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nola1222's review against another edition
4.0
Even though I already knew a lot of facts in here there were still a lot of good ones. Amazing writing!
ellismss's review against another edition
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
fast-paced
5.0
This was an incredibly enjoyable read! So many “mind blown” moments as Chown explores fun and almost unfathomable facts about the universe around us.
hbrxnnxmxn's review
hopeful
informative
fast-paced
3.75
This isn’t normally my kind of thing, but I wanted to learn more and this book is a good bite sized way to do so. The chapters are more like overviews of scientific concepts, so that worked well, but I still found them to be a bit complex and full of jargon. I did learn a lot though and it was a fun way to explore these concepts.
redpineapple's review
5.0
Quite an interesting book.
I loved the way author wrote the book - in a style which is easy for a layman like me to understand, which is a difficult feat. I especially loved the chapter where author talked about how gravitational force doesn't exist (I had no clue about this one) and the one on dodoppelgänger.
The book will not turn boring at any point. I am looking forward to see if any other books by the author are for laymen and read them too.
I received a free copy for the book from Netgalley.
I loved the way author wrote the book - in a style which is easy for a layman like me to understand, which is a difficult feat. I especially loved the chapter where author talked about how gravitational force doesn't exist (I had no clue about this one) and the one on dodoppelgänger.
The book will not turn boring at any point. I am looking forward to see if any other books by the author are for laymen and read them too.
I received a free copy for the book from Netgalley.
jmtaylor1981's review against another edition
4.0
"Every breath you take contains an atom breathed out by Marilyn Monroe."
What an interesting little books.
What an interesting little books.
badoit90's review against another edition
3.0
3 Stars // And we’re staying up in space, as a few days before recording this video, NASA published the first photos of the recently inaugurated James Webb Space Telescope. These are images from the Carina nebula, about 7600 light years away from earth - a turbulent cloud of gas, birthplace and graveyard for some of the Milky Ways hottest and most massive stars. If you are fascinated by these images, chances are you will like ‘Infinity in the Palm of your Hands’. The books author, Marcus Chown, is a British science writer and journalist, he studied under renowned Physicist Richard Feynman and is now a cosmology consultant for New Scientist magazine. What a cool job title that is.
In this book, he presents 50 short essays about some of the wonders of our universe. It’s a fairly short book, with each essay not being longer than a double page spread, usually. He goes from the most microscopic aspects of life up to the weird and bizarre world of quantum theory, trying to make the latter as understandable as possible for us mortal human readers. It lends itself perfectly for that quick read at night before snoozing off, or the 5 tube stations you have to take in the morning to get to work.
I will rate this book 3 stars. Chown is using a trick that, whilst charming in the beginning, can get a bit annoying over time. He begins each essay with a catchy one-line description or question that he twisted out of the topic he wants to explore. For example, he begins one chapter by saying that ‘Babies are powered by rocket fuel’. And then he elaborates that we as humans need oxygen to power ourselves, as do we need it to power rockets, hence babies are powered by the same fuel as rockets, oxygen. It therefore all feels a bit clickbaity, you take the science behind it less serious because it’s wrapped in this pop-art approach to it. I reckon its his way of trying to make physics and space as interesting and easy to understand as possible, but I do wonder if this was really necessary. Still, for the science geeks of you, this could be a nice little bedside read.
In this book, he presents 50 short essays about some of the wonders of our universe. It’s a fairly short book, with each essay not being longer than a double page spread, usually. He goes from the most microscopic aspects of life up to the weird and bizarre world of quantum theory, trying to make the latter as understandable as possible for us mortal human readers. It lends itself perfectly for that quick read at night before snoozing off, or the 5 tube stations you have to take in the morning to get to work.
I will rate this book 3 stars. Chown is using a trick that, whilst charming in the beginning, can get a bit annoying over time. He begins each essay with a catchy one-line description or question that he twisted out of the topic he wants to explore. For example, he begins one chapter by saying that ‘Babies are powered by rocket fuel’. And then he elaborates that we as humans need oxygen to power ourselves, as do we need it to power rockets, hence babies are powered by the same fuel as rockets, oxygen. It therefore all feels a bit clickbaity, you take the science behind it less serious because it’s wrapped in this pop-art approach to it. I reckon its his way of trying to make physics and space as interesting and easy to understand as possible, but I do wonder if this was really necessary. Still, for the science geeks of you, this could be a nice little bedside read.