Recently I finished reading 'Big Bang' by Simon Singh. And it reinforced my opinion that Mr. Singh is one of the very best science writers we have. The book is amazing and amusing, just like Mr. Singh's other books. It traces the history of our attempts to understand the universe, beginning with the first mythological explanations through the emergence of the scientific method to the current theory of big bang. Now there is no dearth of books covering these topics. What makes 'Big Bang' special is its breadth and its logical flow.
To take one trivial example, many books will tell you about the emergence of Sun centered model in sixteenth century and how it was accepted over a period of time in the scientific mainstream. But why it was accepted? We know that Ptolemy's model, ugly as it was, was pretty accurate. Then why replace one model with another? Just for the aesthetic reason that the new model was simpler? That seemed unlikely. But Mr.Singh notes the crucial observation by Galileo of the phases of Venus that agreed only with the Sun centered hypothesis. And that was the crucial point where scientific thinking changed its course. To take another trivial example, while explaining special relativity, he explores its connection with Gallien relativity and also describes Einstein's thought experiment that led him to SR. Without these details, other popular accounts are quite hard to understand. To take another trivial example.., Ohk, I can go on and on, but I think you got the point.
It seems very hard to describe science in an easy to understand language without watering it down. No wonder, Mr. Singh has done it. I'll urge you to read it, even if you are not a fan of science books. And I'll urge Mr. Singh to keep writing..
To take one trivial example, many books will tell you about the emergence of Sun centered model in sixteenth century and how it was accepted over a period of time in the scientific mainstream. But why it was accepted? We know that Ptolemy's model, ugly as it was, was pretty accurate. Then why replace one model with another? Just for the aesthetic reason that the new model was simpler? That seemed unlikely. But Mr.Singh notes the crucial observation by Galileo of the phases of Venus that agreed only with the Sun centered hypothesis. And that was the crucial point where scientific thinking changed its course. To take another trivial example, while explaining special relativity, he explores its connection with Gallien relativity and also describes Einstein's thought experiment that led him to SR. Without these details, other popular accounts are quite hard to understand. To take another trivial example.., Ohk, I can go on and on, but I think you got the point.
It seems very hard to describe science in an easy to understand language without watering it down. No wonder, Mr. Singh has done it. I'll urge you to read it, even if you are not a fan of science books. And I'll urge Mr. Singh to keep writing..
2 comments:
hmmm... I loved fermat's last theorem, and what I really liked was I could easily digest it while attending the engineering classes :-D
same is true for this one too..
though I have no classes to attend to, I found that the book is an easy read and really adds to your knowledge..
see if u can get it..
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