Product Description
In this engrossing scientific chronicle, a perennial paperback favorite, Tom Shachtman combines science, history, and adventure in the story of our four-centuries-long quest to master the secrets of cold. Now a documentary based largely on Shachtman's acclaimed book promises to bring these exhilarating scientific accomplishments to a new audience. Underwritten by the National Science Foundation and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation and set to air on PBS and the BBC, the documentary was produced by British Emmy Award winner David Dugan, in collaboration with Meredith Burch of Meridian Productions in Washington, D.C.

Absolute Zero and the Conquest of Cold demonstrates how temperature science produced astonishing scientific insights and applications that have revolutionized civilization. It also illustrates how scientific advancement, fueled by fortuitous discoveries and the determination of individuals, shapes our understanding of and relation to the world.

Amazon.com Review
Ancient minds imagined the benefits of technological advances that wouldn't be realized for hundreds of years: "heavier-than-air-flight, ultrarapid ground transportation, the prolongation of life through better medicines, even the construction of skyscrapers and the use of robots." But as Tom Shachtman points out in his Alfred P. Sloan-funded science history Absolute Zero and the Conquest of Cold, no one could conceive of how or why humans would make use of intense cold. "Cold was a mystery without an obvious source, a chill associated with death, inexplicable, too fearsome too investigate."

But as we now know, the mastery of cold has yielded innumerable advances, from the ubiquitous presence of refrigeration and air-conditioning to phenomenal leaps in superconductivity and subatomic research--in 1999 alone, Shachtman cites, a Harvard team used laser cooling to create an environment 50-billionths of a degree above zero, slowing the speed of light to just 38 miles per hour! Absolute Zero guides us skillfully through the fitful, nascent growth of this misunderstood, bastard branch of science, from the early accomplishments of Boyle, Joule, William Thomson (later Lord Kelvin), and other lesser-knowns like Anders Celsius and Gabriel Daniel Fahrenheit to the 20th century, the integration of ultracold research with quantum theory, and the most recent accomplishments in the field. Shachtman's approachable voice proves equally facile with both the science of cold and the mundane history of its technical and commercial uses, including the global ice trade and the work of one of cold's greatest commercial pioneers, a chemist named Clarence Birdseye. --Paul Hughes

CUSTOMER REVIEWS (Average Customer Rating: 3.5 based on 12 reviews)

Utterly annoying and scientifically misleading

I got the distinct impression that the author lost interest in his own work somewhere after the third chapter, but had already spent his advance and was forced to finish writing it. The science is misleading (I think he mentioned "vaccuming off lighter molecules" of the same gas in the Kammerleigh Onnes section, maybe forgetting that identical molecules all have the same molecular weight unless we are talking isotopes, but hey, who wants to bother getting the scientific fundamentals straight when we can gossip about Tydall and Dewar's little falling out...). This book is a exaggerated People magazine retelling of the search to attain Absolute Zero. The author would have been wise to try speaking to a few living scientists to get a feel for the real challenges, frustrations, and joys of doing research rather than investing so much energy in "he said, she said" stories. I think the telling of this story would best have been left to someone with a better understanding of physics and the art of doing scientific research. From my own experience, research is no more a "wild ride" than gardening, or a long hike. It's joys are subtle but persistent, not a point this author ever seems to have understood.
July 18, 2003

Utterly annoying and scientifically misleading

Very Well Written Understandable Yet Technical Book

This is a very interesting book. The technology discussed is complex, but the complexity never gets in the way or leaves the reader wondering what the author is talking about. I highly recommend this book especially for those interested in the history of industrial revolution, or in the sequence of discoveries leading to the discovery of super conductors.
January 22, 2002

Explains the personalities, not the science

For a book with this much detail about such a complex topic not to have a single illustration, diagram, or equation cannot be an oversight. I'm not sure if the author really wants to give you the illusion that he is allowing you to understand the relevant physics or not. He delves endlessly into the upbringing of the various scientists, and fails miseraby at making lay people understand what it is they dicovered. Many times he mentions scienfic findings in a context that makes one wonder if the equation or experiment turned out to be a cornerstone of later discovery or a red herring. I therefore conjecture that this book was meant to be primarily a history of competition and petty bickering among academics, and the title refers to how much you will learn about the physical forces responsible for low temperatures. The comparisons to "Longitude", (an excellent book), are apt in that both books focus on the egos and disputes involved, but "Longitude" traces the fight over the lifespan of one man, who ultimately triumphs despite long odds. If that book had been carried through with the same tone until it became a breathless account of how Bullova can outsell Rolex in 1992, I would also have given it 2 stars.
June 06, 2001

Wonderful

If you are interested in science, scientists and its history; If all you remember from your science classes are the names of scientists like Boyle, Van der waals and Joule; if you are ready to be taken on a fantastic ride into the realms of the cold and the story of its conquest.... This is the book for you.

I really enjoyed it very much. Not only did I get a better perspective of physics and chemistry but I was surprised at the amount of work that had gone into the construction of the common refrigerator or the air conditioner, to which we never pay any attention. And the personal touch the author added really helped me feel like I was with the scientists when each discovery was being made. Now, I feel like I know Dewar and Joule well enough to call them by their first names!
October 19, 2000

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