Science made accessible and entertaining.
The fascinating story of earth’s atmosphere, filled with fresh and lively biographical sketches of intrepid explorers of the natural world from Galileo to James Van Allen.
Walker, a consultant to New Scientist magazine, brackets her narrative with two opposite journeys through the atmosphere: Air Force test pilot Joe Kittinger’s extraordinary plunge from the edge of hostile space to the New Mexico desert in 1960, and the ascent of a weather balloon in Greenland in 2006. Between is a fascinating account of the very nature of the protective blanket that surrounds our earth. Walker, who has a Ph.D. in chemistry, writes with a pop journalist’s eye for the personal detail that makes a character come alive. There is no chalk dust in her description of Galileo’s measurements of the weight of air; Torricelli, Boyle and Hooke’s experiments with air pressure; Priestley and Lavoisier’s work with gases; or Joseph Black’s discovery of carbon dioxide. Who knew that Hooke was “an irascible hunchback, a hypochondriac with a caustic wit and a terrifying manner”? Or that Priestley discovered how to make fizzy drinks for his houseguests? The author also considers the motion of air, from Columbus’s utilization of the trades and Westerlies to carry him to the New World to the calculations of an American farmer who worked out that the winds of the northern and summer hemispheres move in mirror image. A chapter on ozone features the discoverer of the ozone layer, Irish scientist W.M. Hartley, and the American inventor of the CFC Freon, Thomas Midgley, as well as the scientists who discovered what CFCs were doing to the earth’s ozone layer. She concludes with Van Allen and his discovery of the radiation belts that bear his name. Throughout, the link between changes in the earth’s life-generating, life-preserving atmospheric shield and global warming are deftly woven into the narrative.
Science made accessible and entertaining.Pub Date: Aug. 1, 2007
ISBN: 978-0-15-101124-7
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2007
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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