More delightful nature writing from the author of A Book of Bees (1988) and A Country Year (1986). This time, Hubbell pulls off a tour de force, managing to turn those horrid creatures—bugs—into beings not only fascinating but even lovable. Rather than survey the entire range of the little beasts, she focuses on ten favorites, and on the entomologists who study them—who sometimes seem as peculiar as their subjects. First up: butterflies. A wise choice, everyone loves them. Hubbell revels in the Xerces Society's annual Fourth of July butterfly count and befriends a lepidopterist who uses a net named Martha. On to moths and flies, silverfish and katydids. Odd facts gather like ants around a sugar cube: 25% of all animal species are beetles; dragonflies zoom at 60 mph; there may be 50 million midges in a single swarm. Odd scientists pop up too, like the daddy longlegs specialist who can identify individual species of this abused arachnid (young boys like to pluck off its legs) simply by smell. But best here is the hands-on adventure, as when Hubbell goes ladybug-harvesting with the pros and rounds up millions of the critters in one day, or travels to Medford, Massachusetts, to track down the house from which the first gypsy moth escaped to devastate America's trees. She confesses to spending ``unconscionable amounts of time'' watching water striders walk on water, and allows that she is perhaps the only person who keeps camel crickets as pets. Just a few bugs come off as villains—above all, the black fly, which causes river blindness in Africa, although Hubbell reports that this pest may soon be eradicated: a legal, and much applauded, deliberate extinction of a species. Hubbell at her best, abuzz with brightness. (Fifty-six terrific, prickly b&w line drawings of creepy-crawlies)
Pub Date: May 1, 1993
ISBN: 0-679-40062-1
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 1993
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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