Jay Ingram

The velocity of honey

In The Velocity of Honey (and more science of everyday life) Jay Ingram demonstrates that the scientific mind will find plenty to investigate in our day-to-day lives. The book starts with the science of various breakfast foods and goes on to consider things such as coin spinning and why leaves turn red, as well as psychological topics such as social networks, and our perception of the passage of time - are there really people who can wake themselves up at a predetermined time? Ingram shows that there are plenty of unexpected things to be found when we start to investigate what is happening in our daily lives.

The chapters are up to about ten pages in length. Ten pages is about the right length for a short break, but I felt the shorter chapters were a bit too short - longer chapters would give more depth and might introduce a topic which was worth investigating further. I would also have preferred more variety going from one chapter to the next, rather than having a sequence of chapters on very similar topics. But the book is certainly written in a fun to read style, so if you're after a bit of light reading then this is entirely suitable.

Amazon.com info

Hardcover 224 pages
ISBN: 1845130235
Salesrank: 4417389
Weight:0.62 lbs

Published: 2004 Aurum Press Ltd

Marketplace::Used from $17.93

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Amazon.co.uk info

Hardcover 224 pages
ISBN: 1845130235
Salesrank: 497269
Weight:0.62 lbs

Published: 2004 Aurum Press Ltd

Marketplace::Used from £0.99

Buy from Amazon.co.uk

Amazon.ca info

Hardcover 224 pages
ISBN: 1845130235
Salesrank:
Weight:0.62 lbs

Published: 2004 Aurum Press Ltd

Marketplace::Used from CDN$ 17.98

Buy from Amazon.ca

Why toast lands butter-side down. ****
Murphy's law states that anything that can go wrong will go wrong, and specifically, that when it is knocked off the table, a piece of toast will always land butter side down. I for one have always taken this is one of the immutable facts of life, just like the inevitability of my football team returning to mediocrity, after brief sojourns into success. As far as the toast is concerned, there is a good explanation of this. It is all to do this the angle of rotation, and the height of the table. Each chapter in this easy to read book tackles some item of everyday living, and either attempts to explain it, or to explore some of the points behind the topic. All chapters are self contained, with the odd cross-reference, and they are short - 24 chapters in just less than 200 pages. There is an eclectic mix of topics, with most covering items that I had not thought greatly about. The contents will make you think about how or why certain behaviour works. However, it is important to realise that it is not necessary to understand the whys and wherefores to use the item you cannot explain. Not many curling players can explain why the curling stone moves as it does. But they are still enjoying the game, and indeed can be very good at it. The major criticism I have of the volume is that there could be some diagrams. These would certainly enhance the clear text, and make points with fewer words in more detail. The variety of topics chosen is wide-ranging, from toast and curling, to why honey flows from a spoon as it does, and why the majority of mothers hold babies on the left side of the body. Some items are more nearly "straight science", whilst others have elements of psychology as well as pure formulae. How do fielders in baseball know where to go for a catch? Ask a baseball fielder (or cricketer if in the UK) and you will find that he does not know why: he just knows where he needs to be. Ingram writes with clarity and lucidity, explaining the science of his subject matter. There are some good pointers to research, including items that are post 2003. Historical analysis of the topics is also given - consider the work of Lazzaro Spallanzani with skimming stones over water in the eighteenth century. Some of his observations were only shown to be correct in 1968, with the use of high speed film. The chapter on the flight of seeds from trees, the little `helicopters' that bear seeds in autumn, ends with a wonderful little line: "Nature is about making the best of an imperfect situation, yet somehow the results are never dull". Science is important to us all. We don't always know it. With the help of this slim volume, we do now. Peter Morgan, Bath, UK [....]

Why toast lands butter-side down. ****

Murphy's law states that anything that can go wrong will go wrong, and specifically, that when it is knocked off the table, a piece of toast will always land butter side down. I for one have always taken this is one of the immutable facts of life, just like the inevitability of my football team returning to mediocrity, after brief sojourns into success. As far as the toast is concerned, there is a good explanation of this. It is all to do this the angle of rotation, and the height of the table.

Each chapter in this easy to read book tackles some item of everyday living, and either attempts to explain it, or to explore some of the points behind the topic. All chapters are self contained, with the odd cross-reference, and they are short - 24 chapters in just less than 200 pages. There is an eclectic mix of topics, with most covering items that I had not thought greatly about. The contents will make you think about how or why certain behaviour works. However, it is important to realise that it is not necessary to understand the whys and wherefores to use the item you cannot explain. Not many curling players can explain why the curling stone moves as it does. But they are still enjoying the game, and indeed can be very good at it.

The major criticism I have of the volume is that there could be some diagrams. These would certainly enhance the clear text, and make points with fewer words in more detail. The variety of topics chosen is wide-ranging, from toast and curling, to why honey flows from a spoon as it does, and why the majority of mothers hold babies on the left side of the body. Some items are more nearly "straight science", whilst others have elements of psychology as well as pure formulae.

How do fielders in baseball know where to go for a catch? Ask a baseball fielder (or cricketer if in the UK) and you will find that he does not know why: he just knows where he needs to be. Ingram writes with clarity and lucidity, explaining the science of his subject matter. There are some good pointers to research, including items that are post 2003. Historical analysis of the topics is also given - consider the work of Lazzaro Spallanzani with skimming stones over water in the eighteenth century. Some of his observations were only shown to be correct in 1968, with the use of high speed film.

The chapter on the flight of seeds from trees, the little `helicopters' that bear seeds in autumn, ends with a wonderful little line: "Nature is about making the best of an imperfect situation, yet somehow the results are never dull". Science is important to us all. We don't always know it. With the help of this slim volume, we do now.

Peter Morgan, Bath, UK [....]