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3 Obras 32 Miembros 5 Reseñas

Obras de David Bercovici

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Conocimiento común

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male

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A fun, quick read. Really quick. Despite being really condensed. This should be part of the "short introduction to" series.
 
Denunciada
Paul_S | 4 reseñas más. | Dec 23, 2020 |
See my full review at Mystereity Reviews

David Bercoivci's The Origins of Everything in 100 Pages (More or Less) is actually closer to 150 pages, which still makes it a short, concise book considering there's 14 billion years of history packed into it.

I've always had an interest in the origins of the universe and life on Earth, but my knowledge is rudimentary. Before starting the book, I'd say my knowledge of the subject was pretty basic, limited to a few college courses years ago, some science documentaries on tv and an article here and there.

The author admits that "the goal of this book is not meant to be deep and comprehensive, but instead to be boldly (or badly) shallow and superficial in the best sense of these words." Which is a good thing, because although the book is written to be understood by anyone, part of it were still over my head. I had to read this bit by bit, because it was easy to overload on the information and at that point, it was hard for me to absorb the information. So I'd take a break for a bit, then go back to it.

Starting with The Big Bang and the formation of Earth, continuing through plate techtonics and finally the evolution of life on Earth, The section that interested me the most was the formation of our planet, including how and why Earth is the only temperate and habitable planet. I was fascinated by the explanations that answered many of the questions I had, such as why Venus didn't evolve like our planet did and even raised new questions that I can explore.

Overall, The Origins of Everything in 100 Pages (More or Less) is an excellent book that covers the basics of Planetary physics and Geophysics and is a great overview for those starting out in learning, or who want to expand their knowledge.

Thank you to Yale University Press and Netgalley for providing an advanced copy in return for my honest review.
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Denunciada
MystereityReviews | 4 reseñas más. | Dec 13, 2016 |
Way back in my last year of high school, when I had to choose what programs to apply to at which universities, I considered studying geology for about eighteen seconds until I realized, looking at the courses I would have to take to get a degree, that I have absolutely zero interest in rocks and rock accessories. Like zero. Maybe even less than zero.

And there's a lot of rock-talk in The Origins of Everything in 100 Pages (More or Less), which is good to get me reading outside my comfort zone. Plate tectonics and astro-geology formation of planets and the like. But every page, my eyes glazed over. Every single page I had to tell myself to focus and not go off and play Tiny Tower. I don't know whether it was my aforementioned disinterest in geology or that the writing style, while sort of chummy, is also a bit dry, or that maybe, with my background in science (a non-geological science, but a science none-the-less), reading a pop-science book just doesn't cut it for me anymore, but almost none of the information from this book penetrated my brain. I'd like to imagine that, in an amorphous, don't-ask-me-to-describe-the-details sort of way, I now have a better idea of planetary formation after the big bang all the way to appearance of Homo Sapiens; maybe holistically I am more well-informed after reading The Origins of Everything in 100 Pages (More or Less). Or maybe not. It's so frustrating to read a book and have all its ideas float away like smoke.

In short, I still only abstractly think of geology as interesting. When I have to actually learn about it, it's all Charlie Brown teacher noises inside my head.

And The Origins of Everything in 100 Pages (More or Less) is not 100 pages. My copy is 137 (including unnumbered and small roman numeraled ones) or 124 numbered ones, so somewhere between 124% and 137% of the suggested 100 page length. Man, scientists sure are wishy-washy when it comes to precision with numbers ;)

The Origins of Everything in 100 Pages (More or Less) by David Bercovici went on sale November 22, 2016.

I received a copy free from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
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Denunciada
reluctantm | 4 reseñas más. | Nov 22, 2016 |
Oh boy, where do i start?

I was kinda nervous to start a review of this book. I am not a scientist and my knowledge about the origins of the Universe can be transcribed in one book page and it would probably be full of incorrect numbers. But! I do love learning new things so I gave the best of me and started reading.

I love the idea of science made available to general public trough humor and simplified sentences. I think the author does a great job with that although, don't fool yourself into thinking this is a good book for your kids - you still need to know a couple of things about physics and geography (at least). But for those who love stars and galaxies and really want to learn more about the history of those wonders and just DON'T HAVE THE TIME for long and heavy books filled with hard words, this is a great thing. this book is only 100 pages (more or less) long and in this case only it's a great thing!

I wish my Kindle had a screen in colour cause there are some images in the book that would really look much better in colour but hey, you can't have it all. I was also shocked to see that this book is quite pricey so I'm deeply grateful that I got the chance to read it for free.

I will save this book for the future in hope that I'll come back to it, either to check some facts or to read it from the beginning to end many times as it's obvious that this kind of writing can't ever be boring. This is the kind of book you keep on your shelves and come back to it when needed.


_
I got this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thanks a lot for sharing!
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Denunciada
anukrose | 4 reseñas más. | Nov 2, 2016 |

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