Even veteran stargazers won’t find much value in the oddball approach, and for younger ones, more cogent, readable print and...
This quirky introduction to the solar system and constellations aims for a broad audience—and scores a clean, complete miss.
With deliberate emphasis on Copernican (i.e., fixed Earth) astronomy, Kraul not only devotes three full chapters to the sun’s “apparent” annual motions and how they are “seen from space,” but describes in tedious detail the angled rising and falling of stars and constellations from various latitudes. He also traces the moon’s movements through the zodiac and the retrograde loops that the “superior” and “inferior” planets seem to make to earthly observers. Some of the illustrations are photographs, but more are small watercolor sky scenes that are hard to read despite the removal of extraneous stars and other details such as the names of zodiacal signs (though the symbols for each remain). Instructions for constructing a planisphere and a lunarium from card stock offer no advice for using either at night. The text is plagued by several copy editing (or possibly translation) errors and is prone to opaque or poorly phrased statements (“All the stars in the course of their daily movement culminate as they pass through the meridian”). Furthermore, the author makes a true but possibly misleading claim that seasons “are connected to the Sun’s position in the zodiac” and errs outright in claiming that if the Earth did not rotate, one side would always be light and the other dark.
Even veteran stargazers won’t find much value in the oddball approach, and for younger ones, more cogent, readable print and digital aids abound. (index, bibliography) (Nonfiction. 10 & up)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2014
ISBN: 978-178250-046-9
Page Count: 144
Publisher: Floris
Review Posted Online: July 30, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2014
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
Unsentimental nature writing that sheds as much light on humans as on eels.
An account of the mysterious life of eels that also serves as a meditation on consciousness, faith, time, light and darkness, and life and death.
In addition to an intriguing natural history, Swedish journalist Svensson includes a highly personal account of his relationship with his father. The author alternates eel-focused chapters with those about his father, a man obsessed with fishing for this elusive creature. “I can’t recall us ever talking about anything other than eels and how to best catch them, down there by the stream,” he writes. “I can’t remember us speaking at all….Because we were in…a place whose nature was best enjoyed in silence.” Throughout, Svensson, whose beat is not biology but art and culture, fills his account with people: Aristotle, who thought eels emerged live from mud, “like a slithering, enigmatic miracle”; Freud, who as a teenage biologist spent months in Trieste, Italy, peering through a microscope searching vainly for eel testes; Johannes Schmidt, who for two decades tracked thousands of eels, looking for their breeding grounds. After recounting the details of the eel life cycle, the author turns to the eel in literature—e.g., in the Bible, Rachel Carson’s Under the Sea Wind, and Günter Grass’ The Tin Drum—and history. He notes that the Puritans would likely not have survived without eels, and he explores Sweden’s “eel coast” (what it once was and how it has changed), how eel fishing became embroiled in the Northern Irish conflict, and the importance of eel fishing to the Basque separatist movement. The apparent return to life of a dead eel leads Svensson to a consideration of faith and the inherent message of miracles. He warns that if we are to save this fascinating creature from extinction, we must continue to study it. His book is a highly readable place to begin learning.
Unsentimental nature writing that sheds as much light on humans as on eels.Pub Date: May 5, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-06-296881-4
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Ecco/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Feb. 29, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2020
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