The author’s enthusiasm is infectious in this chronicle of astronomical passion.
Sprawling adventure memoir and natural history of meteorites from Cokinos (English and Creative Writing/Utah State Univ.; Hope Is the Thing With Feathers: A Personal Chronicle of Vanished Birds, 2000).
In his quest to understand the passions of the opportunists, innovators and romantics that popular the history of meteorites, the author traverses the globe, tracing their footsteps, absorbing their stories and, ultimately, understanding their obsession. Cokinos follows meteorites to Greenland, New Zealand, Europe and Antarctica, and in each location comes away with a stronger sense of how these mysterious chunks of space rock have affected humanity—including the still-looming, though remote, possibility of a future catastrophic impact. Carrying 4.5 billion-year-old material, meteorites provide scientists with the opportunity to examine ancient organic matter and deduce important developments of the primordial universe. Some researchers even suspect that meteorite impacts, such as the one that caused the Lake Acramen crater in Australia, “sparked the first extensive rise of complex life on Earth.” Throughout his well-paced narrative, the author’s naturalist tendencies bloom in his lush descriptions of his surroundings. The last section, which details an arduous trip to the far frontiers of Antarctica, is a thrilling account of the extreme psychological and physical endurance required to complete such field research. His emotions sharpened in isolation, Cokinos writes in awe of the similarities between mountains in Greenland and the South Pole, and meteor craters in Arizona and Australia. He’s also amazed by the almost identical way different indigenous groups spiritualize meteorites, and by the insistent pull of home wherever his research took him. It’s a unique thrill to be the first human to step on a certain sheet of ice or to touch the oldest known meteorite, but Cokinos concludes that “the marvels of adventure are nothing beside the clarities of home.”
The author’s enthusiasm is infectious in this chronicle of astronomical passion.Pub Date: Aug. 1, 2009
ISBN: 978-1-58542-720-8
Page Count: 480
Publisher: TarcherPerigee
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2009
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
The Johnstown Flood was one of the greatest natural disasters of all time (actually manmade, since it was precipitated by a wealthy country club dam which had long been the source of justified misgivings). This then is a routine rundown of the catastrophe of May 31st, 1889, the biggest news story since Lincoln's murder in which thousands died. The most interesting incidental: a baby floated unharmed in its cradle for eighty miles.... Perhaps of local interest-but it lacks the Lord-ly touch.
Pub Date: March 18, 1968
ISBN: 0671207148
Page Count: 312
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Oct. 12, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 1968
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