Flash!: The Hunt for the Biggest Explosions in the Universe [Hardcover]

Govert Schilling (Author), Naomi Greenberg-Slovin (Translator)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 29, 2002

About three times a day our sky flashes with a powerful pulse of gamma ray bursts (GRB), invisible to human eyes but not to astronomers' instruments. The sources of this intense radiation are likely to be emitting, within the span of seconds or minutes, more energy than the sun will in its entire 10 billion years of life. Where these bursts originate, and how they come to have such incredible energies, is a mystery scientists have been trying to solve for three decades. The phenomenon has resisted study -- the flashes come from random directions in space and vanish without trace -- until very recently. In what could be called a cinematic conflation of Flash Gordon and The Hunt for Red October, Govert Schilling's Flash!: The Hunt for the Biggest Explosions in the Universe describes the exciting and ever-changing field of GRB research. Based on interviews with leading scientists, Flash! provides an insider's account of the scientific challenges involved in unravelling the enigmatic nature of GRBs. A science writer who has followed the drama from the very start, Schilling describes the ambition and jealousy, collegiality and competition, triumph and tragedy, that exists among those who have embarked on this recherche. Govert Schilling is a Dutch science writer and astronomy publicist. He is a contributing editor of Sky and Telescope magazine, and regularly writes for the news sections of Science and New Scientist. Schilling is the astronomy writer for de Volkskrant, one of the largest national daily newspapers in The Netherlands, and frequently talks about the Universe on Dutch radio broadcasts. He is the author of more than twenty popular astronomy books, and hundreds of newspaper and magazine articles on astronomy.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"This English translation of Schilling's book is a very engaging account of one of the most active areas of modern astronomical research, gamma ray busters...It is rare to see such clear writing on a technical subject. Everyday examples are frequently used to illustrate the more difficult concepts. Those who want more detail will appreciate the glossary and references to the scientific literature. Almost without realizing it, readers will also get a good introduction to elemetary astronomy as a bonus. A must-read for anyone interested in GRBs!" Choice Choice

"'Flash!' describes the genesis of this new field of research in full color and introduces us to the many researchers who were involved in its early history." George Beekman, NRC Handelsblad Oct. 2001

"'Flash!' is without doubt Govert Schilling's most 'literary' book on astronomy." Zenit, July/August 2001

"This has drama, intrigue, suspense, and more often than not also a plot. 'Flash!' deals more with the sociological side of astronomy than with the actual gamma ray bursts, although readers who want to learn everything there is to know about them will certainly not be disappointed." Folia, Feb. 2001

"Schilling...skillfully leads the reader through the work of the scientists in the field, giving a behind-the-scenes view based on interviews with most of the protagonists, and a clear description of the basic concepts behind the theory, observations and instruments...an excellent account of research in the field...highly readable account of the story of GRBs...an enlightening and stimulating read for the layman." Nature

"'Flash!' gives us some beautiful insights into a scientific revolution that has practically gone unnoticed by the rest of the world. Everyone who reads Govert Schilling's impressive book on gamma-ray bursts will be won over by the universe." de Volkskrant, Oct 2001

"One of the book's greatest achievements is that science is not being described as a cold and clinical process, but as a human activity in which enthusiasm and a passion for solid thinking, intuition and wonderment are all part of a day's work," Intermediair, Dec. 2001

"A gem of science writing." Nederlands Dagblad, Dec. 2001

"A beautiful account that reads like a gripping detective story." Prof. Dr. Edward P.J. van den Heuvel, director, Astronomical Institute of the University of Amsterdam

"Govert Schilling has closely followed all the exciting developments in the study of gamma ray bursts, which are among the most extraordinary and mysterious phenomena in the universe. The story of their investigation -- the confusions, false trails, and controversies -- is an excellent 'case study' in how science actually proceeds." Sir Martin Rees, Royal Society Professor, Cambridge University

"...might be one of the most entertaining [popular books on gamma ray bursts]...the style is colorful...It is hard to get anything else done while Flash! lies around the house..." --AAVSO Bookstore

Language Notes

Text: English (translation)
Original Language: Dutch

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press; 1st edition (April 29, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0521800536
• ISBN-13: 978-0521800532
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.2 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,038,333 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #43 in Books > Education & Reference > Foreign Language Nonfiction > Dutch

More About the Author

Govert Schilling (1956) is an internationally acclaimed astronomy writer in the Netherlands. He is a contributing editor of Sky & Telescope, and his articles have appeared in Science, New Scientist and BBC Sky at Night Magazine. He wrote over fifty books (in Dutch) on a wide variety of astronomical topics, some of which have been translated into English, including Evolving Cosmos, Flash! The Hunt for the Biggest Explosions in the Universe, The Hunt for Planet X, and Atlas of Astronomical Discoveries. In 2007, the International Astronomical Union named asteroid (10986) Govert after him.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A modern story of Scientific Discovery, November 16, 2002

By 

Gerald Petrey (Tucson, AZ United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Flash!: The Hunt for the Biggest Explosions in the Universe (Hardcover)

A few billion years after the Big Bang, a giant star ends its life in a spectacular explosion. In a fraction of a second, it releases more energy than an average star would in a 10 billion year lifetime, including tremendous gamma ray bursts traveling out at the speed of light. These gamma rays radiate out in all directions - some in the direction where the Milky Way galaxy will be born in a few hundred million years. By the time the first of these gamma ray photons have traveled half the distance to this new galaxy, our Sun is born with the Earth following some half a billion years later. Still these gamma rays are continuing on their journey. By the time they reach our Local Supercluster, dinosaurs are ruling the Earth. When they finally reach the outskirts of the Milky Way, the dinosaurs are long gone and the first human predecessors are walking on Earth. As these gamma ray photons approach the Pleiades, Galileo is looking through the first telescope. As they reach Alpha Centauri, a rocket is being launched from Cape Kennedy carrying a military satellite with a gamma ray detector on board. Four years later these gamma rays have completed their 10 billion year journey on July 2, 1967 and are detected by this satellite!
So begins the race to study these mysterious sources of intense gamma radiation and determine their origins. This is what "Flash" is all about. It documents the people who have devoted their lives since 1967 to understand the most powerful explosions in the universe, second only to the Big Bang itself, gamma ray burst. This is a very up-to-date and exciting book with a lot of the human side of scientific investigation described as well as a fair amount of good scientific information. I particularly liked chapter eleven, which has a beautifully written description of stellar evolution. This is a fascinating book on a relatively new phenomenon in this elegant universe in which we are such a small part. You are sure to want to learn more about these awesome sources of power after reading this book. You might want to get the video "Death Star" from PBS, which chronicles gamma ray burst in a way similar to this book.