John Barrow

Cosmic Imagery

They say that a picture is worth a thousand words. In Cosmic Imagery: Key Images in the History of Science John Barrow describes some of the science behind 89 iconic pictures.

The book is in four sections. The first, 'Stars in Your Eyes' is based on Barrow's own subject of cosmology, and includes the COBE microwave spectrum and Supernova 1987A. The second section 'Spatial Prejudice' deals with a variety of subjects - space travel, maps and microscopic imagery. The third section 'Painting by Numbers' looks at mathematical images - powerful computers have led to plenty of these, for instance the Mandelbrot set, but the book also looks at more traditional mathematics such as the Platonic solids. 'Mind over Matter' is the final section, and includes pictures from physics and chemistry, such as Feynman diagrams and the periodic table.

The book is written in a non-technical way, and the chapters are short and easy to read. Sometimes it helps to have a bit of a background in the subject but it isn't vital. It's very much a 'coffee table book' but it's a very good one, which you or your children will enjoy browsing, and may be inspired to follow up on one of the topics using the extensive notes at the end.

(Note: the hardback is a bit too heavy to hold comfortably so you might want to consider waiting for the paperback instead)

Amazon.com info

Hardcover 608 pages
ISBN: 0393061779
Salesrank: 223369
Weight:3 lbs

Published: 2008 W. W. Norton & Company

Amazon price $4.86

Marketplace:New from $4.85:Used from $0.48

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Amazon.co.uk info

Hardcover 608 pages
ISBN: 0224075233
Salesrank: 127734
Weight:4.14 lbs

Published: 2008 Bodley Head

Amazon price £17.50

Marketplace:New from £15.87:Used from £10.00

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Amazon.ca info

Hardcover 608 pages
ISBN: 0393061779
Salesrank: 421000
Weight:3 lbs

Published: 2008 W. W. Norton & Company

Amazon price CDN$ 26.05

Marketplace:New from CDN$ 26.05:Used from CDN$ 32.55

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Product Description
A remarkable book tracing the history and influence of nearly two hundred iconic images that changed human conceptions of the universe and our place in it. We live in a visual age, an age of images—iconic, instant, and influential—that have crystallized our conception of the large, the small, and the complex, of both inner and outer space. Some, like Robert Hooke's first microscopic views of the natural world, arose because of new technical capabilities. Others, like the first graphs, were breathtakingly simple but perennially useful. The first stunning picture of Earth from space stimulated an environmental consciousness that has grown ever since; the mushroom clouds from atomic and nuclear explosions became the ultimate symbol of death and destruction; Mercator's flat map of the Earth cemented an entire worldview. John D. Barrow's collection encompasses the frontiers of modern science and its most memorable historic moments. But this is much more than a picture book. Entertaining and informative essays accompany the powerful display of images that have illuminated concepts of far-reaching significance. Full color throughout; 190 illustrations

Product Description

A remarkable book tracing the history and influence of nearly two hundred iconic images that changed human conceptions of the universe and our place in it. We live in a visual age, an age of images—iconic, instant, and influential—that have crystallized our conception of the large, the small, and the complex, of both inner and outer space. Some, like Robert Hooke's first microscopic views of the natural world, arose because of new technical capabilities. Others, like the first graphs, were breathtakingly simple but perennially useful. The first stunning picture of Earth from space stimulated an environmental consciousness that has grown ever since; the mushroom clouds from atomic and nuclear explosions became the ultimate symbol of death and destruction; Mercator's flat map of the Earth cemented an entire worldview. John D. Barrow's collection encompasses the frontiers of modern science and its most memorable historic moments. But this is much more than a picture book. Entertaining and informative essays accompany the powerful display of images that have illuminated concepts of far-reaching significance.

