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Magic Universe: A Grand Tour of Modern Science
As a prolific author, BBC commentator, and magazine editor, Nigel Calder has spent a lifetime spotting and explaining the big discoveries in all branches of science. In Magic Universe, he draws on his vast experience to offer readers a lively, far-reaching look at modern science in all its glory, shedding light on the latest ideas in physics, biology, chemistry, medicine, astronomy, and many other fields.
What is truly magical about Magic Universe is Calder's incredible breadth. Migrating birds, light sensors in the human eye, black holes, antimatter, buckyballs and nanotubes--with exhilarating sweep, Calder can range from the strings of a piano to the superstrings of modern physics, from Pythagoras's theory of musical pitch to the most recent ideas about atoms and gravity and a ten-dimensional universe--all in one essay. The great virtue of this wide-ranging style--besides its liveliness and versatility--is that it allows Calder to illuminate how the modern sciences intermingle and cross-fertilize one another. Indeed, whether discussing astronauts or handedness or dinosaurs, Calder manages to tease out hidden connections between disparate fields of study. What is most wondrous about the "magic universe" is that one can begin with stellar dust and finish with life itself.
Drawing on interviews with more than 200 researchers, from graduate students to Nobel prize-winners, Magic Universe takes us on a high-spirited tour through the halls of science, one that will enthrall everyone interested in science, whether a young researcher in a high-tech lab or an amateur buff sitting in the comfort of an armchair.
What is truly magical about Magic Universe is Calder's incredible breadth. Migrating birds, light sensors in the human eye, black holes, antimatter, buckyballs and nanotubes--with exhilarating sweep, Calder can range from the strings of a piano to the superstrings of modern physics, from Pythagoras's theory of musical pitch to the most recent ideas about atoms and gravity and a ten-dimensional universe--all in one essay. The great virtue of this wide-ranging style--besides its liveliness and versatility--is that it allows Calder to illuminate how the modern sciences intermingle and cross-fertilize one another. Indeed, whether discussing astronauts or handedness or dinosaurs, Calder manages to tease out hidden connections between disparate fields of study. What is most wondrous about the "magic universe" is that one can begin with stellar dust and finish with life itself.
Drawing on interviews with more than 200 researchers, from graduate students to Nobel prize-winners, Magic Universe takes us on a high-spirited tour through the halls of science, one that will enthrall everyone interested in science, whether a young researcher in a high-tech lab or an amateur buff sitting in the comfort of an armchair.
768 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2003
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
July 15, 2019
Amazing book
Almost all my free time during the past two weeks has been devoted to reading this extraordinary book. I thought that I would read just a selection of the (119) essays (over 700 pages!) on the cutting edge of science, but after reading two or three I was so enthralled that I turned to the beginning and read all the way through. Why? Simply because this is easily the most readable and knowledge-packed book on science that I have ever read.
The range of topics (organized alphabetically from "Alcohol" to "Volcanic Explosions") that science writer extraordinary Nigel Calder reports on is impressive, from the very small at the subatomic level to the very large at the edge of the universe, to the very old near the beginning of the Big Bang, to the very new as the genomes of species are being read. The depth and breath of Calder's knowledge is extraordinary, but that's not the best part of this frankly amazing book. What Calder does so very well is convey that knowledge in a way that makes science fascinating.
He calls his essays "stories." He usually begins with a bit of atmosphere, letting us know where the research is being done and who the people are making the discoveries. And then he may dip back into time and give us a brief historical precis. After that Calder takes us right up to the very edge of discovery, and sometimes even beyond, as he tries to make sense of where the research is going and what effect it will have on our lives. His prose is full of excitement and fascination, and yet he is no pie-in-the-sky enthusiast. Indeed, as he says in the Introduction, he's wary of scientific hype and dogmatism, and aware "that thrilling discoveries can tiptoe in, almost unnoticed," and so his tone is sober and largely objective.
The result is no modest accomplishment. Very few other people in the world could have written this book. Perhaps no one else could have. Calder's requisite knowledge comes from a lifetime of reading, editing and reporting on science in the press, in magazines and on television. He negotiates a fine path between pleasing scientists and those who read about science. He must be both accurate and intelligible--and, as far as I can tell, he is both to an amazing degree.
