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8 obres 79 Membres 2 Ressenyes

Obres de David L. Block

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It seems somehow ungrateful to write a cranky review of a book as physically gorgeous as this one, but I'm going to do it anyway, because I'm angry.

First, the obvious: this is a BEAUTIFUL book. It is huge, printed on very nice paper, nicely put together, and is stuffed with jaw-dropping images (the E. E. Barnard Milky Way pics alone are stunning as can be). You could put way worse on a coffee table, friends.

Ahem.

When you open it, though, you may develop engine trouble. I sure did. Mind, this was written by brilliant people with good intentions ... but even James Joyce could have used an editor once in a while, and Messrs Block and Freeman are scientists, not literary bigwigs.

There is good stuff in here: good astronomy-historical stuff, and even some intriguing science. But it is almost hidden inside what I can only call an aimless farrago of words. I'm reminded of what Samuel Johnson said about Shakespeare never meeting a tangent he didn't like* -- because this book wanders fractally. It felt as though the authors were sometimes partly aware of this, and just typed "Shrouds of the Night" a few times whenever they got nervous about it.**

On top of this, the editing is really poor. This is a common complaint (of mine) with regard to books from this publisher: Springer is obviously capable of putting out fine academic titles, but the editing and design on their amateur astronomy books is execrable most of the time. Here, this manifests not only in the aimless wandering of the main text, but in such things as noting 'emphasis ours' on block paragraphs that are in ALL italics (if it's ALL in italics, there is NO EMPHASIS, Holmes), and names that change spelling from sentence to sentence.

Finally, there's the God stuff. A little of this is ... maybe okay, when delivered by someone with the intellectual pedigree of Owen Gingerich. But, goddammit, DON'T tell me you surveyed a bunch of scientists about God and got a bunch of answers ONLY ONE OF WHICH espouses a skeptical mindset! Because you will have flushed your credibility straight down the toilet. I know there are scientists who have religious beliefs, but I do not believe most scientists do. Sorry.

In sum: YMMV, but this book pissed me off.

* "A quibble is to Shakespeare, what luminous vapours are to the traveller; he follows it at all adventures, it is sure to lead him out of his way, and sure to engulf him in the mire."
** I attended a sort of release party/lecture for this book, and I do have a memory of David Block walking around half-saying/half-shouting the words "SHROUDS of the night!" a lot, in his S African accent.
… (més)
 
Marcat
tungsten_peerts | Oct 18, 2015 |
(1) A computer existed before the time of Jesus (95)
(2) Known unknowns for science (123)
(3) Three prongs of the scientific fork (174)
(4) Ancients who held helix-centric view (190)
 
Marcat
jamesrrouse | Jul 23, 2019 |

Estadístiques

Obres
8
Membres
79
Popularitat
#226,897
Valoració
½ 3.7
Ressenyes
2
ISBN
18

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