Review by Booklist Review
Why does knowing the physics of a ketchup bottle help one understand the earthquake that destroyed much of Christchurch, New Zealand, in 2011? What does seeing raisins repeatedly floating up and falling down in a bottle of lemonade show about the relationship between gravity and density? According to British physicist and science-reporter Czerski, the key to answering these and other questions is recognizing patterns in the physical world something she has studied since being a curious child. In her first book, Czerski entertainingly mixes reports of her anyone-can-do-this experiments with serious questions about the world in which we live. Throughout, she urges readers to use critical thinking by applying knowledge of physics to evaluate statements made by advertisers or politicians. Air pressure, gravity, time, waves of sound and light, and electromagnetism are the true rulers of our universe. A good addition to public and school library science collections.--Roche, Rick Copyright 2016 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
In this delightful pop science title, Czerski, a physicist at University College London, shows that understanding how the universe works requires little more than paying attention to patterns and figuring out increasingly refined ways to explain them. She begins her discussion with ordinary popcorn. A quick lesson in "ballistic cooking"-why popcorn pops-and imagining how an elephant uses its trunk segues into understanding how rockets work. Spinning an egg offers insight into spiral galaxies, and considering bubbles and marine snail snot can reveal how fluids behave. The slosh of a cup of tea grows into a look at earthquakes. Czerski's writing is playful and witty: London's Tower Bridge is "Narnia for engineers," cyclists zoom around a velodrome "like demented hamsters on a gigantic wheel," and chapter titles such as "Why Don't Ducks Get Cold Feet?" and "Spoons, Spirals, and Sputnik" draw readers into diverse-and memorable-explorations of such diverse topics as matter phase changes and why dropped toast tends to land buttered side down. Czerski's accessible explanations share the wonder of experimentation and the pleasure of figuring things out. "It's all one big adventure," she writes, "because you don't know where it will take you next." Agent: Will Francis, Janklow & Nesbit. (Jan.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Review by Library Journal Review
Czerski (mechanical engineering, Univ. Coll. London), a science presenter for the BBC, celebrates critical thinking and observation in this imaginative narrative of the physical laws that explain everyday life. The entertaining text connects ice skaters to the T. Rex to individuals who crossed Niagara Falls on a tightrope and describe how scorpions and cyclists rely on the same fluorescence that is the basis of laundry detergents and highlighting markers. The author weaves accounts of commonplace experiences of riding trains, swimming, and baking bread into discussions of experiments in fluid mechanics to illustrate the under-lying principles of movement. Historical tales of vacuum pumps, rocket mail, continental drift, and Arctic exploration further emphasize accomplishments of individuals closely observing the physical world. -Czerski's adventurous tone encourages curiosity by mixing the micro and the macro as she educates and inspires with her obvious passion for her work and the natural world. -VERDICT Certainly this book will delight popular science fans, but it will also enchant reluctant nonfiction readers with its poetic descriptions and narrative appeal.-Catherine Lantz, Univ. of -Illinois at Chicago Lib. © Copyright 2016. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
A British physicist and science presenter for the BBC joins the growing genre of popular authors who assure readers that science is fun.For two decades, a simple Google search has answered our questions about why the sky is blue, how popcorn pops, and the reason you have to whack the bottle in order to make ketchup flow, but this hasn't yet stemmed two centuries of traditional books that explain science to readers who don't know any or may have forgotten it. In her debut book, Czerski (Physics/Univ. Coll. London) accompanies her entertaining, somewhat scattershot material with personal stories, jokes, and cute footnotes. She loves weird facts (a duck can stand on ice without freezing its feet) and extremes (the deep water of the Atlantic is moving south at one inch per year), but she is also a thoughtful educator who has done her homework. Each of nine long, anecdote-filled sections revolves around a basic element of physics. Thus, the energy in the universe remains constant; it can't be created or destroyed but only changed from one form to another. Humans interrupt an energetic processe.g., falling water with a dam, solar radiation by a silicon panel, decaying ancient plants in a coal furnaceand then allow it to proceed in ways that benefit us. Staying alive requires continual extraction of energy from the environment, and the chemical reactions inside our bodies that sustain life must keep matters far from equilibrium. Although many healing philosophies teach that perfect health requires balance in all internal processes, living creatures achieve equilibrium only in death. Throughout, the author's voice is enthusiastic, and most readersphysicists excludedwill learn something about physics. Light but genuinely informative writing for readers who have forgotten their high school science. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
