Black Bodies and Quantum Cats
Tales from the Annals of Physics
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4.4 • 8 Ratings
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- $4.99
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- $4.99
Publisher Description
Physics, once known as "natural philosophy," is the most basic science, explaining the world we live in, from the largest scale down to the very, very, very smallest, and our understanding of it has changed over many centuries. In Black Bodies and Quantum Cats, science writer Jennifer Ouellette traces key developments in the field, setting descriptions of the fundamentals of physics in their historical context as well as against a broad cultural backdrop. Newton’s laws are illustrated via the film Addams Family Values, while Back to the Future demonstrates the finer points of special relativity. Poe’s "The Purloined Letter" serves to illuminate the mysterious nature of neutrinos, and Jeanette Winterson’s novel Gut Symmetries provides an elegant metaphorical framework for string theory. An enchanting and edifying read, Black Bodies and Quantum Cats shows that physics is not an arcane field of study but a profoundly human endeavor—and a fundamental part of our everyday world.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
An English major turned science writer, Ouellette describes physics, that most mathematically demanding science, using books, TV shows, movies and other pop culture mainstays, and the result is remarkably fresh and immensely readable. Starting with Da Vinci, Ouellette uses-what else?-The Da Vinci Code to explain the divine proportion before taking the reader on an anecdotal tour of the blacksmiths, shopkeepers' sons and royalty who tinkered with their curiosities, cumulatively advancing a science from Copernicus' looking at the sky, through Einstein's theory of special relativity (explained in terms of Back to the Future and Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen), until today's subatomic string theory. All major theories and breakthroughs, along with the personalities that brought them to life (including a particularly ruthless Thomas Edison and a resourceful patent clerk named Chester Carlson, who built the first photocopier in his Astoria, New York, kitchen), are presented clearly by the reader's pop-culture escort. It is a credit to Ouellette that, as the reader progresses into more complex theories, the TV and movie references aren't nearly as interesting as the science.
Customer Reviews
Black Bodies
Would be 5 stars as a pleasurable read, although a little dated, if the author could keep the political opinions out of the text. Not much actual science as opposed to science history which is more entertaining.
Clear and entertaining
I love this book! I've read many books on physics and quantum mechanics. This is the first time I've been entertained just as much as educated. This is a great book for a physics novice, or a seasoned professor who wants to view the quantum world from a unique and engaging perspective. I've read it many times and now have downloaded the digital copy. Don't hesitate, this is the book to get!