Philip Plait

Phil Plait doing his thing: explaining science in a geekily fun and readable way.

this book is about all the gruesome and very scary ways the universe can kill us especially from an astronomical perspective- meteor strikes, gamma ray bursts, alien bugs, etc. in doing so, it explains lots of scientific principles in very clear, layman’s terms. you won’t find any equations standing in for important paragraphs or too much ultra-specific jargon thrown around. if he does use more precise show more terms, he explains them.

the terror driven deep into your soul while expanding your general scientific knowledge will make you feel the icy grip of death curl round your miniscule heart, that you are utterly powerless and insignificant, and yet also kindle stunning awe for the limitless majesty of the universe we live in. it’s perfect for anyone (but especially a young person) curious about science and/or nature who hasn’t yet had the opportunity to take advanced science classes. it’s like a Michael Bay film with lots of explosions and dire circumstances. it’s not like a Michael Bay film in that it is well-written and actually sticks to scientific facts. Plait’s book is about trainwrecks but certainly avoids being one itself. show less

Este libro es directamente fantástico. Es como Malaciencia, pero aplicado únicamente a la astronomía, al Espacio y a alguna cosa más. El autor es humilde y a la vez mordaz, y no deja títere con cabeza cuando se pone a analizar uno por uno bastantes mitos sobre la ciencia. El estilo es simple, claro y conciso. Me encanta. Un breve resumen de los temas que trata seguro que les hace la boca agua:

- Huevos que se sostienen solos durante el equinoccio
- El efecto Coriolis y hacia dónde gira show more el agua en los lavabos
- MalaCiencia en el lenguaje cotidiano
- Por qué el cielo es azul
- Por qué hay estaciones (no es por la distancia al Sol, auqnue ésta influye un poquito en las temperaturas diferentes entre hemisferios)
- Las fases de la luna
- Las mareas
- Por qué la luna parece más grande cuando está cerca del horizonte
- Por qué las estrellas titilan
- Los colores de las estrellas
- Por qué las estrellas no se ven de día
- La estrella Polar no es la más brillante
- ¡No mires al sol durante un eclipse!
- Meteoritos, meteoros y meteoroides
- El origen del Universo
- Sí llegamos a la Luna
- Las paranoias de Velikovsky
- Creacionismo y astronomía
- Ovnis
- Marte está en la séptima casa pero Venus se ha largado del edificio. Por qué la astrología no funciona.
- Creencias sobre el telescopio Hubble
- Sobre las empresas que bautizan estrellas a cambio de un módico precio
- Los diez peores ejemplos de MalaCiencia en el cine

Todos y cada uno de los capítulos son estupendos. Éste es un libro que penso regalar a mucha gente. Imprescindible. show less

This is Phil Plait's first book, born out of his Bad Astronomy website, and it's an excellent and entertaining takedown of, as it says on the label, bad astronomy. He takes on many popular misunderstandings and misrepresentations of astronomical facts and realities.

Why is the sky really blue? Are meteorites hot enough to cause fires when they hit the ground? Can you see stars during the day if you are at the bottom of a well?

Plait takes on creationism, astrology, and UFOs, as well as bad show more science in movies and television. He talks about the Hubble telescope, and what it can and can't do, and why its data is not released publicly for a year after after collection.

I especially enjoyed the chapter dealing with the moon landing "hoax" (spoiler: yes, we really did land on the moon). Also quite interesting is the discussion of Velikovsky's crazy theory about Venus being ejected from Jupiter towards the inner solar system, and causing many of the dramatic events recorded in the Bible, such as when Joshua is reported to have stopped the sun in the sky for a full day. There are many reasons this doesn't make sense, but, really, read or listen to Plait's explanation.

Plait does a great job of making this entertaining, educational, and just really interesting. At times it's clear the nonsense that gets presented as plausible science makes him really cranky, but he's also very clear about how much he has enjoyed science fiction tv and movies with really bad science, and how it got him interested in real science and a career in astronomy.

The book was originally published in 2002, and is naturally a little dated in some respects. That's mostly in ways such as talking about the space shuttle as still an active part of our space program, and other relatively minor details. And if you catch him out in something more significant that scientific research since 2002 has proven wrong, well, he'd say, "Good!" He'd be delighted you're paying attention to scientific progress, and science's natural self-correcting features.

Recommended.

I bought this audiobook. show less

I like Phil's conversational approach to science writing. He tells stories and paints really clear pictures of what is happening in the deepest parts of the universe. This was a little bit of extra fun because each chapter starts with a small vignette setting the scene for the horrible thing heading toward the earth.