December 1999 - New Books of Note
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John Gribbin
IN SEARCH OF THE EDGE OF TIME: Black Holes, White Holes, Wormholes
(New York: Penguin), 1999, ISBN: 0-14-0224814-5 $13.95 (paper)
The phenomena now known as black holes were described as early at 1783 and dismissed as idle speculation. Today, writes John Gribbin, "virtually all astrophysicists regard black holes as a natural feature of our Universe." Many believe they can function as tunnels leading to other times and other places and that they contain the key to the Big Bang. Stephen Hawking sees them as "wormholes" linking mother and baby universes. Details of such theories are set out in Gribbin's book, a guided tour through a still emerging cosmos of neutron and X-ray stars, white dwarfs, quasars and pulsars.
John Gribbin
IN SEARCH OF THE BIG BANG: The Life & Death of the Universe, 2 ed.
(New York: Penguin), 1999, ISBN: 0-14-026989-4 (paper)
Tracing the early attempts to formulate a theory of the Universe, the author surveys the major persons involved and the technical developments which led to the first detailed model of the Big Bang in the 1940s. The detection of tiny variations in cosmic microwave energy by the COBE satellite in the 1990s gave further support to the theory. In this revised and updated edition incorporating the latest scientific findings, science writer and cosmologist John Gribbin explores the origins of the Universe and considers its ultimate fate.
Mark Kidger, Ismael Pérez-Fournon & Francisco Sanchez, eds.
INTERNET RESOURCES FOR PROFESSIONAL ASTRONOMY: Proceedings of the IX Canary Islands Winter School of Astrophysics
(New York: Cambridge University Press), 1999, ISBN: 0-521-66308-3, $74.95
Each chapter deals with a range of the electromagnetic spectrum, with authors first discussing the corresponding problems for each range, particularly those that can be treated by access to very large databases. They then describe how data and information can be found on the internet, and explain how to access and process this information. Complemented by a detailed guide to astronomy on the internet, including several hundred links of interest, arranged by topic.
Niccolò Guicciardini
READING THE PRINCIPIA: The Debate on Newton's Mathematical Methods for Natural Philosophy from 1687 to 1736
(New York: Cambridge University Press), 1999, ISBN: 0-521-64066-0, $80.00
Isaac Newton's Principia is considered one of the masterpieces in the history of science. However, it was written in a mathematical language that would be considered unusual by a modern reader. The mathematical methods employed stimulated much debate among Newton's contemporaries, especially Leibniz, Huygens, Johann Bernoulli and Euler, who debated their merits and drawbacks; the book explains how Newton addressed these issues. Guicciardini takes into consideration the values that directed the research of Newton and his contemporaries and thus this book can be used as an historically motivated introduction to Newton's masterpiece.
Michael Molnar
THE STAR OF BETHLEHEM: The Legacy of the Magi
(Piscataway, NJ: Rutgers University Press), 1999, ISBN: 0-8135-2701-5, $25.00
For two millennia, scientists have searched the heavens in vain for an astronomical explanation of the Star of Bethlehem. Intrigued by the image of a ram looking back at a star that he found on the latest addition to his coin collection, Molnar thought there might be more to learn by looking, instead, at the theories of ancient astrologers and has woven together an intriguing scientific detective story using astronomical, astrological, and historical clues to resolve one of the world's greatest mysteries: What led the Magi to Bethlehem?
Gary W. Kronk
COMETOGRAPHY: A Catalog of Comets, Volume 1: Ancient - 1799
(New York: Cambridge University Press), 1999, ISBN: 0-521-58504-X
A catalog of every comet observed throughout history to be published in four sequential volumes; this, the first, covers ancient times through to the end of the eighteenth century. Cometography uses the most reliable orbits known to determine the distances from the Earth and Sun at the time a comet was discovered and last observed, as well as the largest and smallest angular distance to the Sun, most northerly and southerly declination, closest distance to the Earth, and other details. All the information has been sourced directly from the original documents.
