- Paperback: 256 pages
- Publisher: Icon Books Ltd; illustrated edition edition (1 May 2008)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 1840468734
- ISBN-13: 978-1840468731
- Product Dimensions: 19.6 x 12.7 x 2 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
-
Amazon Bestsellers Rank:
311,052 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #49 in Books > Science & Nature > Education > Higher Education > Physics > Atomic & Molecular
- #97 in Books > Science & Nature > Physics > Nuclear
| |||||||||||||||
Did you know you can trade in your old books for an Amazon.co.uk Gift Card to spend on the things you want? Visit the Amazon.co.uk Trade-In Store for more details. |
Product details |
More About the Author
Product Description
Review
"'Bizony brings an enthusiasm to his subject that elevates it to high drama, and shows how after even after two centuries we are still being confronted with bizarre discoveries and questions in this brand of science.' Good Book Guide 'Bizony's insightful, compelling book chronicles our quest to understand the atom through the personalities of those who looked furthest into its abyss - a human drama wrought with frustration, love, guilt and genius.' New Scientist"
Product Description
No one ever expected the atom to be as bizarre, as capricious, and as weird as it turned out to be. Its tale is one riddled with jealousy, rivalry, missed opportunities and moments of genius.Piers Bizony tells the story of the young misfit New Zealander, Ernest Rutherford, who showed that the atom consisted mainly of empty space, a discovery that turned 200 years of classical physics on its head, and the brilliant Dane, Niels Bohr, who made the next great leap into the incredible world of quantum theory.Yet he and a handful of other Young Turks in this revolutionary new science weren't prepared for the shocks that Nature had up her sleeve. At the dawn of the Atomic Age, a dangerous new force was unleashed with terrifying speed...
Inside This Book
(Learn More)
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
I only recently saw a rerun of the BBC television series on 'Atom' which was presented by Jim Al-Khalili. I have seen his other series on Chemistry and I thought both were excellent. I cannot understand why the BBC has not released Atom as a DVD.
On the book Atom, it is worth pointing out that this is written by the science writer Piers Bizony, with Jim Al-Khalili simply providing a Forward and being a sounding board for the author.
That said, this is a very readable and informative introduction to a number of issues (but not all) presented in the television series. If you want to study details about the physics of atoms, radiation and its associated theories, then pick up a text book on the subject. Neither the television series nor this book are trying to go into that level of depth. Instead, they offer an historical overview about how human understanding of the atom has developed through time, complete with an insight into most of the key personalities along the way.
The prose is not so simplistic as to become superficial about the science. My sense is that this book is best described as a history of scientific ideas, where the ideas are explained in an understandable manner for the non-scientist. The key characters in this story play out their roles against the evolving backdrop of political change: the relative innocence of the Edwardian era is replaced by a growing realisation that after 1932 the atom truly holds the kind of power spoken about by Einstein in his famous equation e=mc2. The rise of the Nazis in Germany and fascism in Italy sees a host of scientists leave Europe's shores for the USA, where their knowledge is put to work on the Manhatten Project. The arms race is on to build the atom bomb before the Nazis. At this point in the story the book focuses more on the political situation than the specific science, but its shared reflections from scientists on both sides show that memories are selective, especially when political expediency is at work.
The political dimension continues as the book takes us into the paranoia of the Cold War between the West and Soviet Union with nuclear physicists becoming valuable pawns in the high-stakes game. Again, reflections by scientists from this period and their treatment by the various political system is interesting. As the clouds of McCarthy's witch-hunts are destroyed by the journalist's Ed Murrow's exposure of the man on television to a naive American audience the book returns more to the science.
On the book Atom, it is worth pointing out that this is written by the science writer Piers Bizony, with Jim Al-Khalili simply providing a Forward and being a sounding board for the author.
That said, this is a very readable and informative introduction to a number of issues (but not all) presented in the television series. If you want to study details about the physics of atoms, radiation and its associated theories, then pick up a text book on the subject. Neither the television series nor this book are trying to go into that level of depth. Instead, they offer an historical overview about how human understanding of the atom has developed through time, complete with an insight into most of the key personalities along the way.
