- Library Binding: 320 pages
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 1435294165
- ISBN-13: 978-1435294165
- Product Dimensions: 19.8 x 13.2 x 2.5 cm
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Amazon.com:
15 reviews
18 of 20 people found the following review helpful
fun with physics for the layperson and those more in the know
10 Jan 2006
Format:Mass Market Paperback
Never in my wildest dreams did I think I would ever understand the first thing about string theory, much less about cosmic microwaves-- but eager to improve my brain a bit, I recently picked up a copy of Black Bodies and Quantum cats. Now, thanks to this immensely enjoyable book, I am happy to report that for the first time in my life I might actually be able to hold a coherent conversation about these and more. By presenting some of the most challenging ideas imagineable within cultural (and even pop cultural) contexts, and writing about them with wit and humor, Ouellette has done the near impossible -- she's made physics fun for the lay person... fun, and, dare I say, maybe even a little bit sexy. I imagine that even if you did have a better grasp of physics than I did prior to picking up this book, you would find it to be an extremely entertaining, smart, and very humorous refresher course.
16 of 19 people found the following review helpful
An eye for science
4 April 2006
Format:Mass Market Paperback
Jennifer Ouellette and Albert Einstein would have made great contemporaries. While Einstein was amusing himself with questions like "I wonder what would happen if I was driving a car at the speed of light and I turned my headlights on," Ouellette gets similar inspiration from backyard oddities.
When I first heard of this book, I assumed it was another treatise on Schrodinger's famed cat hypothesis. Instead, it's an incredible look at physics through real world concepts that are familiar and easy to grasp.
More and more physicists are learning to share their knowledge with an audience that is not necessarily made up of scientific scholars. Joe Six Pack has an innate curiousity about the lofty questions of existance and the universe around him. Theorists and physicists are finally coming to understand that. They are writing for that wide-eyed audience these days instead of for teh scientific community expressly.
Science can only benefit from this growing interest in matters that were once exclusive to the men and women who worked in labs and huddled together in lecture halls. Ouellette, with her writing background, is perfect for the job of bringing complex matters, like quantum mechanics, out of the classrooms and into the populace. She has an eye for science and a beautiful way with the language. Those attributes are great for people who want to know as much as they can about emerging science, but who will likely never be enrolled at MIT.
Writers like Ouellette, Brian Green and Michio Kaku are opening up the world of physics to an expanding list of readers and that's good for everybody. With the analogies and thought experiments offered up in "Black Bodies and Quantum Cats," even laymen like myself and Joe Six Pack can sound reasonably smart when we're hanging around the bars and trying to impress our fellow drinkers. This book is an instant winner for those with even a passing interest in physics.
-- Mark LaFlamme, author of "The Pink Room."
When I first heard of this book, I assumed it was another treatise on Schrodinger's famed cat hypothesis. Instead, it's an incredible look at physics through real world concepts that are familiar and easy to grasp.
More and more physicists are learning to share their knowledge with an audience that is not necessarily made up of scientific scholars. Joe Six Pack has an innate curiousity about the lofty questions of existance and the universe around him. Theorists and physicists are finally coming to understand that. They are writing for that wide-eyed audience these days instead of for teh scientific community expressly.
Science can only benefit from this growing interest in matters that were once exclusive to the men and women who worked in labs and huddled together in lecture halls. Ouellette, with her writing background, is perfect for the job of bringing complex matters, like quantum mechanics, out of the classrooms and into the populace. She has an eye for science and a beautiful way with the language. Those attributes are great for people who want to know as much as they can about emerging science, but who will likely never be enrolled at MIT.
Writers like Ouellette, Brian Green and Michio Kaku are opening up the world of physics to an expanding list of readers and that's good for everybody. With the analogies and thought experiments offered up in "Black Bodies and Quantum Cats," even laymen like myself and Joe Six Pack can sound reasonably smart when we're hanging around the bars and trying to impress our fellow drinkers. This book is an instant winner for those with even a passing interest in physics.
-- Mark LaFlamme, author of "The Pink Room."
7 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Physics made Fun
23 Mar 2006
Format:Mass Market Paperback
I studied physics in school, but I still enjoy reading popular physics books for fun from time to time (I know, what a nerd!). One of the best things about this one is the inclusion of fascinating historical insights that bring people like Tesla to life (on the page anyway). "Black Bodies and Quantum Cats" is a fun read that is ideal for casual science fans and budding scientists alike. I highly recommend it, and I am going to give copies to all my nieces and nephews to show them that physics is much more than equations on a chalk board.
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