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Microscopy book

Posted: Fri Apr 05, 2019 6:40 pm
by ivangallego24
What opinion do those who have it have of this book?
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Re: Microscopy book

Posted: Fri Apr 05, 2019 7:46 pm
by MicroBob
Hi Ivan,
I have the original in german language and can recommend it. Many fields of microsope use are described with general information, methods and recipes. It is a very good starting point for the ambitioned amateur.

Bob

Re: Microscopy book

Posted: Sat Apr 06, 2019 11:23 pm
by billbillt
Do people here have magic powers of being able to discern clarity
in a foreign language they don't even know?...

BillT

Re: Microscopy book

Posted: Sun Apr 07, 2019 6:35 am
by MichaelG.
Given MicroBob's recommendation of the German version
and being blessed with the ability to copy text into DeepL
https://www.deepl.com/translate

I think the publisher's description inspires confidence that it should be 45 Euros well spent:
http://www.ediciones-omega.es/microbiol ... 570-1.html


The microscope opens perspectives on incredibly interesting small worlds that would otherwise be unknown. From houseplant viruses to the study of blood cells to the unicellular organisms of the garden puddle, this book invites students to make their own observations in many areas of the microcosm.

The basic methods it describes are: simple and special working techniques; durable staining procedures; production of permanent preparations and reference collections; special procedures such as darkfield, diffraction contrast, and polarization; culture of bacteria, algae, microfungi, and protozoa.


MichaelG.

Re: Microscopy book

Posted: Sun Apr 07, 2019 3:38 pm
by MicroBob

Re: Microscopy book

Posted: Sun Apr 07, 2019 4:55 pm
by MichaelG.
Thanks for that, Bob

I was curious as to why your link did not work,
but then realised that the closing / has escaped from the confines of the square brackets.
http://mikroskopie-bonn.de/literatur/index.html#a134

MichaelG.

Re: Microscopy book

Posted: Sun Apr 07, 2019 8:02 pm
by billbillt
there are plenty of books on microscopy, new and old written in English, and a lot can be downloaded for free..

Re: Microscopy book

Posted: Sun Sep 06, 2020 11:43 am
by Sorolla
Hola
Alguien podría suministrarme enlaces de descarga sobre libros de microscopía ?

Gracias Saludos

Re: Microscopy book

Posted: Sun Sep 06, 2020 12:04 pm
by DonSchaeffer
billbillt wrote:
Sun Apr 07, 2019 8:02 pm
there are plenty of books on microscopy, new and old written in English, and a lot can be downloaded for free..
Can you give me some references?

Re: Microscopy book

Posted: Sat Oct 31, 2020 3:44 am
by Greg Howald
Go to kindle and ask for books about microscopes. They have about 25 you can down load. The most expensive is over $300.00, but the subject is fluorescence microscopy. The cheapest is free.
Greg

Re: Microscopy book

Posted: Sat Oct 31, 2020 8:06 pm
by jimur
DonSchaeffer wrote:
Sun Sep 06, 2020 12:04 pm
billbillt wrote:
Sun Apr 07, 2019 8:02 pm
there are plenty of books on microscopy, new and old written in English, and a lot can be downloaded for free..
Can you give me some references?
Handbook of Basic Microtechnique (free pdf download) There are scores of others.

Re: Microscopy book

Posted: Sat Oct 31, 2020 9:32 pm
by DonSchaeffer
where do I get the handbook?

Re: Microscopy book

Posted: Sat Oct 31, 2020 9:44 pm
by BramHuntingNematodes

Re: Microscopy book

Posted: Sun Nov 01, 2020 2:16 am
by jimur
DonSchaeffer wrote:
Sat Oct 31, 2020 9:32 pm
where do I get the handbook?
Google the title Don and screen the results for "free" and or "pdf". You'll need the Adobe reader app which is a free dnld also.

Re: Microscopy book

Posted: Wed Nov 18, 2020 9:55 pm
by GeekyWife
The following can all be found on archive.org, free:

Botanical Microtechnique by John Sass
Elementary Microtechnique by Alan Peacock
Evenings at the Microscope by Phillip Henry Goss
The Microscope: A Practical Handbook by Lewis Wright
The Microscope and Its Revelations by William Benjamin Carpenter
Microscopic Fresh Water Life by F.J.W. Plaskitt
Handbook of Basic Microtechnique by Peter Gray
Methods in Plant Histology by Charles Chamberlain
Micrographia by Robert Hooke

There seem to be far more serious written works from 100-150 years ago, appropriate to the serious amateur, than there are today. When I look on the American Amazon site, I see mostly books aimed at kids. When I look for microscope societies or clubs in the USA, I see mostly organizations aimed at professionals.

Why is serious amateur microscopy not in the mainstream as it was 100-150 years ago?

