Once Upon a Universe: Not-so-Grimm tales of Cosmology (Hardcover)

~ (Author)
Key Phrases: strong nuclear interaction, rest mass energy, cone lie, Snow White, Sir Lorentz, Truthful John (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review

From the reviews:

"Gilmore shows us that there’s more than one way to shed light on the strange profundities of modern physics and cosmology, and what they have to tell us about the nature of time and space and motion. Black holes, dying stars, traveling backward through time to the Big Bang – they’re all here in accessible, instructive and charmingly illustrated retellings." (www.firstscience.com, April, 2004)

"For most physicists, the desire to show the public the joys of understanding scientific reality remains unslaked … . Robert Gilmore has acted upon that desire. Once Upon a Universe … is the fourth in a series of his books using fairy-tale approaches to communicate important points about physics. … demonstrates more than one way to shed light on the strange profundities of modern physics and cosmology. … give the book to your scientist friends. They will thank you for it-and mean it." (Donald Goldsmith, Physics Today, December, 2004)

"Physics teachers are always searching for new methods to present, illustrate, and communicate an in-depth understanding of physics to their students. … In this volume Gilmore tries a different approach as he tells the reader fairy or wizard tales about physics, more specifically, about cosmology. … physics teachers may find ideas in some of the tales useful in introducing difficult concepts to their students." (Fernande Grandjean and Gary J. Long, Physicalia, Vol. 57 (3), 2005)

"This readable book includes six amusing tales. They explain the nature and scale of the Universe, the stars and the galaxies, spacetime and gravity, how the Universe came about, and the life and fate of stars." (Book News on the Internet, March, 2004)

"In Once Upon a Universe, fairy tale heroes get crash courses in quantum mechanics and cosmology from an assortment of … characters. … Robert Gilmore’s approach works surprisingly well. … Far clearer are the strait-laced asides dotted throughout the book. If you do know your cosmology, you will find the book … charming … ." (New Scientist, February, 2004)

Product Description

"Once upon a time there was no Universe," began the Storyteller. . . ."

First Snow White encounters one of the Little People, then one of the Even Smaller People, and finally one of the Truly Infinitesimal People. And no matter how diligently she searches, the only dwarves she can find are collapsed stars! Clearly, she's not at home in her well-known Brothers Grimm fairy tale, but instead in a strange new landscape that features quantum behavior, the wavelike properties of particles, and the Uncertainty Principle. She (and we) must have entered, in short, one of the worlds created by Robert Gilmore, the physicist and fabulist who brought us the classic "Alice in Quantumland."

Whether he's recasting such classic tales as "Jack and the Quarkstalk," "Waking Beauty," or "Cinderenda and the Death of Stars," Gilmore shows us that there's more than one way to shed light on the strange profundities of modern physics and cosmology, and what they have to tell us about the nature of time and space and motion. Black holes, dying stars, traveling backward through time to the Big Bang-they're all here in accessible, instructive, and charmingly illustrated retellings.

Robert Gilmore has published three previous books with Copernicus, "Alice in Quantumland," "Scrooge's Cryptic Carol," and "The Wizard of Quarks." He is a Visiting Research Fellow, with a special focus on the public understanding of science, at Bristol University in England. He has also worked in particle physics at Brookhaven, Stanford, and CERN in Geneva

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 228 pages
• Publisher: Springer; 1 edition (November 11, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0387955666
• ISBN-13: 978-0387955667
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #965,392 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Once Upon a Universe, February 14, 2007

By	Quek Hoon Khim (Singapore) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This is a must read book for all college students with a passion for
the study of Physics and scientific writings. The author has the
gift of using famous children's classic to convey the physics concepts
in a skilful and humourous way in helping readers to conceptualise the
laws of Physics.

0 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Once Upon a Universe, January 1, 2005

By	Brittany - See all my reviews

Once Upon a Universe, by Robert Gilmore, was a creative and interesting way to explain complex scientific ideas. This book is a mix of fairy tales that includes well-known characters with interesting names. Some of the tales include "Snow White and the particularly little people", "Waking Beauty", and "Cinderenda and the Death of Stars". Each story begins with a well-known fairy tale and sends its protagonist on a journey to achieve knowledge. Then the story ends with the character learning something extravagant about the Universe or the things inside it. This book did include some ideas that are difficult to grasp and is not an easy read, so do not be fooled by its length. It may be a short book, but it took a long time to actually understand what was being taught.

Overall, this was not my favorite book but it was interesting and worth the effort. Its creative ideas made it in a strange way fun to read. It will certainly help students trying to understand quantum physics and such, so if your looking for a book as a teacher then this is the book for you.

0 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Once Upon a Mediocre Book, January 2, 2005

By	Maverick (Massachusetts) - See all my reviews

Once Upon a Universe, although it uses a creative way to teach its readers high level science theories, was not a very interesting book. Its flawed adaptations of fairy tales made it a difficult book to enjoy and really get into. Such adaptations include "Snow White and the Particularly Little People", which teaches the reader about particles and atoms. The less-than-captivating adaptations became nearly monotonous, as Gilmore occasionally went into excessive details concerning each subject. In conclusion, although it was a failed attempt at twisting fairy tales, it did teach me interesting scientific information. I would not recommend this book to any except those people who are excessively into science.