PRO CONNECT
Barry Boyce was a graduate student in the neurosciences. He has over 30 years teaching natural history and astronomy on and outreach basis on expedition voyages to the Galápagos Islands and the Antarctic; this book is an orderly presentation of the best of these moments. He currently teaches outreach astronomy for the University of Arizona at their Mt. Lemmon Sky Center. He is also a member of the U. Arizona Astronomy Board. Barry is an astrophotographer and nature photographer; his images can be seen on www.barryboyce.com . He is the author ASTRONOMY & NATURAL HISTORY CONNECTIONS: FROM DARWIN TO EINSTEIN, now available as an ebook on most formats (including Amazon and iBooks). The book is 320 pages with 25 full-color images (many of which are astrophotography - all taken by the author). Barry has also written A TRAVELER'S GUIDE TO THE GALAPAGOS ISLANDS.
ASTRONOMY & NATURAL HISTORY CONNECTIONS: FROM DARWIN TO EINSTEIN
A New book by Barry Boyce - available as an e-book
2 dynamic, in-depth courses in 1 - Essential reading for the ever-curious in both sciences that are effectively, and thoroughly presented by a proven outreach teaching method – lectures in the field, under the sky, and on the ocean – not in a classroom. The coverage is thorough - check out the table of contents. This is a single-source reference book with entertaining yet thorough discussions on relativity, quantum mechanics, speciation, and natural selection. From the Classic Greek Periods to the present, many key biographies are included to maintain a historical perspective and to see the origins of the many connections between the physical and biological worlds around you, including the Universe or Cosmos – whichever you are more comfortable with.
This is not “astronomy for the dummy or the idiot or those in a hurry”; it’s for the vast majority of the general public that call themselves interested as well as curious to learn much more about the world around and above us.
“The book is a useful one for science fans, providing coherent and engaging explanations of complex subjects in easy-to-follow language, with a firm foundation in the experience and expertise of a dynamic teacher eager to deliver lessons to an audience. - KIRKUS REVIEWS”
– Kirkus Reviews
A science lecturer expands on his favorite astronomy and evolutionary topics.
In this book, Boyce (A Travelers Guide to the Galápagos Islands, 1990) draws on his skills as a tour guide and educator to draw connections between astronomy and natural history. With a wry sense of humor and a broad base of knowledge—along with thorough research, displayed in a substantial bibliography—the author steers readers through navigating the night sky with a telescope, supplies a timeline of astronomical discoveries from the ancient Greeks to the present, follows Charles Darwin to the South Pacific, and explains the mechanics of evolution in detail. The text is illustrated with vivid, full-color images of Earth and the universe, all captured by Boyce. The book is full of opinionated commentary (Tycho Brahe “was a bit of a real life Supernova”; a wormhole theorist “had the best intentions, but so did Peter Benchley when he wrote Jaws”) and packed with a wealth of information, presented with the same showmanship and zeal as one of the author’s lectures. Boyce’s passion for sharing his knowledge of the natural world with others is evident throughout, and if the chapters occasionally run long, it is only because of his boundless energy when imparting scientific nuggets. The author’s idiosyncratic diction, with nonstandard italics (used for proper nouns like “University of Arizona” and “Nobel Prize”) and capitalization (“a recent detection of Gravity Waves from a cataclysmic Black Hole merger that was reported to be 10 times greater than the combined light energy from all the Stars and Galaxies in the Universe”), detracts somewhat from the exuberant prose. And there are a few minor errors (Einstein did not publish in 2005). Despite these limitations, the book is a useful one for science fans, providing coherent and engaging explanations of complex subjects in easy-to-follow language, with a firm foundation in the experience and expertise of a dynamic teacher eager to deliver lessons to an audience.
An enthusiastic guide to learning about the natural world.
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2018
Page count: 423pp
Publisher: The Baryon Press
Review Posted Online: Aug. 21, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2018
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