Re: Microscopy book

Posted: Wed Dec 02, 2020 8:54 am
by enricosavazzi
GeekyWife wrote:
Wed Nov 18, 2020 9:55 pm
[...]
Why is serious amateur microscopy not in the mainstream as it was 100-150 years ago?
At that time, and earlier during the Victorian period, well-to-do people were expected to cultivate wide-ranging interests in science, history, literature etc. For example, see Lynn Barber 1980: The heyday of natural history, 1820-1870; Jonathan Cape, London. We can still see traces of that mentality in the toy microscopes that many kids receive as presents once in their life.

In the late 20th and 21st centuries, well-to-do people seem more interested in seeking excitement and physical stimulation rather than intellectual stimulation, hence the emphasis on action movies, social media, and activities of a more physical than intellectual nature, and the widespread view that science is just too boring to be a worthy pursuit.

Re: Microscopy book

Posted: Wed Dec 02, 2020 9:27 am
by DonSchaeffer
I am trying to introduce photomicroscopy as a branch of photography to my photo club and photo websites Im on. They make me post my micrographs in a non-photo miscellaneous section or rush past them. I think a lot of people are turned off by germs.

Re: Microscopy book

Posted: Mon Dec 07, 2020 7:29 pm
by GeekyWife
GeekyWife wrote: "Why is serious amateur microscopy not in the mainstream as it was 100-150 years ago?"

enricosavazzi wrote: "At that time, and earlier during the Victorian period, well-to-do people were expected to cultivate wide-ranging interests in science, history, literature etc. For example, see Lynn Barber 1980: The heyday of natural history, 1820-1870."

THANK YOU for the pointer to that book. I just finished reading it, and it gave an excellent overview of amateur natural history in that period, and pointed me to a number of 19th century authors that I now plan to read.

However, I don't think it fully answers the question I raised. Amateur astronomy is popular today, with practically every major metro area having one or more astronomy clubs. Local nature centers offer lectures, classes, and other introductions to the natural world, and they are very popular. Major museums of natural history are full of visitors. And ecology, study of ecosystems and biology in general, received a great deal of popular attention from the 1960s to the present.

Yet somehow the interest in popular science doesn't carry over to home microscopy. People will go on a nature walk with a guide, but won't have a microscope at home to look at natural objects. They'll go bird watching or participate in a Christmas Bird Count, but won't put a bird's feather under the microscope to understand it better.

I'm still not sure why public interest in science has not been paralleled by interest in amateur microscopy.

Re: Microscopy book

Posted: Tue Dec 08, 2020 8:14 am
by MichaelG.
GeekyWife wrote:
Mon Dec 07, 2020 7:29 pm
"Why is serious amateur microscopy not in the mainstream as it was 100-150 years ago?"

However, I don't think it fully answers the question I raised. […]

Yet somehow the interest in popular science doesn't carry over to home microscopy. People will go on a nature walk with a guide, but won't have a microscope at home to look at natural objects. They'll go bird watching or participate in a Christmas Bird Count, but won't put a bird's feather under the microscope to understand it better.

I'm still not sure why public interest in science has not been paralleled by interest in amateur microscopy.
.

I think it’s probably because there is a big ‘disconnect’ in modern Microscopy

The bird’s feather is an excellent example:
Imaging at that level fascinates almost everyone ... but it has become so commonplace that it is no longer magical: it’s just better close-up photography, and can be ‘consumed’ as readily as the junk-food whilst watching TV

I recently watched the first part of a series about the Great Barrier Reef, and the underwater video-macrography of Coral polyps was simply stunning quality ... but this has become the norm.

We know that that there is a lifetime of adventure and learning available at the next step ... but ‘the public’ tends to see a sudden and dramatic increase in cost and complexity when they see laboratory microscopes and what is done with them. ... and so instead proceeds to the next consumable that is served.

I remember the bliss of sitting in the John Rylands Library, in Manchester, comparing three editions of Robert Hooke’s Micrographia ... but the truth is: what was once cutting-edge science, and scientific illustration, is now what people expect to see, and therefore barely notice.

We need a new ‘stretch-target’ to encourage more practical interest ... and I suspect that this might come as image-stacking evolves into 3D reconstruction, at a hobbyist level.

MichaelG.

.

Ref. Transcript of Micrographia :

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/15491/15 ... 5491-h.htm

Re: Microscopy book

Posted: Tue Dec 08, 2020 9:35 pm
by 75RR
GeekyWife wrote:
Wed Nov 18, 2020 9:55 pm
Why is serious amateur microscopy not in the mainstream as it was 100-150 years ago?
I think it has more to do with the fact that microscopy is, as far as activities go, less social than most, and modern man tends to be more gregarious than his Victorian counterparts.

