Customer Reviews

On the Surface of Things: Images of the Extraordinary in Science

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

 

 

As a student in Material Science and Engineering, I couldn't resist when I heard of this book, and I was not disappointed. Mrs. Frankel's photography is beautiful and illustrative without losing an artful touch as far as composition is concerned, and Mr. Whitesides' explanations can be easily grasped due to their intuitive approach. For someone who wants to know more about the science behind the effects the explanations may not be detailed enough, which is why I don't rate this book a ten, but whoever desires to gain an overview of surface effects and understand the basics of it, this is the book to read. I sincerely recommend this book.

This book consists of a number of fascinating photos drawn from the world of science. The pictures are works of art in themselves, and include a simple scale indicator to give you a clue whether what you're looking at is microscopic or full sized. The accompanying prose explains in a short description what you're looking at and why it's so interesting. The prose is brilliantly written and easy to read.

This book is not for scientists per se, but for anyone with a fascination for the world around them. A perfect accent to any coffee table.

This is not a science book ! The photos are really great, but the name fooled me...it is not a book on surface science ! Just a photography book that have some phothos that were taken with the help of scientific media.....

Sorry to leave a critical review and not explain myself clearly....I think its really the photography that I was unimpressed with. I guess I was making the classic mistake of expecting the content images to be as compelling as the cover. but what you get are some really abstract photos, not exactly closeup photos of everyday objects we can all relate to....mainly silicon things, eggs boiling, and light reflections.

The text is fairly poetic; sort of describing things in whimsical ways ... which is not was I was looking for..... I was hoping that the text would be more about the applications of the items, and their properties at the microscopic level.

ex: one of the photos is of sheetmusic: "we are a clever species: we can reduce the most complex of our joys and sorrows to blotches of carbon patterned on the bleached tissue of dead trees"

oh brother!

anyway, I bought microcosmos by brandon broll, and i think it is AWESOME!! everything i was hoping for and more....