primer not only in numbers, but in math, physics and history, I enjoyed it, though it is at times hard to follow, This book explores the cosmos at all scales: down through cells, molecules, atoms, nuclei and quarks and up through planets,, nebulae, galaxies and on to the edge of the observable universe.
Although much of the material will be familiar to anyone interested in science, approaching it along this axis is fruitful and interesting.
For instance, it leads to observations on how the surfacetovolume ratio limits both the size of animals and the size of individual cells and picks out the odd gap on the number line between the size of the atom and that of the nucleus, a scale at which nature has produced no objects at all.
The How Big Is Big and How Small Is Small's structure was a little bewildering to me: the author runs up and down the scales for a few chapters, discussing measurement methods for different applications, and then runs up and down again, talking more about the contents of the universe than the means of investigation.
But within these broad divisions things are still all mixed together: the astronomer's cosmic ladder, for instance, is covered close to the end of the book, and the startling importance of the weak force has to wait to the final page.
However, this variegated smorgasbord approach retained my interest throughout,
A few cavils: The little diagrams heading the chapters are uncomfortably small and would have been easier to read printed up the page instead of across.
I docked a star because the editing should have been better: I spotted fortyodd typos and such, including a couple of clangers: if Edmond Halley had indeed observed the transit of Mars rather than Mercury, he must have been riding his comet, since he
certainly couldn't do it from here.
And it seems unlikely that in measuring the circumference of the Earth Eratosthenes did actually enlist the aid of “a gnome in Alexandria”! “Gnomon” is meant.
Smith writes in an appropriately 'measured' tone, explains things well and is not afraid to put an equation or a graph on the page.
Illustrations are generally clear and helpful and there are frequently intriguing titbits of information, Did you know we can now measure the distance to the sun to withinmetres Or that the transit of Venus inwas monitored in the Arctic by a fellow revelling in the name Father Maximilian Hell The book is a pleasing 'coast to coast' walk along the scales of nature, in time and space, from string theory and quantum chromodynamics at one end, through chemistry, biology and astronomy, to cosmology and 'the end of greatness' at the other.
A journey worth taking. Includes a nice discussion of how the fundamental forces of nature determine the size of objects, Fun journey from the planck length to the size of the observable universe, This book is about how big is the universe and how small are quarks, and what are the sizes of dozens of things between these two extremes.
It describes the sizes of atoms and planets, quarks and galaxies, cells and sequoias, It is a romp through fortyfive orders of magnitude from the smallest subnuclear particles we have measured, to the edge of the observed universe.
It also looks at time, from the epic age of the cosmos to the fleeting lifetimes of ethereal particles.
It is a narrative that trips its way from stellar magnitudes to the clocks on GPS satellites, from the nearly logarithmic scales of a piano keyboard through a system of numbers invented by Archimedes and on to the measurement of the size of an atom.
Why do some things happen at certain scales Why are cells a hundred thousandths of a meter across Why are never smaller than aboutmillion meters in diameter Why are trees limited to aboutmeters in height Why are planets spherical, but asteroids not Often the size of an object is determined by something simple but quite unexpected.
The size of a cell and a star depend in part on the ratio of surface area to volume.
The divide between the size of a spherical planet and an irregular asteroid is the balance point between the gravitational forces and the chemical forces in nature.
Most importantly, with a very few basic principles, it all makes sense, The world really is a most reasonable place, .