- Hardcover: 160 pages
- Publisher: Princeton University Press; illustrated edition edition (27 Sep 2004)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0691119198
- ISBN-13: 978-0691119199
- Product Dimensions: 19.8 x 19.3 x 1.8 cm
- Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 533,711 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- See Complete Table of Contents
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Product Description
Review
This book presents the birth, life and death of a champagne bubble with such gusto, good humor and clarity that you will devour its delicious contents in one gulp. Whereas good champagne is to be sipped, this book is not. You will never experience the sensual elegance of champagne in quite the same way again once you have read this entertaining account of its history and 'fizzics.'
(Richard N. Zare Nature )
A highly entertaining introduction to the science of champagne bubbles. . . . Uncorked is very readable, and Liger-Belair's clear and simple descriptions of the physics are superbly suitable for a general audience. The book is also very aesthetically pleasing, making it an ideal present for wine lovers and bores alike.
(Stuart West Science )
Uncorked is an interesting, enjoyable read for anyone who has gazed too long upon a champagne-filled flute.
(Gregory Mone Popular Science )
Liger-Belair, a physicist inspired to study bubbles by a brainstorm over a beer, delves into a champagne flute with a curiosity as strong as his microscope. The result is a book as informative as it is engaging, boosted by the gorgeous, up-close photos of bubbles in motion.
(Tara Q. Thomas The Denver Post )
This small, gold-wrapped jewel-of-a-book makes the perfect companion gift to a bottle of bubbly. . . . Written by a passionate, wine-loving physicist with just the proper level of jargon for non-scientists, the birth, rise and bursting of a Champagne bubble is scrutinized, rhapsodized, diagrammed, photographed and, finally, demystified. . . . Knowing more about a bubble's lowly birth (formed from debris on the side of the glass) and ephemeral rise to fame will only serve to make you love it more.
(Claudia Conlon The Wine News )
A delightfully readable little book.
(Joanna Simon The Sunday Times )
[A] convivial examination of the party season's favorite tipple.
(Paul Nettleton The Guardian )
The ultimate guide to the 'fizzics' of sparkling wine.
(Deborah Scoblionkov Philadelphia Inquirer )
Ah, a science lesson I can really get into. . . . You will learn that there is no scientific evidence to support the assertion that small bubbles make for finer champagne; that champagne poured into completely clean glasses will always be flat; that narrow flutes with round bottoms make the most desirable sipping vessels; and that corks should be released with a 'subdued sigh' rather than a bang.
(Anjana Ahuja The Times )
Chances are good that during the holiday season, you found yourself holding a glass of champagne. If the festivities were flagging, a question may have crossed your mind: What causes those delightful little bubbles that tickle your nose? In Uncorked, Gerard Liger-Belair answers this and other questions that have occupied the wine world since the night French monk Dom Perignon invented champagne in the late 17th century.
(Donald Morrison Time Magazine )
Never have I been so fascinated by so much information that I didn't need. . . . [A]n irresistible read.
(Richard Kinssies Seattle Post-Intelligencer )
Did you ever look into a flute of champagne and wonder where those tiny bubbles come from? Physicist Liger-Belair explains this scientific phenomenon in easy-to-understand language, combined with diagrams and beautiful state-of-the-art, high-speed photography. In the process, he delves into the history, art, and science of making champagne.
(Choice )
(Richard N. Zare Nature )
A highly entertaining introduction to the science of champagne bubbles. . . . Uncorked is very readable, and Liger-Belair's clear and simple descriptions of the physics are superbly suitable for a general audience. The book is also very aesthetically pleasing, making it an ideal present for wine lovers and bores alike.
(Stuart West Science )
Uncorked is an interesting, enjoyable read for anyone who has gazed too long upon a champagne-filled flute.
(Gregory Mone Popular Science )
Liger-Belair, a physicist inspired to study bubbles by a brainstorm over a beer, delves into a champagne flute with a curiosity as strong as his microscope. The result is a book as informative as it is engaging, boosted by the gorgeous, up-close photos of bubbles in motion.
(Tara Q. Thomas The Denver Post )
This small, gold-wrapped jewel-of-a-book makes the perfect companion gift to a bottle of bubbly. . . . Written by a passionate, wine-loving physicist with just the proper level of jargon for non-scientists, the birth, rise and bursting of a Champagne bubble is scrutinized, rhapsodized, diagrammed, photographed and, finally, demystified. . . . Knowing more about a bubble's lowly birth (formed from debris on the side of the glass) and ephemeral rise to fame will only serve to make you love it more.
