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The Ascent of Gravity
The Ascent of Gravity: The Quest to Understand the Force that Explains Everything | Marcus Chown
8 posts | 1 read | 1 reading | 3 to read
The Sunday Times Science Book of the Year 2017 'Does Einstein proud . . . Eminently readable' Guardian 'No one has covered the topic with such a light touch and joie de vivre . . . a delight' Brian Clegg Gravity was the first force to be recognised and described yet it is still the least understood. If we can unlock its secrets, the force that keeps our feet on the ground holds the key to understanding the biggest questions in science: what is space? What is time? What is the universe? And where did it all come from? Award-winning writer Marcus Chown takes us on an unforgettable journey from the recognition of the 'force' of gravity in 1666 to the discovery of gravitational waves in the twenty-first century. And, as we stand on the brink of a seismic revolution in our worldview, he brings us up to speed on the greatest challenge ever to confront physics.
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shortsarahrose
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“But Newton made another approximation to crank out predictions from his theory of gravity. He assumed that the Sun alone pulls on Earth, and the Earth alone pulls on the Moon. The breakdown of this assumption can be seen in the case of the tides, where both the Moon and the Sun affect the Earth. And this is a general feature of the real world: bodies are pulled on by more than one other body.”

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shortsarahrose
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Needed to get out of the house, so I‘m enjoying an egg and cheese biscuit and iced tea while starting a new book 📖 Might take a little stroll later to enjoy the nice weather ☀️

review
MegaWhoppingCosmicBookwyrm
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Pickpick

5 ⭐️s!
A mind-blowing look at how our understanding of the universe continues to change drastically by leaps and bounds. The last two chapters, where it gets into quantum and string theory, I admit I will have to reread to fully absorb, but that‘s a fault on my end, not the author. Chown communicates scientific ideas in a way any layman can understand, even quoting famous rockstars and the great Douglas Adams to help illustrate his points.

31 likes1 stack add
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MegaWhoppingCosmicBookwyrm
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I doubt I‘ll be able to hit the full twenty hours this weekend, but I‘m always optimistic! 😅 @Andrew65 is hosting the new #20in4 and my goals are to finish the tagged book and hopefully finish Mr. Penumbra‘s 24 Hour Bookstore.
Bonus round if I finish these first two: finish another book before the end of January and try for a bingo. 🤪😬

Andrew65 You can aim for whatever time you want to, doesn‘t have to be 20 hours. Just great to have you joining in. 😊 4y
31 likes2 comments
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MegaWhoppingCosmicBookwyrm
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Leroy is as excited as I am to move on to the Einstein bit! I never stopped to think how truly fascinating gravity is. It does a lot more than make stuff fall down and keep us stuck to the planet.
Did you know about “land tides”, science predicting Neptune existing before we actually saw it, or that we might have a “Planet Nine” out there that was stolen from another young solar system?
My brain is eager for more delicious factoids from this book!

DinoMom That bookmark is so adorable 4y
zezeki Is that Stich?! 😍 I loved that cartoon so much! 4y
MegaWhoppingCosmicBookwyrm @DinoMom Thanks! I love these films, even the not so good ones. 😅 4y
MegaWhoppingCosmicBookwyrm @zezeki This is Leroy, from Leroy & Stitch. I love the movies and cartoon series, so pretty much anything from that franchise makes me super happy. ❤️ 4y
34 likes4 comments
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MegaWhoppingCosmicBookwyrm
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Devouring more of this book for the SciManDan book club along with a delicious strawberry/banana/blueberry/raspberry smoothie made by the hubby. ❤️🤤

britt_brooke Trippy cover! 🤩 4y
MegaWhoppingCosmicBookwyrm @britt_brooke Yes! I was happily surprised when it arrived because when I ordered it, it showed a much plainer cover. 😅 4y
Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks I just sent you some emails! Let me know if you didn‘t get them! 4y
MegaWhoppingCosmicBookwyrm @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks I received them. Thank you so much. ❤️ 4y
41 likes4 comments
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MegaWhoppingCosmicBookwyrm
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❤️ this!!! 😍
I may be developing a Newton crush at this point... Darwin will always be my intellectual boyfriend, but oof...that brain! 🤤❤️

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MegaWhoppingCosmicBookwyrm
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Getting ready to settle in with the tagged read. 🤓📖
1. Cut the hubby‘s hair. (I‘ve done it for years, it‘s not a Covid development.)😄✂️
2. I ate the last of my gourmet pretzels from @BookNAround and am now having withdrawals they were so good! 🤤❤️
3. All the time? 😅 Weekdays it‘s in the evening after dinner, but I love waking up on weekends and having my morning coffee while I read.
#MotivationalMonday @Cupcake12
Tagged if you want to play!

Cupcake12 I forgot to put no.1 on my list too! 🤣 Thank you for playing and take care x (edited) 4y
BookNAround I‘m glad the pretzels were good. I got them for many of my swaps and then when I decided I needed some too, I went back to the store but they were already out. 😭 4y
MegaWhoppingCosmicBookwyrm @BookNAround SO good! I even tried to go to their website to see if I could order some but they‘re wholesale only. 😅 Guess I‘ll have to hunt down a local source of something similar! ❤️ 4y
31 likes3 comments