Tag Archives: Physics

In the air and across the Cosmos

Posted on May 25, 2023 by smellincoffee

This month’s science reading served up two surprises, both pleasant. When I arrived at university and joined the Astronomy Club, which met once a month to aim a giant telescope at the skies and gasp as we saw Saturn’s rings … Continue reading →

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Is This Wi-Fi Organic?

Posted on August 29, 2022 by smellincoffee

Is This Wi-Fi Organic? A Guide to Spotting Misleading Science Online © 2021 Dave Farina254 pages In The Demon-Haunted World, Carl Sagan warned readers: “We live in a society exquisitely dependent on science and technology in which hardly anyone knows … Continue reading →

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Of astronomy and nuclear arms

Posted on January 22, 2022 by smellincoffee

This week has seen the fall of two TBR titles that double as my first science reads for 2022. StarTalk Radio is a podcast hosted by Neil deGrasse Tyson, and features interviews with prominent scientists, policy makers, etc, along with … Continue reading →

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Perspective from Seven Brief Lessons on Physics

Posted on July 25, 2019 by smellincoffee

I recently finished Seven Brief Lessons on Physics, a slim little volume introducing readers to relativity (special and general), quantum mechanics, particle physics, heat, time, and our place in the universe.   As it’s less than a hundred pages I don’t … Continue reading →

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A Whirligig Tour of the Beautiful Basics of Science

Posted on January 31, 2017 by smellincoffee

The Canon: A whirligig Tour of the Beautiful Basics of Science© 2007 Natalie Angier293 pages Science is amazing! Why is so much of the writing about it so lame?   Natalie Angier’s The Canon first reviews the principles of scientific thinking … Continue reading →

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Electric Universe

Posted on January 31, 2011 by smellincoffee

Electric Universe: The Shocking True Story of Electricity© 2005 David Bodanis308 pages When you’re in the dark, and you want to see, you need Electricity, E-LEC-TRICITY! (School House Rock, “Electricity“) Every now and again, I misjudge a book and find … Continue reading →

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The Grand Design

Posted on December 10, 2010 by smellincoffee

The Grand Design© 2010 Stephen Hawking & Leonard Mlodinow198 pages Though modern physics is considerably harder to understand than say, anthropology, I continue to be fascinated by it — for physics, it seems to me, is the most fundamental science. … Continue reading →

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Black Holes and Baby Universes

Posted on June 23, 2009 by smellincoffee

Black Holes and Baby Universes and Other Essays © 1993 Stephen Hawking 182 pages Well, this is one book that recquires very little explaination. It’s a book of essays written by Stephen Hawking, most of them being on scientific topics. … Continue reading →

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A Brief History of Time

Posted on June 3, 2009 by smellincoffee

A Brief History of Time from the Big Bang to Black Holes© 1988 Stephen Hawking198 Our minds can play tricks on us: my experience with this book is a case in point. I remember vividly being at a big chain … Continue reading →

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Atom

Posted on January 11, 2009 by smellincoffee

Atom: Journey Across the Subatomic Cosmos© 1997 Isaac Asimov300ish pages Last week I wanted to read a little science, and my eyes fell upon — as luck would have it — Atom by Isaac Asimov. The book is an informal … Continue reading →

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