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Jennifer Ouellette

Black Bodies and Quantum Cats: Tales from the Annals of Physics Paperback – Illustrated, December 1, 2005

by Jennifer Ouellette (Author), Alan Chodos (Foreword)

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Physics, once known as "natural philosophy," is the most basic science, explaining the world we live in, from the largest scale down to the very, very, very smallest, and our understanding of it has changed over many centuries. In Black Bodies and Quantum Cats, science writer Jennifer Ouellette traces key developments in the field, setting descriptions of the fundamentals of physics in their historical context as well as against a broad cultural backdrop. Newton’s laws are illustrated via the film Addams Family Values, while Back to the Future demonstrates the finer points of special relativity. Poe’s "The Purloined Letter" serves to illuminate the mysterious nature of neutrinos, and Jeanette Winterson’s novel Gut Symmetries provides an elegant metaphorical framework for string theory. An enchanting and edifying read, Black Bodies and Quantum Cats shows that physics is not an arcane field of study but a profoundly human endeavor—and a fundamental part of our everyday world.

Print length

336 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Penguin Books
Publication date

December 1, 2005
Dimensions

0.65 x 5.25 x 8 inches
ISBN-10

0143036033
ISBN-13

978-0143036036
See all details

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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 Booklist

Although she is a self-described "physics phobe," literature major Ouellette writes a monthly column for the American Physical Society's magazine. And she's good at it. Readers of these 50 pieces will feel her companionship as a fellow layperson sharing her interest in physics history. Hooking the audience with some movie or sf novel, Ouellette delves into the real physics behind a literary device. For example, her article about special relativity plays off Marty McFly's time trip in Back to the Future; Jules Verne's From the Earth to the Moon prefaces the tale of Robert Goddard's rocket. Several pages in length, each article stands alone, and the funny slang titles compete for attention: what will one read first, "That Darn Cat" (about Schrodinger's famous cat) or "Copy That" (about Chester Carlson, inventor of the photocopier)? Arranged chronologically from Leonardo da Vinci (tied to The Da Vinci Code) to the top quark (introduced via My Big Fat Greek Wedding), Ouellette's entertaining explications of physics encourage generalists to give physics a try. Gilbert Taylor
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

About the Author

Jennifer Ouellette is the author of three previous books, Black Bodies and Quantum Cats, Physics of the Buffyverse, and The Calculus Diaries. She writes the popular science and culture blog Cocktail Party Physics for Scientific American. She lives in Los Angeles, California.

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.

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Product information

Technical Details

Publisher

‎Penguin Books; Illustrated edition (December 1, 2005)

Language

‎English

Paperback

‎336 pages

ISBN-10

‎0143036033

ISBN-13

‎978-0143036036

Item Weight

‎9.8 ounces

Dimensions

‎0.65 x 5.25 x 8 inches

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About the author

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Jennifer Ouellette

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I'm an English major turned science writer, through serendipitous accident. It's been a wild ride since I first dipped a toe into physics, and I wouldn't have it any other way. I've written articles about molecular mixology, eggshell physics, black holes, the game theory of poker, pseudoscience, fractal patterns in the paintings of Jackson Pollock, the science of yodeling, and the acoustics of Mayan pyramids, among other colorful topics, for places like The Washington Post, Smithsonian, Slate, Mental Floss, New Scientist, Discover, Salon, and Nature. I maintain a science-and-culture blog at Scientific American called Cocktail Party Physics. The latter is my "writers laboratory," where I explore new topics and ways to communicate science. That's also how I met my husband, Caltech cosmologist Sean M. Carroll, author of the fabulous "The Particle at the End of the Universe" and "From Eternity To Here: The Quest for the Ultimate Theory of Time").

I've written four popular science books, aimed at readers like me (non-specialists who appreciate stories with their science). The most recent is "Me, Myself and Why: Searching for the Science of Self," detailing my quest to illuminate everything that goes into shaping the people we become. Other books: "The Calculus Diaries : How Math Can Help You Lose Weight, Win in Vegas, and Survive a Zombie Apocalypse;" "The Physics of the Buffyverse"; and "Black Bodies and Quantum Cats: Tales from the Annals of Physics." I also edited the 2012 anthology "The Best Online Science Writing."

