Black Bodies and Quantum Cats: Tales from the Annals of Physics (Paperback)

by Jennifer Ouellette (Author), Alan Chodos (Foreword) "Conspiracy and code breaking are the order of the day in Dan Brown's best-selling thriller The Da Vina Code..." (more)
Key Phrases: top quark, dark energy, New York, United States, Deep Blue (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
Sg/jsAn English major turned science writer, Ouellette describes physics, that most mathematically demanding science, using books, TV shows, movies and other pop culture mainstays, and the result is remarkably fresh and immensely readable. Starting with Da Vinci, Ouellette uses-what else?-The Da Vinci Code to explain the divine proportion before taking the reader on an anecdotal tour of the blacksmiths, shopkeepers' sons and royalty who tinkered with their curiosities, cumulatively advancing a science from Copernicus' looking at the sky, through Einstein's theory of special relativity (explained in terms of Back to the Future and Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen), until today's subatomic string theory. All major theories and breakthroughs, along with the personalities that brought them to life (including a particularly ruthless Thomas Edison and a resourceful patent clerk named Chester Carlson, who built the first photocopier in his Astoria, New York, kitchen), are presented clearly by the reader's pop-culture escort. It is a credit to Ouellette that, as the reader progresses into more complex theories, the TV and movie references aren't nearly as interesting as the science.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From The Washington Post
Jennifer Ouellette must have been the kid who had a zillion questions ("Mommy, how can birds sit on power lines without getting fried?") and was never satisfied with the answers ("Are you sure they have wooden feet?"). She grew up to write "This Month in Physics History" for the American Physical Society's APS News, where she is an associate editor, and from that monthly column evolved Black Bodies and Quantum Cats: Tales From the Annals of Physics (Penguin; paperback, $15), which bursts with answers for curious adults.

She begins by trying to banish the intimidation about her subject that seeps into the adult psyche: "Physics is a far cry from being a cold, hard discipline devoid of emotional content. Its history is replete not just with technological marvels and revolutionary ideas, but also with colorful personalities and human drama." Employing contemporary cultural icons like the movie "Addams Family Values" and The Da Vinci Code, she explains the principles behind acceleration and ancient geometrical anomalies.

While her dedication to accessibility is admirable, her use of contemporary science fiction as a talisman for readers doesn't pay off for those who've already forgotten "X-Files" agent Fox Mulder. But Ouellette shines when she pulls analogies from real life to explain, for example, why blackouts are more likely since the deregulation of the power industry.

In prose that is engaging and economical, she transports us to 1947, when the physicists who guaranteed the Allies' victory in World War II got a police escort through New York. She delves into the forces behind roller coasters, canned whipped cream and Velcro, and she closes with a reminder that there "are as many open questions and elusive mysteries as there are hard established facts."

(Washington Post staff writer)

Physics for Armchair Scientists
Copyright 2006, The Washington Post. All Rights Reserved.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 336 pages
• Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics) (December 1, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0143036033
• ISBN-13: 978-0143036036
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.3 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #65,877 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars fun with physics for the layperson and those more in the know, January 9, 2006

By	Jen Oko (Washington, DC) - See all my reviews

Never in my wildest dreams did I think I would ever understand the first thing about string theory, much less about cosmic microwaves-- but eager to improve my brain a bit, I recently picked up a copy of Black Bodies and Quantum cats. Now, thanks to this immensely enjoyable book, I am happy to report that for the first time in my life I might actually be able to hold a coherent conversation about these and more. By presenting some of the most challenging ideas imagineable within cultural (and even pop cultural) contexts, and writing about them with wit and humor, Ouellette has done the near impossible -- she's made physics fun for the lay person... fun, and, dare I say, maybe even a little bit sexy. I imagine that even if you did have a better grasp of physics than I did prior to picking up this book, you would find it to be an extremely entertaining, smart, and very humorous refresher course.

13 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An eye for science, April 3, 2006

By	Mark Laflamme "www.marklaflamme.com" (Maine) - See all my reviews

Jennifer Ouellette and Albert Einstein would have made great contemporaries. While Einstein was amusing himself with questions like "I wonder what would happen if I was driving a car at the speed of light and I turned my headlights on," Ouellette gets similar inspiration from backyard oddities.
When I first heard of this book, I assumed it was another treatise on Schrodinger's famed cat hypothesis. Instead, it's an incredible look at physics through real world concepts that are familiar and easy to grasp.
More and more physicists are learning to share their knowledge with an audience that is not necessarily made up of scientific scholars. Joe Six Pack has an innate curiousity about the lofty questions of existance and the universe around him. Theorists and physicists are finally coming to understand that. They are writing for that wide-eyed audience these days instead of for teh scientific community expressly.
Science can only benefit from this growing interest in matters that were once exclusive to the men and women who worked in labs and huddled together in lecture halls. Ouellette, with her writing background, is perfect for the job of bringing complex matters, like quantum mechanics, out of the classrooms and into the populace. She has an eye for science and a beautiful way with the language. Those attributes are great for people who want to know as much as they can about emerging science, but who will likely never be enrolled at MIT.
Writers like Ouellette, Brian Green and Michio Kaku are opening up the world of physics to an expanding list of readers and that's good for everybody. With the analogies and thought experiments offered up in "Black Bodies and Quantum Cats," even laymen like myself and Joe Six Pack can sound reasonably smart when we're hanging around the bars and trying to impress our fellow drinkers. This book is an instant winner for those with even a passing interest in physics.
-- Mark LaFlamme, author of "The Pink Room."

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Physics made Fun, March 23, 2006

By	James R. Riordon "Buzz Skyline" (Greenbelt, MD United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I studied physics in school, but I still enjoy reading popular physics books for fun from time to time (I know, what a nerd!). One of the best things about this one is the inclusion of fascinating historical insights that bring people like Tesla to life (on the page anyway). "Black Bodies and Quantum Cats" is a fun read that is ideal for casual science fans and budding scientists alike. I highly recommend it, and I am going to give copies to all my nieces and nephews to show them that physics is much more than equations on a chalk board.