Longtime readers of popular science will find much that is familiar, but this is a fine introduction for beginners.
A cheerful, comprehensible and not-too-dumbed-down review of the material universe.
Blatner (The Flying Book: Everything You've Ever Wondered About Flying on Airplanes, 2004, etc.) stresses that we view reality on our own human scale, ignoring the invisible, often bizarre worlds of the very small, very large and very fast. He proceeds to correct this in a thin volume packed with illustrations, diagrams, marginal quotes and innumerable, if often familiar, gee-whiz analogies—e.g., if the Universe begins on January 1, the Earth appears on September 1, humans in the last hour before New Year’s Eve and all recorded history takes up the final 22 seconds of the year. Chapters on “numbers” and “size” demonstrate that the extremes defy common sense without a heavy dose of imagination. Imaginary numbers themselves (such as the square root of negative one) are essential in scientific calculations. Infinity is not a number but an idea. You can’t reach it by counting, and adding any number to infinity equals infinity. As objects get smaller, they become impossible to picture. An electron has no size or specific location; there’s only a probability that it’s present anywhere in the universe. Physicists calculate that no object can be smaller than the “Planck length,” which is extremely small, and no physical law forbids time to run backward, but it never does.
Longtime readers of popular science will find much that is familiar, but this is a fine introduction for beginners.Pub Date: Nov. 13, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-8027-1770-2
Page Count: 192
Publisher: Walker
Review Posted Online: Sept. 5, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2012
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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