Vesmír v tweetech

by Marcus Chown, Govert Schilling, Lucie Kudlejová (Translator)

Marcus Chown a Govert Schilling nás vezmou na jedinečnou exkurzi po vesmíru. Odvětí na vše, počínaje základními úvahami - Proč je obloha v noci temná? Proč se hvězdy třpytí? - až po ty nejzáludnější - Co jsou to kvasary? či Co předcházelo Velkému třesku? Některé otázky v této geniálním způsobem informativní publikaci se ukazují být stejně překvapivé jako odpovědi na ně. Je možné, že veškeré galaxie, které jsme schopni pomocí dalekohledů spatřit, nejsou ničím jiným než optickým klamem? Dalo by se na Saturnově měsíci, Titanu, plavat? Jak je možné, že Měsíc nespadne na Zemi? (Ukáže se, že to mimochodem není vůbec hloupá otázka.) A byl by Saturn v dostatečně velké vodní nádrži nadnášen?

Genres: Science, Nonfiction, Astronomy, Popular Science, Space

316 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 2011

About the author

Marcus Chown is an award-winning writer and broadcaster. Formerly a radio astronomer at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, he is currently cosmology consultant of the weekly science magazine New Scientist. He is the author of the bestselling Quantum Theory Cannot Hurt You, The Never Ending Days of Being Dead and The Magic Furnace. He also wrote The Solar System, the bestselling app for iPad, which won the Future Book Award 2011. Marcus Chown has also written a work for children, Felicity Frobisher and the Three-Headed Aldebaran Dust Devil.

Reviews

[Brian Clegg · Rating 3 out of 5]

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My first reaction to this book was that it was going to be an irritating gimmick. How far could you get, after all, putting across complex science in 140 character tweets? However, Marcus Chown is one of the best science writers around, who I trust with my brain (I don't know Govert Schilling), so I was prepared to suspend disbelief.

I immediately found the style was a little irritating in its conciseness, but it did produce a certain poetic need to really craft all the words that made some of the entries like little works of art. Another concern might be that making the content so short would result in over-simplification, but in most of the entries this wasn't the case.

There were a few small issues, though. I was a bit worried by the first entry, on Newton's light and colour work. We come across Newton first using his prism to split light into colours at his home in Woolsthorpe. The trouble is, he bought his first prism at the 1664 Stourbridge fair (near Cambridge), several months before he was exiled home by the plague, and infamously he made a hole to use it in his blinds at Cambridge, not 'through a slit in the curtains at Woolsthorpe'. It's not that he didn't do more work on light in his enforced leave of absence, but it wasn't the beginning, as the book (or rather its enforcedly compact entries).

Another example of a slight problem probably caused by the condensed text is in the explanation of the tides, which is simplified enough to miss out entirely the main reason that there is a second tide on the far side of the Earth from the Moon.

As I got further in, I did, I confess, increasingly find the choppiness of the prose a bit off-putting. I had to work really hard not to skip over chunks as soon as I had got the gist, to try to keep things flowing. Don't get me wrong, there's lots of good stuff in here (particularly some lovely compact cosmology), but I would still much rather read a 'normal' book.

One last shame - this was a book that cried out for a section at the back with further reading suggestions for people who have got a taster from what's on offer. (Each of these could have been tweet length.) There were even loads of blank pages at the back where the recommendations could have gone (I counted 15 empty pages). Certainly this is a bit of fun, and would make a very acceptable gift book, certainly there is some good material in there, but in the end the real thing is not quite as good as the original idea promised. This is not the authors' fault - they've done a great job under the circumstances - just the inevitable limitations of the format.

Review originally published on www.popularscience.co.uk - reproduced with permission

[Courtney Williams · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book: Tweeting the Universe: Very Short Courses on Very Big Ideas

The author: Marcus Chown and Govert Schilling

The subject: 140 chapters, each dedicated to a scientific topic, explaining the topic in tweet-length bites.

Why I chose it: I like science and Twitter, and also think that trying to write something as briefly and succinctly as possible can help you to see if you truly understand it.

