Satisfying soul food for your inner geek: an enjoyable tour of science fact and fiction by a writer who obviously revels in...
Space travel. Time travel. Travels in other dimensions. Microwaves. Whatever smacks of the future is the product of science—but imagined by science fiction first.
Science journalist Clegg’s (Final Frontier: The Pioneering Science and Technology of Exploring the Universe, 2014, etc.) book begins a little inauspiciously, inasmuch as he allows that while everyone else in the world was paying attention to the assassination of John F. Kennedy, he was glued to the TV watching the premiere of Doctor Who. Trained in physics but steeped in sci-fi, the author takes readers on an amiable stroll into worlds that once seemed improbable, reminding them that science fiction, by definition, has to have some grounding in reality and “requires at least a hat tip toward what is physically possible.” What is possible shifts and moves in time, of course. Early on, Clegg quotes a complaint lodged by Jules Verne against the young upstart H.G. Wells, grumbling that while his space travelers get to the moon by cannonball, Wells “goes to Mars in an airship, which he constructs of a metal which does not obey the law of gravitation.” Clegg sometimes stretches to allow cool stuff into his narrative. One doubts that Roger Bacon really imagined that a wall of talking brass could be constructed around England, but yet we have home burglar alarms; chalk it up to science fiction’s “leaps of faith,” which permitted such things as time travel well before Einstein had figured out the math. Still, Clegg reminds us, check your watch: “Leave the ship flying for a good length of time,” he warns would-be rocketeers, “and a big time differential with the Earth will build up.” He adds, elsewhere, that if the details aren’t exactly right in the imaginative literature, never fear: “Science fiction may have got the exact means…wrong, but the general concept is all too possible.”
Satisfying soul food for your inner geek: an enjoyable tour of science fact and fiction by a writer who obviously revels in both.Pub Date: Dec. 8, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-250-05785-3
Page Count: 320
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: Oct. 19, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2015
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An intriguing meditation on the nature of the universe and our attempts to understand it that should appeal to both...
Italian theoretical physicist Rovelli (General Relativity: The Most Beautiful of Theories, 2015, etc.) shares his thoughts on the broader scientific and philosophical implications of the great revolution that has taken place over the past century.
These seven lessons, which first appeared as articles in the Sunday supplement of the Italian newspaper Sole 24 Ore, are addressed to readers with little knowledge of physics. In less than 100 pages, the author, who teaches physics in both France and the United States, cogently covers the great accomplishments of the past and the open questions still baffling physicists today. In the first lesson, he focuses on Einstein's theory of general relativity. He describes Einstein's recognition that gravity "is not diffused through space [but] is that space itself" as "a stroke of pure genius." In the second lesson, Rovelli deals with the puzzling features of quantum physics that challenge our picture of reality. In the remaining sections, the author introduces the constant fluctuations of atoms, the granular nature of space, and more. "It is hardly surprising that there are more things in heaven and earth, dear reader, than have been dreamed of in our philosophy—or in our physics,” he writes. Rovelli also discusses the issues raised in loop quantum gravity, a theory that he co-developed. These issues lead to his extraordinary claim that the passage of time is not fundamental but rather derived from the granular nature of space. The author suggests that there have been two separate pathways throughout human history: mythology and the accumulation of knowledge through observation. He believes that scientists today share the same curiosity about nature exhibited by early man.
An intriguing meditation on the nature of the universe and our attempts to understand it that should appeal to both scientists and general readers.Pub Date: March 1, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-399-18441-3
Page Count: 96
Publisher: Riverhead
Review Posted Online: Dec. 7, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2015
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A magnificent account of a central reality of our times, incorporating deep scientific expertise, broad political and social knowledge, and ethical insight, and Idled with beautifully written biographical sketches of the men and women who created nuclear physics. Rhodes describes in detail the great scientific achievements that led up to the invention of the atomic bomb. Everything of importance is examined, from the discovery of the atomic nucleus and of nuclear fission to the emergence of quantum physics, the invention of the mass-spectroscope and of the cyclotron, the creation of such man-made elements as plutonium and tritium, and implementation of the nuclear chain reaction in uranium. Even more important, Rhodes shows how these achievements were thrust into the arms of the state, which culminated in the unfolding of the nuclear arms race. Often brilliantly, he records the rise of fascism and of anti-Semitism, and the intensification of nationalist ambitions. He traces the outbreak of WW II, which provoked a hysterical rivalry among nations to devise the bomb. This book contains a grim description of Japanese resistance, and of the horrible psychological numbing that caused an unparalleled tolerance for human suffering and destruction. Rhodes depicts the Faustian scale of the Manhattan Project. His account of the dropping of the bomb itself, and of the awful firebombing that prepared its way, is unforgettable. Although Rhodes' gallery of names and events is sometimes dizzying, his scientific discussions often daunting, he has written a book of great drama and sweep. A superb accomplishment.
Pub Date: Feb. 1, 1986
ISBN: 0684813785
Page Count: 932
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Oct. 28, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 1986
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