Yakov Perelman – Figures For Fun

Posted on May 23, 2012 by damitr

We now come to another book by Yakov Perelman called Figures for Fun. Again this work went through a lot of editions and was translated into many Indian languages.

From the Preface

To read and enjoy this book it will suffice to possess a modest knowledge of mathematics, i.e., knowledge of arithmetical rules and elementary geometry. Very few problems require the ability of forming and solving equations and the simplest at that.

The table of contents, as you may see, is quite diversified: the subjects range from a motley collection of conundrums and mathematical stunts to useful practical prob]enls on counting and measuring.

The author has done everything to make his book as fresh as possible, avoiding repetition of all that has already appeared in his other works (Tricks and Amusements, Interesting Problems, etc.). The reader will find a hundred or so brain-teasers that have not been included in earlier books. Chapter VI – “Number Giants” – is adapted from one of the author’s earlier pamphlets, with four new stories added.

This edition was published by Foreign Languages Publishing House, published perhaps in the 1950s. The book was translated from the Russian by G. Ivanov-Mumjiev and was designed by D. Bistt.

Update: 2025-01-18 a new, hi-res and clean scan added.

You can get the book here and here.

Tamil version here and here

All credits to the original uploader.

 

Posted in books, foreign languages publishing, mathematics | Tagged , | 19 Comments

Yakov Perelman – Algebra Can Be Fun

Posted on May 23, 2012 by damitr

We now come to Algebra can be fun by Yakov Perelman. This book has been translated into many Indian Languages. As with other Perelman books this book also has many editions.

From the Preface

This is not an easy-reading text on algebra for beginners.
Neither is it a manual. It is a book for free reading. It is
designed for a reader with some knowledge of algebra, even
though half mastered and perhaps half forgotten. The
present text hopes to help the reader recall such haphazard
knowledge and polish it up, the aim being to fix certain
facts in his mind. It is meant to develop in the reader a
taste for algebra and problem-solving, and also excite him
to dip into algebra textbooks and fill in the blanks in his
knowledge.

To make the subject more attractive I have made use of
a variety of tools: problems with intriguing plots to excite
the reader’s curiosity, amusing excursions into the history
of mathematics, unexpected uses that algebra is put to in
everyday affairs, and more.

This particular edition was edited and supplemented by V. G. Boltyansky and rranslated
from the thirteenth Russian edition by George Yankovsky ans was published by Mir in 1979.

You can get the book here and here.

Hindi version here and here

Marathi version here and here

Update: Added Internet Archive Link 07 December 2015

 

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Posted in books, mathematics, mir books, mir publishers | Tagged , | 16 Comments

Yakov Perelman – Astronomy for Entertainment

Posted on May 23, 2012 by damitr

Continuing with Yakov Perelman, we now come to Astronomy for Entertainment. This is a book that I have read as a digital copy only. I do not know if there are any translations in Indian languages, but I know of translation in Spanish. The book discusses many interesting things which will set the imagination running for all the people who will read it.

From  the Preface:

The purpose of the book is to initiate the reader into the basic facts of astronomy. But do not take it as a primer, since our presentation differs essentially from any text-book. Ordinary facts with which you may be acquainted are couched here in unexpected paradoxes, or slanted from an odd and unexpected angle, solely with a view to excite imagination and quicken interest. We have tried to free the theme as far as possible from the professional “terminology” and technical paraphernalia that so often make the reader shy of books on astronomy.

…

The book contains chapters relating to the Earth, the Moon, planets,
stars and gravitation. The author has concentrated in the main on
materials not usually discussed in works of this nature. Subjects
omitted in the present book, will, he hopes, be treated in a second volume. The book, it should be said, makes no attempt to analyze in detail the rich content of modern astronomy.

The book was translated from the Russian by A. Shkarovsky and edited by J. Gibbons and was published by Foreign Languages Publishing House in 1958. I do not know of any other editions.

You can get the book here. (All credits to original uploaders.)

A completely new and clean  scan done by us can be obtained here and here.

 

Update: Added Internet Archive Link | 07 December 2015

 

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Posted in astronomy, books, foreign languages publishing, mathematics, physics, science, soviet | Tagged , | 6 Comments

Yakov Perelman – Physics for Entertainment

Posted on May 23, 2012 by damitr

We now come to Physics for Entertainment by Yakov Perelman. This was one of the first physics books that I have read. The book as was noted in the earlier post has been translated in various Indian languages. These are some of the covers I could find. If you have/know of anymore please suggest them.

 

 

The books that are available are the ones in English, (volunteers needed for Indian languages). The date of publication being not printed on both of them, but my guess would be (looking at design of the books) 1950s or 1960s. Both were translated from the Russian by A. Shkarovsky and were designed by L. Lamm and were published by Foreign Languages Publishing House. The later editions and the ones in Indian languages were published by Mir.

You can get Volume 1 here  and here, Volume 2 here  and here or as a single volume.

Marathi volume 1

Kannada volume 1 and volume 2

Hindi volume 1 and volume 2

Bangla volume 1 and volume 2

All credits to the original uploaders.

Update: Added Internet Archive Link | 07 December 2015

For magnet / torrent links go here.

Posted in books, foreign languages publishing, physics, science, soviet | Tagged , | 14 Comments

Yakov Perelman – Fun with Maths and Physics

Posted on May 23, 2012 by damitr

We have talked about Yakov Perelman in detail in an earlier post. We now see one of the wonderful works of him titled Fun with Maths and Physics.