(Claudia Conlon The Wine News )
A delightfully readable little book.
(Joanna Simon The Sunday Times )
[A] convivial examination of the party season's favorite tipple.
(Paul Nettleton The Guardian )
The ultimate guide to the 'fizzics' of sparkling wine.
(Deborah Scoblionkov Philadelphia Inquirer )
Ah, a science lesson I can really get into. . . . You will learn that there is no scientific evidence to support the assertion that small bubbles make for finer champagne; that champagne poured into completely clean glasses will always be flat; that narrow flutes with round bottoms make the most desirable sipping vessels; and that corks should be released with a 'subdued sigh' rather than a bang.
(Anjana Ahuja The Times )
Chances are good that during the holiday season, you found yourself holding a glass of champagne. If the festivities were flagging, a question may have crossed your mind: What causes those delightful little bubbles that tickle your nose? In Uncorked, Gerard Liger-Belair answers this and other questions that have occupied the wine world since the night French monk Dom Perignon invented champagne in the late 17th century.
(Donald Morrison Time Magazine )
Never have I been so fascinated by so much information that I didn't need. . . . [A]n irresistible read.
(Richard Kinssies Seattle Post-Intelligencer )
Did you ever look into a flute of champagne and wonder where those tiny bubbles come from? Physicist Liger-Belair explains this scientific phenomenon in easy-to-understand language, combined with diagrams and beautiful state-of-the-art, high-speed photography. In the process, he delves into the history, art, and science of making champagne.
(Choice )
Review
The latest champagne science explained in blissfully plain English by a French scientist. Not just any French scientist. The author, Gérard Liger-Belair, is an associate professor at the University of Reims, where he has devoted his professional life to the study of bubble science. In 2002 he shook the champagne world when he trashed previous nucleation theory with photographic proof of how and where bubbles are created. Now he has written a remarkably concise book around his discovery, and it is something that even the least technically minded champagne lover should raise a glass to.
(Tom Stevenson, author of "Christie's World Encyclopedia of Champagne & Sparkling Wine" )
(Tom Stevenson, author of "Christie's World Encyclopedia of Champagne & Sparkling Wine" )
Inside This Book
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First Sentence
Champagne has launched thousands of ships, toasted countless weddings, and inaugurated billions of New Year's parties throughout the world. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
Champagne has launched thousands of ships, toasted countless weddings, and inaugurated billions of New Year's parties throughout the world. Read the first page
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Browse Sample PagesConcordance
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
1 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Uncorked : the science of champagne or how all to learn on this festive and sparkling beverage so much appreciated throughout the world?
In a very pleasant prose to read, the author : Gerard Liger-Belair, an associate professor in Physical Sciences at the University of Reims Champagne-Ardenne and consultant for the research department of Moet & Chandon, describes elegantly and for the first time the fragile and transitory life of a champagne bubble from its birth to its burst on the surface. Furthermore superb and fascinating black and white photographs permit to visualize what the naked eye cannot perceive like the formation of geometrical structures in the shape of flowers or dynamics of the bubbles such galaxies at the liquid surface. This book is a real concentrate of knowledge combining with brilliance history, science and art. Here is a physicist in love with bubbles and phenomenon of effervescence which makes the dynamics of fluids attractive! I think that Uncorked is a remarkable tool for popularisation, accessible to the greatest number and Gerard Liger-Belair, a professor that any student would dream to have. Never again you will look at a champagne flute in the same way!
In a very pleasant prose to read, the author : Gerard Liger-Belair, an associate professor in Physical Sciences at the University of Reims Champagne-Ardenne and consultant for the research department of Moet & Chandon, describes elegantly and for the first time the fragile and transitory life of a champagne bubble from its birth to its burst on the surface. Furthermore superb and fascinating black and white photographs permit to visualize what the naked eye cannot perceive like the formation of geometrical structures in the shape of flowers or dynamics of the bubbles such galaxies at the liquid surface. This book is a real concentrate of knowledge combining with brilliance history, science and art. Here is a physicist in love with bubbles and phenomenon of effervescence which makes the dynamics of fluids attractive! I think that Uncorked is a remarkable tool for popularisation, accessible to the greatest number and Gerard Liger-Belair, a professor that any student would dream to have. Never again you will look at a champagne flute in the same way!
