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How Did We Find Out #2
How Did We Find Out the Earth is Round?
Discusses the theories that led to the discovery that the earth was round.
- GenresScience
59 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1972
6 people are currently reading
161 people want to read
About the author
Isaac Asimov
4,337 books27.8k followersWorks of prolific Russian-American writer Isaac Asimov include popular explanations of scientific principles,
The Foundation Trilogy
(1951-1953), and other volumes of fiction.
Isaac Asimov, a professor of biochemistry, wrote as a highly successful author, best known for his books.
Asimov, professor, generally considered of all time, edited more than five hundred books and ninety thousand letters and postcards. He published in nine of the ten major categories of the Dewey decimal classification but lacked only an entry in the category of philosophy (100).
People widely considered Asimov, a master of the genre alongside Robert Anson Heinlein and Arthur Charles Clarke as the "big three" during his lifetime. He later tied Galactic Empire and the Robot into the same universe as his most famous series to create a unified "future history" for his stories much like those that Heinlein pioneered and Cordwainer Smith and Poul Anderson previously produced. He penned "Nightfall," voted in 1964 as the best short story of all time; many persons still honor this title. He also produced well mysteries, fantasy, and a great quantity of nonfiction. Asimov used Paul French, the pen name, for the Lucky Starr, series of juvenile novels.
Most books of Asimov in a historical way go as far back to a time with possible question or concept at its simplest stage. He often provides and mentions well nationalities, birth, and death dates for persons and etymologies and pronunciation guides for technical terms. Guide to Science, the tripartite set Understanding Physics, and Chronology of Science and Discovery exemplify these books.
Asimov, a long-time member, reluctantly served as vice president of Mensa international and described some members of that organization as "brain-proud and aggressive about their IQs." He took more pleasure as president of the humanist association. The asteroid 5020 Asimov, the magazine Asimov's Science Fiction, an elementary school in Brooklyn in New York, and two different awards honor his name.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_As...
Isaac Asimov, a professor of biochemistry, wrote as a highly successful author, best known for his books.
Asimov, professor, generally considered of all time, edited more than five hundred books and ninety thousand letters and postcards. He published in nine of the ten major categories of the Dewey decimal classification but lacked only an entry in the category of philosophy (100).
People widely considered Asimov, a master of the genre alongside Robert Anson Heinlein and Arthur Charles Clarke as the "big three" during his lifetime. He later tied Galactic Empire and the Robot into the same universe as his most famous series to create a unified "future history" for his stories much like those that Heinlein pioneered and Cordwainer Smith and Poul Anderson previously produced. He penned "Nightfall," voted in 1964 as the best short story of all time; many persons still honor this title. He also produced well mysteries, fantasy, and a great quantity of nonfiction. Asimov used Paul French, the pen name, for the Lucky Starr, series of juvenile novels.
Most books of Asimov in a historical way go as far back to a time with possible question or concept at its simplest stage. He often provides and mentions well nationalities, birth, and death dates for persons and etymologies and pronunciation guides for technical terms. Guide to Science, the tripartite set Understanding Physics, and Chronology of Science and Discovery exemplify these books.
Asimov, a long-time member, reluctantly served as vice president of Mensa international and described some members of that organization as "brain-proud and aggressive about their IQs." He took more pleasure as president of the humanist association. The asteroid 5020 Asimov, the magazine Asimov's Science Fiction, an elementary school in Brooklyn in New York, and two different awards honor his name.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_As...
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
January 6, 2020
“Every science begins as philosophy and ends as art”
— Will Durant
The power of observation is mind blowing! A brief, yet informative book. Loved it.
— Will Durant
The power of observation is mind blowing! A brief, yet informative book. Loved it.
October 20, 2024
كُتيِّب مُمتع جدًا عن شكل الأرض هل مُسطحة كانت أو مدورة، يُعرض فيه التصوير البدائي، والفكر القديم، وقدرة الإنسان المحدودة، والمعرفة الشحيحة كانت عند اليونانيين وغيرهم في تصور وجود الأرض.