 

This particular edition was compiled by I. I. Prusakov and was translated from the Russian by Alexander Repyev. Mir Publishers first published this book in 1984 and second printing was done in 1988. The artists involved with this project were:

Cover: I. Kravtsov, V. Stulikov
Artistic Book Design: I. Kabakov, V. Keidan, I. Kravtsov, D. Lion, S. Mukhin, Yu. Perevezentsev, L. Saksonov, A. Sokolov, V. Stulikov, R. Varshamov, Yu. Vashchenko

Update: 2025 July 26

A new, extremely hi-res/clean scan added.

You can get it here and here

You can get the book here

here and here

Update: Added Internet Archive Link | 07 December 2015

All credits to the original uploader for the 1984 print and thanks to gnv64 for the 1988 print.

Posted in books, mathematics, mir books, mir publishers, physics, science | Tagged , | 9 Comments

Universal Physical Constants

Posted on May 23, 2012 by damitr

In this post we will see a wonderful little book titled Universal Physical Constants by O. P. Spiridonov.This is a book that deals with history of science in a wonderful way. There are six stories to be told about the constants themselves and the way we found their values. The  constants are:

  1. Gravitational Constant
  2. Boltzmann Constant and Avagadro’s Number
  3. Mass and Charge of electron
  4. Speed of Light
  5. Planck’s constant
  6. Masses of neutron, proton and other elementary particles

From the back cover:

The stern academical title of the book is somewhat misguiding tor this is, in fact, a fresh and exciting account of physics, tracing its experimental and conceptual development from the ancient Greeks up to the present day. In thorough studies and heated scientific controversies, it was through the endeavours of many remarkable men that the profound physical significance of the universal physical constants was revealed, sometimes with a complete revision of old views and formation of new physical disciplines. O. P. Spiridonov’s Universal Physical Constants appears to be the first book, both in the USSR and abroad, to be specifically concerned with a systematic discussion of the constants. A “case history” is given for each of them. In telling the story, the author places strong emphasis on logical continuity and the lucidity of his style is never achieved at the expense of scientific strictness.

The book was translated from Russian by Yevgeni Strelchenko and was first published by Mir in 1986.

You can get the book here. and here

Update: Posted link to Internet Archive 03 December 2015

Update: Posted a cleaned new copy on IA August 30, 2020

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Posted in astronomy, books, chemistry, history, mir books, mir publishers, physics, science, soviet | Tagged | 21 Comments

Misha!

Posted on April 30, 2012 by damitr

Many of us have pleasant and unforgettable memories of reading Misha – The Chidlren’s Illustrated Monthly. And suddenly all of them seem to have disappeared. They are no where to be found.

I have found two issues of Misha while browsing the internet. They are:

Update 16 August 2020 added more links

1983, 3rd Issue

1985 9th Issue

and here

1986 10th Issue

and here

1987, 9th Issue

1988, 2nd Issue

and here

1988, 3rd Issue

and here

1988, 4th Issue

and here

1988, 5th Issue

and here

1988, 6th Issue

and here

1988, 7th Issue

and here

1988, 8th Issue

and here

1988, 9th Issue

and here

1988, 11th Issue

and here

All credits and a ton of thanks to the original uploader!

Hope that we have the complete issues of Misha some time soon!

Password: mirtitles

Posted in books, soviet | Tagged , , , , , , | 28 Comments

Questions and Answers in School Physics – Tarasov and Tarasova

Posted on April 18, 2012 by damitr

This book was planned as an aid to students preparing for an entrance examination in physics for admission to an engineering institute. It has the form of a dialogue between the author (the Teacher:) and an inquisitive reader (the Student:). This is exceptionally convenient for analysing common errors made by students in entrance examinations, for reviewing different methods of solving the same problems and for discussing difficult questions of physical theory.

The English edition of this book was published in 1973 and was translated from the Russian by Nicholas Weinstein.

 

Electronic copy typeset in LaTeX here and here.

You can download this wonderful book from here and here.

 

 

Posted in books | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 11 Comments

Updates…

Posted on April 18, 2012 by damitr

The link for All About The Telescope has been updated. This is a major revision from the earlier link, in terms of quality. The download size is about ~118 MB.

Update 2: gnv64 has made a (much) smaller version of the above file ~ 7 MB. Check out the new link for that.

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Little Mathematics Library – Images of Geometric Solids

Posted on April 18, 2012 by damitr

We now come to another title in the Little Mathematics Library, this one is titled Images of Geometric Solids by N. M. Beskin

Drawing a plane figure is not geometrically difficult because the image drawn is either an exact copy of the original or a similar figure, e.g. the drawing of a circle looks like the original circle. Drawing geometric solids is quite a different matter. Unfortunately, there are no “spatial pencils” which can trace an object in the air. Such a pencil would “draw” a cube by tracing along its edges. Hence, we have to sketch a cube on paper with an ordinary pencil. A plane image will never be an exact copy of a solid and, therefore, a certain routine ought to be followed in drawing a solid that would create an image of the original in the best way.

What is the book about. Descriptive geometry embraces so
many methods that even a brief account would make up a rather thick volume. Therefore, we shall discuss just one of these methods, so as to enable the reader to make stereometric drawings and solve the respective problems…

This book presents a geometric theory of constructing
stereometric drawings. Having mastered this theory, a reader will be able to make the drawings himself rather than have to stick to the few sample ones.

The first chapter presents the theory, the second one is devoted
to its applications (drawing of a cube, a cone, a cylinder, etc.),
and the third one describes a method of plotting the points of an
image if their coordinates are known.

It is these strategies and routine that this book discusses. Though many things are possible with modern computer programs, but the logic may not be known to people who are using them.

The book was translated from the Russian by Valery Barvashov and was first published by Mir in 1985.  All credits to the original uploader.

Update 26 May 2018

The Internet Archive link.

and here

Continue reading →

Posted in books, little mathematics library, mathematics, mir books, mir publishers | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 7 Comments