Len Fisher

Len Fisher is a finalist for the prestigious Global Challenges New Shape prize.Fun, quirky popular science from the winner of an IgNobel Prize for achievements that cannot or should not be reproduced.Science is all around us. In this brilliant, entertaining book, Len Fisher provides scientific answers to familiar questions such as how to boil the perfect egg, how to catch a ball, the physics of sex, and why some vegetables absorb more gravy than others.In doing so, he reveals the world of the scientist - how they think, what they do, and how they go about doing it - proving that even the most commonplace activities can be used as a key to understanding the laws of nature and that experimental science can be fun!

From the IgNobel-winning author of How to Dunk a Doughnut, another slice of the weird and wonderful side of scienceGood science and common sense often dont mix. In Weighing the Soul, Len Fisher shows the path to scientific discovery is frequently a bumpy one that follows Schopenhauers famous maxim - All truth passes through three stages: First, it is ridiculed; Second, it is violently opposed; and Third, it is accepted as self-evident.Fisher tells the fascinating, human stories behind some of the great as well as some of the not-so-great scientific ideas of the past - those that were truly bizarre, peculiar or downright daft, and those that just seemed that way at the time. As he shows, it is often only with hindsight that the two can be told apart, and it is some of those who appeared most wrong - and who were variously ignored, persecuted and imprisoned as a result - that ultimately went on to be proved most right.

Winner of the IgNobel Prize in physics and the 2004 American Institute of Physics Science Writing Award, Len Fisher showed just how much fun science can be in his enthusiastically praised debut, How to Dunk a Doughnut. In this new work, he reveals that science sometimes takes a path through the ridiculous and the bizarre to discover that Nature often simply does not follow common sense. One experiment, involving a bed, platform scales, and a dying man, seemed to prove that the soul weighed the same as a slice of bread. But other, no less fanciful experiments and ideas led to the fundamentals of our understanding of movement, heat, light, and energy, and such things as the discovery of electricity, and the structure of DNA; improved engines; and the invention of computers. As in his previous book, Fisher uses personal stories and examples from everyday life, as well as humor, to make the science accessible. He touches on topics from lightning to corsets and from alchemy to Frankenstein and water babies, but he may not claim the last word on the weight of the soul!

Scientists are in the business of trying to understand the world. Exploring commonplace phenomena, they have uncovered some of natures deepest laws. We can in turn apply these laws to our own lives, to better grasp and enhance our performance in daily activities as varied as cooking, home improvement, sportseven dunking a doughnut! This book makes the science of the familiar a key to opening the door for those who want to know what scientists do, why they do it, and how they go about it. Following the routine of a normal day, from coffee and breakfast to shopping, household chores, sports, a drink, supper, and a bath, we see how the seemingly mundane can provide insight into the most profound scientific questions. Some of the topics included are the art and science of dunking; how to boil an egg; how to tally a supermarket bill; the science behind hand tools; catching a ball or throwing a boomerang; the secrets of haute cuisine, bath (or beer) foam; and the physics of sex. Fisher writes with great authority and a light touch, giving us an entertaining and accessible look at the science behind our daily activities.

¿Qué leyes científicas nos permiten funcionar en nuestra vida cotidiana? En este libro se propone un método entretenido y accesible para esclarecer, a través de nuestras actividades diarias, las más profundas cuestiones cientificas. A lo largo de la historia, los cientificos han ido desvelando algunas leyes mas ocultas de la naturaleza mediante la exploracion de los fenomenos cotidianos. Tambien nosotros podemos utilizar las leyes de la naturaleza para entender y mejorar el vivir cotidiano en actividades tales como cocinar, mantener la casa, hacer deporte, e incluso el aparentemente simple acto de mojar una galleta en una taza de cfe con leche. Len Fisher ofrece a los lectores una puerta abierta a la ciencia que sera de gran ayuda para todos aquellos que quieran saber que hacen los cientificos, por que lo hacen y como realizan su trabajo. Cada capitulo se dedica auna rama diferente de la ciencia, mediante la puesta en escena de situaciones habituales en la vida cotidiana de una persona: actividades tales como el desayuno, las compras, los trabajos de bricolaje, los deportes, tomarse una copa o darse un baño, ilustran al lector y le demuestran como lo aparentemente vulgar y cotidiano puede servir para estimular el interes por el conocimiento cientifico.