Full color throughout; 190 illustrations

Cosmic Images, Mental Gymnastics *****
Suppose one's task is to review Finnegan's Wake. Daunting? I approached this task with a lesser version of that trepidation. Cosmic Imagery, as may be inferred solely from the titles of Barrow's other works, is conceived on a preternaturally broad canvas. Accordingly, budget a generous space on the coffee table for this project, and an equally generous portion of time -- and not leisure time. Advice to readers might well include: * Read with a netbook nearby. You may need some Wikipedia refreshers to catch up on science concepts that you have forgotten or neglected in your science education. * Prepare for a roller coaster ride across disparate specializations -- not just cosmology and astronomy, as the Cosmic's title implies -- but historical footnotes like the "anthropocentric piece of interstellar advertising" affixed to the Pioneer 10 Jupiter probe in 1972, drawings of flying saucers from science fiction comic artists like Alex Schomburg, and the frozen geometry of self-taught, snowflake-obsessed Wilson Bentley. * While Barrow's preface argues that pictures "save words . . . change the pace, alter the style and make things more memorable," in fact you'll have to do much more than simply stare at the ponderable images in his collection. The images sometimes require painstaking explanations -- painstaking, because Barrow wants to avoid being sidelined by the underlying science. Laudable, but probably an impossible ambition. * As with any good coffee table book, Cosmic Imagery can be opened to any chapter at random. Open to "Stepping Out: Laetoli Footprints" (p. 223) and you'll be treated to a line of hominid footprints left in Tanzania 3.6 million years ago. In "Two Easy Pieces: Aperiodic Tilings" (p. 397), a gallery of Islamic tilings is presented in tribute to an "almost overwhelming" exploration of "symmetry and periodicity." To enjoy Barrow's work, an extended sitting may not be suitable. His museum of artifacts from the history of science (subtitle: "key images in the history of science") calls for a dizzying tour of divergent corridors and anterooms. Better to let the collection rattle around in the skull, as surely it did in Barrow's. How else could one explain Chapter 19, "Shapeliness: The Symmetries of Life" (p. 255), which begins with a quotation, as does every chapter: He had the sort of face that, once seen, is never remembered. - Oscar Wilde The image is Leonardo's Vitruvian Man from 1490. A tribute to symmetry -- yes, but Barrow doesn't leave it there. After remarking on the remarkable evolution of right-left symmetry in biological systems, he wryly observes that The most interesting feature of the high degree of symmetry found in human faces and our external bodies is the contrast with the squalid muddle to be found under the skin. our bodies are not symmetrically engineered under the surface. Hearts are on the left, our brains are laid out in an asymmetrical fashion. . . But there's more. Hypercubes, the normal distribution, the periodic table -- science-haters will begrudgingly admit and be fatigued by Barrow's restless quest for images that inspire. The book is effort, and coffee tables will bow as if the book was ten times its weight. But Barrow's work is it itself inspired, not by coincidence quoting from a great seer who got science wrong but understood its fearsome symmetry: To see a World in a Grain ofSand And a Heaven in a Wild Flower, Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand And Eternity in an hour. -William Blake Cosmic Imagery succeeds to such an extent that the music its visual/verbal modalities lack can be heard rising up from the covers when the book is set down. It is a small achievement about the grand achievements of others, which is itself a kind of perfect symmetry.

Cosmic Images, Mental Gymnastics *****

Suppose one's task is to review Finnegan's Wake. Daunting? I approached this task with a lesser version of that trepidation. Cosmic Imagery, as may be inferred solely from the titles of Barrow's other works, is conceived on a preternaturally broad canvas.

Accordingly, budget a generous space on the coffee table for this project, and an equally generous portion of time -- and not leisure time.

Advice to readers might well include:

* Read with a netbook nearby. You may need some Wikipedia refreshers to catch up on science concepts that you have forgotten or neglected in your science education.

* Prepare for a roller coaster ride across disparate specializations -- not just cosmology and astronomy, as the Cosmic's title implies -- but historical footnotes like the "anthropocentric piece of interstellar advertising" affixed to the Pioneer 10 Jupiter probe in 1972, drawings of flying saucers from science fiction comic artists like Alex Schomburg, and the frozen geometry of self-taught, snowflake-obsessed Wilson Bentley.

* While Barrow's preface argues that pictures "save words . . . change the pace, alter the style and make things more memorable," in fact you'll have to do much more than simply stare at the ponderable images in his collection. The images sometimes require painstaking explanations -- painstaking, because Barrow wants to avoid being sidelined by the underlying science. Laudable, but probably an impossible ambition.

* As with any good coffee table book, Cosmic Imagery can be opened to any chapter at random. Open to "Stepping Out: Laetoli Footprints" (p. 223) and you'll be treated to a line of hominid footprints left in Tanzania 3.6 million years ago. In "Two Easy Pieces: Aperiodic Tilings" (p. 397), a gallery of Islamic tilings is presented in tribute to an "almost overwhelming" exploration of "symmetry and periodicity."

To enjoy Barrow's work, an extended sitting may not be suitable. His museum of artifacts from the history of science (subtitle: "key images in the history of science") calls for a dizzying tour of divergent corridors and anterooms. Better to let the collection rattle around in the skull, as surely it did in Barrow's. How else could one explain Chapter 19, "Shapeliness: The Symmetries of Life" (p. 255), which begins with a quotation, as does every chapter:

He had the sort of face that, once seen,
is never remembered.

- Oscar Wilde

The image is Leonardo's Vitruvian Man from 1490. A tribute to symmetry -- yes, but Barrow doesn't leave it there. After remarking on the remarkable evolution of right-left symmetry in biological systems, he wryly observes that

The most interesting feature of the high degree of symmetry found in human faces and our external bodies is the contrast with the squalid muddle to be found under the skin. our bodies are not symmetrically engineered under the surface. Hearts are on the left, our brains are laid out in an asymmetrical fashion. . .

