Sunday, April 6, 2008

The Quirks & Quarks Guide to Space


42 Questions (and Answers) About Life, the Universe, and Everything, by Jim Lebans.
Quickie Recap: Why are rockets a lousy way to get into space? How do you cook an astronaut? These, and other questions you may or may not have even asked yourself are yours to consider.
Quickie Review: This book contains something seemingly more rare than the elusive black hole: a funny scientist. I'm nerdy enough to be fascinated by the information in this book, and retarded enough to really appreciate the golden nuggets of hilarity that make the physics-mathematics-quantum-whatnots actually bearable. Can I get an A-men! I wasn't ever bored, rarely confused, and I think I may have even learned something, like why poor Pluto got demoted and if you and I are actually all made of stars. This book, filled with such gems as "If you think that's confusing, wait until we try to explain it", and warnings to the reader to take a "precautionary analgesic". All in fun, of course. And it was fun, absurdly, surprisingly. Good fun. Go space!
Quickie recommendation: To infinity, and beyond.

2 comments:

Droog said...

A-men!

Joared said...

Another book to put on my list for reading. Guess it's time for another martini, or maybe I'll settle for a glass of wine.