The prose is not so simplistic as to become superficial about the science. My sense is that this book is best described as a history of scientific ideas, where the ideas are explained in an understandable manner for the non-scientist. The key characters in this story play out their roles against the evolving backdrop of political change: the relative innocence of the Edwardian era is replaced by a growing realisation that after 1932 the atom truly holds the kind of power spoken about by Einstein in his famous equation e=mc2. The rise of the Nazis in Germany and fascism in Italy sees a host of scientists leave Europe's shores for the USA, where their knowledge is put to work on the Manhatten Project. The arms race is on to build the atom bomb before the Nazis. At this point in the story the book focuses more on the political situation than the specific science, but its shared reflections from scientists on both sides show that memories are selective, especially when political expediency is at work.
The political dimension continues as the book takes us into the paranoia of the Cold War between the West and Soviet Union with nuclear physicists becoming valuable pawns in the high-stakes game. Again, reflections by scientists from this period and their treatment by the various political system is interesting. As the clouds of McCarthy's witch-hunts are destroyed by the journalist's Ed Murrow's exposure of the man on television to a naive American audience the book returns more to the science.
22 of 24 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
I was hooked on the T.V series, which this book accompanies, and enthralled by the book, which I could not put down.My only disappointment was that the book did not cover the latter parts of the the T.V progamme in its foray into string theory and the cutting edge of contempoary physics. Having an interest in quantum physics, and the philosophy of science, (but not an education in physics to support it)I found that this book offers a coherent and comprehensible history of the development of ideas about the nature of the atom, which serves as an invaluable set of building blocks,from which to fashion a foundation of a better grasp of contemporary theory.I will certainly be buying the book by the same author on Quantum Theory.
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Picked this book up after watching the TV series, wasn't expecting much to be honest but I was more than pleasantly surprised.
Entertaining read, gripping in parts, really brings the drama and the science alive and creates a foundational knowledge of atomic theory to build from.
good book!
Entertaining read, gripping in parts, really brings the drama and the science alive and creates a foundational knowledge of atomic theory to build from.
good book!
Most Recent Customer Reviews
Review
A well written book that explains many complicated theories. My 14 year old son loves it. The book was deivered in a reasonable time.
Published 7 months ago by S. G. Snow
It blew my mind
Fantastic read, really easy as well.
All the tricky bits are explained really well.
It's a shame he didn't go on about the car that much. Read more
All the tricky bits are explained really well.
It's a shame he didn't go on about the car that much. Read more
Published 10 months ago by Ringo
Outstanding Mix of Science, Biography & Historical Context
This book is truly a superb work of art, crafted by an author whose grasp of, and ability to convey, complex scientific fact is matched by a story-telling style of prose which... Read more
Published 13 months ago by V Heilbuth-Hall
Excellent
I gave it to our son together with a dvd of the TV Series.
He enjoyed it
He enjoyed it
Published 16 months ago by Mr. M. H. Hare
The human side of the atom story
What a great read! Here is the wonderful human story of the atom in the 20th century. Highly recommended to anyone interested in the personalities involved in scientific progress.
Published 18 months ago by N. Connolly
Where is it
Dear Amazon
I ordered this book, pen and a stylus some time now I have yet to receive it. Read more
I ordered this book, pen and a stylus some time now I have yet to receive it. Read more
Published 23 months ago by G. Spence
Really Interesting
I bought this after watching the TV series. I learnt so many fascinating facts from this book. For instance that there is a lot going on within a vacuum and that the human body... Read more
Published on 12 Jan 2010 by Foodie
Chemistry graduate
This book is excellent. Buy a copy for every aspiring scientist in your extended family!
Published on 18 Dec 2009 by Mr. Alexander Kurucz
Physics book.
A good book. But what I really wanted was a DVD of the BBC series, but they don't do it. So many used as reference.
Published on 12 May 2009 by Mr. G. P. Barnett
Wonderful book
For a layperson like myself who has no knowledge of the subject of Atomic physics (or any other science subject) and yet was gripped by the BBC series 'Atom', this book was the... Read more
Published on 27 Mar 2008 by Virginia Palin
Listmania!
|
|
Look for similar items by category
- Books > History > Other Historical Subjects > History of Science
- Books > Science & Nature > Mathematics > Popular Maths
- Books > Science & Nature > Physics > Atomic & Molecular
- Books > Science & Nature > Physics > Nuclear
- Books > Science & Nature > Physics > Quantum Physics > Relativistic Quantum Mechanics
- Books > Scientific, Technical & Medical
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
