Chasing Science: Science as a Spectator Sport - Hardcover

Pohl, Frederik

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0312867115 ISBN 13: 9780312867119

Publisher: Tor Books, 2000

Synopsis

Join science fiction master Frederik Pohl as he takes readers on a wonder-filled non-fictional journey from the ends of the earth to the edges of the universe. Part memoir, part travel guide, and part science primer, Chasing Science is Pohl's way of sharing the thrills and excitement of his life-long love affair with science. With the skill and storytelling zest that has made his award-winning science fiction popular the world over, Pohl brings to readers of Chasing Science all the excitement and fun that he's had throughout his life, as he has observed first-hand the process of scientific discovery. From tours of museums and national laboratories to a journey into the heart of a volcano, Pohl shows readers of all ages how and where they can experience the thrill of seeing various kinds of science, up close and personal.

This book is a perfect item for visitors to any of the several hundred hands-on science museums--like The Exploratorium in San Francisco, the Field Museum in Chicago, and others--across the country, a complete list of which appears as an appendix.

About this title

About the Author

Frederik Pohl has won all the major awards in the field of science fiction, including three Hugo Awards, two Nebula Awards, both for Best Novel; the John W. Campbell Memorial Award, also for Best Novel; he was accorded the accolade of Grand Master by the Science Fiction Writers of America. He's also won three Hugo awards as editor of the best magazine. He edited the groundbreaking Star Science Fiction series of original-story anthologies. He and his wife, educator and political activist Elizabeth Anne Hull, live in Palatine, Illinois.

Reviews

Pohl (The Far Shore of Time, The Way the Future Was), recipient of the Hugo and Nebula awards for science fiction, offers a personal glimpse of his ongoing "love affair" with science in this affectionate exploration of the natural world. The tour begins "where science happens"Din visitor-friendly national laboratories like Fermilab, which contains an atom-smashing particle accelerator, and in colleges and universities like MIT, where the first computer game prototypes were developed. As Pohl notes, however, some of the most fantastic sights can be observed from one's own backyard. Whether one is scanning the skies with the naked eye or using a child's spyglass to examine the craters of the moon, the wonders of the cosmos, Pohl shows, are readily accessible to amateur stargazers. Volcanoes and earthquakes are equally impressive phenomena that serve as reminders that the earth's surface is forever in motion, floating on a semiliquid core of magma like "patches of fat on the surface of a pot of cooling chicken soup." This tectonic motion also affects the flow of water, causing aquifers to form in the midst of a desert and producing tsunamis that ravage many of Japan's seaside cities. From the tranquil to the deadly, the forces Pohl expertly examines shape both the planet and humankind's appreciation of it. Written in a delightful colloquial style, this witty reference/memoir (replete with an extensive index of science and technology centers worldwide) will receive a considerable boost from Pohl's loyal fans while attracting amateur scientists of all stripes. (Dec.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Pohl, one of the grand masters of science fiction, can't imagine how anyone can help but be fascinated by science. Although he has no science background, Pohl has conducted a lifelong love affair with scientific pursuits and now shares his enthusiasm in a friendly narrative that is part travelogue, part popular science, and part memoir. He begins by encouraging readers to visit the research facilities their tax dollars support, such as Brookhaven, Fermilab, and other national laboratories. He then leaves the invisible world of neutrinos and particle accelerators for the more accessible realm of astronomy, offering lively reports on his visits to various observatories. The space program, a topic close to his sf heart, is also energetically chronicled, as are accounts of earthquakes and tsunamis, which are followed by in-depth discussions of the state of various rivers throughout the world. Quietly evangelical in his zeal to inspire readers to view science as both enjoyable and important, he concludes with an international listing of science and technology centers worth a visit. Donna Seaman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Edition details

• Publisher: Tor Books
• Publication date: 2000
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0312867115
• ISBN 13: 9780312867119
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 256