Vallende Kwartjes - Ionica Smeets & Bas Haring
Title: Vallende Kwartjes (~"Dropping Pennies")
Author: Ionica Smeets en Bas Haring
Genre: Science, Maths
Publisher: Nijgh & Van Ditmar, 2010
Pages: Paperback, 240
Language: Dutch
Rating: 7/10
Summary: To the point explanations of various scientific topics; from Hubble's constant to imaginary numbers. Mathematician Ionica Smeets and professor Bas Haring (philosophy/artifical intelligence) share their own wonderment about scientific discoveries and use examples from personal experience to show the relevance of this knowledge in real life.
Review
Some of the chapters have been written by both Ionica and Bas, but there are also parts that are the speciality of one of them, with the other merely offering comments. I've been a big fan of Bas Haring ever since I read his first book (Cheese and the Theory of Evolution - 2001) and Ionica Smeets uses the same accessible language to explain potentially complicated subject matter. It's all very entertaining and educational, although I must admit I still don't understand everything. But I was relieved to also discover that I already knew a lot of stuff and I learned quite a few new things. I read the book in one go, but I recommend absorbing it in small doses, to keep the huge variety of topics from getting mixed up.
Author: Ionica Smeets en Bas Haring
Genre: Science, Maths
Publisher: Nijgh & Van Ditmar, 2010
Pages: Paperback, 240
Language: Dutch
Rating: 7/10
Summary: To the point explanations of various scientific topics; from Hubble's constant to imaginary numbers. Mathematician Ionica Smeets and professor Bas Haring (philosophy/artifical intelligence) share their own wonderment about scientific discoveries and use examples from personal experience to show the relevance of this knowledge in real life.
Review
Some of the chapters have been written by both Ionica and Bas, but there are also parts that are the speciality of one of them, with the other merely offering comments. I've been a big fan of Bas Haring ever since I read his first book (Cheese and the Theory of Evolution - 2001) and Ionica Smeets uses the same accessible language to explain potentially complicated subject matter. It's all very entertaining and educational, although I must admit I still don't understand everything. But I was relieved to also discover that I already knew a lot of stuff and I learned quite a few new things. I read the book in one go, but I recommend absorbing it in small doses, to keep the huge variety of topics from getting mixed up.