BOOK: E = mc^2 by David Bodanis

E = mc^2 by David Bodanis, 235 pages + notes
A Biography of the World's Most Famous Equation

Nonfiction Five 2009; Science Book Challenge

Have you always wondered what exactly this equation means? Why is it so famous? Are you worried that 'only 12 people in the world truly understand it', and you aren't one of them? Then this is the book for you!

Written as a biography of the equation, the book begins with the 'birth', Einstein's time in the patent office in Switzerland where he originally thought of the relationship. Bodanis then backs up and explains exactly what each of the 5 parts of the equation come from - energy, mass, equals, celeritas, and squared. Each of these comes with some famous scientists and their main contributions. Fascinating, and written in easy to understand terms and analogies. ( I'm pretty sure they are easy to understand, but keep in mind I spend every day in a high school science class, so this is stuff I talk about every day. In that sense, I think it is easy because nothing seems any higher than I would expect my students to be able to understand.) I really liked this section as it broke down energy and mass and the speed of light (celeritas).

The rest of the book traces the results and implications that Einstein's famous equation led to, ultimately in the terrible devastation in Japan. But this book is so much more!

• The unfortunately believable sexism encountered by Lise Meitner (Otto Hahn, that Nobel prize thief!), and Cecilia Payne, who at least was allowed to study for her PhD, even if none of her advisers would believe her results. Miss Leavitt gets an anonymous nod in reference to the 'computers' at Harvard.
  
• The treatment of Jews in Germany and the scientists who refused to work with them, like Heisenberg.
  
• The race between the Americans and the Germans to build the bomb, and the daring operation carried out in Norway to stop the Germans.
• Funny observations and writing. Every hero needs an assistant. Moses had Aaron. Jesus had his disciples. Einstein, alas, got Freundlich.
  
• The fights and stubborn behavior of some well known scientists. The feuds!
• All the biggest names is science: Faraday, Oppenheimer, Rutherford, Chadwick, Fermi, Lavoisier, and Ole Roemer as well as the lesser known.
  

This book will be in my class room, and I can see using this as a reference for years to come. This is what science writing should be - accessible, fun, and informative. It makes you feel smarter when you are done.

BOOK: Miss Leavitt's Stars by George Johnson

Miss Leavitt's Stars by George Johnson, 130 pages + notes
The Untold Story of the Woman Who Discovered How to Measure the Universe

Science Book Challenge; Dewey Decimal Challenge: 522; Non-fiction 5 2009

Melanie's review at theindextriousreader last year is what first brought this book to my attention. When she recently reviewed another science biography in this series, I remembered about Miss Leavitt. Will I ever catch up to Melanie? My library has a couple more I will have to look into - including Madame Curie.

There isn't a lot of information on Henrietta Swan Leavitt, and this book almost misleadingly is named for her. I think she gets a little more than her due here as a belated apology for her lack of recognition and opportunity. She was a 'computer' at Harvard in the early 1900s, observing the relative brightness of stars from photographic plates. Her job was simply to record, but she was able to make some conclusions, even developing a relationship, that then allowed the other astronomers, the men, to determine the distances of the stars. This was a starting point for the investigation of galaxies, their nearness or farness, and for the determining that the Milky Way wasn't the center, or the only one. Miss Leavitt gave the other astronomers a starting point to carry on. PhDs have been awarded for much less.

The science is slowly explained, with some good analogies to help us regular folk. The infighting, the sniping, and the downplaying of other's contributions to raise up their own: that was easy to see. Some famous names like Hubble, Einstein, and George Ellery Hale were Henrietta's contemporaries. The information on Henrietta is shockingly slim, but she wasn't around very long as she was sickly, missing many months of work, and then she died early. Whatever could be found about her family and her life seems to have been uncovered. Her boss never really acknowledged her contribution so there was little recorded of what the 'computers' did. They were thought of as recorders, not thinkers, so any ideas they had were scooped up by the bosses. It's a sad story of women's contribution at that point in history, but all too common.

I enjoyed this little look at a time in history as ideas of space and stars and galaxies were developed, changed, refigured, and then adapted. Unfortunately, egos sometimes get in the way of results, but science wins out in the end. Now, if only I had a telescope...

BOOK: Searching for Bobby Orr by Stephen Brunt

Searching for Bobby Orr by Stephen Brunt, 284 pages

3rd Canadian book Challenge; Non-fiction Five 2009

In the early 1970s, the heyday of Bobby Orr, he was the guest speaker at a small, local sports dinner. My father in law was one of the organizers, so took his two young sons, one of which is now my husband, to pick Bobby Orr up at the airport. He thought the boys, huge hockey fans, would love the chance to meet one of the greatest hockey players of the day. He neglected to take into account team loyalty, as his sons were rabid Montreal Canadian fans, bitter rivals of Orr's Boston Bruins. They had no interest in talking to the hated Bruin, even as they sat beside him for the half hour ride home. We take our hockey pretty seriously here in Canada.

This book is part biography (but unauthorized) and part hockey history. Beginning when Bobby Orr was just a lad, up to his untimely retirement at age 28, Brunt follows the career of one of the most dazzling hockey players Canada has produced. And because he retired so young, comparisons are difficult if inevitable. If only orthopedics surgery was better, if only he had played in the 1980s. He dominated so dramatically in his short time in the league (2 Stanley Cups, 3 time league MVP, 8 straight years best defenceman in NHL) it always seems a shame that he was felled by a bum knee.

Bobby Orr was one of the last from old-time hockey, entering the NHL when it was still just six teams after committing to the Bruins as a fourteen year old. He will also always be linked with Alan Eagleson, the first sports agent in hockey who negotiated one of the first good deals for a hockey player. It's too bad that Bobby Orr didn't want to talk to Brunt, because the distance is felt by the reader, even though Brunt manages to give good look at Orr's very private life. Brunt had lots of great little details, provided by people close to Orr, but I never felt like I got to know Bobby Orr. I certainly got to know his career, and a bigger hockey fan than I would appreicate some of the gamesand goals as they were described in detail.

I think there is also another story here to be told, about Alan Eagleson and his dealings with hockey players. That is another aspect I didn't feel was looked at much in depth, but it would be a much bigger story, and Bobby Orr is only a part of that one. It just gives me another book to look for. I enjoyed reading Bobby Orr's story, reading about the hockey players I grew up watching, and realizing how special Bobby Orr was. Brunt is a fan of Orr's but doesn't gloss over anything. I thought he did a good job of showing the different sides of Bobby Orr, warts and all, and depicting an interesting part of hockey history.

Brunt has another hockey book coming out later this fall, Gretzky's Tears, about Wayne Gretzky. I am more of Gretzky's era, and can remember where I was when I heard he had been traded to the LA Kings. Do you? Looks like a good Christmas present for my husband. I'm sure he would have talked to Gretzky in the car.

Who's the best hockey player? There's a little poll for you to tick.

poll by twiigs.com

BOOK: The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell

The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell, 280 pages

Nonfiction Five; Dewey Decimal Challenge: 300s

How do ideas take off? Did you know another man left the same night as Paul Revere to warn of the British, but why did his message not take? How did Hush Puppies become trendy in the 1990s?

Gladwell takes his pop sociology and plain language to look at epidemics and the factors that cause/help/start/continue them. He brings in lots of academic studies to support his thesis and parses them down into the relevant information. We meet the type of people that spread trends, and that know a lot of people. We see how shows like Sesame Street and Blue's Clues had a 'sticky' message.

I read a succinct review at library thing that sums it up pretty well: Some interesting ideas, and a good enough read.
Yep, that about sums it up. I'll have to look for his other book, Outliers, to complete the 'trilogy' along with Blink.

BOOK: Survivor by Mark Burnett

Survivor by Mark Burnett, 228 pages

Nonfiction Five Challenge; Dewey Decimal Challenge: 700s

A couple of weeks ago I found a website that listed somebody's top 115 Funniest Moments in Survivor history. And since I don't have enough time suckers to amuse me on my computer, I read them. All of them. And it brought back some great memories, as I have watched Survivor from the first episode, calling out to my husband that he had to come watch this show, it was awesome! Somewhere in the midst of the Boston Rob and Rob C and Rudy and Rich references, there was a mention of a book written by Mark Burnett about the first season. Whee! My library had it and I put in my request.

Very soon after, season 1 was shown as a marathon on Victoria Day Monday here in Canada. I watched it all day and then as late as I could, and was impressed with how great it was all over again. So reading this book just puts the topper on my recent Survivor trifecta. I really enjoyed the book - producer Burnett wrote it as the show was being filmed on the island. It covers the timeline of the episodes, and the characters, and provides some insight into the production and the motivations of the castaways. Recommended for Survivor fans.

CHALLENGE: Non-Fiction Five Challenge

Trish has taken over the challenge hosting from Joy, of the perfect summer challenge for me. Since I am home in the summer, I leave a non-fiction book in the living room and try to read a chapter or section every day. This goes really well with the Dewey Decimal Challenge.

The Rules (unchanged from previous years)

1. Read 5 non-fiction books during the months of May - September, 2009 (please link your reviews on Mister Linky each month; Mister Linky can be found each month on this blog)

2. Read at least one non-fiction book that is different from your other choices (i.e.: 4 memoirs and 1 self-help)

3. If interested, please sign up below with the link to your NFF Challenge post (all choices do not need to be posted and may change at any time)

The list of possibilities:

• The Elegant Universe - Brian Greene
  
• The Seven Daughters of Eve - Bryan Sykes
  
• How the Scots Invented the Modern World
• I Shouldn't Even Be Doing This - Bob Newhart

I really like how this challenge has such a variety of books picked by the different participants.

Books Read:
1. Survivor - Mark Burnett 05/27
2. The Tipping Point - Malcolm Gladwell 05/28
3. Searching for Bobby Orr - Steven Brunt 07/06
4. Miss Leavitt's Stars - George Johnson 07/20
5. E = mc^2 - David Bodanis 07/28