Customer Reviews

A Mathematical Nature Walk

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I have begun studying maths as part of a science degree and I thought this would be a good book to add a little spice to the often dry theoretical work involved in introductory calculus.
Although the book is good for what it is, it should be advertised for people who have at least mastered the fundamentals of calculus and probably beyond. I have had to hold off reading this book until my calculus is at an intermediate level, so while I don't feel cheated I would warn against buying this unless you're very 'fluent' in maths.

This book is not for the lay person. The reviews on the back cover were
written by the author's peers. Being a scientist myself, I bought the book
to inspire my grandchildren (high school and college age) in things
scientific and mathematical. However, their eyes would glaze over before
finishing the Introduction. While the questions posed in the book are
certainly interesting, the derivations of the answers are strictly for
those who have a mathematical mindset.

I have found this book to be a good source of answers to some very common questions about nature, science, and the things we see every day. In the age of search few of these answers are out of reach, but this book is a nice compilation presented in easy to follow ways. I particularly think it a good review for people wanting to keep some of these answers fresh in case children's inquisitive minds happen to ask.

I have read a number of books of this general sort and I would classify this one, without hesitation, as one of the better ones. The book's format is a bit different. Each new section begins with a question, e.g., "How far away is that cloud?", "How are star magnitudes measured", etc. Then what follows may be an experience that the author has had during one of his nature walks, or simply a written description of the phenomenon. Then the mathematical analysis/modelling begins in an effort to arrive at a plausible (but not necessarily rigorous) answer to the original query. The book contains 85 such questions that are dealt with in this way and these are sorted into twelve chapters, each with a different theme, e.g., "In the Playground", "In the Sky", etc. Most of the topics are well explained and the mathematical details are generally easy to follow and/or to verify for oneself; however, in a few cases, some formulas are presented as if by magic with little or no explanation - possibly leaving the reader (certainly me) occasionally perplexed. Also, I found a few (but not that many) misprints which were likely due to imperfect editing. The text is well-illustrated with plenty of helpful diagrams (a few of which have some crucial information accidentally left out, leaving the reader to fill it in). The colour plates and black and white photographs were also useful.

The author, a theoretical astrophysicist by training, is certainly well-qualified to write such a book. His writing style is friendly, generally clear and actually quite entertaining - even occasionally witty and humorous - rather unusual for books of this type.

A review on the book's back cover calls the book "a true gem of popular scientific writing". I find this a bit misleading since the word "popular" will likely mean different things to different people. To put things into perspective, I would expect that those who love observing natural phenomena and have a good working knowledge of geometry, trigonometry and differential and integral calculus would likely appreciate this book the most.

The book is filled with little examples of what we see and do during our day; then shows how to calculate the magnitudes of what is going on. Pick it up, look up your subject/interest, read and within 5 minutes see how math explains another event.

An enjoyable discussion of applying math to everyday phenomena, presented in a clear question/answer format. I particularly enjoyed relating shadows of tree's leaves to their height and estimating the size of the earth from observations that, at first sight, seem unrelated. The book uses trigonometry extensively, and occasionally calculus, so the book could supplement classes in those subjects.
Missing from the book is using dimensional analysis for 'back of the envelope' estimates before developing the mathematical model. Most annoying is the continual switch among metric and English units, including some implicit in numerical constants. This makes it difficult to identify relationships directly from the equations. Much clearer would have been to stick to a consistent set to develop the models, especially metric which simplifies estimation. And then, perhaps, mention the English unit value parenthetically after the final answer. If you are more interested in estimation and dimensional analysis, the author's earlier book Guesstimation: Solving the World's Problems on the Back of a Cocktail Napkin is better and doesn't require as much math background.

Many people have pointed out that mathematics is surprisingly effective at describing, modeling and explaining natural phenomena. This book is one of the best demonstrations of that awesome fact. Adam uses his powers of observation, occasionally a camera and his knowledge of mathematics to encounter and then mathematically describe ninety-six ordinary natural phenomena.
Some of the questions answered are:

*) Can you see farther in the rain or in fog?
*) Why can haystacks explode if they are too large?
*) What causes rings around the sun?
*) What is the murmur of the forest?
*) How long is the Earth's shadow?

While the questions are interesting, the true significance of the book is the quality of the answers. Adam does a superb job in explaining why things appear the way they do. No corners are cut in the mathematics, when calculus is needed to explain something it is used to the extent necessary.
This book would be an excellent textbook for courses in applied physics or mathematics where the research component is simply walking around outside, looking at things and then asking the simple but important question, "Why is that?"

Published in Journal of Recreational Mathematics, reprinted with permission

The book was very well written and very well put together. It was very organized and made you think.