In Spectrums, David Blatner blends narrative and illustration to illuminate the variety of spectrums that affect our lives every day: numbers, size, light, sound, heat, and time. There is actually very little in this universe that we can feel, touch, see, hear, or possibly even comprehend. It's not an easy task to stretch the mind to encompass both billions of years and billionths of seconds; the distance to Jupiter and the size of a proton; the tiny waves of visible light and gargantuan but invisible gamma rays; or the freezing point of Helium and the heat generated by the blast of an atom bomb. Exploring these far-reaching spectrums gives us fascinating perspective on our small but not insignificant place in the universe. With easy-to-read, engaging, and insightful observations, illustrated by a wealth of photographs and diagrams, Blatner helps us "grok"-understand intuitively-six spectrums we encounter constantly, making our daily lives richer and more meaningful through greater appreciation of the bizarre and beautiful world in which we live.
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"Leavened with wit and colorful anecdotes, each section reveals a wealth of astonishing and quirky details about the world around us….Complete with illustrative charts, photos, and pithy quotes from celebrities as diverse as George Carlin and Max Planck, Blatner’s work is one of those rare nonfiction gems that make learning about science eyeopening and fun."—Booklist
"I found myself charmed and, yes, even amazed by some of Mr. Blatner's examples." —Peter Pesic, The Wall Street Journal
About the Author
David Blatner is known for his award-winning books, including The Joy of Pi, The Flying Book, and various books on computer science topics, such as InDesign, Quark XPress, and Photoshop. He lectures worldwide on electronic publishing. More than 500,000 copies of his books are in print in twelve languages. He and his wife and son live in Seattle, Washington.
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Amazon.com:
4.3 out of 5 stars
6 reviews
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
Entertaining and Educational
Dec 7 2012
By J. Gomez
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
Spectrums: Our Mind-Boggling Universe from Infinitesimal to Infinity by David Blatner
"Spectrums: Our Mind-Boggling Universe from Infinitesimal to Infinity" is a wonderful, educational book that provides a scale across six spectrums representative of our everyday experience: numbers, size, light, sound, heat, and time. Author David Blatner takes the reader on an exploration of the universe, from the smallest to the incomprehensively large. This 192-page book is composed of the following six chapters: 1. Numbers, 2. Size, 3. Light, 4. Sound, 5. Heat, and 6. Time.
Positives:
1. An engaging, entertaining and an accessible book for the masses.
2. Very engaging prose which is atypical in science writing.
3. Excellent layout.
4. Great use of charts, illustrations and tables to assist the reader.
5. Immersed with thought-provoking quotes and interesting anecdotes.
6. A lot of great tidbits. Spoiler alert..."The only countries that haven't standardized on the metric system are the United States, Myanmar, and Liberia."
7. The author does a wonderful job of not just explaining complex topic to the reader but making it fun to do so.
8. The essence of numbers. Getting a grasp on numbers.
9. Infinity in its proper perspective.
10. Sizing up size, distance...helpful analogies.
11. Perhaps the best chapter in the book, Light. The author does a wonderful job of explaining the basic physics of light. A lot of complex topics made reachable to the general audience.
12. An excellent chapter on sound, the author provides plenty of interesting factoids and many great visual aids such as a table of "Intensity of Selected Sounds" and an excellent comparison pictorial of frequency hearing ranges among popular living creatures including humans.
13. The essence of heat, temperature...the scientists behind the greatest discoveries associated with the aforementioned topics.
14. Phase states of material. A table of phase change of popular elements.
15. Very promising science underway. Controlling fusion? The Large Hadron Collider...
16. An exploration into time. Atomic clocks, time zones, cosmic time...
17. The theory of relativity.
18. The book ends on a little philosophy.
Negatives:
1. A very limited notes and bibliography section.
2. The book covers a narrow "spectrum" of science.
3. Intended for the general audience. If you are looking for depth look elsewhere.
In summary, I really enjoyed this book. The author's engaging prose and ability to convey difficult scientific topics in an accessible way will win over the general audience. One really does get a better grasp of how infinitesimal and how enormous our universe truly is. This is the perfect book for the layperson interested in learning some of the basics of physics without sacrificing too much time. The book covers a narrow "spectrum" of science but what it covers it does so very well. I recommend it!
