Cosmic Imagery: Key Images in the History of Science (Hardcover) (ISBN-13: 9780393061772)

We live in a visual age, an age of images--iconic, instant, and influential--that have crystallized our conception of the large, the small, and the complex, of both inner and outer space. Some, like Robert Hooke's first microscopic views of the natural world, arose because of new technical capabilities. Others, like the first graphs, were breathtakingly simple but perennially useful. The first stunning picture of Earth from space stimulated an environmental consciousness that has grown ever since; the mushroom clouds from atomic and nuclear explosions became the ultimate symbol of death and destruction; Mercator's flat map of the Earth cemented an entire worldview. John D. Barrow's collection encompasses the frontiers of modern science and its most memorable historic moments. But this is much more than a picture book. Entertaining and informative essays accompany the powerful display of images that have illuminated concepts of far-reaching significance.

Author: John D. Barrow
ISBN-10: 0393061779
ISBN-13: 9780393061772
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
Language: English
Published: 09/17/2008
Pages: 624
Format: Hardcover
Weight: 3.00lbs
Size: 9.52h x 7.42w x 1.32d

Review Citation(s):
Discover 09/01/2008 pg. 71
Science Books & Films Best Bks 01/01/2009 pg. 3
Scientific American 12/01/2008 pg. 120
Science Books & Films 11/01/2008 pg. 233
New York Times Book Review 12/07/2008 pg. 40
Choice 03/01/2009