3.5
The Ascent of Gravity
ByPublisher Description
Why the force that keeps our feet on the ground holds the key to understanding the nature of time and the origin of the universe.
Gravity is the weakest force in the everyday world yet it is the strongest force in the universe. It was the first force to be recognized and described yet it is the least understood. It is a "force" that keeps your feet on the ground yet no such force actually exists.
Gravity, to steal the words of Winston Churchill, is "a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma." And penetrating that enigma promises to answer the biggest questions in science: what is space? What is time? What is the universe? And where did it all come from?
Award-winning writer Marcus Chown takes us on an unforgettable journey from the recognition of the "force" of gravity in 1666 to the discovery of gravitational waves in 2015. And, as we stand on the brink of a seismic revolution in our worldview, he brings us up to speed on the greatest challenge ever to confront physics.
Gravity is the weakest force in the everyday world yet it is the strongest force in the universe. It was the first force to be recognized and described yet it is the least understood. It is a "force" that keeps your feet on the ground yet no such force actually exists.
Gravity, to steal the words of Winston Churchill, is "a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma." And penetrating that enigma promises to answer the biggest questions in science: what is space? What is time? What is the universe? And where did it all come from?
Award-winning writer Marcus Chown takes us on an unforgettable journey from the recognition of the "force" of gravity in 1666 to the discovery of gravitational waves in 2015. And, as we stand on the brink of a seismic revolution in our worldview, he brings us up to speed on the greatest challenge ever to confront physics.
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Meet readers like you in the Fable For You feed, designed to build bookish communitiesThe Ascent of Gravity Reviews
3.5
“I really admire physicists, the cleverest people among us, I believe. The physicists I know (I work with a few) say that, in their first year of their degree, they learn the maths required to understand quantum mechanics, particle physics, the theory of special and general relativity. But Marcus Chown is a very good science writer, and explains things very well. I'm not saying it's easy to grasp the principles of this topic though... physics is hard!”
“Fascinating! I read a lot of physics books and this was very well written! The explanations were riveting and lots of fun references. Like this from one of my favorite authors!
“Your time and my time are different.”
-The Quiet American by Graham Greene”
About Marcus Chown
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 Solar System, Quantum Theory Cannot Hurt You, The Never-Ending Days of Being Dead, and The Magic Furnace. He lives in England.
Other books by Marcus Chown
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