Everybody knows that science textbooks (or any textbooks, for that matter) are notorious for their high prices. Thus, it is always refreshing—and a bit exhilarating—to come across entire free texts.

KNOXVILLE—Today's students in college biology and other science courses are increasingly being asked to analyze problems in quantitative ways, and now they have a new textbook to help them do so.

The Springer book Artificial Gravity, edited by Gilles Clément and Angie Bukley, has received the 2008 Life Science Book Award from the International Academy of Astronautics. This award is given ...