Space flight, not what's out there, is the subject of Asimov's latest historically ordered explanation, which begins with the story of Daedalus and proceeds rapidly to the Montgolfiers (who, noting that hot air rose, built the first balloons) and the Wrights (who first put a powered motor on a glider). Such general earmarks are followed, as technology marches on, by more basic but just as easy presentations of the problems involved: How can you make something move through a vacuum? How can you throw a ball so hard it doesn't fall back? How can you avoid being crushed by the velocity required for the escape? The rocket principle is explained via an analogy to balls being thrown off a platter that is sliding on ice—and then it's pretty much back to a non-technical history, skimming through Goddard, Von Braun, and the US-Soviet competition which has resulted in the satellites, probes, manned flights, and Skylab that are finally helping us to find out about outer space. An often sketched chronology, painlessly retraced.
Pub Date: June 15, 1977
ISBN: 0380534134
Page Count: -
Publisher: Walker
Review Posted Online: Sept. 14, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 1977
This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)
Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996
ISBN: 0-15-100227-4
Page Count: 136
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis...
Privately published by Strunk of Cornell in 1918 and revised by his student E. B. White in 1959, that "little book" is back again with more White updatings.
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis (whoops — "A bankrupt expression") a unique guide (which means "without like or equal").Pub Date: May 15, 1972
ISBN: 0205632645
Page Count: 105
Publisher: Macmillan
Review Posted Online: Oct. 28, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1972
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