Further suggestions: "About Time" by Adam Frank, "The Laws of Thermodynamics: A Very Short Introduction" by Peter Atkins, "For the Love of Physics" by Walter Lewin, "Physics of the Future: How Science Will Shape Human Destiny and Our Daily Lives by the Year 2100" by Michio Kaku, "A Universe from Nothing" by Lawrence Krauss, "Knocking on Heaven's Door: How Physics and Scientific Thinking Illuminate the Universe and the Modern World" by Lisa Randall, "Wonders of the Universe" and "Why Does E=mc2? (And Why Should We Care?)Big Bang: The Origin of the Universe" by Brian Cox, "The Big Bang: The Origin of the Universe" by Simon Singh, and "The Grand Design" by Stephen Hawking.
"Spectrums: Our Mind-Boggling Universe from Infinitesimal to Infinity" is a wonderful, educational book that provides a scale across six spectrums representative of our everyday experience: numbers, size, light, sound, heat, and time. Author David Blatner takes the reader on an exploration of the universe, from the smallest to the incomprehensively large. This 192-page book is composed of the following six chapters: 1. Numbers, 2. Size, 3. Light, 4. Sound, 5. Heat, and 6. Time.
Positives:
1. An engaging, entertaining and an accessible book for the masses.
2. Very engaging prose which is atypical in science writing.
3. Excellent layout.
4. Great use of charts, illustrations and tables to assist the reader.
5. Immersed with thought-provoking quotes and interesting anecdotes.
6. A lot of great tidbits. Spoiler alert..."The only countries that haven't standardized on the metric system are the United States, Myanmar, and Liberia."
7. The author does a wonderful job of not just explaining complex topic to the reader but making it fun to do so.
8. The essence of numbers. Getting a grasp on numbers.
9. Infinity in its proper perspective.
10. Sizing up size, distance...helpful analogies.
11. Perhaps the best chapter in the book, Light. The author does a wonderful job of explaining the basic physics of light. A lot of complex topics made reachable to the general audience.
12. An excellent chapter on sound, the author provides plenty of interesting factoids and many great visual aids such as a table of "Intensity of Selected Sounds" and an excellent comparison pictorial of frequency hearing ranges among popular living creatures including humans.
13. The essence of heat, temperature...the scientists behind the greatest discoveries associated with the aforementioned topics.
14. Phase states of material. A table of phase change of popular elements.
15. Very promising science underway. Controlling fusion? The Large Hadron Collider...
16. An exploration into time. Atomic clocks, time zones, cosmic time...
17. The theory of relativity.
18. The book ends on a little philosophy.
Negatives:
1. A very limited notes and bibliography section.
2. The book covers a narrow "spectrum" of science.
3. Intended for the general audience. If you are looking for depth look elsewhere.
In summary, I really enjoyed this book. The author's engaging prose and ability to convey difficult scientific topics in an accessible way will win over the general audience. One really does get a better grasp of how infinitesimal and how enormous our universe truly is. This is the perfect book for the layperson interested in learning some of the basics of physics without sacrificing too much time. The book covers a narrow "spectrum" of science but what it covers it does so very well. I recommend it!
Further suggestions: "About Time" by Adam Frank, "The Laws of Thermodynamics: A Very Short Introduction" by Peter Atkins, "For the Love of Physics" by Walter Lewin, "Physics of the Future: How Science Will Shape Human Destiny and Our Daily Lives by the Year 2100" by Michio Kaku, "A Universe from Nothing" by Lawrence Krauss, "Knocking on Heaven's Door: How Physics and Scientific Thinking Illuminate the Universe and the Modern World" by Lisa Randall, "Wonders of the Universe" and "Why Does E=mc2? (And Why Should We Care?)Big Bang: The Origin of the Universe" by Brian Cox, "The Big Bang: The Origin of the Universe" by Simon Singh, and "The Grand Design" by Stephen Hawking.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
An eye-opening read
Nov 27 2012
By S. Citron
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Hardcover
Who knew? David Blatner's SPECTRUMS will blow your mind with smart and smartly written facts about things as basic as sound and light. Like taking a class from a great teacher, Blatner knows how to make sense of heady concepts. The illustrations and photos also help to make their point, as do the pithy quotes from people as diverse as Einstein and Steven Wright. A fun and fascinating read for the intellectually curious, that's never pedantic or boring.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
Lots of facts and figures
Dec 27 2012
By J. D. Christensen
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase
Many, many interesting bits of information. Prompted me to develop a completely different perspective of the world. In the normal course of the day, you never think about much beyond the 'normal'. This book was an eye-opener.
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4.3 out of 5 stars
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