Point Books In Favor Of One, Two, Three...Infinity: Facts and Speculations of Science
| Original Title: | One, Two, Three...Infinity: Facts and Speculations of Science |
| ISBN: | 0486256642 (ISBN13: 9780486256641) |
| Edition Language: | English |
George Gamow
Paperback | Pages: 384 pages Rating: 4.2 | 3216 Users | 135 Reviews
Present Out Of Books One, Two, Three...Infinity: Facts and Speculations of Science
| Title | : | One, Two, Three...Infinity: Facts and Speculations of Science |
| Author | : | George Gamow |
| Book Format | : | Paperback |
| Book Edition | : | Anniversary Edition |
| Pages | : | Pages: 384 pages |
| Published | : | September 1st 1988 by Dover Publications (first published 1947) |
| Categories | : | Science. Nonfiction. Physics. Mathematics. Philosophy. Popular Science |
Description In Pursuance Of Books One, Two, Three...Infinity: Facts and Speculations of Science
". . . full of intellectual treats and tricks, of whimsy and deep scientific philosophy. It is highbrow entertainment at its best, a teasing challenge to all who aspire to think about the universe." — New York Herald TribuneOne of the world's foremost nuclear physicists (celebrated for his theory of radioactive decay, among other accomplishments), George Gamow possessed the unique ability of making the world of science accessible to the general reader.
He brings that ability to bear in this delightful expedition through the problems, pleasures, and puzzles of modern science. Among the topics scrutinized with the author's celebrated good humor and pedagogical prowess are the macrocosm and the microcosm, theory of numbers, relativity of space and time, entropy, genes, atomic structure, nuclear fission, and the origin of the solar system.
In the pages of this book readers grapple with such crucial matters as whether it is possible to bend space, why a rocket shrinks, the "end of the world problem," excursions into the fourth dimension, and a host of other tantalizing topics for the scientifically curious. Brimming with amusing anecdotes and provocative problems, One Two Three . . . Infinity also includes over 120 delightful pen-and-ink illustrations by the author, adding another dimension of good-natured charm to these wide-ranging explorations.
Whatever your level of scientific expertise, chances are you'll derive a great deal of pleasure, stimulation, and information from this unusual and imaginative book. It belongs in the library of anyone curious about the wonders of the scientific universe. "In One Two Three . . . Infinity, as in his other books, George Gamow succeeds where others fail because of his remarkable ability to combine technical accuracy, choice of material, dignity of expression, and readability." — Saturday Review of Literature
Rating Out Of Books One, Two, Three...Infinity: Facts and Speculations of Science
Ratings: 4.2 From 3216 Users | 135 ReviewsAssessment Out Of Books One, Two, Three...Infinity: Facts and Speculations of Science
I'm usually right into this sort of book, but I ended up abandoning ~80% of way through. It's very wide in scope, trying to cover maths, micro- and macro- science. That's admirable, but I think I prefer to go deep on a single thing. I also didn't realise it was published in 1947, which combined with breadth and resulting shallowness meant I was already familiar with most of the material.Feels harsh to give this two stars, since I was sincerely impressed at the scope, but I didn't finish it soWe are in 1947, Gamow is explaining us tricky concepts from math, physics, chemistry and biology. Fantastic. Get ready to have some fun because the whole thing is palatable to any curious person. For example, he starts asking "How to count infinities?" matching the book title. This is just the warm-up wrestling with number theory the purest branch of mathematics. Of course he closes the book discussing the "laws of disorder" like brownian motion and the second law of thermodynamics making this
This book is a great read for anyone wanting a "popular" book on science. I would rate this a 5 but it is quite dated and so a number of the subjects have moved on since the original writing. With that caveat in mind the reader will find that this is still a fascinating, fast, and factual read. The parts on numbers, basic physics, and other elementary sciences have lost nothing. The author is EXCELLENT at presenting his subject matter. Though he's not as exuberant as Richard Feynman he's still
Expounding facts and theories of modern science that as a reader it gives you a vivid image of the universe as it shows the scientist of today. It introduces you some interesting history of big numbers and how it started. Likewise, the differences between natural and artificial numbers. The book was fantastically witty!
Very lucid presentation of ideas and concepts of Physics, Chemistry and Biology interspersed with Mathematics. Among many concepts illustrated by way of math, there is a thing that relates Pi and Probability , that is , one should be able to calculate the value of Pi by dropping match sticks (of shorter length) over a paper marked with equidistant parallel lines and finding the probability of the match sticks that crosses the line - this is Buffon's needle problem and a well written proof of it
Personally, it was a long read. I had to reread some parts of the book to actually understand the content. You had to follow the details closely, because in a way or another they build the whole idea. If you are lost, chances are the idea won't make any sense. It took me some time to understand certain parts of the book, (e.g. relativity)where the idea is abstract.In my opinion, the reader must have a better than average science knowledge, and good logic. There are some topics that wouldn't make
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