Gravity's Arc
The Story of Gravity from Aristotle to Einstein and Beyond
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- $15.99
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- $15.99
Publisher Description
Advance Praise for Gravity's Arc
"A beautifully written exposition of the still mysterious force that holds our universe together--and the even more mysterious dark twin that may blow it apart."
--Joshua Gilder, coauthor of Heavenly Intrigue
"A lucid book as up-to-date as the effect of gravity on the bones of astronauts."
--Denis Brian, author of The Unexpected Einstein
How did they do it?
How did one of the greatest geniuses who ever lived retard the study of gravity for 2,000 years? How did a gluttonous tyrant with a gold nose revolutionize our view of the solar system? How could an eccentric professor shake the foundations of an entire belief system by dropping two objects from a tower? How did a falling apple turn the thoughts of a reclusive genius toward the moon? And how could a simple patent clerk change our entire view of the universe by imagining himself riding on a beam of light?
In Gravity's Arc, you'll discover how some of the most colorful, eccentric, and brilliant people in history first locked, then unlocked the door to understanding one of nature's most essential forces. You'll find out why Aristotle's misguided conclusions about gravity became an unassailable part of Christian dogma, how Galileo slowed down time to determine how fast objects fall, and why Isaac Newton erased every mention of one man's name from his magnum opus Principia. You'll also figure out what Einstein meant when he insisted that space is curved, whether there is really such a thing as antigravity, and why some scientists think that the best way to get to outer space is by taking an elevator.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Darling, the author of The Universal Book of Astronomy and a host of other books and articles on space flight, mathematics and physics, provides a strikingly readable explanation for the complex phenomena at the cutting edge of contemporary physics. Beginning with the ancient Greeks' ruminations on the nature of the physical world and concluding with a forecast for where physics is headed, Darling uses a conversational tone and narrative storytelling to coax readers through the finer points of dark energy and dark matter, string theory, inflationary universes, black holes and wormholes. Unfortunately, the book's lack of illustrations hobbles the discussion of some topics, though readers with a cursory knowledge of high school physics should be able to navigate the sections on, say, Keplerian planetary orbits or ballistic trajectories. Darling's done an admirable job of making physics palatable to a general audience, though it seems incomplete without at least a few line drawings.
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