Yet there is, as he allows, a certain subjectivity inevitable in such a momentous task--the task of guiding the educated reader to a knowledge of what is happening in a host of scientific disciplines. The science must not only be reported on, but it must be interpreted; and, as anyone who has ever interpreted anything more difficult than the leaves at the bottom of a tea cup knows, the interpretative waters are murky and full of danger.
Before I suggest a couple of places where Calder may have gone wrong--and believe me no one could write a book like this and not be wrong in at least a dozen places--let me say that I would not have--could not have--read this book unless I was enormously impressed with what I was reading. One does not devote so many hours to one book--especially considering the reading schedule that I have--without the belief that the time is very well spent.
I am not qualified to critique Calder's interpretation of what is likely to come from a bigger and faster supercollider, or whether epigenetic heredity can explain the rapid development of new species, or a hundred other ideas that Calder comments on. Even those people at the horizon of a particular discipline cannot be sure. But I very much like the fact that Calder sometimes takes a critical stance and sometimes dares to put his reputation on the line by evaluating the discoveries. He has no chair at university to maintain, nor is he in the employ of any organization or government. So he is free to say what he wants as long as it is intellectually responsible. In fact, that is one of the most agreeable features of his writing.
When he avers that "Evolution proceeds mainly as a result of changes in the control of pre-existing genes," (p. 414) as he assumes a nongradualist view of evolution, one can agree or disagree, but be glad that he does indeed interpret the work being done. However when he takes a tone that suggests, as he does several times in the book, that environmentalists are largely alarmists while reminding us that so far Malthus has been wrong, one must demur. Or when he tells "conservationists" that "a sensible policy" (for reducing the killing of African animals for bushmeat) would be to "help... [indigenous people] find alternative sources of affordable protein," one wonders why he misses the better advice of helping them to find better methods of birth control. Artificially feeding a population that has grown too large for its larder is not going to solve the problem in the long run, and indeed is only going to extend the pain to generations to come.
These quibbles aside, this is a book not to be missed, a delight, an adventure in reading, and easily one of those books that the scientific-minded person most certainly would like to have on that desert island.
Let me close with an example of Calder's understated, dry wit. He is talking about Homo erectus. He writes, "Although this species then spread successfully across Eurasia, and was a skilled predator, it went on making the same old hand-axes for more than a million years--which suggests a certain lack of imagination." (p. 411)
One more. Here he is being sly as he refers to "a vacuum at the heart of biology, which leaves the survival of the fittest as an empty tautology. The survivors are defined as the fittest because they survive..." (p. 47)
--Dennis Littrell, author of “The World Is Not as We Think It Is”
Almost all my free time during the past two weeks has been devoted to reading this extraordinary book. I thought that I would read just a selection of the (119) essays (over 700 pages!) on the cutting edge of science, but after reading two or three I was so enthralled that I turned to the beginning and read all the way through. Why? Simply because this is easily the most readable and knowledge-packed book on science that I have ever read.
The range of topics (organized alphabetically from "Alcohol" to "Volcanic Explosions") that science writer extraordinary Nigel Calder reports on is impressive, from the very small at the subatomic level to the very large at the edge of the universe, to the very old near the beginning of the Big Bang, to the very new as the genomes of species are being read. The depth and breath of Calder's knowledge is extraordinary, but that's not the best part of this frankly amazing book. What Calder does so very well is convey that knowledge in a way that makes science fascinating.
He calls his essays "stories." He usually begins with a bit of atmosphere, letting us know where the research is being done and who the people are making the discoveries. And then he may dip back into time and give us a brief historical precis. After that Calder takes us right up to the very edge of discovery, and sometimes even beyond, as he tries to make sense of where the research is going and what effect it will have on our lives. His prose is full of excitement and fascination, and yet he is no pie-in-the-sky enthusiast. Indeed, as he says in the Introduction, he's wary of scientific hype and dogmatism, and aware "that thrilling discoveries can tiptoe in, almost unnoticed," and so his tone is sober and largely objective.