The rating: Four out of five stars

What I thought of it: First of all, this isn't quite as impressive as shrinking an entire topic down into one tweet; instead, each topic is covered by a series of tweets, with no sentences spread over multiple tweets. This helps strike a good balance between being too brief and missing all the details and just writing prose. The authors don't use too many shortcuts either (such as writing words as letters or abbreviating words), which helps make it more readable.

In fact, I found this book incredibly clear despite its novel style. I think it would be a good read for anyone who needs to learn how to be concise when writing about science, in conjunction with lots of practice. Some people may find the choppy writing difficult to get along with, but since I'm used to how Twitter works I had no problem with it. There were a lot of interesting tidbits of information that I bookmarked for later investigation and reference. I think my favourite chapter was number 98, "Where did the Big Bang happen?". I really liked the analogy used for the expansion of the universe: raisins in an infinite cake!

This was a fun book and definitely a unique contribution to the world of popular science. It does cover mainly astronomy topics, so further books with the same style but covering different topics would be great. It could even be spread out into a series.

Just one more thing: Here are the authors' Twitter accounts: Marcus Chown's account (his tweets are repetitive, but interesting if you follow him for a short time), and Govert Schilling's Dutch and English accounts.

[Petr · Rating 3 out of 5]

EN/CZ

I was surprised how tweeted science managed to be crammed with information. However, I sometimes the tweets were a little short. Today, with the 280 characters, they could be sufficiently verbose for a more convenient reading experience. In general, it was a great form of acquiring scientific knowledge with sufficient context. I could pick up this book basically in any spot and enjoy an exciting fact about the universe. I did not like the repetition of some information bits, and also I would prefer to have the list of the questions that start the tweet feed and not just the general topics.

CZ: Kniha je výtečná pro libovolné dávkování úžasných znalostí o vesmíru. Avšak, i když obdivuji překladatele omezeného rozsahem tweetů, tak občas je krátká forma dost na úkor čitelnosti (ale ne srozumitelnosti obsahu). Je výtečné, že člověk najde mnoho zajímavých fakt na jednom místě a bez zbytečné omáčky, avšak s dostatečným kontextem. Jako odpočinkové či inspirující čtení mohu doporučit. Pro lepší využití by však kniha měla mít nejen seznam témat, ale i seznam položených otázek, které uvozují seznam tweetů.

[Lana Hall · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book made big ideas about our universe accessible and understandable. I love reading about the universe, it always fills me with awe and makes my own problems seem insignificant! But finding easily understandable reading on it has been a challenge. Not so with this book: each idea is only 2 pages long, and every idea is tweet length, which means lots of white space and very well conveyed ideas within very few words. The authors did a great job with this book. Only problem is some info is starting to date, book is over ten years old now. But it a very minor part of the book that this relates to.

[Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

A perfect little book to dip your toes into the world of astrophysics over a funny premise. I felt like I learnt something and it made me want to read a bit more into certain areas, and also made me feel a little existential but space will do that.

[Skord · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not bad for beginners. Perfect for beginners who want to balance a coffee on one knee while reading.

[Mizumi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quite a fun and interesting read (and glad to hear that both authors agree with me that a) women scientists are severely understated and need more mentions, so thanks for that and b) that the Very Large Telescope may be very aptly named, but not very originally). 140 questions answered in tweets - of course multiple tweets per answer, which almost makes one wonder why they didn't include more ellipses and finish the sentence in the next tweet, but I guess that's part of the challenge. It did help to get big ideas across very fast, though the format is a little annoying to read if you read the whole book in one sitting.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Clearly, the hook/gimmick in this one is in the title. We have 140 questions, each answered in a tweet. Well, not one tweet, but a number of tweet-sized paragraphs. This is where it falls down for me - because you can make the explanation as long as you want by this method! Mind you, it's not like answers could actually be done in 140 characters, so how else to do it? I found the disjointed, choppy approach OK at first, but later irritating. I'm not sure that people new to the subject will find it all that easy to learn from. Glad I bought it in a sale, basically!

