Amateur enthusiasts

This review has failed in the impossible task of giving a sjmopsis of everything that is now known or beUeved about ascorbic acid. But perhaps it serves as an illustration of recent trends in scientific thought, as appUed to one field of research in which there is much current activity. Some of these trends are disturbing. The earher papers cited in this review were written at a period when medical science was pursued by a few—almost amateur—enthusiasts who had time to confirm their own observations and leisure to record them accurately. Today, too frequently, research is a highly competitive business. The result is that experiments are often hurriedly conducted—sometimes without adequate control of the method employed—and as quickly reported. Though the authors conclusions may be intended to be no more than tentative, they are not always taken as such by hurried reviewers, who may subsequently report them as established fact, particularly if they happen to fit conveniently into some preconceived hypothesis. Unfortunately so many people are... 

A guide for the hobbyist, enthusiast, or amateur for the preparation of common, and un-common... 

Retire the system and return to paper (there are still a few activities which were computerized by an enthusiastic amateur and which add complexity for little or no benefit)... 

Finally it is time to ask the most important questions of all. Who devoted so much time and effort to study these questions in so much detail These are enthusiastic amateurs, adventure-cooks and cmious experts who are fans of the scientific field now called molecular gastronomy. This term was coined by Hungarian-born physicist Nicholas Kurti (1908-1998, bomKiirti Miklos), who was an expert in low temperature physics at the University of Oxford and had food science as a hobby. The methods were further developed and popularized by French chemist Herve This (pronounced Tis). Today, noted Catalan and French chefs Ferran Adria and Pierre Gagnaire prepare surprisingly diverse dishes using the principles of molecular gastronomy. 

FmaBy, 1 must thank dw many pop-up dCNUttcs - amateur and proficssKMul - without whose enthusiastic suppon ihb book could not have been wiiitm. 

The priority for end users is the usefulness of the book, but how can this be defined In a small, informal survey, a short questionnaire (Appendix 4.1) was sent to a number of Timber Press authors and readers, who can be roughly grouped as professionals (botanists, horticulture professionals, ecologists) and amateurs (natural history enthusiasts and serious gardeners). The survey asked what was most useful to them in plant information, whether from published books or electronic sources. In their responses, they were clear about their preferences, which matched my own observations after nearly 30 years publishing in this field. 

Despite its title, and although it contains discussion of relevant numerical techniques, this article is not a comprehensive survey of the numerical methods currently employed in detailed combustion modeling. For that, the reader is referred to the reviews by McDonald (1979) and Oran and Boris (1981). Rather, the aim here is to provide an introduction that will stimulate interest and guide the enthusiastic and persistent amateur. The discussion will center mainly about low-velocity, laminar, premixed flames, which form a substantial group of reactive flow systems with transport. Present computational capabilities virtually dictate that such systems be studied as quasi-one-dimensional flows. We also consider two-dimensional boundary layer flows, in which the variation of properties in the direction of flow is small compared with the variation in the cross-stream direction. The extension of the numerical methods to multidimensional flows is straightforward in principle, but implementation at acceptable cost is much more difficult. 

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