Re: Microscopy book

Posted: Thu Dec 10, 2020 5:48 pm
by GeekyWife
MichaelG. wrote:
Tue Dec 08, 2020 8:14 am

I think it’s probably because there is a big ‘disconnect’ in modern Microscopy

The bird’s feather is an excellent example:
Imaging at that level fascinates almost everyone ... but it has become so commonplace that it is no longer magical: it’s just better close-up photography, and can be ‘consumed’ as readily as the junk-food whilst watching TV

I recently watched the first part of a series about the Great Barrier Reef, and the underwater video-macrography of Coral polyps was simply stunning quality ... but this has become the norm.

‘The public’ tends to see a sudden and dramatic increase in cost and complexity when they see laboratory microscopes and what is done with them. ... and so instead proceeds to the next consumable that is served.
All good points, Michael. I suspect you're right. More people will watch a science video showing amazing microscope photography than will get their own microscope. More will watch Cosmos or look through a telescope at a public observing event than will obtain and use their own telescope.

The Victorian's had social pressure pushing them in the direction of more engagement with natural history, including terrariums, aquariums, microscopes, and field collecting. The Space Race generation, 1957-1973, watched Sputnik, Vostok, Mercury, Gemini, Apollo, and Skylab, which no doubt created many amateur astronomers.

But today, Western culture has become very passive. People watch instead of participate. :-(

Re: Microscopy book

Posted: Thu Dec 10, 2020 6:39 pm
by BramHuntingNematodes
I don't know that we have to make an appeal to the depravity of contemporary Western culture in comparison to Victorian times. There are a lot of birders, hikers, campers, hunters, gardeners, and other amateur naturalists out there today, but microscopes are fiddly and are expensive when new and obscure and infuriating when used. Cutting-edge biological microscopy moved out of reach for hobbyists a long time back, the 30s and 40s. The MSA says it started out focusing on the electron microscope. Well we have maybe one or two people with one here certainly not enough to start a club. The main use of light microscopes today is in routine technical lab work. That sounds like work not fun.

Why is interest in HAM radio dying out? Are there not some clear parallels?

Re: Microscopy book

Posted: Fri Dec 11, 2020 10:18 pm
by nikopol
BramHuntingNematodes wrote:
Thu Dec 10, 2020 6:39 pm
Why is interest in HAM radio dying out? Are there not some clear parallels?
HAM radio is eaten buy much more powerful communication thing - Internet. Maybe hobby microscopy is eaten buy research labs. But research labs are working mostly on things that are profitable. And there are not so many of such fields, I think.
Person in Victorian times was surrounded by mystery and new discoveries. Nowadays there might be a widespread perception that everything is already known to science. And even if something is not know - no chance of discovering it without a billion dollars and a quantum computer...
Some people told me that buying a microscope is a waste of money because it occupied space, and I will not use it, and specimen preparation and dying is essential, and without a degree I will never be able to prepare it...
Others just laughed. None told that it is a good or interesting idea.
Plus everyone had that toy microscope in childhood, and knows how painful and useless it is.

Re: Microscopy book

Posted: Sat Dec 12, 2020 12:32 am
by BramHuntingNematodes
nikopol wrote:
Fri Dec 11, 2020 10:18 pm

Plus everyone had that toy microscope in childhood, and knows how painful and useless it is.
Gosh yes amen.

Re: Microscopy book

Posted: Sat Dec 12, 2020 1:00 am
by hans
BramHuntingNematodes wrote:
Sat Dec 12, 2020 12:32 am
nikopol wrote:
Fri Dec 11, 2020 10:18 pm

Plus everyone had that toy microscope in childhood, and knows how painful and useless it is.
Gosh yes amen.
Best experienced Christmas afternoon following months of anticipation:
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Re: Microscopy book

Posted: Sat Dec 12, 2020 4:30 pm
by nikopol
Maybe i am not right about microscopes for kids. Even a bad tool is much better than no tool. And it might reveal kids interest
I had only a big magnifying glass. And most interesting for me was to burn things with the sunlight.

Re: Microscopy book

Posted: Sat Dec 12, 2020 6:02 pm
by hans
Maybe not this exact one, but I had something something very similar. I guess the biggest problem was the misleading advertising describing all the wonderful things you can see at high magnifications illustrated with photos taken using professional microscopes. I don't really remember what the view was like at low magnification, but I do remember that the higher magnifications were completely useless. I think the lenses were all plastic.

Re: Microscopy book

Posted: Mon Dec 14, 2020 7:00 am
by Challenger007
hans wrote:
Sat Dec 12, 2020 6:02 pm
Maybe not this exact one, but I had something something very similar. I guess the biggest problem was the misleading advertising describing all the wonderful things you can see at high magnifications illustrated with photos taken using professional microscopes. I don't really remember what the view was like at low magnification, but I do remember that the higher magnifications were completely useless. I think the lenses were all plastic.
Well, do you understand that advertising is often different from reality? If advertising had the same magnification quality as in life, who would buy such a microscope? Advertising is always exaggeration, otherwise it will not be effective.