[Nurture Waratah · Rating 4 out of 5]

I know the blurb makes this book sound boring but it really isn't. In fact, it is chock full of fascinating facts about some very interesting topics. The authors have managed to explain the answers to very large questions in small easy-to-understand tweets, making this book an excellent choice for the layperson. It would also be great as a beginners guide for those interested in delving deeper into science of physics.

Overall, this is a book I would recommend to any reader with the least bit of interest in science, the universe or the world around us.

[Cam James · Rating 3 out of 5]

A great little book for those (like myself) who want to know more about astronomy and astrophysics, but really aren't all that scientifically-minded. Bite-sized chunks of information allow you to spend a few minutes on a subject, perhaps one or two a day, and process it in your own time. There is a fair bit of repetition throughout the book, however, far from being annoying, it helps to reinforce ideas that may have been covered a few chapters earlier.

[Jozef Kuric · Rating 5 out of 5]

Govert a Marcus, to nakoniec zvládli a stvorili symbolických 140 tém (otázok), zahrnutých do nasledovných hlavných kapitol: Obloha, Zem, Mesiac, Vesmírny priestor, Slnko, Slnečná sústava, Hviezdy, Mliečna dráha, Galaxie, Vesmír, Život vo vesmíre, Dejiny astronómie, Ďalekohľad, Pohľad do vesmíru. Mimochodom je ich presne 14, teda 10-krát menej, ako je otázok a aj znakov v jednom tweete.

Čítajte viac: http://jozefkuric.blog.sme.sk/c/30627...

[Oran · Rating 4 out of 5]

The reason I bought it was because I found the universe interesting and fascinating and I had a lot of questions about it that could be answered in this book.

This book is great in providing answers to the most asked questions about the vast universe and it gives brief, yet, detailed summaries of the astronomical physics aspect of space without it being perplexing.

This book is also easy to read from reasonable young ages, I for example read it when I was 12.

[Vicky Sharratt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Entertaining and accurately written guide to astronomy which has not been hindered by the twitter post constraints. Definitely recommended for non-scientists as a guide to the universe, but also to scientists/researchers as a guide to clear communication. If you can't say it in 140 characters you're not saying it right.

[Rewan Tremethick · Rating 5 out of 5]

A really fascinating introduction to the big ideas of science. The book explains some obvious questions as well as more complex ideas, translating the concepts into very simple premises. I learned a lot and it has really encouraged me to explore more about science and physics. Really recommended for anyone who has an interest in science but doesn't know where to start.

[Radynka · Rating 2 out of 5]

U téhle knihy jsem hodně googlila, některé pasáže jsem četla několikrát (a stejně je nepochopila) a málem mi praskla hlava.

Co mi vadilo:
Snaha vejít se do 160 znakům, ubírala na čtivosti a pochopitelnosti.
Řazení kapitol. Nejdřív čtete o pulsarech, abyste se za několik kapitol dozvěděly, co to pulsary jsou.
A některé informace už zastaraly (což ale chápu).

[Eri · Rating 5 out of 5]

宇宙船の船長になりたい。

Uz dlouho jsem neměla takové dilema - dočíst nebo nedočíst, a co za chytrou knizku vemu do ruky pak?
Vesmír je cool. Věda ještě víc. Zatím nevíme, odpověď jaká mi nevadí, jinych informací bylo dost.
A třeba fakt jsou to ty želvy naskládané na sobě.

[Wolf Draven · Rating 5 out of 5]

Zvláštní a velmi zajímavá knížka.

Moje recenze:
http://wolf-draven.blogspot.cz/2012/0...

[Jan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hodně zajímavých věcí o vesmíru podaných skvělou formou. Díky krátkým tweetům se text při vysvětlování zbytečně nekomplikuje, 140 znaků přímo k věci.

[Keith Grice · Rating 2 out of 5]

Skimping on clarity to amuse those after a moments entertainment is an idea fit for the birds.

[Konstantinos · Rating 2 out of 5]

It may have worked as a Twitter account but it doesn't work as a book. Informative but boring and the broken English in order to remain under 140 characters were distracting and annoying.

[Virginia Rand · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love the idea but I don't know if it translated into a book that well. It sacrificed a bit of clarity to the format.