Black Bodies and Quantum Cats: Tales from the Annals of Physics

by Jennifer Ouellette

Book Overview

Physics, once known as "natural philosophy," is the most basic science, explaining the world we live in, from the largest scale down to the very, very, very smallest, and our understanding of it has changed over many centuries. In Black Bodies and Quantum Cats, science writer Jennifer Ouellette traces key developments in the field, setting descriptions of the fundamentals of physics in their historical context as well as against a broad...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0143036033
• ISBN13: 9780143036036
• Release Date: December 2005
• Publisher: Penguin Books
• Length: 336 Pages
• Weight: 0.65 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.4" x 8.0"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

Way more fun than I thought I'd have...

I found this a curiously fun sort of read-different from my usual choice of reading entertainment. I don't typically read science books, mostly because I'm lazy and don't want to work at understanding something really technical (many science writers put off the general public by delving too deeply), but hey folks, the author makes the science easy to grasp. And the writing style is witty, light and intelligent. Ouellette has a gift for marrying science, history and storytelling. What's especially appealing is the way the author connects seemingly esoteric science with our everyday life-Reddi-whip (the physics of foam), velcro (biomimicry)-and illuminates the process by which scientists and inventors impact our lives. I loved the references to literature and pop culture that segue into the science or serve as examples of the science in action. There's something for everyone. Science fans will get an enlightening and lively look into the history and people behind the discoveries. Those more interested in history will learn a thing or two about the science (painlessly). And old English majors, like me, will appreciate the storytelling.

An eye for science

Jennifer Ouellette and Albert Einstein would have made great contemporaries. While Einstein was amusing himself with questions like "I wonder what would happen if I was driving a car at the speed of light and I turned my headlights on," Ouellette gets similar inspiration from backyard oddities. When I first heard of this book, I assumed it was another treatise on Schrodinger's famed cat hypothesis. Instead, it's an incredible look at physics through real world concepts that are familiar and easy to grasp. More and more physicists are learning to share their knowledge with an audience that is not necessarily made up of scientific scholars. Joe Six Pack has an innate curiousity about the lofty questions of existance and the universe around him. Theorists and physicists are finally coming to understand that. They are writing for that wide-eyed audience these days instead of for teh scientific community expressly. Science can only benefit from this growing interest in matters that were once exclusive to the men and women who worked in labs and huddled together in lecture halls. Ouellette, with her writing background, is perfect for the job of bringing complex matters, like quantum mechanics, out of the classrooms and into the populace. She has an eye for science and a beautiful way with the language. Those attributes are great for people who want to know as much as they can about emerging science, but who will likely never be enrolled at MIT. Writers like Ouellette, Brian Green and Michio Kaku are opening up the world of physics to an expanding list of readers and that's good for everybody. With the analogies and thought experiments offered up in "Black Bodies and Quantum Cats," even laymen like myself and Joe Six Pack can sound reasonably smart when we're hanging around the bars and trying to impress our fellow drinkers. This book is an instant winner for those with even a passing interest in physics. -- Mark LaFlamme, author of "The Pink Room."

Physics made Fun

I studied physics in school, but I still enjoy reading popular physics books for fun from time to time (I know, what a nerd!). One of the best things about this one is the inclusion of fascinating historical insights that bring people like Tesla to life (on the page anyway). "Black Bodies and Quantum Cats" is a fun read that is ideal for casual science fans and budding scientists alike. I highly recommend it, and I am going to give copies to all my nieces and nephews to show them that physics is much more than equations on a chalk board.

fun, entertaining, educational, well-written

I've read a number of "popular science" books and would rate this among the best. The variety of topics covered make it an ideal resource for science teachers as well as a good pick for gym-readers and others that get frustrated with the amount of time and effort required to follow many popular science books. Ouellette's style is entertaining and her enthusiasm for discovery and understanding is contagious. This book is a refreshing detour from those that require 250 pages of background reading before you reach the main topic.

fun with physics for the layperson and those more in the know

Never in my wildest dreams did I think I would ever understand the first thing about string theory, much less about cosmic microwaves-- but eager to improve my brain a bit, I recently picked up a copy of Black Bodies and Quantum cats. Now, thanks to this immensely enjoyable book, I am happy to report that for the first time in my life I might actually be able to hold a coherent conversation about these and more. By presenting some of the most challenging ideas imagineable within cultural (and even pop cultural) contexts, and writing about them with wit and humor, Ouellette has done the near impossible -- she's made physics fun for the lay person... fun, and, dare I say, maybe even a little bit sexy. I imagine that even if you did have a better grasp of physics than I did prior to picking up this book, you would find it to be an extremely entertaining, smart, and very humorous refresher course.