But there's more. Hypercubes, the normal distribution, the periodic table -- science-haters will begrudgingly admit and be fatigued by Barrow's restless quest for images that inspire. The book is effort, and coffee tables will bow as if the book was ten times its weight. But Barrow's work is it itself inspired, not by coincidence quoting from a great seer who got science wrong but understood its fearsome symmetry:

To see a World in a Grain ofSand
And a Heaven in a Wild Flower,
Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand
And Eternity in an hour.

-William Blake

Cosmic Imagery succeeds to such an extent that the music its visual/verbal modalities lack can be heard rising up from the covers when the book is set down. It is a small achievement about the grand achievements of others, which is itself a kind of perfect symmetry.

Truely cosmic in scope *****
John D.Barrow is a Cambridge cosmologist whom I had not heard off, but unlike other reviewers I was not expecting a coffee table book, rather a decent attempt to put key scientific images in context. This the author does remarkably well. The book is 600 pages of image and commentary printed on quality paper, and well worth the modest asking price. There are 89 stories, each linked to a key image, and all divided up into 4 parts: Stars in Your Eyes (e.g. Astronomy), Spatial Prejudice (e.g. drawings and designs), Painting by Numbers (e.g. Mathematics) and Mind over Matter (e.g. Earth and Society). I was expecting some nice photographically rich images, and a bit of commentary, but what I got was an understandable but expert discussion centred on a particular image or picture. Many of which are not at all photographic masterpieces, but rather real life scientific drawings, diagrams or photographs. I can't put my finger on whats missing, but I got the impression that astronomy and the stars got a good lot of coverage, and that possibly some other less visual attractive domains were left by the wayside - but it is only an impression, and one that certainly did not affect my pleasure in reading nightly 3-4 of the stories. Despite my comment the coverage is absolutely astounding. I loved the quote about our bodies being created in the stars and that we are living on Earth today thanks to its magnetic field. And my favorites were some of the early drawings of Smith, Meyer and Vesalius, the calculation and visualisation of chains and spans, and the photographs of bubble chamber tracks. I had seen many of the images but the author always managed to create a compelling context, and in many cases add something interesting to the mix. Other images were new to me, and again the author managed to describe their origin, story and context is a very informative and accessible way. This book will certainly go on my shelves and I am sure it will be re-read several times over the coming years. As a plus it is an excellent and reasonably priced gift.

Truely cosmic in scope *****

John D.Barrow is a Cambridge cosmologist whom I had not heard off, but unlike other reviewers I was not expecting a coffee table book, rather a decent attempt to put key scientific images in context. This the author does remarkably well. The book is 600 pages of image and commentary printed on quality paper, and well worth the modest asking price. There are 89 stories, each linked to a key image, and all divided up into 4 parts: Stars in Your Eyes (e.g. Astronomy), Spatial Prejudice (e.g. drawings and designs), Painting by Numbers (e.g. Mathematics) and Mind over Matter (e.g. Earth and Society). I was expecting some nice photographically rich images, and a bit of commentary, but what I got was an understandable but expert discussion centred on a particular image or picture. Many of which are not at all photographic masterpieces, but rather real life scientific drawings, diagrams or photographs. I can't put my finger on whats missing, but I got the impression that astronomy and the stars got a good lot of coverage, and that possibly some other less visual attractive domains were left by the wayside - but it is only an impression, and one that certainly did not affect my pleasure in reading nightly 3-4 of the stories. Despite my comment the coverage is absolutely astounding.
I loved the quote about our bodies being created in the stars and that we are living on Earth today thanks to its magnetic field. And my favorites were some of the early drawings of Smith, Meyer and Vesalius, the calculation and visualisation of chains and spans, and the photographs of bubble chamber tracks.
I had seen many of the images but the author always managed to create a compelling context, and in many cases add something interesting to the mix. Other images were new to me, and again the author managed to describe their origin, story and context is a very informative and accessible way. This book will certainly go on my shelves and I am sure it will be re-read several times over the coming years. As a plus it is an excellent and reasonably priced gift.

Stimulating, informative and entertaining *****
I have been impressed by the earlier books of John D Barrow that I have read, but when I first saw this one I thought it might be something of a pot boiler - a coffee table book containing pretty pictures with some sort of scientific theme and a text that was basically a set of captions. How very wrong my initial reaction was! This large, beautifully produced and illustrated book contains 89 fascinating miniature essays each concentrating on an image of an object or an idea that has been important in the development of science or mathematics. Although the images are striking, they have not been selected just for their looks, they are, in their different ways, illustrations of important concepts and windows on how science works. One is struck by what is pictured here, but also informed and entertained by Barrow's text. Barrow emphasises the importance of the visual in science, and the reader will be inclined to agree - I found the chapters on images in mathematics (not the easiest area to popularise) particularly enlightening. A word of warning - once one starts reading this book it's very hard not to continue: each section is relatively short and so comprehensible and stimulating that it's very easy to go on and read another, and then another and another. Time will fly, but will certainly not be wasted.

