84 Scientific American, May 2019
RECOMMENDED
By Andrea Gawrylewski
GETTY IMAGESNo Shadow of a Doubt:
The 1919 Eclipse That Confirmed
Einstein’s Theory of Relativity
by Daniel Kennefick. Princeton University Press,
2019 ($29.95)In 1915 Albert Einstein put
forth his general theory of rel
ativity, a new view of phy sics
that described gravity as the
curving of space and time rath
er than an attraction of two bodies. If proved cor
rect, his ideas would overthrow Newtonian physics,
which had reigned for centuries. Physicist Kennefick
narrates the buildup to, and fall out from, the ex
periment that confirmed Einstein’s radical idea and
made him an interna tional star: to glimpse the light
of stars during a total solar eclipse and deter mine if it
is shifted by the sun’s mass and gravitation. The day
of the eclipse was overcast, but scientists obtained
several photographic plates of starlight, which
would quickly usher in a new paradigm in physics.Power Trip: The Story of Energy
by Michael E. Webber. Basic Books, 2019 ($30)“Energy is magical,” writes
energy researcher and profes
sor Webber. We cannot see,
create or destroy it. But when
harnessed, it can help produce
all the ingredients for a prosperous so ciety: clean
water, abundant food, sufficient light and heat,
transportation, medicine and security. In Power Trip,
energy becomes the central character in the hu man
saga, from waterwheels and wood fires to oil wars
and climate change. It is an accom plice in the rise
and fall of civilizations and both an oppressor and
an ally in issues of social and environ mental justice.
Expanding access to energy with out devas tating
the planet, Webber writes, will require longterm
thinking that addresses its multi faceted links to soci
ety. Even in the face of this cen tury’s “grand chal
lenge,” Webber remains faithful to the trans form a
tive power of human ingenuity. — Frankie SchembriBlack Death at the Golden Gate:
The Race to Save America
from the Bubonic Plague
by David K. Randall. W. W. Norton, 2019 ($26.95)
At the start of the 20th cen
tury Wong Chut King was liv
ing in squalor in a San Fran
cisco flophouse, work ing at
a lumberyard and sending
every spare cent he could to his family in China.
In February 1900 he de veloped a painful lump in
his groin, followed by a high fever; by March he
was dead. He was the first documented case of an
outbreak of bubonic plague in the city. Journalist
Randall recounts the ensuing drama, as doctors
raced to prevent a na tion al epidemic. It is a story
steeped in racial tensions and scientific ignorance
but also one of discovery: federal health officer
Rupert Blue, trying to get a handle on the deadly
disease, made invaluable break throughs about
the pathogen and how to contain it.
When the twin Voyager spacecraft blasted off in 1977, each carried a phonograph record containing sounds and images intended to represent
life on Earth to any alien civilization that might find them (pictured above). In an approachable narrative, music writer Scott tells the story of the
astronomers, writers, artists and musicologists who, led by Carl Sagan, compiled the interstellar playlist, which in the end included “Johnny B.
Goode,” the Brandenburg Concerto No. 2 and whale songs, among many others. With nostalgia, Scott compares the undertaking to his own
attempts at recording the perfect mixtape as a teenager. Ultimately the mission was an endeavor for incurable romantics: the music of humanity
sent to the cosmos in the hope that somewhere someone might be listening. — Jim DaleyThe Vinyl
Frontier:
The Story of
the Voyager
Golden Record
by Jonathan Scott.
Bloomsbury Sigma,
2019 ($28)© 2019 Scientific American