A lover of champagne
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
5 reviews
14 of 15 people found the following review helpful
Illustrated history of a champagne bubble
24 Jan 2005
Format:Hardcover
Uncorked : the science of champagne or how all to learn on this festive and sparkling beverage so much appreciated throughout the world?
In a very pleasant prose to read, the author : Gerard Liger-Belair, an associate professor in Physical Sciences at the University of Reims Champagne-Ardenne and consultant for the research department of Moet & Chandon, describes elegantly and for the first time the fragile and transitory life of a champagne bubble from its birth to its burst on the surface. Furthermore superb and fascinating black and white photographs permit to visualize what the naked eye cannot perceive like the formation of geometrical structures in the shape of flowers or dynamics of the bubbles such galaxies at the liquid surface. This book is a real concentrate of knowledge combining with brilliance history, science and art. Here is a physicist in love with bubbles and phenomenon of effervescence which makes the dynamics of fluids attractive! I think that Uncorked is a remarkable tool for popularisation, accessible to the greatest number and Gerard Liger-Belair, a professor that any student would dream to have. Never again you will look at a champagne flute in the same way!
A lover of champagne
In a very pleasant prose to read, the author : Gerard Liger-Belair, an associate professor in Physical Sciences at the University of Reims Champagne-Ardenne and consultant for the research department of Moet & Chandon, describes elegantly and for the first time the fragile and transitory life of a champagne bubble from its birth to its burst on the surface. Furthermore superb and fascinating black and white photographs permit to visualize what the naked eye cannot perceive like the formation of geometrical structures in the shape of flowers or dynamics of the bubbles such galaxies at the liquid surface. This book is a real concentrate of knowledge combining with brilliance history, science and art. Here is a physicist in love with bubbles and phenomenon of effervescence which makes the dynamics of fluids attractive! I think that Uncorked is a remarkable tool for popularisation, accessible to the greatest number and Gerard Liger-Belair, a professor that any student would dream to have. Never again you will look at a champagne flute in the same way!
A lover of champagne
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Stick to the Science
10 Sep 2005
Format:Hardcover
A short review for a short book -- the science is fascinating; unfortunately the author mixes his knowledge of science with his lack of knowledge about wine. While I share his love of Champagne, some of M. Liger-Belair's other vinous statements are either not based on fact or are based on opinion -- that would be welcome whether I agreed with his opinions or not, if it didn't confuse the original thesis, which is, "this is a book about the science of bubbles." Still, this book is worth reading if only for the terrific, entertaining foreward. Cheers.
7 of 9 people found the following review helpful
A Good Book about my Favorite Drink
22 Jun 2005
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
The problem with Champagne, at least for me, is that it tends to disappear too fast. That was also the problem with this book. It reads too fast. Before I knew it the pleasure was behind me. Uncorked starts with the history of this famous drink, including the revelation that Dom Pierre Perignon was originally told by the Pope and other powers to get those lousy bubbles out of the white wine. Then the members of the Royal Court at Versailles under Louis XIV began to appreciate the bubbles. So, after years of fruitless labor trying to get the bubbles out of the wine, at the end of the seventeenth century, Dom was ordered to reverse his efforts and devise methods to increase the bubbling in the wine, which, incidentally, he did. After history, we have a chapter on making Champagne: pretty standard stuff. But if you don't know it yet, learn it here so at the next dinner you can talk with authority. Next comes the most informative chapter: A Flute or Goblet? Which is better? Those of you who know Champagne know the answer. And those of you who don't know Champagne can find the correct answer here. The amazing thing for me is that I knew the answer, but I didn't understand the scientific reasons why flute was better. Science is always right and here we find no exception. The last few chapters then talk in extenso about bubbles and as this is the essence of Chamapgne, the discussion is well worth the effort expended in studying the science of Champagne bubbles and the photographs that illustrate that science. Just as a book has a beginning, a middle, and an end, a bubble has a birth, a rise, and a burst. This book didn't make me want to go out an read more about Champagne, but it did make me want to go out and drink some more and while drinking I shall appreciate the remarkable history and science that goes into this fine drink.
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