Stimulating, informative and entertaining *****

I have been impressed by the earlier books of John D Barrow that I have read, but when I first saw this one I thought it might be something of a pot boiler - a coffee table book containing pretty pictures with some sort of scientific theme and a text that was basically a set of captions. How very wrong my initial reaction was!

This large, beautifully produced and illustrated book contains 89 fascinating miniature essays each concentrating on an image of an object or an idea that has been important in the development of science or mathematics. Although the images are striking, they have not been selected just for their looks, they are, in their different ways, illustrations of important concepts and windows on how science works. One is struck by what is pictured here, but also informed and entertained by Barrow's text.

Barrow emphasises the importance of the visual in science, and the reader will be inclined to agree - I found the chapters on images in mathematics (not the easiest area to popularise) particularly enlightening.

A word of warning - once one starts reading this book it's very hard not to continue: each section is relatively short and so comprehensible and stimulating that it's very easy to go on and read another, and then another and another. Time will fly, but will certainly not be wasted.

History of Science - First Class. A Must Read. A Must Have *****
Cosmic Imagery - Cosmic commentary too. Absolutely amazing. I was totally blown away. The pictures illustrate the story to perfection but John D Barrow's narrative is rich, engaging and inspiring. He makes mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology, statistics, astronomy and cosmology and the history of the thinking and the discoveries through the ages in all these fields from the stone age to the present day and beyond so alive, so relevant and so engaging. This is a non-fiction text book - a coffee table book for closet intellectuals or so I thought. I was inspired to buy it when I heard John D Barrow talking about it in a discussion programme on Radio 4 the week before it was published. From the moment I opened it I didn't want to put it down. I read it from cover to cover over a period of a couple of weeks. It takes you from the very large - the universe, to the very small - inside the atom and it totally wets you appetite for all things Science. Instead of teaching political history in secondary schools, they should teach the History of Science and this book should be the syllabus. I would have killed to have had the opportunity to study something like this when I was at school. I really hope this book will be commissioned as a TV series. It is that seminal. It could be to the 00's what Ascent of Man was to the 70's. I want to go back to University and study Chemistry all over again. I can't believe how much has changed in 20 years and I can't believe how wonderful John D. Barrow has made Mathematics appear. I always thought it too hard and too out of reach when I was at school and university. I struggled. I didn't get how beautiful and perfect it was. This book dots all the is and crosses all the t's. All that was missing was the E8 root system. Now that's a beautiful picture John D. Barrow and it should have been there somewhere. In particular as it may well be the answer to the theory of everything and the unifying force. This book will open up a whole new world to anyone who takes the care, the trouble and the time and the passion to read it. If you only read or buy one book this year then make it this one. You really won't find better.

History of Science - First Class. A Must Read. A Must Have *****

Cosmic Imagery - Cosmic commentary too. Absolutely amazing. I was totally blown away. The pictures illustrate the story to perfection but John D Barrow's narrative is rich, engaging and inspiring. He makes mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology, statistics, astronomy and cosmology and the history of the thinking and the discoveries through the ages in all these fields from the stone age to the present day and beyond so alive, so relevant and so engaging.

This is a non-fiction text book - a coffee table book for closet intellectuals or so I thought. I was inspired to buy it when I heard John D Barrow talking about it in a discussion programme on Radio 4 the week before it was published. From the moment I opened it I didn't want to put it down. I read it from cover to cover over a period of a couple of weeks. It takes you from the very large - the universe, to the very small - inside the atom and it totally wets you appetite for all things Science.

Instead of teaching political history in secondary schools, they should teach the History of Science and this book should be the syllabus. I would have killed to have had the opportunity to study something like this when I was at school. I really hope this book will be commissioned as a TV series. It is that seminal. It could be to the 00's what Ascent of Man was to the 70's.

I want to go back to University and study Chemistry all over again. I can't believe how much has changed in 20 years and I can't believe how wonderful John D. Barrow has made Mathematics appear. I always thought it too hard and too out of reach when I was at school and university. I struggled. I didn't get how beautiful and perfect it was. This book dots all the is and crosses all the t's.

All that was missing was the E8 root system. Now that's a beautiful picture John D. Barrow and it should have been there somewhere. In particular as it may well be the answer to the theory of everything and the unifying force.

This book will open up a whole new world to anyone who takes the care, the trouble and the time and the passion to read it. If you only read or buy one book this year then make it this one. You really won't find better.