The result is no modest accomplishment. Very few other people in the world could have written this book. Perhaps no one else could have. Calder's requisite knowledge comes from a lifetime of reading, editing and reporting on science in the press, in magazines and on television. He negotiates a fine path between pleasing scientists and those who read about science. He must be both accurate and intelligible--and, as far as I can tell, he is both to an amazing degree.
Yet there is, as he allows, a certain subjectivity inevitable in such a momentous task--the task of guiding the educated reader to a knowledge of what is happening in a host of scientific disciplines. The science must not only be reported on, but it must be interpreted; and, as anyone who has ever interpreted anything more difficult than the leaves at the bottom of a tea cup knows, the interpretative waters are murky and full of danger.
Before I suggest a couple of places where Calder may have gone wrong--and believe me no one could write a book like this and not be wrong in at least a dozen places--let me say that I would not have--could not have--read this book unless I was enormously impressed with what I was reading. One does not devote so many hours to one book--especially considering the reading schedule that I have--without the belief that the time is very well spent.
I am not qualified to critique Calder's interpretation of what is likely to come from a bigger and faster supercollider, or whether epigenetic heredity can explain the rapid development of new species, or a hundred other ideas that Calder comments on. Even those people at the horizon of a particular discipline cannot be sure. But I very much like the fact that Calder sometimes takes a critical stance and sometimes dares to put his reputation on the line by evaluating the discoveries. He has no chair at university to maintain, nor is he in the employ of any organization or government. So he is free to say what he wants as long as it is intellectually responsible. In fact, that is one of the most agreeable features of his writing.
When he avers that "Evolution proceeds mainly as a result of changes in the control of pre-existing genes," (p. 414) as he assumes a nongradualist view of evolution, one can agree or disagree, but be glad that he does indeed interpret the work being done. However when he takes a tone that suggests, as he does several times in the book, that environmentalists are largely alarmists while reminding us that so far Malthus has been wrong, one must demur. Or when he tells "conservationists" that "a sensible policy" (for reducing the killing of African animals for bushmeat) would be to "help... [indigenous people] find alternative sources of affordable protein," one wonders why he misses the better advice of helping them to find better methods of birth control. Artificially feeding a population that has grown too large for its larder is not going to solve the problem in the long run, and indeed is only going to extend the pain to generations to come.
These quibbles aside, this is a book not to be missed, a delight, an adventure in reading, and easily one of those books that the scientific-minded person most certainly would like to have on that desert island.
Let me close with an example of Calder's understated, dry wit. He is talking about Homo erectus. He writes, "Although this species then spread successfully across Eurasia, and was a skilled predator, it went on making the same old hand-axes for more than a million years--which suggests a certain lack of imagination." (p. 411)
One more. Here he is being sly as he refers to "a vacuum at the heart of biology, which leaves the survival of the fittest as an empty tautology. The survivors are defined as the fittest because they survive..." (p. 47)
--Dennis Littrell, author of “The World Is Not as We Think It Is”
Read
August 14, 2024I did not realize this was not a book. There is no arc. It's an encyclopedia. Not something you would read cover to cover. More like a reference. Not what I expected or wanted.
The book I'm reading that _is_ more like a real book, with narrative structure, is called A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson.
The book I'm reading that _is_ more like a real book, with narrative structure, is called A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson.
December 3, 2019
An amazing addition to any science aficionado's bookshelf.
October 15, 2008
There are no pictures in this book. But its awesome. Calder writes short expository essays, explaining the key questions, discoveries, and people on just about every topic in physics today. In alphabetical order. This is not a typical encyclopedia, though, since each essay is self-contained, stuffed with geeky jokes along with the old-school British wit, and relatively sophisticated in presenting the science. Enjoying this book may require a little more technical or scientific background or commitment than the typical Wired/Best American Science writing fare. But not much more. Also, I wish the book weren't so damn huge. Overall, great on-demand nerd entertainment.
May 7, 2010
Wonderful treatment of Greenhouse warming, ozone hole, acid rain, ... anything you want to know about modern science.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews