Outstanding history accompanied by outstanding popular science.
Three nations sent expeditions to the Antarctic in the late 1830s and early 1840s. This fascinating account describes their members’ heroism and often disastrous experiences without ignoring the significant discoveries that followed.
Wood (Environmental Humanities/Univ. of Illinois; Tambora: The Eruption That Changed the World, 2014) writes that by the early decades of the 19th century, whalers, sealers, and explorers had penetrated deep into the icepack and touched dry ground. Geographers suspected there was more, and the spirit of discovery, national rivalry, and the persistent fantasy that a rich, temperate land lay near the pole encouraged further voyages into the planet’s last great uncharted territory. In France and England, two experienced explorers—Jules Dumont d’Urville and James Ross—commanded their nation’s expeditions. The American ships, so long delayed and poorly organized that its senior officers refused to serve, sailed under junior officer Lt. Charles Wilkes, whose dysfunctional command style produced almost universal hatred from his men, who were “focused on what they perceived as his despicable stratagems to hog the glory of polar discovery for himself.” Wood delivers riveting accounts of the voyages, which, hobbled by primitive technology and wooden sailing vessels, featured immense courage, suffering, loss of life, and shipwreck but produced important advances. “The first race to the pole resulted in a split decision,” writes the author. “The French were the first to sight Antarctica and make landing, while the Americans charted the greatest section of coast and established its continental dimensions. The British, meanwhile, who were the last on the scene, traveled the furthest and saw the most.” Mixed with these adventures, Wood provides a rich history of Antarctica, which was a lush, temperate land before it froze 50 million years ago, and a portrait of the continent today, whose mysteries are now less geographic than meteorological. If its ice (90% of the world’s) melts, oceans would rise more than 200 feet, and this might be now in progress.
Outstanding history accompanied by outstanding popular science.Pub Date: March 3, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-691-17220-0
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Princeton Univ.
Review Posted Online: Nov. 25, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2020
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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