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Featured Book
How to Build a
Time Machine [Build Your Own Time Machine]
by Brian Clegg
If you remember James
Burke ('Good evening. [thoughtful pause; turn from one camera to another; raise
an eyebrow] Or is it?'), you're going to love How to Build a Time Machine!
James Burke is one of my
heroes: the BBC's moon-shot programmes, The Burke Special, The End of the
Beginning, Tomorrow’s World, etc. However, it was his Connections
programme that really got me. The way that one idea seeded some inkling of
another – a tantalising Connection. It was a master-class in how to sneak up on
a subject and then to hook the audience with a single line. Brian Clegg is
surely cast from the same mould; he's our contemporary JB.
In How to Build a Time
Machine we start each chapter with an affirmation: 'Yes, time travel is
possible …'. There's clarification, 'ifs', often detailed historic references;
consequences; and then the practicalities – at which point you might have the
feeling that it's not possible after all. But then there's the 'Or is it?'
moment, and one cannot but take the bait and turn the page.
To name but a few, what
does the following have to do with time travel?: near-light speed travel, an
infinitely long cylinder built from dust - or a less ambitious one (!) built
from neutron stars, wormholes, paradoxes, black and white Holes, antimatter,
dark energy…? If you’re like me when presented with such a list - appetite whet
to the point of drooling - this is a book written with you in mind!
One last and very
important point: Clegg is both a writer and a physicist; and it's as a writer –
one who is able to communicate physics to the non-specialist – and that makes
this book so very enjoyable. The hard stuff is there, between the lines, but
we're not asked to deal with it – Clegg leads us through, in his own inimitable
style. There are just two equations: Einstein's E=mc2 (of course),
and Maxwell's – the latter because they're so 'beautifully spare and simple
looking'. Perfect. I'm sure I'll go back and re-read it. If only I had the time
– or a time machine perhaps?
Hardback
Review
by Peet Morris
Please note, this title is written by the
editor of the Popular Science website. Our review is still an honest opinion -
and we could hardly omit the book - but do want to make the connection clear.
Featured Children's Book
Earthquakes and
Volcanoes
by Anita Ganeri
age range 9-12
Review - Earthquakes and Volcanoes - Anita
Ganeri
Geology is a bit of a
difficult subject to get younger readers interested in. When you've seen
one rock, you've seen them all. (I know this isn't true, but the
distinctions rapidly become only of interest to the geeky.) But you can't
go wrong with things that explode and/or open huge cracks in the Earth and
spew out molten lava. Cue earthquakes and volcanoes.
What's good about this
approach is that the book draws the reader in, but then can get in plenty
of geological and Earth sciences facts that otherwise might never have
been bothered with. The book has a number of dramatic popups - I
particularly liked Krakatoa exploding, which portrays a huge jet of ash
and fire spewing from the middle of the book - plus several other
different types of paper technology, which range from simple turn the flap
examples and mini-booklets on the page to a wheel you turn to see
different strengths of eruption.
On the whole this all
worked well. The paper technology was slightly lower key than some other
books of this kind I've seen - and I struggled to turn the flap that lets
you see inside a volcano (memo to self: stop biting nails), but it
certainly enhanced what was an impressively visual experience.
There's no doubt a
young reader will come away from this book knowing more about what
earthquakes and volcanoes are, how they happen, what impact they have on
us and the planet and what particular examples have stood out in history.
All the expected favourites are there from Vesuvius covering Pompeii to
the San Francisco earthquake (with a dramatic, diorama style popup).
The only reason this
book doesn't get five stars is that it seems just a bit too bitty - it
lacks structure through the book - throwing facts at us well, but not
providing any real narrative.
Reviewed by
Jo Reed
* Our age range recommendation is an
estimated guide, but individual readers outside the range could still
enjoy the book!
Featured Gifts
Looking for a different present, or
a gift for someone who's difficult to buy for? Take a look at this:
Gift review -
Starry Night Enthusiast
Ready for some Stargazing? You
don't need Brian Cox. The night sky is a wonderful
place, but it's easy enough to get lost - the Starry Night
Enthusiast Version 6 software contains everything you need to find your way
around, and find out some amazing new facts.
Starry Night is an excellent
planetarium program that brings up on your PC or Mac a view of the
night sky that is simply brilliant. It's a clear, crisp, image, the
controls are mostly intuitive and some of the extras are a delight.
Constellations can be brought up in stick form, or (for the major
ones) with a very effective graphic image. Click on a star or
planet and you will get extra information. You can even travel to
one. This may be a bit over the top for a star, but the way you
travel out to Mars or Saturn is quite magical, and in the new
Version 2 pack, you can even control this spaceflight with a
joystick. The program shows you the view from home (or anywhere
else), and monitors real time to show you the view now (but of
course you can move to another date and time at will). The
secondary features are good too. You can find something in space,
print off star maps to take outside and more. But in the end
you have to come back to what is an excellent planetarium with 1
million stars and 28,000 galaxies.
Astronomers who are real
enthusiasts will want to go for one of the more powerful Starry Night
versions, but for the 95 per cent of us, adult and child who just want to peep
out at the stars occasionally and know what we're seeing, and to find out more
about space, this is excellent. Includes:
- Follow the paths of over 25
interplanetary probes through the solar system.
- Ride along with New Horizons on
its mission to Pluto and more
- Pan around 25 3-D models of
spacecraft, including Voyager, Deep Impact, Stardust and more
- Zoom in on 3-D models of comets,
asteroids and satellites
- Track over 830 artificial
satellites used for communications, GPS, environmental monitoring
and scientific research
- Plan observing sessions with
Event Finder that displays celestial events, such as lunar and
solar eclipses
- Pinpoint the exact location of
historical events, such as the Apollo moon landings, with Location
Markers
- Access up-to-date local
observing conditions through online link to Clear Sky Clock
- Click on any location on Earth
while hovering and select a Google Map for that precise location
- Ambient environment sounds
enhance the digital observing experience
Reviewed by Brian Clegg
Popular Science covers the best books
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Looking for a different present? Take a look at our suggested gifts,
all tested by Popular Science reviewers.
Featured author/ editor of the Popular
Science site:
Brian
Clegg
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