We Need to Talk About Kelvin [Paperback]

Marcus Chown (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 269 pages
• Publisher: Faber and Faber (October 15, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0571244025
• ISBN-13: 978-0571244027
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.4 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,341,864 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Sloppy, September 16, 2010

By 

Michael - See all my reviews

This review is from: We Need to Talk About Kelvin (Paperback)

Chown shows little skepticism and is rather sloppy with the facts. Just to mention one, there is the statement on page 186 that 2^1000 is approximately 1 billion. In fact it is approximately 10^301 (1 billion with another 292 zeros added)! Makes the rest of the chapter rather hard to understand. Maybe I'm missing something.

One star for his enthusiasm though.

5.0 out of 5 stars Informative, complex and fun to read, January 3, 2010

By 

Clancy Birrell (Auckland, New Zealand) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: We Need to Talk About Kelvin (Paperback)

Marcus Chown has an engaging and easy to read manner that is conducive to relaying complex topics.
This book contains an excellent level of detail, it considers both historical content as well as some very recent discoveries.
If you're a new reader of scientific literature then this is a GREAT place to start. I feel I can now take a bigger bite of the physics of the universe.
To improve readability of a difficult subject and complex ideas, the book contains comic quips and anecdotes of some of the 'giants of science' and their theories.
But that is not to belittle Chown's ability to add depth of concept, above and beyond what you'll find in most basic physics texts.
Finally this wouldn't be an honest review without some constructive criticisms, whilst Chown does a very good job of linking and putting logical proofs into the building of the theories in the book, there are quite a few leaps of faith required of the reader. Perhaps my knowledge of physics is too basic to 'get' some of these specific concepts but I felt that these leaps were definitely present in this book. Keep in mind, it may well be some of the content was condensed by editing and these passages have suffered from it.
All in all a great read. This book has enriched my palette for science factual reading and my further personal study in the subject.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Same book as "The Matchbox that Ate..." just different title!, October 8, 2010

By 

Eric F. Starmer "Mary Starmer" (Mosier, Oregon) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: We Need to Talk About Kelvin (Paperback)

I am giving this book only one star not because it is a bad book, it's actually quite good. The problem is that it's the identical book to "The Matchbox that Ate...." by the same author, which I had already read. Don't be like me and buy both!