"David Helfand has composed a magical, epic dance of atoms that connects us all to each other, and to key events of the past, present, and future of Earth and the cosmos itself. The choreographers are the laws of the Universe. The performers are the atoms themselves. The Universal Timekeepers offers a cosmic perspective like no other." Neil deGrasse Tyson, American Museum of Natural History
"The Universal Timekeepers is a wonderful exploration that reveals how wispy atomic nuclei provide a powerful means for reconstructing history. Using engaging examples from art forgeries to the Shroud of' Turin to the Big Bang itself, Helfand expertly ushers readers through the subtle science that vibrantly brings the past to light."
-- Brian Greene, author of The Elegant Universe "David Helfand is a distinguished scientist, specially acclaimed in the community for his skills as an expositor. These talents,-- along with his intellectual range -- are manifest in this highly original and culture-spanning book which gathers and recounts in diverse ways whereby scientific analysis can enrich historical understanding. Few people could have written The Universal Timekeepers so well. It is fascinating, wide-ranging, and accessible; everyone should read it." -- Lord Martin Rees, Astronomer Royal |
Atoms are unfathomably tiny. It takes fifteen million trillion of them to make up a single poppy seed—give or take a few billion. And there’s hardly anything to them: atoms are more than 99.999999999 percent empty space. Yet scientists have learned to count these slivers of near nothingness with precision and to read details of their internal states. Their unique signatures and imperturbable internal clocks allow their use as little archives holding the secrets of the past. In this book, I reconstruct the history of the Universe—back to its first microsecond 13.8 billion years ago—with the help of atoms. By using detectors and reactors, microscopes and telescopes, I show how we can decode the tales these diminutive particles tell, answering questions such as: Is this medieval illustrated prayer book real or forged? How did maize cultivation spread from the highlands of central Mexico to New England? What was Earth’s climate like before humans emerged? Where can we find clues to identify the culprit in the demise of the dinosaurs? When did our planet and solar system form? Can we trace the births of the atoms themselves to the cores of massive stars, or even glimpse the origins of the universe? A lively and inviting introduction to the building blocks of everything we know, The Universal Timekeepers demonstrates the power of science to unveil the mysteries of unreachably remote times and places. "Helfand will enthuse and educate readers about the marvelous applications of atomic and nuclear physics to learn about human and natural history. I had a blast reading this book." --Jordy de Vries, University of Amsterdam Order now at Amazon.com |
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"An impassioned plea for science literacy. Given the state of the world today, in which scientifically under-informed voters elect scientifically illiterate politicians, David Helfand has written the right book at the right time with the right message. Read it now. The future of our civilization may depend on it." -Neil deGrasse Tyson, Astrophysicist
"An impassioned plea for science literacy. Given the state of the world today, in which scientifically under-informed voters elect scientifically illiterate politicians, David Helfand has written the right book at the right time with the right message. Read it now. The future of our civilization may depend on it." -Neil deGrasse Tyson, Astrophysicist
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We live in the Information Age, with billions of bytes of data just two swipes away. Yet how much of this is mis- or even dis-information? A lot of it is, and your search engine can’t tell the difference. As a result, an avalanche of misinformation threatens to overwhelm the discourse we so desperately need to address complex social problems such as climate change, the food and water crises, biodiversity collapse, and emerging threats to public health. This book provides an inoculation against the misinformation epidemic by cultivating scientific habits of mind. Anyone can do it—indeed, everyone must do it if our species is to long survive on this crowded and finite planet.
This survival guide supplies an essential set of apps for the pre-frontal cortex while making science both accessible and entertaining. It will dissolve your fear of numbers, demystify graphs, and elucidate the key concepts of probability, all while celebrating the precise use of language and logic. David Helfand, one of our nation’s leading astronomers and science educators, has taught scientific habits of mind to generations in the classroom, where he continues to wage a provocative, unending battle against sloppy thinking and the encroachment of misinformation. Order now at Amazon.com "David Helfand’s Survival Guide to the Misinformation Age gives readers a chance to spend time with one of this country’s clearest and best critical thinkers. Helfand channels Steven Pinker’s ability to dissect language and John Alan Paulos’s ability to explain numbers with Richard Dawkins’ ability to explain our existence and George Carlin’s ability to make us laugh. A real pleasure." -Dr. Paul Offit
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Helfand's work is an admirable response to a long-standing problem of sloppy thinking. (Publishers Weekly)
Important and timely. (Library Journal)
Important and timely. (Library Journal)
Read excerpts at The Neiman Report "Why Journalists Shouldn't be Blinded by Bad Science"
Astronomy Magazine Review
I’ve known quite a few astronomers over the years who I consider to be geniuses. And David Helfand is one of them. Former chair of the Department of Astronomy at Columbia University; a founding tutor and president of Quest University in Canada; former president of the American Astronomical Society; and much more, Helfand is a man brimming with incredible insights on the universe.
Some of you know that I’ve written about the current miserable state of scientific thinking in this country and in the world overall. One wonders if progress in understanding is moving backwards, snuffed out by crazy entertainment and web-blog and social media nonsense. But this book makes quite a claim to cure what ails us, with a big dose of reality. And scientific sense. To anyone who asks me what they should read these days, I will answer this book: David Helfand’s A Survival Guide to the Misinformation Age.
The work (325 pp., hardcover, Columbia University Press, New York, 2016, $30; ISBN 978–0–231–16872–4), begins with a walk around the Columbia campus and a description of various observations about the universe Helfand relates to his students. It is grippingly written. And the journey takes many a turn from there. Helfand brilliantly explores the philosophy of science in many ways, with a definition of science, an examination of scale, and witty discussions of numbers, graphing information, logic and language, statistics, correlation and causation, pseudoscience and quackery, and a dive into the perils of ignorance.
He concludes this absorbing essay by further addressing skepticism as a way of thinking and asking us what is really worth knowing, and why. This is the kind of book that we need a whole lot more of in this world. Helfand creates it authoritatively, entertainingly, and as a master of his topics.
It ought to be required reading for anyone who genuinely loves knowledge and wants to know how the quest for truth takes place on our planet, and how it must take place throughout the whole of the cosmos.
--Dave Eicher, Editor in Chief, Astronomy Magazine