Fifty years” worth of scientific and cultural adventure on the volcanism front Fisher (Geology/Univ. of Calif., Santa Barbara). Fisher offers an account of just what he was up to out there studying volcanoes, why they caught and held his fascination. He’s not interested in proving his thoughts on pyroclastic flows or base surges, or in delineating the competition’s ideas. Not that he doesn’t introduce readers to his good friends tuff and scoria and the shocking nuee ardente (a volcanic hurricane of incandescent gas and particles). It’s just that he’s more interested in capturing the atmosphere of the old field days, when volcanologists tried to deconstruct their quarry——determine the chemistry, unravel the history, and discover the eruptive cycles and the types of eruptions that have occurred”—by going out and hitting it with a hammer to see what they could see. The very idea of being stuck in a room with a computer, simulating small-scale sediment gravity flows, even for all its advancement of science, strikes him as not nearly as much fun as walking through lava tubes, taking in the sweep of a 40-mile-wide caldera, or having the chance to meet all the odd characters and eat all the weird food that comes with a life of travel. The best material here is the deeply affectionate portraits of the wild places to which his research took him, from the Pacific Northwest to China and the Caribbean. Pompeii and the ancient volcanoes of Europe were “solitary but indescribably peaceful,” places where Fisher lost himself in the slow creep of geologic time, his imagination conjuring “great, roaring, glowing, orange-hot curtains” of liquid rock or the cataclysmic eruptions that laid down the deposits that became his life’s work. Appealing snapshots of a time when academic geologists wore boots, from one of its graybeards. (29 line illustrations, not seen)
Pub Date: Jan. 1, 1999
ISBN: 0-691-00226-6
Page Count: 175
Publisher: Princeton Univ.
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 1998
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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