A far-reaching but forbidding disquisition on gravity.
A physics treatise rethinks a fundamental yet mysterious aspect of the universe.
Isaac Newton thought of gravity as a force pulling together all matter; Albert Einstein, more abstractly, considered it a curvature of space-time, caused by matter. Ticer’s concept of gravity goes further in its complexity and abstruseness, which seeks to unify different threads of cosmology and quantum mechanics. He describes gravity as a “vacuum effect,” generated by virtual particles that blink in and out of existence, and he associates it with the Hubble constant that governs the speed at which the universe is expanding—seen in the cosmic redshift of light toward longer wavelengths—and with a “tired light” notion that ascribes the redshift to interactions between photons from distant stars and intervening objects. The author sets this account against the history of physics from Aristotle to Newton, encompassing Einsteinian relativity and modern models like the Higgs field. Ticer’s theorizing ambitiously seeks to unify discordant strands of thought about gravity, which still lacks an entirely complete and consistent explanation. His early chapters on ancient and early modern physics are lucid and illuminating, and he offers insightful, thought-provoking statements about lapses in modern physics consensus, such as “What is not explained is how gravity is constantly being created as a particular form of energy that does not diminish its source of creations.” However, the book is very dense. Ticer takes on too many topics to systematically develop them all, and advanced material is introduced in an abrupt, sketchy way that presumes readers already have expertise. There are reams of equations but few diagrams to help readers visualize the physical reality behind them. Ticer’s explanation of gravity is not simple, nor is it presented in a systematic or intuitive fashion; instead, it gets lost in turgid, coiling prose: “Mass is to be considered as the superimposition of wave packets of radiation wherefrom it is further explained how a restoring force is created as a recycling process of emitted gravitational radiation….” Lay readers will be baffled, and even physicists may find themselves frequently scratching their heads.
A far-reaching but forbidding disquisition on gravity.Pub Date: Jan. 24, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-66242-312-3
Page Count: 222
Publisher: Page Publishing, Inc.
Review Posted Online: March 4, 2022
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
A virtuoso performance and an ode to an undervalued medium created by two talented artists.
The veteran actor, comedian, and banjo player teams up with the acclaimed illustrator to create a unique book of cartoons that communicates their personalities.
Martin, also a prolific author, has always been intrigued by the cartoons strewn throughout the pages of the New Yorker. So when he was presented with the opportunity to work with Bliss, who has been a staff cartoonist at the magazine since 1997, he seized the moment. “The idea of a one-panel image with or without a caption mystified me,” he writes. “I felt like, yeah, sometimes I’m funny, but there are these other weird freaks who are actually funny.” Once the duo agreed to work together, they established their creative process, which consisted of working forward and backward: “Forwards was me conceiving of several cartoon images and captions, and Harry would select his favorites; backwards was Harry sending me sketched or fully drawn cartoons for dialogue or banners.” Sometimes, he writes, “the perfect joke occurs two seconds before deadline.” There are several cartoons depicting this method, including a humorous multipanel piece highlighting their first meeting called “They Meet,” in which Martin thinks to himself, “He’ll never be able to translate my delicate and finely honed droll notions.” In the next panel, Bliss thinks, “I’m sure he won’t understand that the comic art form is way more subtle than his blunt-force humor.” The team collaborated for a year and created 150 cartoons featuring an array of topics, “from dogs and cats to outer space and art museums.” A witty creation of a bovine family sitting down to a gourmet meal and one of Dumbo getting his comeuppance highlight the duo’s comedic talent. What also makes this project successful is the team’s keen understanding of human behavior as viewed through their unconventional comedic minds.
A virtuoso performance and an ode to an undervalued medium created by two talented artists.Pub Date: Nov. 17, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-250-26289-9
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Celadon Books
Review Posted Online: Aug. 30, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2020
PERSPECTIVES
An ebullient nature lover’s paean to birds.
A charming bird journey with the bestselling author.
In his introduction to Tan’s “nature journal,” David Allen Sibley, the acclaimed ornithologist, nails the spirit of this book: a “collection of delightfully quirky, thoughtful, and personal observations of birds in sketches and words.” For years, Tan has looked out on her California backyard “paradise”—oaks, periwinkle vines, birch, Japanese maple, fuchsia shrubs—observing more than 60 species of birds, and she fashions her findings into delightful and approachable journal excerpts, accompanied by her gorgeous color sketches. As the entries—“a record of my life”—move along, the author becomes more adept at identifying and capturing them with words and pencils. Her first entry is September 16, 2017: Shortly after putting up hummingbird feeders, one of the tiny, delicate creatures landed on her hand and fed. “We have a relationship,” she writes. “I am in love.” By August 2018, her backyard “has become a menagerie of fledglings…all learning to fly.” Day by day, she has continued to learn more about the birds, their activities, and how she should relate to them; she also admits mistakes when they occur. In December 2018, she was excited to observe a Townsend’s Warbler—“Omigod! It’s looking at me. Displeased expression.” Battling pesky squirrels, Tan deployed Hot Pepper Suet to keep them away, and she deterred crows by hanging a fake one upside down. The author also declared war on outdoor cats when she learned they kill more than 1 billion birds per year. In May 2019, she notes that she spends $250 per month on beetle larvae. In June 2019, she confesses “spending more hours a day staring at birds than writing. How can I not?” Her last entry, on December 15, 2022, celebrates when an eating bird pauses, “looks and acknowledges I am there.”
An ebullient nature lover’s paean to birds.Pub Date: April 23, 2024
ISBN: 9780593536131
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: Jan. 19, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
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