Photo de l'auteur

Robert L. Weber

Auteur de A Random Walk in Science

14 oeuvres 252 utilisateurs 3 critiques

A propos de l'auteur

Comprend les noms: R. L. Weber, Robert L. Weber

Œuvres de Robert L. Weber

Étiqueté

Partage des connaissances

Date de naissance
1913
Sexe
male

Membres

Critiques

It's difficult to find a word to capture the spirit of this book, but calling it a "miscellany" gets close. It's a varied, wide-ranging collection of essays, anecdotes, joke papers, one-liners and thoughtful reflections on and by scientists - primarily physicists, but other disciplines, and engineers, get a look-in.

I'm eternally grateful to the physics teacher that brought this book to the attention of the class of 16/17 year-olds I was in at the time. It's a ideal book to leaf through at that age to make one realise that scientists are human and that science can be fun and thought-provoking and moving all at once.

There are about as many items as there are pages in the book - ranging from one-liners to essays of a few thousand words. There's the now-famous "Stress analysis of a strapless evening gown", Wood's account of the self-deception of scientists that caused them to believe in N-rays, "Standards for inconsequential trivia", and "Slidesmanship". There's limericks and songs and drawings, mock exam papers, and a proof of the theorem that Alexander the Great did not exist and rode a horse with an infinite number of legs. Something for everyone, in other words. To be appreciated by those that do science and those that don't.

An all-round excellent book.
… (plus d'informations)
 
Signalé
kevinashley | 1 autre critique | Nov 21, 2008 |
 
Signalé
FlyingSinger | 1 autre critique | Jan 26, 2006 |
 
Signalé
JBD1 | Jan 11, 2006 |

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Statistiques

Œuvres
14
Membres
252
Popularité
#90,785
Évaluation
4.2
Critiques
3
ISBN
19
Langues
1

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