. . . And on to the rings of Saturn? On the face of it the topic seems made for Asimov, and he certainly achieves a solid workmanlike treatment. But since how-and-why rather than who-did-what-when is where his heart lies, he doesn't breathe a great deal of life into the chronological organization the subject demands. Once past a summary of early astronomy and that first serendipitous 16th century combination of lenses, he settles down with relish to the technical aspects. The early telescopes did not instantly unlock the universe. Calculation of actual distances bad to await improvements in the accurate measurement of time, and the science of optics was still limited by uncertainties about the behavior of light and the imperfect state of the lens-maker's art. As late as the 18th century, Newton himself, unaware of the spectrographic properties of different kinds of glass, maintained that chromatic aberration (the partial prismatic effect of light passing through refracting lenses, resulting in colored rings around the image) could not be corrected. Asimov follows the development of reflecting telescopes (which brought a welcome reduction in the length of the instruments), the parallactic measurement of the nearest stars, and the improvement of both reflecting and refracting telescopes until the earth's atmosphere itself became the greatest technical hindrance to accurate observation. The last great innovations—photography and spectrography—were succeeded by discoveries beyond the visible spectrum which have established the primacy of the radio receiver over the eye. Optical telescopes remain more able to scan wide areas of sky, but at present radio telescopes give much better resolution. An interesting subject worked out with smooth efficiency, if not the ultimate Asimovian energy.
Pub Date: Sept. 13, 1975
ISBN: 039519427X
Page Count: -
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
Review Posted Online: Sept. 14, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1975
Not light reading but essential for policymakers—and highly recommended for the 40 million people who rely on the Great...
An alarming account of the “slow-motion catastrophe” facing the world’s largest freshwater system.
Based on 13 years of reporting for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, this exhaustively detailed examination of the Great Lakes reveals the extent to which this 94,000-square-mile natural resource has been exploited for two centuries. The main culprits have been “over-fishing, over-polluting, and over-prioritizing navigation,” writes Egan, winner of the J. Anthony Lukas Work-in-Progress Award. Combining scientific details, the stories of researchers investigating ecological crises, and interviews with people who live and work along the lakes, the author crafts an absorbing narrative of science and human folly. The St. Lawrence Seaway, a system of locks, canals, and channels leading to the Atlantic Ocean, which allows “noxious species” from foreign ports to enter the lakes through ballast water dumped by freighters, has been a central player. Biologically contaminated ballast water is “the worst kind of pollution,” writes Egan. “It breeds.” As a result, mussels and other invasive species have been devastating the ecosystem and traveling across the country to wreak harm in the West. At the same time, farm-fertilizer runoff has helped create “massive seasonal toxic algae blooms that are turning [Lake] Erie’s water into something that seems impossible for a sea of its size: poison.” The blooms contain “the seeds of a natural and public health disaster.” While lengthy and often highly technical, Egan’s sections on frustrating attempts to engineer the lakes by introducing predator fish species underscore the complexity of the challenge. The author also covers the threats posed by climate change and attempts by outsiders to divert lake waters for profit. He notes that the political will is lacking to reduce farm runoffs. The lakes could “heal on their own,” if protected from new invasions and if the fish and mussels already present “find a new ecological balance.”
Not light reading but essential for policymakers—and highly recommended for the 40 million people who rely on the Great Lakes for drinking water.Pub Date: March 7, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-393-24643-8
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Norton
Review Posted Online: Jan. 3, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
It took 14 years to build and it cost 15 million dollars and the lives of 20 workmen. Like the Atlantic cable and the Suez Canal it was a gigantic embodiment in steel and concrete of the Age of Enterprise. McCullough's outsized biography of the bridge attempts to capture in one majestic sweep the full glory of the achievement but the story sags mightily in the middle. True, the Roeblings, father and son who served successively as Chief Engineer, are cast in a heroic mold. True, too, the vital statistics of the bridge are formidable. But despite diligent efforts by the author the details of the construction work — from sinking the caissons, to underground blasting, stringing of cables and pouring of cement — will crush the determination of all but the most indomitable reader. To make matters worse, McCullough dutifully struggles through the administrative history of the Brooklyn Bridge Company which financed and contracted for the project with the help of the Tweed Machine and various Brooklyn bosses who profited handsomely amid continuous allegations of kickbacks and mismanagement of funds. He succeeds in evoking the venality and crass materialism of the epoch but once again the details — like the 3,515 miles of steel wire in each cable — are tiresome and ultimately entangling. Workmanlike and thorough though it is, McCullough's history of the bridge has more bulk than stature.
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 1972
ISBN: 0743217373
Page Count: 652
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Oct. 12, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1972
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