Please Explain

By Isaac Asimov

Book Overview

Answers to questions in various scientific disciplines, e.g., "What are pulsars?", "Is the universe running down?", "What is the difference between a brain and a computer?", and "Why did the dinosaurs... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• ISBN: B000QA9IPC
• Release Date: January 1973
• Publisher: DELL PUBL CO
• Weight: 0.30 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Asimov demonstrates again that he has no peer in the area of explaining science

No one explains science better than Isaac Asimov, to most he was a science fiction writer, but his greatest contribution to the world was in explaining science to others. In this book, he fields a series of 100 science questions and gives detailed answers, even though each is only two pages in length. Some of the questions are: *) What are imaginary numbers? *) How many particles are there in the universe? *) Why do comets have tails? *) How will the Earth end? *) What is meant by curved space? *) What is the unified field theory? *) What's a breeder reactor? *) What is entropy? As a source for quick and complete answers to many of the common questions about science, this book is unequaled.

If your kid ask why is salt in the sea, This is your book

Isaac Asimov used to have a column in the Science Digest magazine where the readers will place before him different questions like "How long will the Sun last?" or "What is the antigravity?" and his task was to make his explanations in very lay terms, so that any one with a very basic science background would be able to understand them. In the book he compiled what he believes are the most relevant 100 questions he answered, or that anyone who is curious about science will ask himself at one point or another. Eventhough it was written a long time ago (1973) the validity of its explanations still stand at least to the general public.