Call number
Publication
Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co (Mariner), 2000, c1999.
Pages
261
Description
"In a sweeping science adventure story, rich with historical characters, including Galileo, Newton, and Einstein, Tom Shachtman takes us on a journey in which the extraordinary secrets of cold are teased apart and mastered, bringing advances in civilization and comfort. Starting in the 1600s with an alchemist's attempt to air condition Westminster Abbey and the invention of thermometers and scales (where should zero be set?), the story unfolds as nineteenth-century merchants sell Walden Pond ice to tropical countries and competing scientists pursue absolute zero with as much fervor as the races toward the North and South Poles aroused."--Jacket.
Language
Original language
English
Original publication date
1999
Physical description
261 p.; 8.6 inches
ISBN
9780618082391
UPC
046442082396
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User reviews
LibraryThing member jztemple
As a history of the scientific pursuit of ultra low temperatures, "Absolute Zero" is a fairly decent narrative for the general reader. The author stays away from formulas, detailed technical descriptions or diagrams of any sort. The book is really more about the people involved and their
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relationships with each other; there's a lot of backstabbing in the scientific world! The book however doesn't go fair beyond that. The author does throw in a bit of history of the commercial aspects of cold, like the ice sellers of the nineteenth century and the rise of air conditioning and the flash freezing of food, but these seem to be added as some padding for the book and only whet the appetite. I would recommend this book only for those who wish to gain some insight on the history but aren't looking for much in the way of science. Show Less