2022-04-25

"Welcome to the Universe: An Astrophysical Tour" by Neil deGrasse Tyson, Michael A. Strauss, and J. Richard Gott

 


Publisher:  Princeton University Press
Copyright:  2016
ISBN: 9780691157245

This was an amazing book that gives the reader an in depth look into the science of astrophysics. The three authors have written their sections in a clear and concise way that explain the concepts very well, and easily gets the message across.

In the first part  Dr. Tyson takes the reader on a study of the stars, planets and life in ten chapters that deal with a number of important concepts including explanations of the size and scale of the universe, Newton's Laws,  The lives and deaths of star, the classification of solar objects (e.g., Pluto) and the search for life.  Dr. Strauss then takes over and takes about galaxies in six chapters which include the Milky Way itself, our place in the universe, quasars, black holes, etc. Then Dr. Gott adds eight chapters in the third section that talk about both the general and special theories of relativity, black holes, string theory, the big bang, etc.

This was an extremely interesting  book to read, and even though it is a few years old at this time the information is still very relevant and should be of great value to anybody interested in astronomy or astrophysics. In addition, it is easily readable, and I believe would be a great addition to all school libraries, and would also make an excellent introductory text for first year university students.

2022-04-18

"The Guns of Navarone" by Alistair MacLean (1922-1987)


 

Publisher: Collins
Copyright: 1957
ISBN: None

This is a novel that I have had in my collection for many years but for some reason haven't read for a long time. I decided to do so however after watching the 1961 movie with Gregory Peck, David Niven, Gia Scala, Anthony Quinn. I was pleased to note that they stayed quite close to the book. They of course made a few changes such as casting two women as the Greek contacts on the island of Navarone, but aside from this Hollywood was quite faithful to the story.

For those who are interested the island of Navarone is fictional, but the overall storyline is based on the history of the war in the Ægean Islands of Greece. 

The story itself revolves around a top secret commando raid, that is essentially a last ditch effort to silence the two guns on the island of Navarone, and thereby allow the Allied forces to rescue some 1200 soldiers stranded on a nearby island. The detail in this story is fantastic and it is obvious that Alastair MacLean knew his subject well and his skill at writing easily takes the reader right into the heart of the story.

An excellent read.

2022-04-11

"The God Equation: The Quest for a Theory of Everything" by Michio Kaku

 


Publisher: double day, New York
Copyright: 2021
ISBN: 9780385542746

This is an extremely interesting book, that would make a fantastic introduction to high school or first year university students into the history of physics. In reading this book I have learned a lot that I probably should've learned many years ago when I took physics. Mind you that was a long time ago, and since then the strides that have been made in the field have been huge.

Dr. Kaku takes us on a journey through the history of physics by explaining the idea of unification, Einstein's search for unification, the rise of the quantum theory, a possible theory for almost everything, dark matter and dark energy, and finally string theory.

Throughout the book he explains the concepts extremely well and in plain language that virtually everybody will understand.

I haven't read any of his books previous to this but will definitely be on the lookout for the other nine he has written in the last few years.

2022-04-04

"Phoenix without Ashes" by Edward Bryant (1945-2017) & Harlan Ellison (1934-2018)

 


Publisher: Fawcett
Copyright: 1975
ISBN: None listed

Some readers may remember a short-lived television program in the early 70s called "The Starlost". Many people including Mr. Ellison would truly like to forget this program ever existed, as Mr. Ellison's original ideas, and concept for the TV program and story were essentially stolen, and completely corrupted by Hollywood and the television industry.

The first chapter of this book is written by Mr . Ellison and outlines the story of what happened, and how the TV program was made, up until the time that he got so disgusted with it that he left the show, and forced the network to remove his name from the series and replace it with the pseudonym Cordwainer Bird. He was soon to be followed by Ben Bova who was the science advisor to the series.

The remainder of this book is written by Mr. Bryant is the actual novelization form of Mr. Ellison's outline prior to various unscrupulous agents, managers, and others who got hold of it.

The story itself revolves around a time in the distant future (2785), after the earth has been destroyed and the inhabitants from selected places have been placed aboard an ark in controlled biospheres that mimic their cultures and lifestyles, and set on course for Alpha Centauri. Devon is a young man who lives in a very strict society (seeming patterned after the Amish), but who questions the authority of the elders and his cast out. Further violations of their extremely strict doctrine forces him to flee, and while a posse pursues him he stumbles across a hatch that leads into the actual Ark itself. He discovers that the crew is dead, and the ship is on a collision course with a star which it will hit in approximately five years.

I can remember watching "The Starlost" when I was young, and at the time I thought it was fairly well done but in my own defence this was before I started reading a whole bunch of science fiction and other types of writing as well. Now I can see how the story arc has been corrupted and this reinforces my previously expounded upon thoughts that Hollywood should never be allowed to get hold of a writer's work. Mind you considering that we are now facing another Batman movie, another Spiderman, and who knows how many other remakes we likely don't have to worry too much about this as the whole movie industry seems to be geared toward mediocrity.

If you remember the TV show this book is well worth the read to see what was intended, mind you if you do remember the show then this book only covers the first episode.

Worth reading, but hard to find.

Going on Hiatus

 Greetings, I have decided to put a hold on doing further book reviews for a while. In fact I'm not sure if I will resume doing reviews ...