Illuminating preparatory reading for the August eclipse.
A theoretical physicist shares his “lifelong fascination with eclipses.”
Many readers will share Close’s (Physics/Oxford Univ.; Half-Life: The Divided Life of Bruno Pontecorvo, Physicist or Spy, 2015 etc.) conviction that the solar eclipse is “the most beautiful natural phenomenon” one can see. The author witnessed his first eclipse in 1954 at the age of 8. Still captivated by their allure—he has become a dedicated eclipse-watcher, traveling to remote spots around the world in pursuit of the experience—the author artfully weaves together his own experiences and an explanation of the phenomenon. He begins with a “cosmic coincidence.” Although our sun is “400 times broader than the moon,” because it is "400 times further away,” they can appear to be the same size. This allows the moon to block out the sun from our view during a total eclipse, a phenomenon that occurs every 18 months somewhere on Earth. The next event will take place on Aug. 21, 2017, when “up to 200 million people will gather in a narrow belt across the USA, from Oregon to South Carolina, to witness the most watched total solar eclipse in history.” Remarkably, although Greek astronomers did not understand the phenomenon, they were able to predict the occurrence of solar eclipses with an accuracy of about a month, and Shakespeare noted their occurrence in King Lear. Eclipse-watching has its disappointments, writes Close—e.g., in 1999, when the time and viewing opportunity had been precisely calculated but his view was completely obscured “by layers of impenetrable dark clouds.” More recently, a 5,000-mile trip to Zambia proved to be successful, and he describes the thrill of observing “a disc of pure blackness beg[in] to slide across the face of the Sun.” The author intends to share the upcoming August eclipse with his grandchildren, and he provides detailed instructions on how readers can see it for themselves.
Illuminating preparatory reading for the August eclipse.Pub Date: May 1, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-19-879549-0
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Oxford Univ.
Review Posted Online: March 14, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2017
Loads of good explaining, with reminders, time and again, of how much remains unknown, neatly putting the death of science...
Bryson (I'm a Stranger Here Myself, 1999, etc.), a man who knows how to track down an explanation and make it confess, asks the hard questions of science—e.g., how did things get to be the way they are?—and, when possible, provides answers.
As he once went about making English intelligible, Bryson now attempts the same with the great moments of science, both the ideas themselves and their genesis, to resounding success. Piqued by his own ignorance on these matters, he’s egged on even more so by the people who’ve figured out—or think they’ve figured out—such things as what is in the center of the Earth. So he goes exploring, in the library and in company with scientists at work today, to get a grip on a range of topics from subatomic particles to cosmology. The aim is to deliver reports on these subjects in terms anyone can understand, and for the most part, it works. The most difficult is the nonintuitive material—time as part of space, say, or proteins inventing themselves spontaneously, without direction—and the quantum leaps unusual minds have made: as J.B.S. Haldane once put it, “The universe is not only queerer than we suppose; it is queerer than we can suppose.” Mostly, though, Bryson renders clear the evolution of continental drift, atomic structure, singularity, the extinction of the dinosaur, and a mighty host of other subjects in self-contained chapters that can be taken at a bite, rather than read wholesale. He delivers the human-interest angle on the scientists, and he keeps the reader laughing and willing to forge ahead, even over their heads: the human body, for instance, harboring enough energy “to explode with the force of thirty very large hydrogen bombs, assuming you knew how to liberate it and really wished to make a point.”
Loads of good explaining, with reminders, time and again, of how much remains unknown, neatly putting the death of science into perspective.Pub Date: May 6, 2003
ISBN: 0-7679-0817-1
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Broadway
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2003
BOOK TO SCREEN
A media-savvy scientist cleans out his desk.
Tyson (Astrophysics for People in a Hurry, 2017, etc.) receives a great deal of mail, and this slim volume collects his responses and other scraps of writing.
The prolific science commentator and bestselling author, an astrophysicist at the American Museum of Natural History, delivers few surprises and much admirable commentary. Readers may suspect that most of these letters date from the author’s earlier years when, a newly minted celebrity, he still thrilled that many of his audience were pouring out their hearts. Consequently, unlike more hardened colleagues, he sought to address their concerns. As years passed, suspecting that many had no interest in tapping his expertise or entering into an intelligent give and take, he undoubtedly made greater use of the waste basket. Tyson eschews pure fan letters, but many of these selections are full of compliments as a prelude to asking advice, pointing out mistakes, proclaiming opposing beliefs, or denouncing him. Readers will also encounter some earnest op-ed pieces and his eyewitness account of 9/11. “I consider myself emotionally strong,” he writes. “What I bore witness to, however, was especially upsetting, with indelible images of horror that will not soon leave my mind.” To crackpots, he gently repeats facts that almost everyone except crackpots accept. Those who have seen ghosts, dead relatives, and Bigfoot learn that eyewitness accounts are often unreliable. Tyson points out that extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence, so confirmation that a light in the sky represents an alien spacecraft requires more than a photograph. Again and again he defends “science,” and his criteria—observation, repeatable experiments, honest discourse, peer review—are not controversial but will remain easy for zealots to dismiss. Among the instances of “hate mail” and “science deniers,” the author also discusses philosophy, parenting, and schooling.
A media-savvy scientist cleans out his desk.Pub Date: Oct. 8, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-324-00331-1
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Norton
Review Posted Online: Sept. 1, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2019
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