by Thomas Parrish ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 10, 2004
Dry if well-researched: best for students of naval history.
Dive, dive! Ah-oogah, ah-oogah!
Beg pardon, but military historian Parrish (Berlin in the Balance, 1998, etc.) steers his text so far away from Run Silent, Run Deep–like clichés (and, sadly, excitement) that the reader may feel compelled to provide some. Instead, Parrish’s narrative duly points to the evolution of the submarine from experimental tinker toy to tactical spearhead. A high point comes early on, when Parrish discusses the many sources of the modern submarine, including designs by Leonardo da Vinci; 16th-century English mathematician William Bourne; American naval architects Robert Fulton and David Bushnell; and the unsung Irish revolutionary John Holland, whose Fenian Ram of 1878 “came close to ranking as the first functioning submarine.” In WWI, Parrish holds, the now fully functioning submarine “exercised decisive political influence”; it helped shape political alliances that eventually drew America into the Allied cause, and its manufacture and use were political as much as strategic matters. Had it had only 50 more submarines, one English leader remarked, Germany would have won that naval battle, as it very nearly did the Battle of the Atlantic in WWII. Parrish revisits now-familiar episodes in WWII naval history, including the deciphering of the German Enigma cryptographic system. But, usefully, he illuminates some lesser-known aspects of the conflict: the lack of coordination among the Axis naval powers (Pearl Harbor, Parrish writes, was as a surprise to the Germans as to the Americans) and the successful application of German tactics on the part of American submariners in the Pacific, especially against Japanese merchant ships. Parrish closes his narrative with an examination of the modern superpowers’ submarine forces, including the Soviets’ accident-prone supersubs and the Americans’ stealthy “boomers,” which are still in service today. In that modern era, he observes, the submarine had evolved still further, from highwayman-like destroyer of merchant ships to a powerful instrument of nuclear deterrence—and “queen of warships.”
Dry if well-researched: best for students of naval history.Pub Date: May 10, 2004
ISBN: 0-670-03313-8
Page Count: 572
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2004
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by Carlo Rovelli ; translated by Simon Carnell & Erica Segre ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 1, 2016
An intriguing meditation on the nature of the universe and our attempts to understand it that should appeal to both...
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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
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by Carlo Rovelli ; translated by Simon Carnell
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by Carlo Rovelli ; translated by Marion Lignana Rosenberg
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by Carlo Rovelli ; translated by Erica Segre & Simon Carnell
by Richard Rhodes ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 1, 1986
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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