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A Matter of Degrees: What Temperature Reveals about the Past and Future of Our Species, Planet, and Universe |
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A Matter of Degrees: What Temperature Reveals about the Past and Future of Our Species, Planet, and Universe
List Price: $16.00
Our Price: $12.00
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Manufacturer: Penguin (Non-Classics)
Author: Gino Segre
Binding: Paperback
Publication Date: 2003-07-01
Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics)
Label: Penguin (Non-Classics)
Number Of Pages: 320
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Editorial Review:
In a wonderful synthesis of science, history, and imagination, Gino Segrè, an internationally renowned theoretical physicist, embarks on a wide-ranging exploration of how the fundamental scientific concept of temperature is bound up with the very essence of both life and matter. Why is the internal temperature of most mammals fixed near 98.6š? How do geologists use temperature to track the history of our planet? Why is the quest for absolute zero and its quantum mechanical significance the key to understanding superconductivity? And what can we learn from neutrinos, the subatomic "messages from the sun" that may hold the key to understanding the birth-and death-of our solar system? In answering these and hundreds of other temperature-sensitive questions, Segrè presents an uncanny view of the world around us.
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Customer Reviews
Average Customer Rating: 
An open invitation to research!  2008-03-31
This is a wonderful account relating the role temperature plays in widely varying disciplines, ranging from physiology to cosmology. Though Segre is a physicist and quips that physics is pretty much the family business, his understanding and enthusiasm for a broad range of problems under the blanket of science is truly astonishing. The majority of non-fiction works in this genre tend to focus on a relatively narrow area which often happens to be the author's domain of expertise. The more general approach this book takes without watering things down is truly refreshing.
The tone reflects the excitement of the non-specialist, surely. Also, in describing the events and often surprising turns a field has taken, Segre's sketches of the personalities involved are colorful without relying too much on what often turns out to be insider perspectives. While there is a place for that, and several writers, particularly David Lindley, has used it to sharp advantage, Segre's account skims over the trees for the forest.
What I found very noticable was the even balance between weighing the current state of knowledge with the absence of any overarching statement about where things are headed. This caution, for example, was not something that was expressed in James Gleick's 'chaos,' for example. For all its novelty of expression, the basic science was at times suspect, as practitioners like David Ruelle has pointed out in his 'chance and chaos.'
While the narrative for the subjects like geothermal vents and global warming were quite seamless, I thought Segre's treatment of low-temperature physics was a little stilted and disjointed. This was a bit of a dissapointment because one would expect a somewhat more cohesive picture from a well-known neutrino physicist. The dialogue between Einstein and Bohr could have been richer and more contextual, and the time-span of interesting events could have stretched somewhat longer.
A missed opportunity, however, is only one side of the coin, and a book can only be so long. One hopes that some equally competent author pieces together the somewhat difficult if specialized story of laser cooling of atoms, or delve into why low temperatures are so interesting in revealing the quantum nature of materials.
I actually bought this copy after borrowing it from the library for following up on the excellent bibliography and references. I also appeared animated enough about it for my wife to whisk my copy away for her commute...
temperature explained.. and the effects it has  2006-06-16
As someone who barely made it through thermodynamics at the U getting a title of mechanical engineer, I'm glad of reading this wonderful book. It puts you in a special perspective about how this property relates to our earth and our living world.
be prepared to take a grand tour. Temperature is a property of mater and as suchm reveals what is happing to an active systems such as the earth. Science is all about connections; at least to me, thats where the beauty comes in. To be able to connect atmospheric events, form geology, to living systems, wisdom resides on how you can weave the threads that are loose
A fascinating and lucid book! 2006-04-09
For me this was an excellent book and recommend it to everyone interested in always learning new things. Segre's easy way of explaining tough matters is admirable. In this book you learn lots of stuff, like the average internal temperature of humans, earth temperature, what is absolute zero and quantum dynamics, all of them sauced with lots of history.
A Journey of Discovery from the Birth of Aspirin to Hydrothermal Vents 2006-02-15
An entertaining read about the discovery and history of temperature. Along with the usual suspects like Galileo, Copernicus, Newton and others, you are also introduced to many other somewhat less heralded scientific figures that have made great contributions to science. Some of the more interesting sections in this fascinating book were, the origin and discovery of aspirin, the invention of the thermometer, what hydrothermal vents tell us, to temperature shift extinctions. Overall, a very quick read with lasting anecdotal impressions.
Why read this book?
To quote Steven Weinberg "The effort to understand the universe is one of the very few things that lifts human life above the level of farce, and gives it some of the grace of tragedy." This book opens both new insights into and of the world we live in.
Science for the curious  2006-01-05
This book is a fantastic read for any of us who has gone through their science courses in school and wondered if there is more to science than the cut and dry information they got from their BORING(!!!!)textbooks.
Who would have ever thought that such a prestigious family of physicists who can pride themselves of a Nobel prize trace back to a enterprising grand-father who built a paper mill on top of Roman temple in Italy?
Science is indeed a human story.
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