Magnitude: The Scale of the Universe - Hardcover

Watzke, Megan; Arcand, Kimberly

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 031650291X ISBN 13: 9780316502917

Publisher: Black Dog & Leventhal, 2017

Synopsis

In the tradition of illustrated science bestsellers, like Thing Explainer and harkening back to the classic film The Powers of Ten, this unique, fully-illustrated, four-color book explores and visualizes the concept of scale in our universe.

In Magnitude, Kimberly Arcand and Megan Watzke take us on an expansive journey to the limits of size, mass, distance, time, temperature in our universe, from the tiniest particle within the structure of an atom to the most massive galaxy in the universe; from the speed at which grass grows (about 2 to 6 inches a month) to the speed of light. Fully-illustrated with four-color drawings and infographics throughout and organized into sections including Size and Amount (Distance, Area, Volume, Mass, Time, Temperature), Motion and Rate (Speed, Acceleration, Density, Rotation), and Phenomena and Processes (Energy, Pressure, Sound, Wind, Computation), Magnitude shows us the scale of our world in a clear, visual way that our relatively medium-sized human brains can easily understand.

About this title

About the Author

Kimberly Arcand is the visualization lead for NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory, specializing in image and meaning research, and in data representation. She lives near Providence, RI.Megan Watzke is the press officer for NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory, specializing in communicating astronomy with the public. She lives in Seattle, WA.Together, Arcand and Watzke are the authors of several popular science books including Light: The Visible Spectrum and Beyond and Your Ticket to the Universe: A Guide to Exploring the Universe. Katie Peek began her career as an astrophysicist, searching for planets that circle distant stars and and investigating the history of our own Milky Way galaxy. After earning her Ph.D., she transitioned to science journalism and ultimately to data visualization and illustration. The former information graphics editor at Popular Science magazine, today she creates graphics for many publications, scientific and not.

Review

"How big is big? How small is small? As an astronaut and citizen explorer, I love having someone explain some of the more puzzling aspects of our universe to me in terms that make sense. With Magnitude, my brain cried "Eureka!" every time I turned the page."
―Cady Coleman, PhD, former NASA
Astronaut

"We live in a universe bigger and smaller than our brains can fathom. Magnitude is an enjoyable and essential guide to appreciating our place among it all."―Joe Hanson, author and host of It's Okay to Be Smart


"Arcand and Watzke have crafted a masterpiece. A must-read for anyone wishing to appreciate the richness of the cosmos from its microscopic building blocks to its largest structures."―Avi Loeb, chair, Harvard Astronomy department


"Through clear text and illuminating illustrations, the authors tackle questions ranging from 'how does the mass of a human eyelash compare to the mass of the black hole at the center of our galaxy?' to 'how fast does a dentist's drill rotate?' A fascinating journey through the measure of all things."
―Mario Livio, astrophysicist, and author of Why?: What Makes Us Curious


"Magnitude brilliantly illustrates the relative scale of so many aspects of the universe that you will feel so much smarter about EVERYTHING after reading this!"―Curtis Wong, principal researcher, Microsoft Research

About this edition

• Publisher: Black Dog & Leventhal
• Publication date: 2017
• ISBN 10: 031650291X
• ISBN 13: 9780316502917
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 192