A Bee in a Cathedral: And 99 Other Scientific Analogies

by Joel Levy

"100 scientific truths and principles clearly explained using the power of analogy. "

The well-known "a bee in a cathedral" analogy describes the size of an atom and its nucleus in understandable terms. The analogy goes that if an atom were expanded to the size of a cathedral, the nucleus would be only about the size of a bee.

"A Bee in a Cathedral" uses analogies to demonstrate 100 basic scientific truths and principles in new and exciting ways, describing the unbelievably massive, the inconceivably tiny and the unfathomably complex in everyday terms. Readers will be drawn to the book by its combination of intuitive reasoning and a highly visual presentation style.

Each analogy is explained in direct terms and clearly illustrated. A range of facts and figures -- presented in uniquely accessible "infographics" -- complements the analogies. The book covers a wide array of scientific topics: physics, chemistry, astronomy, biology, earth sciences, anatomy and technology. The analogies include: If an atomic nucleus expanded to the size of a marble, it would weigh about 100 million tons, or roughly the equivalent of 16 Great Pyramids of Egypt.It would take a human heart less than 18 days to fill an Olympic-sized swimming pool.The volcanic blast of Mount St. Helens released thermal energy 1,600 times the size of Hiroshima. Krakatoa's 1883 eruption was roughly 13,000 times as powerful as that same bomb.

Informative and engaging, "A Bee in a Cathedral" gives readers a deeper appreciation of the forces and facts that govern the universe and everything in it.

Genres: Science, Nonfiction, Reference

224 pages, Hardcover

First published June 16, 2011

About the author

Joel Levy is a writer and journalist specializing in science and history. He is the author of over a dozen books, including The Little Book of Conspiracies and Scientific Feuds: From Galileo to the Human Genome Project. Phobiapedia is his first book for children.

Reviews

[Estella · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book is yellow. My favourite color is yellow but I do not like this book any more.First,it is too expensive to most of student,Second,it did not have a clearly theme so that I can not understand.Last but not least,my little brother can not stand the bee on the book,it is very ugly!In a word, this is a really terrible book!

[Sam · Rating 4 out of 5]

I must say I was rather impressed by this book, it contained far more facts and odd tidbits of information than I originally expected and despite the rather unusual layout it was a joy to read. Levy has pulled together the main points of a variety of areas of science from physics through biology and earth science to technology and presents them in such a way that anyone can get their heads around them. I note that there have been claims of inaccuracies but for all the sections I'm familiar with I couldn't find any so I don't know how true these are, and as with anything in science it may have been correct at the time of writing but has since changed. This makes a great book to read for the pure enjoyment as well as a reference and educational guide and I'm sure I'm going to be going back to it again and again, whether I need to or not.

[Alicia · Rating 3 out of 5]

There's plenty of tidbits of science to dive into in this book and it's a mishmash of 100 analogies with charts, graphs, images, and explanations to help understand. I perused it but didn't spend a lot of time with it because it takes a level of foundational knowledge to know just what floor I'm getting on with this elevator of information and I generally don't have that capacity, but the ones that piqued my interest were cool to learn about (particularly the story that dominoes fall faster than books due to free electrons).

[Simeon · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked A Bee in a Cathederal because it had plenty of stuff I didn't know about science like I didn't realize you could five trillion atoms on the head of a pin. The writing was clear and interesting, I really enjoyed it. Another thing I liked about it was the unusual facts.

[Duane · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good information. Great infographics. Should be used as a resource book for high school science teachers.

[Rachel B. · Rating 5 out of 5]

I slowly made my way through this, reading a page here and there over a few years. I enjoyed it immensely.

[Dominik Golob · Rating 3 out of 5]

440

[Emma Peters]

It was interesting, a ton of large words I didn't understand though.

[Carrie Dye · Rating 3 out of 5]

Joel Levy is a writer who specializes in history and science. In this book he acknowledges the difficulty of understanding the complexities of science when it involves difficult equations, vast distances and the unimaginably small. Educators turn to analogies to help students understand difficult concepts. Levy has created an attractive book that covers scientific concepts in physics, chemistry, biology, astronomy, earth science, the human body and technology. An analogy is a resemblance or similarity which leads to from a familiar concept to an unfamiliar one.
The well-known "a bee in a cathedral" analogy describes the size of an atom and its nucleus in understandable terms. The analogy goes that if an atom were expanded to the size of a cathedral, the nucleus would be only about the size of a bee. Or, if you wanted to play soccer with an atom, you have to enlarge it 1.5 billion times the original size, is an analogy that helps you understand the size of an atom. This book really intrigued me as a way to interest students in science. I admit to only sampling the book and not reading the whole thing. I was disappointed that errors were reported by other reviewers: I can't wholly recommend this book now. Let's hope the publishers will correct the errors.
Caveat: Be aware that some customer reviewers on Amazon who were genuinely excited about this book have noted some errors in the book and criticized the busy layout - which makes it difficult to read. This should probably be looked at more carefully by science teachers. (High School).

[Stephen Cranney · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a fun book to skim through. Although I already knew most of the numbers presented here, it helps to see the concepts conveyed through everyday objects. It's easy to take the scope of scientific processes for granted once you get used to scientific notation, but every once in a while it's good to really be forced to think about how big/small/powerful things are.

It also had a lot of interesting facts that I didn't know (e.g. the vacuum in the main tube in the Large Hadron Collider is the most empty space in the Solar System). Something like this would be perfect for younger people with a budding, pre-mathematical interest in science.

[Brenda · Rating 3 out of 5]

This Book Is About Science . Like Physics Chemistry Biology Astronomy Earth Science The Human Body And Technology . It`S Name Is Very Fun:A Bee In A Cathedral .Just Like A Story Book.

[Lauren · Rating 4 out of 5]

Something fascinating on every page! Although I'd be fine if the science explanations in the text were a little simpler and less wordy.

[Paulina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting book, has a lot of fun facts. Iy tries to explain very complicated topics very fast and only gives a general idea about them. Not bad though.

[Raheem · Rating 5 out of 5]

Science, plus amazing analogies, equals a really fun read!