Synopses & Reviews
An illuminating and entertaining scientific exploration of everyday odditiesBob Berman's Strange Universe is a unique guidebook to some of the more bizarre moments in astronomy and astonishingly true facts about the world around us. Berman is motivated by a straightforward philosophy: everyone can understand science. He feels passionately that basic realities of our existence are truly marvelous, and it only takes a little bit of science to appreciate them.
Geared to the nonscientist, Berman's original essays are filled with the trademark wit and cleverness that has earned him acclaim over many years in his columns for Astronomy and Discover magazines. He emphasizes curiosities of the natural world to which everyone can relate, and dishes on the little-known secrets about space and some of science's biggest blunders (including a very embarrassing moment from Buzz Aldrin's trip to the moon).
Fascinating to anyone interested in the wonders of our world and the cosmos beyond, Strange Universe will make you smile and think.
Review
"Truly exceptional." The Christian Science Monitor
Review
"Berman uses science to unravel some of the conundrums we face every day . . . His style is witty, and his presentation is thoughtful."
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Science News
Synopsis
Berman's Strange Universe is a unique guidebook to some of the more bizarre moments in astronomy and astonishingly true facts about the world around us. His original essays are filled with the trademark wit and cleverness that has earned him acclaim over many years.
About the Author
Bob Berman writes the
Strange Universe column in
Astronomy magazine. His previous titles on astronomy include C
osmic Adventure: A Renegade Astronomer's Guide to Our World and Beyond and
Secrets of the Night Sky: The Most Amazing Things in the Universe You Can See with the Naked Eye . He lives near Woodstock, New York.
Table of Contents
What's going on here?: Look out below! -- Physics in the morning -- We've got gas -- Man who fell to earth -- View from a window seat -- Fathoming water -- Underworld -- Odd odds -- Measuring madness -- Say what? -- Eat the aliens -- Out of the blue -- Sky spectacles -- Shadow knows -- Egg-quinox -- Deadly light -- Nature and numbers, rivers and Pi.