Malcolm Walter
THE SEARCH FOR LIFE ON MARS
(Cambridge, MA: Perseus Books), 1999, ISBN 0-7382-0124-3, $25.00
Extreme-life expert and long-time NASA advisor Malcolm Walter looks at the past and the future of man's exploration of the red planet. Utilizing his expert knowledge of microbial life in boiling hot springs on Earth, where many scientists believe life on our planet may well have originated, Walter proposes his dramatic plan - already adopted by NASA - for finding life in the rocks and subsurface water of Mars, and provides a lively look at the exhilarating, frustrating and occasionally acrimonious world of two of the most recently founded sciences: paleobiology and astrobiology.
Jonathan Allday
APOLLO IN PERSPECTIVE: Spaceflight Then and Now
(Bristol: Institute of Physics Publishing), 1999, ISBN: 0-7503-0645-9, $28 paper
A retrospective look at the Apollo space program and the physics and engineering involved, explained in simple terms. Covered topics include the laws of motion; rocketry; how to maneuver in orbit; design of the Apollo command, service and lunar modules and how these changed as plans for the manned mission evolved; and finally, the far future is considered, including Mars colonies and journeys to other stars.
Jay M. Pasachoff
PETERSON FIELD GUIDES: A FIELD GUIDE TO THE STARS & PLANETS, 4/E
(Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co.), 1999, ISBN: 0-395--93431-1, $30 cloth, $19 paper
Completely revised and updated guide to the night sky. Includes current, time-sensitive material on solar eclipses, phases of the moon, positions of the planets and many other celestial events from NASA, the European Space Agency, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada, Sky & Telescope, and other sources. Current through the year 2010. New features: 24 monthly sky maps, 52 atlas charts, revised text and advice for selecting and using telescopes and binoculars.
Geoffrey Burbidge, Allan Sandage & Frank Shu, Eds.
ANNUAL REVIEW OF ASTRONOMY & ASTROPHYSICS, Volume 37
(Palo Alto: Annual Reviews), 1999, 0-8243-0937-5, $70
The latest volume contains articles ranging from "Adventures in Cosmogony" (A.G.W. Cameron) to "Far-Ultraviolet Radiation from Elliptical Galaxies" (Robert W. O'Connell). Abstracts and content lists for this and other volumes are available at the Annual Review website.
Mary Jo Nye
BEFORE BIG SCIENCE: The Pursuit of Modern Chemistry & Physics, 1800-1940
(Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press), 1999 Paper Edition, ISBN: 0-674-06382-1, $16.95
Today's vast multinational scientific monoliths bear little resemblance to the modest laboratories of the early nineteenth century, yet changes were already under way that would revolutionize chemistry and physics into the "big science" of the late twentieth century. With her "characteristic elegance of style," the author examines the sweeping transformation of scientific institutions and professions during the period and the groundbreaking experiments that fueled that change.
Dyson Freeman
IMAGINED WORLDS
(Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press), 1998 Paper Edition, ISBN: 0-674-06382-1, $14
From the Introduction: "In looking toward the future, I write about those things I happen to know best - a small fraction of science and even smaller fraction of technology. I use stories, imagined and real, to explore the interplay of science and technology with evolution and ethics..." One hundred years after H. G. Wells visited the future in The Time Machine, Dyson marshals his uncommon gifts as a scientist and storyteller to take us once more to that ever-closer, ever-receding time to come.
Donald Goldsmith
EINSTEIN'S GREATEST BLUNDER?: The Cosmological Constant & Other Fudge Factors in the Physics of the Universe
(Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press), 1997 Paper Edition, ISBN: 0-674-24242-4
Recipient of the 1990 ASP Klumpke-Roberts Award for his contributions to the public understanding of astronomy, Goldsmith addresses basic cosmological issues in an attempt to show that observational astronomers and theoretical cosmologists, arguing back and forth between theory and observations, have not done so badly in understanding the universe.
Ray Kurzweil
THE AGE OF SPIRITUAL MACHINES: When Computers Exceed Human Intelligence
(New York: Penguin Putnam), 2000 Paper Edition, ISBN: 0-670-88217-8, $14.95
The author begins with a critical question for understanding the 21st century: Can humans create another intelligence more intelligent than ourselves? What follows is an elegant tour of the history of computation and artificial intelligence with startling predictions for the future of technology. The last quarter of the book is devoted to a Time Line, "How to Build an Intelligent Machine in Three Easy Paradigms", Glossary, Notes, Suggested Readings and Web Links.
