manifolds and Some Problems of Mathematical Physics was published by Voronezh Univer sity Press in 1989. For its English edition, the book has been substantially revised and expanded. In particular, new material has been added to Sections 19 and 20. I am grateful to Viktor L. Ginzburg for his hard work on the transla tion and for writing Appendix F, and to Tomasz Zastawniak for his numerous suggestions. My special thanks go to the referee for his valuable remarks on the theory of stochastic processes. Finally, I would like to acknowledge the support of the AMS fSU Aid Fund and the International Science Foundation (Grant NZBOOO), which made possible my work on some of the new results included in the English edition of the book. Voronezh, Russia Yuri Gliklikh September, 1995 Preface to the Russian Edition The present book is apparently the first in monographic literature in which a common treatment is given to three areas of global analysis previously consid ered quite distant from each other, namely, differential geometry and classical mechanics, stochastic differential geometry and statistical and quantum me chanics, and infinite-dimensional differential geometry of groups of diffeomor phisms and hydrodynamics. The unification of these topics under the cover of one book appears, however, quite natural, since the exposition is based on a geometrically invariant form of the Newton equation and its analogs taken as a fundamental law of motion."

The first edition of this book entitled Analysis on Riemannian Manifolds and Some Problems of Mathematical Physics was published by Voronezh Univer sity Press in 1989. For its English edition, the book has been substantially revised and expanded. In particular, new material has been added to Sections 19 and 20. I am grateful to Viktor L. Ginzburg for his hard work on the transla tion and for writing Appendix F, and to Tomasz Zastawniak for his numerous suggestions. My special thanks go to the referee for his valuable remarks on the theory of stochastic processes. Finally, I would like to acknowledge the support of the AMS fSU Aid Fund and the International Science Foundation (Grant NZBOOO), which made possible my work on some of the new results included in the English edition of the book. Voronezh, Russia Yuri Gliklikh September, 1995 Preface to the Russian Edition The present book is apparently the first in monographic literature in which a common treatment is given to three areas of global analysis previously consid ered quite distant from each other, namely, differential geometry and classical mechanics, stochastic differential geometry and statistical and quantum me chanics, and infinite-dimensional differential geometry of groups of diffeomor phisms and hydrodynamics. The unification of these topics under the cover of one book appears, however, quite natural, since the exposition is based on a geometrically invariant form of the Newton equation and its analogs taken as a fundamental law of motion."

Contents: The Lagrangian Function of a High-Intensity Electromagnetic Field; The Shift of Electron Mass in a High-Intensity Field; Three-Photon Interaction in a High-Intensity Field; Radiation Effects and their Enhancement in a High-Intensity Electromagnetic Field; An S-Matrix of Quantum Electrodynamics with a Pair-Production External Field; A Particle in a Static Electrical Field and a Planar Electromagnetic Wave Propagating Along the Field; The Formation of a e+e-Pair from a Fast Muon/Atom Collision; The Influence of a Laser Field on the Beta Decay of Nucleii and Other Processes Occurring in the Absence of a Field.