ذكرني هذا الكُتيِّب بكلام عالم النفس الشهير (سيغموند فرويد) عن تصور الإنسان بكونه محور الكون، بكونه يعيش على الأرض إذًا فالمجموعة الشمسية تدور حول الأرض باعتبارها مركز الكون والوجود كله، إلى أنْ أتىٰ (كوبر نيكوس) وسدد لها الضربة القاضية لنرجسية الإنسان، بأنّ الأرض عبارة عن نُقطة زرقاء في جوف الكون لا تكاد تُرىٰ.
ذكرني هذا الكُتيِّب بكلام عالم النفس الشهير (سيغموند فرويد) عن تصور الإنسان بكونه محور الكون، بكونه يعيش على الأرض إذًا فالمجموعة الشمسية تدور حول الأرض باعتبارها مركز الكون والوجود كله، إلى أنْ أتىٰ (كوبر نيكوس) وسدد لها الضربة القاضية لنرجسية الإنسان، بأنّ الأرض عبارة عن نُقطة زرقاء في جوف الكون لا تكاد تُرىٰ.
December 29, 2019
While this gives an incredibly clear explanation of how we know the earth is round, the real value of this book is the way it shows the reader the logical way to figure out a scientific question. This is not at all out of date and should be kept for either purpose. Highly recommended!
September 15, 2020
Okay, so this was required reading for one of my classes, but this was super interesting!! It made me realize that there are a lot of scientific facts that I've been taking for granted. It's amazing how far we've come in terms of our perception of Earth.
February 1, 2025
#133
This was the first of the How did we find out series. All the known arguments presented for kids.
At the time written it was still thought necessary to mention Columbus. And it ends on the moon.
This was the first of the How did we find out series. All the known arguments presented for kids.
At the time written it was still thought necessary to mention Columbus. And it ends on the moon.
September 7, 2021
আসিমভের পোপুলার সায়েন্স বইগুলো থ্রিলার বই এর মত, পুরাটা সময় আপনাকে ধরে রাখবে।
April 16, 2017
I was a bit obsessed with this series as a kid, but I only ever had access to a small number of them at the time. Now these books seem to be available open source and no one can tell me I’m not allowed to read as many as I want. My primary-school self is very jealous.
“How did we find out the Earth is round?” is a low tier starting point to a great series though. It’s one of the books I did actually have as a kid, but it sat neglected while others were read to death. It just wasn’t the most exciting thing to think about.
As an adult I’m even more off-side because I know it’s a myth that ancient people generally thought the Earth was flat. The moment you can sail a simple boat over the horizon and come back again at least demonstrates the curve. Admittedly, there’s a bit of a jump between that and settling on the Earth being spherical, which is the actual story here. But it is an unfortunate habit of these stories to act as though the starting model is a flat disc, which is super easy to reject.
Of course, we’re going too far into the realm of ‘ancient Greek thinkers were so much smarter than everyone else’, which is always uncomfortable. But it’s still Asimov explaining stuff.
“How did we find out the Earth is round?” is a low tier starting point to a great series though. It’s one of the books I did actually have as a kid, but it sat neglected while others were read to death. It just wasn’t the most exciting thing to think about.
As an adult I’m even more off-side because I know it’s a myth that ancient people generally thought the Earth was flat. The moment you can sail a simple boat over the horizon and come back again at least demonstrates the curve. Admittedly, there’s a bit of a jump between that and settling on the Earth being spherical, which is the actual story here. But it is an unfortunate habit of these stories to act as though the starting model is a flat disc, which is super easy to reject.
Of course, we’re going too far into the realm of ‘ancient Greek thinkers were so much smarter than everyone else’, which is always uncomfortable. But it’s still Asimov explaining stuff.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews