|
|
Adult Books - Nonfiction - Science
|  |  | 
Galileo’s Finger: The Ten Great Ideas of Science.
Atkins, Peter (author).
June 2003. 368p. Oxford, hardcover, $30 (0-19-860664-8). 500.
REVIEW.
First published June 1, 2003 (Booklist).
Condensing scientific knowledge into 10 concepts, such as the conservation of energy, Atkins offers a primer on the essential ideas of Western science. This is a work descriptive of abstract principles, and it is easily grasped, for Atkins, in the humoring manner of a popular lecturer at the blackboard, illustrates underlying connections that unite dissimilar phenomena, such as waves and particles in quantum mechanics. Although the material does not include equations, readers still must acclimate to significant brain-bending, especially on the subject of symmetry and on dimensions beyond our familiar three, crucial to getting a grip on the string and M-theory so chic with physicists. Where does Galileo’s finger figure in this? Reclining in a cup displayed in Florence, it represents to its curators and to Atkins the scientific method, the way of “unpacking” (in the author’s recurring phrase) the appearances of nature to reveal its essence. For the uninitiated, this is remedial education that is pleasurable rather than punishing. — Gilbert Taylor
| |
|
| Click here to find more books by this author |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|