Seventeen essays from the Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction form this latest Asimov anthology. What's neat about the group is that rather than present random reviews, the essays are connected serially, laid out nicely in four major areas: physical chemistry, biochemistry, geochemistry and astronomy. The themes represent an interesting reprise of 19th- and 20th-century science. Physical chemistry focuses on batteries and, naturally, on electricity and magnetism, first from the point of view of the Galvanis and Voltas, the Oersteds, Faradays and Henrys, down to the postwar transistor era and current work on fuel and solar cells. One can imagine 12-year-olds reading these chapters virtually as do-it-yourself recipes for running wires around iron cores or making their own voltaic piles. Biochemistry is a treat for nutritionists. Asimov concentrates on the history of the discovery of vitamins and trace elements necessary for life. He reviews the classic experiment of British surgeon James Lind, who fed oranges and lemons to sailors to prove that the fruits would prevent scurvy (but alas did not live to see his advice heeded), down to the 20th-century stories of beriberi, pellagra and pernicious anemia. Biochemist Asimov is excellent here as he explains how vitamins work and why some need a "coenzyme" to do the job. Geochemistry plays upon the theme of tunneling to the center of the earth. Asimov unravels the mysteries of mass, temperature, and magnetism and how discoveries of radioactivity and devices like the seismograph have built up the present picture of the earth as thin crust atop a mantle over inner solid and liquid cores. Part four, culminating in the title essay—are Asimovian speculations on stars, planets, and space, beginning with a fine historical essay on time measurement, and ending with thoughts on where the universe is headed. To reach that climax, Asimov introduces concepts of "the Void," interstellar molecules and dust, the notion of superstars (not to be confused with supernovae), and the unresolved astronomical problem of the "missing Mass." Asimov presents alternatives (his own, he confesses) that would make it possible for universes to form and reform even if the present mass is insufficient to prevent an endless expansion and recession of galaxies. Here Asimov the scientist and science-fiction writer meet in an artless, seamless way that marks the man as formidable and readable as ever.
Pub Date: Feb. 6, 1987
ISBN: 0586202811
Page Count: -
Publisher: Doubleday
Review Posted Online: Sept. 16, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 1987
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis...
Privately published by Strunk of Cornell in 1918 and revised by his student E. B. White in 1959, that "little book" is back again with more White updatings.
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis (whoops — "A bankrupt expression") a unique guide (which means "without like or equal").Pub Date: May 15, 1972
ISBN: 0205632645
Page Count: 105
Publisher: Macmillan
Review Posted Online: Oct. 28, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1972
An autobiography as toxic and addictive as any drug its author has ever ingested.
The legendary booze-addled metal rocker turned reality-TV star comes clean in his tell-all autobiography.
Although brought up in the bleak British factory town of Aston, John “Ozzy” Osbourne’s tragicomic rags-to-riches tale is somehow quintessentially American. It’s an epic dream/nightmare that takes him from Winson Green prison in 1966 to a presidential dinner with George W. Bush in 2004. Tracing his adult life from petty thief and slaughterhouse worker to rock star, Osbourne’s first-person slang-and-expletive-driven style comes off like he’s casually relating his story while knocking back pints at the pub. “What you read here,” he writes, “is what dribbled out of the jelly I call my brain when I asked it for my life story.” During the late 1960s his transformation from inept shoplifter to notorious Black Sabbath frontman was unlikely enough. In fact, the band got its first paying gigs by waiting outside concert venues hoping the regularly scheduled act wouldn’t show. After a few years, Osbourne and his bandmates were touring America and becoming millionaires from their riff-heavy doom music. As expected, with success came personal excess and inevitable alienation from the other members of the group. But as a solo performer, Osbourne’s predilection for guns, drink, drugs, near-death experiences, cruelty to animals and relieving himself in public soon became the stuff of legend. His most infamous exploits—biting the head off a bat and accidentally urinating on the Alamo—are addressed, but they seem tame compared to other dark moments of his checkered past: nearly killing his wife Sharon during an alcohol-induced blackout, waking up after a bender in the middle of a busy highway, burning down his backyard, etc. Osbourne is confessional to a fault, jeopardizing his demonic-rocker reputation with glib remarks about his love for Paul McCartney and Robin Williams. The most distinguishing feature of the book is the staggering chapter-by-chapter accumulation of drunken mishaps, bodily dysfunctions and drug-induced mayhem over a 40-plus-year career—a résumé of anti-social atrocities comparable to any of rock ’n’ roll’s most reckless outlaws.
An autobiography as toxic and addictive as any drug its author has ever ingested.Pub Date: Jan. 25, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-446-56989-7
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2009
IN THE NEWS
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