From November 2008 through October 2010, I was director of the National Academy of Sciences' program, The Science & Entertainment Exchange, founded to foster creative collaborations between scientists and the entertainment industry: http://www.scienceandentertainmentexchange.org. I like to think I made a difference, but I also got to meet Ridley Scott. So that's a win-win in my book.

You can read more about me at my Website: http://www.jenniferouellette-writes.com, and at my blog: http://www.blogs.scientificamerican.com/cocktail-party-physics.

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Top reviews from the United States

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Cathleen

If you have anything against the sciences, read this book and be cured!!

Reviewed in the United States on March 1, 2015

Verified Purchase

Amazingly Awesomely funny and educating. I had no idea that Science was as beautiful and easy to understand as a Matisse painting. Would love to visit a gallery of books like this displayed because it's real art when handled by Jennifer Ouelette. All the sellers get bravo too!

Helpful

NJguy

Easy read for the average Joe, still interesting for physics buffs!

Reviewed in the United States on March 24, 2008

Verified Purchase

This is a great book that skims the surface of a number of physics topics. The author does a great job explaining each topic in an easy to understand manner, then continues to go more in depth, while still being understandable for the average reader. Being somewhat of a physics buff myself, I found the light heartedness of the book refreshing. Far different than reading Hawking or Greene, but equally as interesting. Don't miss Jen's blog!

Helpful

Audrey

Charming writer with very good insights!

Reviewed in the United States on November 30, 2014

Verified Purchase

If you are interested in Physics, but not entirely sure what it's all about, Jennifer puts things in layman's terms, and helps you see it in perspective. I cannot vouch for her accuracy in all the topics as I'm not an expert, but definitely interesting and you'd be inclined to find out more on your own. I've also purchased her book, "Me, Myself and I", which is about genes and more. She's surely one of my favorite non-fiction writers.

Helpful

jen

Seriously awesome book. Highly Recommend.

Reviewed in the United States on October 6, 2012

Verified Purchase

This was required for my physical science class. It was fantastic. Gave it to my sister in high school and think everyone can use it. Puts tricky complicated science theories into real-world scenarios and very understandable. Many ah-hah moments! Would recommend for everyone.

Helpful

Elizabeth Shivell

Wonderful esoteric journey

Reviewed in the United States on March 13, 2006

Verified Purchase

This is a delightful and playful weaving of seemingly unconnected fields of study to explain the universe through physics for non-scientists. Very intelligent and very touching.

3 people found this helpful

Helpful

An overview of science accessible to the layperson

Reviewed in the United States on March 24, 2014

Originally written as columns for The Annals of Physics, this book compiles thirty-eight of the author’s essays on the development of scientific thought through history. The author is not a scientist, so that she brings a layperson’s perspective to her writings on these technical topics, which makes them more accessible to those without more advanced science backgrounds. In addition, the author does a pretty good job, for the most part, of placing the scientific concepts into historical context, so that the reader can better grasp the incremental development of our understanding of our universe. This is good reading for those who want to understand more about what modern science tells us about the universe, but are intimidated by the complexity of scientific details.

Much of the content of this book was a review for me, as I have encountered these concepts elsewhere. But in certain cases, the historical context was new to me and occasionally even surprising. I probably learned the most in the discussion of the more modern concepts here, especially those topics that deal with quantum physics, which have long struck me as more than a bit mysterious. The explanations here helped me clarify my understanding of these matters somewhat. I still can’t claim much expertise, but I suspect that I might be able to read further on these concepts with less confusion, which would be an improvement. Even the final chapter, on string theory, helped me expand my awareness of these ideas, even if the concept of an eleven dimensional reality still gives me a headache!

Helpful

David R. Ingham

Cute but too many errors

Reviewed in the United States on August 19, 2012

Some chapters may be correct, but some have glaring errors. For example, it says a microscope has a concave and a convex lens. Maybe dissecting microscopes work like Galilean telescopes or maybe the first ones were did, but the main lenses in an ordinary compound microscope are both convex. An image formed by the objective is viewed through the eye piece. A concave lens does not "gather light". Later in this chapter she confuses single atom resolution and the size of a human hair.
More than once she says that light traveling in straight lines is a particle property. The straightness of the lines is described by Maxwell's wave equations. Geometric optics includes no wave properties nor particle properties.
As Schrodinger's cat is related, the radioactive sample is only one atom of Uranium. U235, the shorter lived natural isotope has a half life of 703,800,000 years, after which little evidence would remain of how long the cat lived.

2 people found this helpful

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