From the man who "puts the fizz in physics" (Entertainment Weekly), an entertaining and thought-provoking foray into the science of the bizarre, the peculiar, and the downright nutty! Winner of the IgNobel Prize in physics and the 2004 American Institute of Physics Science Writing Award, Len Fisher showed just how much fun science can be in his enthusiastically praised debut, How to Dunk a Doughnut. In this new work, he reveals that science sometimes takes a path through the ridiculous and the bizarre to discover that Nature often simply does not follow common sense. One experiment, involving a bed, platform scales, and a dying man, seemed to prove that the soul weighed the same as a slice of bread. But other, no less fanciful experiments and ideas led to the fundamentals of our understanding of movement, heat, light, and energy, and such things as the discovery of electricity, and the structure of DNA; improved engines; and the invention of computers. As in his previous book, Fisher uses personal stories and examples from everyday life, as well as humor, to make the science accessible. He touches on topics from lightning to corsets and from alchemy to Frankenstein and water babies, but he may not claim the last word on the weight of the soul!

Why do certain civilizations, societies, and ecosystems collapse? How does the domino effect relate to the credit crunch? When can mathematics help explain marriage? And how on earth do toads predict earthquakes? The future is uncertain. But science can help foretell what lies ahead.Drawing on ecology and biology, math and physics, Crashes, Crises, and Calamities offers four fundamental tools that scientists and engineers use to forecast the likelihood of sudden change: stability, catastrophe, complexity, and game theories. In accessible prose, Len Fisher demonstrates how we can foresee and manage events that might otherwise catch us by surprise.At the cutting edge of science, Fisher helps us find ways to act before a full-fledged catastrophe is upon us. Crashes, Crises, and Calamities is a witty and informative exploration of the chaos, complexity, and patterns of our daily lives.

The process of "self-organization" reveals itself in the inanimate worlds of crystals and seashells, but, as Len Fisher shows, it is also evident in living organisms, from fish to ants to human beings. Understanding the "swarm intelligence" inherent in groups can help us do everything from throw a better party to start a fad to make our interactions with others more powerful. Humorous and enlightening, The Perfect Swarm demonstrates how complexity arises from natures simple rules and how we can use their awesome power to untangle the frustrating complexities of life in our ever more chaotic world.

«Una mina de deliciosas excentricidades.»Financial Times MagazineEn este original libro sembrado de curiosidades científicas, Len Fisher expone con su desenfado habitual un variado catálogo de arries

¿Qué leyes científicas nos permiten funcionar en nuestra vida cotidiana?. Siguiendo el curso de un día cualquiera en la vida de una persona, el autor -científico de amplia trayectoria- nos señala los fenómenos que a diario se basan en leyes que desconocemos: calentar la leche, mojar una galleta, tomar una copa, darse un baño... 

El autor de C#mo mojar una galleta vuelve a deleitarnos con algunos de los episodios m#s fascinantes y descabellados de la historia de la ciencia. En este original libro sembrado de curiosidades cient#ficas, Len Fisher expone con su desenfado habitual un variado cat#logo de arriesgados experimentos cient#ficos cuyo denominador com#n fue alzarse contra la l#gica establecida por las sociedades en que nacieron. Este inusual recorrido por los caminos del descubrimiento cient#fico nos cuenta las historias humanas que se esconden detr#s de aquellas ocurrencias, en apariencia descabelladas, que merecieron el rechazo, la burla y la persecuci#n de sus semejantes, y demuestra c#mo el sentido com#n puede convertirse en el peor enemigo de la ciencia. As#, nos invita a reflexionar sobre la dificultad de discernir qu# es brillante y qu# rid#culo, y nos proporciona importantes claves para comprender la ciencia moderna, que al igual que Alicia en el pa#s de las maravillas, parece dispuesta a creer en seis acontecimientos imposibles antes del desayuno. Rese#as:"Una mina de deliciosas excentricidades."Financial Times Magazine "Una interesant#sima, divertida y provocativa historia."Glasgow Herald