Absolute Zero and the Conquest of Cold: Amazon.ca: Tom Shachtman: Books

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Ancient minds imagined the benefits of technological advances that wouldn't be realized for hundreds of years: "heavier-than-air-flight, ultrarapid ground transportation, the prolongation of life through better medicines, even the construction of skyscrapers and the use of robots." But as Tom Shachtman points out in his Alfred P. Sloan-funded science history Absolute Zero and the Conquest of Cold, no one could conceive of how or why humans would make use of intense cold. "Cold was a mystery without an obvious source, a chill associated with death, inexplicable, too fearsome too investigate."

But as we now know, the mastery of cold has yielded innumerable advances, from the ubiquitous presence of refrigeration and air-conditioning to phenomenal leaps in superconductivity and subatomic research--in 1999 alone, Shachtman cites, a Harvard team used laser cooling to create an environment 50-billionths of a degree above zero, slowing the speed of light to just 38 miles per hour! Absolute Zero guides us skillfully through the fitful, nascent growth of this misunderstood, bastard branch of science, from the early accomplishments of Boyle, Joule, William Thomson (later Lord Kelvin), and other lesser-knowns like Anders Celsius and Gabriel Daniel Fahrenheit to the 20th century, the integration of ultracold research with quantum theory, and the most recent accomplishments in the field. Shachtman's approachable voice proves equally facile with both the science of cold and the mundane history of its technical and commercial uses, including the global ice trade and the work of one of cold's greatest commercial pioneers, a chemist named Clarence Birdseye. --Paul Hughes --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Publishers Weekly

This uneven narrative history of scientific and commercial cooling seeks to elucidate the very nature of cold. The concept that cold was simply the absence of heat was itself a long time coming. The 17th-century English natural philosopher Robert Boyle first disproved conventional beliefs that water and wind produced cold. Temperature could only be measured using rudimentary methods, as the thermometer took years to evolve into the mercury-filled glass unit we know today. (Documentary filmmaker Shachtman gives proper kudos to Gabriel Fahrenheit and Anders Celsius.) Shachtman then turns to the evolution of the natural ice business in the 19th century, which allowed frozen food to be carried hundreds of miles and enabled individuals to preserve fresh food at home. While the natural ice industry expanded, laboratory experiments attempted to determine the best way to travel to the "land of Frigor." Nineteenth-century European scientists believed that some combination of temperature and pressure could liquefy all the components of air, but the apparatus for condensing these gases proved increasingly complex and dangerous. First oxygen, nitrogen, hydrogen and, finally, the difficult-to-obtain element helium were liquefied in a series of contests, each race resulting in a few drops of precious fluid. Shachtman's book comes alive in his highly technical descriptions of the unique and wondrous properties of materials at only a few degrees above absolute zero. After describing the heyday of these experiments in the 1950s, Shachtman backtracks, racing through the technological advances in commercial cooling in the 20th century. At times concise, at other times meandering, this history holds the reader's interest by its intrinsically fascinating subject matter. (Dec.)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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12 Reviews

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3.6 out of 5 stars (12 customer reviews)

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1.0 out of 5 stars Utterly annoying and scientifically misleading, July 18 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Absolute Zero: And the Conquest of Cold (Hardcover)

I got the distinct impression that the author lost interest in his own work somewhere after the third chapter, but had already spent his advance and was forced to finish writing it. The science is misleading (I think he mentioned "vaccuming off lighter molecules" of the same gas in the Kammerleigh Onnes section, maybe forgetting that identical molecules all have the same molecular weight unless we are talking isotopes, but hey, who wants to bother getting the scientific fundamentals straight when we can gossip about Tydall and Dewar's little falling out...). This book is a exaggerated People magazine retelling of the search to attain Absolute Zero. The author would have been wise to try speaking to a few living scientists to get a feel for the real challenges, frustrations, and joys of doing research rather than investing so much energy in "he said, she said" stories. I think the telling of this story would best have been left to someone with a better understanding of physics and the art of doing scientific research. From my own experience, research is no more a "wild ride" than gardening, or a long hike. It's joys are subtle but persistent, not a point this author ever seems to have understood.

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1.0 out of 5 stars Utterly annoying and scientifically misleading, July 18 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Absolute Zero: And the Conquest of Cold (Hardcover)

I got the distinct impression that the author lost interest in his own work somewhere after the third chapter, but had already spent his advance and was forced to finish writing it. The science is misleading (I think he mentioned "vaccuming off lighter molecules" of the same gas in the Kammerleigh Onnes section, maybe forgetting that identical molecules all have the same molecular weight unless we are talking isotopes, but hey, who wants to bother getting the scientific fundamentals straight when we can gossip about Tydall and Dewar's little falling out...). This book is a exaggerated People magazine retelling of the search to attain Absolute Zero. The author would have been wise to try speaking to a few living scientists to get a feel for the real challenges, frustrations, and joys of doing research rather than investing so much energy in "he said, she said" stories. I think the telling of this story would best have been left to someone with a better understanding of physics and the art of doing scientific research. From my own experience, research is no more a "wild ride" than gardening, or a long hike. It's joys are subtle but persistent, not a point this author ever seems to have understood.

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5.0 out of 5 stars Very Well Written Understandable Yet Technical Book, Jan 22 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Absolute Zero and the Conquest of Cold (Paperback)

This is a very interesting book. The technology discussed is complex, but the complexity never gets in the way or leaves the reader wondering what the author is talking about. I highly recommend this book especially for those interested in the history of industrial revolution, or in the sequence of discoveries leading to the discovery of super conductors.

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Most recent customer reviews

2.0 out of 5 stars Explains the personalities, not the science
For a book with this much detail about such a complex topic not to have a single illustration, diagram, or equation cannot be an oversight. Read more

Published on Jun 6 2001 by Douglas M. Murphy

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful
If you are interested in science, scientists and its history; If all you remember from your science classes are the names of scientists like Boyle, Van der waals and Joule; if... Read more

Published on Oct 18 2000 by Vijay Madhavapeddi