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Gravity's Arc: The Story of Gravity from Aristotle to Einstein and Beyond
How did one of the greatest geniuses who ever lived retard the study of gravity for 2,000 years? How did a gluttonous tyrant with a gold nose revolutionize our view of the solar system? How could an eccentric professor shake the foundations of an entire belief system by dropping two objects from a tower? How did a falling apple turn the thoughts of a reclusive genius toward the moon? And how could a simple patent clerk change our entire view of the universe by imagining himself riding on a beam of light?
In Gravity's Arc, you'll discover how some of the most colorful, eccentric, and brilliant people in history first locked, then unlocked the door to understanding one of nature's most essential forces. You'll find out why Aristotle's misguided conclusions about gravity became an unassailable part of Christian dogma, how Galileo slowed down time to determine how fast objects fall, and why Isaac Newton erased every mention of one man's name from his magnum opus Principia. You'll also figure out what Einstein meant when he insisted that space is curved, whether there is really such a thing as antigravity, and why some scientists think that the best way to get to outer space is by taking an elevator.
In Gravity's Arc, you'll discover how some of the most colorful, eccentric, and brilliant people in history first locked, then unlocked the door to understanding one of nature's most essential forces. You'll find out why Aristotle's misguided conclusions about gravity became an unassailable part of Christian dogma, how Galileo slowed down time to determine how fast objects fall, and why Isaac Newton erased every mention of one man's name from his magnum opus Principia. You'll also figure out what Einstein meant when he insisted that space is curved, whether there is really such a thing as antigravity, and why some scientists think that the best way to get to outer space is by taking an elevator.
288 pages, Hardcover
First published May 1, 2006
About the author
David Darling
67 books32 followersThere is more than one author in the database with this name. Not all books on this profile may belong to the same person.
David Darling is a science writer and astronomer. He is the author of many books, including the bestselling Equations of Eternity, and the popular online resource The Worlds of David Darling. He lives in Dundee, Scotland.
David Darling is a science writer and astronomer. He is the author of many books, including the bestselling Equations of Eternity, and the popular online resource The Worlds of David Darling. He lives in Dundee, Scotland.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
May 12, 2013
Science books in general, and more specifically Science History is possibly my favourite non-fiction genre. I admit, there are times when I feel that I am a little out of my depth on some of the topics. But I still love reading the jargon, and the eventual conclusions of theories that I don't understand.
Gravity's Arc had me feeling like that. It does a great job of describing the evolution of Gravity as a concept from Aristotle's days to the present (I don't think Scientists even call it Gravity these days - at least not in the sense Newton meant it). And it's truly fascinating. The author does talk up Aristotles era of science, but it's hard to not find their thoughts stupid. There. A present-day nobody calling a world renowned thinker like Aristotle Stupid. But seriously, you should read what he thought of gravity.
It turns out that ideas about Gravity pretty much languished till Newton came along. There were breakthroughs far and wide though... like ideas of Sun Centered solar system that led scientists to ask questions about Gravity. But formal laws and equations came along with Newton. And that is what we learnt in school. However, there were some major holes in Gravity. A big question remained, one that I myself had in school, how in the world does Gravity act over a distance and instantaneously? Well, as a school kid, I wasn't really enterprising enough to discover answers to such lofty questions. After all, getting 40/40 in the exam was more important then. But Einstein, among others continued probing, and came with answers of space-time curvatures that cause Gravity. From there on, the book becomes really complicated. While the language used was still lucid, the topic became a little too heavy. General, high level explanations ended up providing about .01% of half-knowledge of the science involved. Understandably so. I anyways didn't want a book filled with complex equations. Nonetheless, the general idea was fascinating enough.
Considering relativity and modern concepts of space-time have been around since 1930s, I wish somebody had atleast briefly taught these things to me in the first 12 years of my general science education. While at a day-to-day level you don't need to know anything about such scientific ideas and reasonings of how the world works, but personally, I'd have liked to know.
For now, that's where books like these come in. I found it a fun read.
Gravity's Arc had me feeling like that. It does a great job of describing the evolution of Gravity as a concept from Aristotle's days to the present (I don't think Scientists even call it Gravity these days - at least not in the sense Newton meant it). And it's truly fascinating. The author does talk up Aristotles era of science, but it's hard to not find their thoughts stupid. There. A present-day nobody calling a world renowned thinker like Aristotle Stupid. But seriously, you should read what he thought of gravity.
It turns out that ideas about Gravity pretty much languished till Newton came along. There were breakthroughs far and wide though... like ideas of Sun Centered solar system that led scientists to ask questions about Gravity. But formal laws and equations came along with Newton. And that is what we learnt in school. However, there were some major holes in Gravity. A big question remained, one that I myself had in school, how in the world does Gravity act over a distance and instantaneously? Well, as a school kid, I wasn't really enterprising enough to discover answers to such lofty questions. After all, getting 40/40 in the exam was more important then. But Einstein, among others continued probing, and came with answers of space-time curvatures that cause Gravity. From there on, the book becomes really complicated. While the language used was still lucid, the topic became a little too heavy. General, high level explanations ended up providing about .01% of half-knowledge of the science involved. Understandably so. I anyways didn't want a book filled with complex equations. Nonetheless, the general idea was fascinating enough.
Considering relativity and modern concepts of space-time have been around since 1930s, I wish somebody had atleast briefly taught these things to me in the first 12 years of my general science education. While at a day-to-day level you don't need to know anything about such scientific ideas and reasonings of how the world works, but personally, I'd have liked to know.
For now, that's where books like these come in. I found it a fun read.
January 29, 2014
I've read a lot of books about how gravity works (or how we think it works), but this is the first book I've read that explains all the older theories of what made things fall. Really thought provoking, and it makes you appreciate how important all the mistaken theories were as a foundation for building the better theories that followed.
March 9, 2014
Better book than that stupid movie with Sandra Bullock.
April 4, 2019
Historical
A good read with a heavy influence of history. Does not have enough current of theory and explanation thereof. A good read for the history student.
A good read with a heavy influence of history. Does not have enough current of theory and explanation thereof. A good read for the history student.
April 21, 2010
I think this was a really interesting idea for a book, but half the time it felt like he wasn't giving as much information as I'd like and the other half it felt like he was giving too much. Some of the explanations were also very unclear on the first readthrough.
February 14, 2016
Very intriguing book on the force of Gravity. It chronicles it's evolution from days of Aristotle to Newton. Absolutely fantastic.
December 19, 2008
Very good retelling of the story of humanity's investigations in gravity.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews