Customer Reviews

Cosmic Adventure: A Renegade Astronomer's Guide To Our World And Beyond

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I love this book! Bob Berman manages to explain theories of the universe in easy-to-understand language without all the jargon that you find in a lot of books like this. When he does introduce new terms that most non-astronomers won't understand, he uses simple everday examples to explain them (like comparing the process of "entropy" to a glass of club soda with ice.) The information is interesting and thought-provoking. You don't have to be a rocket scientist to understand this book... but you may know as much as a rocket scientist when you're done!

If Bob Berman is your idea of a celebrity and you really care about his youthful escapades, his early girlfriends, his personal thoughts, etc, you might get something from this book. If you liked his earlier book, Secrets of the Night Sky, as I did, then you are bound to be disappointed by this sorry attempt at a follow up. There is no substance to the book aside from the widely advertised "how far away is the horizon?" question. (The answer is: square root of altitude in feet times 1.23 equals distance to horizon in miles). That's it, the rest is padding and pure pap. There are also several blatant errors in the text. There is no theme and after reading it I had all the substance I could have gotten from an old copy of "People" magazine. Save your money.

This is another book of astronomically-themed essays where Berman tried to bring the complicated down to earth. I am a big fan of Berman's writing and thought "Secrets of the Night Sky" was an excellent book - "Cosmic Adventure" is also a fun and enlightening read, but is less about astronomy and more philosphical in nature than "Secrets." But it's still very worthwhile - Berman manages to make you see the extraordinary in the commonplace, like the chapter on water's unique physical properties. And his flashes of humor, like the essay on some of the silly dull names that pervade astronomical literature will make you chuckle. Another great cloudy-night read!

Cosmic Adventure is a fabulous book for astronomy buffs and anyone else with a curiosity about the world around him/her. Berman's fascination with the natural world is evident throughout, and this book is loaded with "oh, cool!" moments--short passages that I found myself reading to anyone who would listen.

I've read this book twice since it arrived last week. Its ten- to fifteen-page chapters/essays are great around bedtime, though I found myself enjoying Berman's writing so much that I didn't want to go to sleep because I'd have to stop reading !

I look forward to reading more of Berman's work. You'll enjoy this one, I promise!

One of the BEST (if not the best) books I've ever read. Bob Berman is pure inspiration! The way he writes is a joy in itself (he should be writing poetry as well). There were some pages I had to read again and again simply because he writes so beautifully. The information he shares is important. How he shares it will leave you inspired and thankful for rare people like him. Thank You Bob Berman!

This is the most stimulating, intelligent book I have ever read. Period. It wanders from Earth through space in wonderful, unexpected ways. It deserves a Pulitzer Prize!

If you enjoyed the wonderful "Secrets of the Night Sky" by Bob Berman, you will likely enjoy this book, too, although, in truth, it is not quite as strong a book. Unlike "Secrets....", there are more personal reminiscences in this work and less in the way of pure expression of the wonder of our universe that made "Secrets...." such a joy to read, but there is still enough content in this book to recommend it. I'd give this 3.5 stars.

That said, I had to laugh a bit on one thing. Mr. Berman makes a point in his book that many people, for whatever reason, seem to long for a link between science and religion, and he points out all the "new age" books, written by all sorts of religious apologists from various religious backgrounds, that attempt to put forth unsupported theoretical connections between the two. People, it seems, no matter their religion, cannot seem to let go of their own personal religious bias and seemingly feel a need to try to pick snippets of science to attempt to justify their own personal religious view.

To this a previous review responds, "Clearly, Mr. Berman is unfamiliar with how science supports my "true" religion, so let me explain it to you.......". Mr. Berman's case in point.

Interesting and informative essays on a wide range of topics in astronomy. I found three mistakes, in this otherwise good book. On Page 138, the caption incorrectly lists the dates of the Blackbird and space shuttle: they should be 1963 and 1981, respectively.

On Page 135, the author says quantum mechanics functions independently of time, this is not quite true. One astrophysicist explains, "Quantum mechanics is founded on the concept that quantum events occur according to finite probabilities within finite intervals of time. The larger the time interval, the greater the probability that event will occur...if t=0, the probability for that event occuring is zero" In other words, QM is dependent on time.

His statements about religion and science needing to be separated are a bit misguided. Perhaps he is unware of the historic intertwining of the two: religion once produced most of our greatest minds (Newton, Galileo, Kepler, Corpernicus,...). The two can, and do, work together well.

His inferrence that religion is nonrational shows his unfamliarity with true Christianity (books on the agreement/compatibilty of science/Christianity include "Show me God", "the "Genesis Question", "the Creator and the Cosmos", etc, and on its rationality: "Love God With all Your Mind").