Zoom
How Everything Moves, from Atoms and Galaxies to Blizzards and Bees
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- $13.99
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- $13.99
Publisher Description
Sitting still in a quiet room, you might just be able to convince yourself that nothing is moving. But air currents swirl about you. Blood rushes through your veins. The atoms in your chair jiggle furiously. And the planet you are on is whizzing through space 35 times faster than the speed of sound.
In Zoom, Bob Berman takes a thrilling tour around the wondrous and myriad motions that shape every aspect of the universe. Spanning astronomy, geology, biology, meteorology and history, he explains how clouds stay aloft, how the earth’s rotation curves a ball’s flight, how a mosquito’s familiar whine is tuned to a perfect A sharp, how the day gets longer every century, and much more.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Veteran astronomy columnist Berman (Strange Universe) traverses the world as well as the archives to assemble a cheerful collection of popular science essays connected by their relation to movement. Whether it is the expansion of the universe or the growth of a fingernail, he explores significant truths like the fact that scientists are still baffled by what constitutes dark matter and dark energy which make up most of our universe's mass-energy while providing ammunition for trivial pursuits (the speed of the fastest human: 23 mph), myth-busting (water does not swirl in opposite directions north and south of the equator), and weird lists (animals killed by meteors). The book presents a vast amount of stimulating material in breezy, accessible prose that even precocious adolescents can understand. Berman belongs to the school of writers who feel that education must be leavened by humor, best for readers who can appreciate this approach.
