3.5 A quick and entertaining hodge-podge of waviness. Arch and warm, the digression is the point. Worth it for surfing the bore and explaining Roswell. ( )

35. The Wave Watcher's Companion: Ocean Waves, Stadium Waves, and All the Rest of Life's Undulations by Gavin Pretor-Pinney
published: 2010
format: 320 page Paperback
acquired: from amazon in 2012
read: Aug 16-30
rating: 3½

Pretor-Pinney is author of [The Cloudspotters Guide] and founder of the Cloud Appreciation Society. This book I think was a spin-off of all that and very much as the title implies - an informal scientific tour of the waves in all forms and mediums, beginning with how ocean waves form and ending on Hawaii, failing to bodysurf; and also one that tries very hard to be, and does a fairly good job at being, entertaining. There are a lot of things that fall into the wave category, like sound, light, radio waves, seismic waves, and but also oddball things like sand ripples, brain waves in different states or how some flocks of birds confuse predators, etc.

how/why: I originally got this because I work with waves (seismic waves) and this sounded fun and an alternative look at waves, something to broaden my perspective. Five years later, moving bookshelves and their books back and forth to redo the flooring, I found myself paging through it, and I thought I needed something that was off my reading list and reading mindset, and his explanations appealed to me.

in sum: Pretor-Pinney does a great job of simplifying things to point that he actually brings something new to these waves in all their types, and I appreciated that. I particularly liked how he explained how radios work, and his tide explanations and his explanation of wave refraction with blind aliens holding hands. It actually helps. He's accessible, and enjoyable, there are no equations but lots of figures. There are inevitably sections that require the brain time to think something through or to construct a concept. So it's not quite as fast a read as I anticipated.

Certainly recommended to anyone interested.

2017
https://www.librarything.com/topic/260412#6162229 ( )

Gavin Pretor-Pinney discusses waves of many variety from a scientific perspective. Unlike most science books, this one is very readable. His prose is almost poetic at times, I found myself rereading a few sections for the imagery, not the science. And there wasn't one metaphor - unless I just missed it.

The book is completely devoid of math. Still, it discusses details in a number of fields that help you to understand different phenomena. He starts and ends with ocean waves. He covers what drives them from their birth, what sustains them, and what give them their differing appearances and sizes. Different chapters discuss sound waves, supersonic flight, shock waves, light waves and more. In giving examples of different effects, he finds interesting trivia to fill the book.

One of the first things I noticed was that there is some italic text next to some paragraphs, partially indented into the text block. It seems to be fairly random at times, yet makes sense with respect to the paragraphs after having read it. My guess is that it would provide a memory assist when trying to either recall portions of the book or looking for a passage.

Overall, the book is very enjoyable and a moderately fast read. You don't have to be a science nerd to enjoy it. If you are a science nerd, the lack of equations won't be missed. ( )

Sono pienamente d’accordo con Crillion, che scrive sempre recensioni che reputo esaurienti, ben scritte e fonte di ispirazione per le mie letture. Avevo letto qualche anno fa Cloudspotting e ne ero rimasto entusiasta al punto di iscrivermi immediatamente alla “Clouds Appreciation Society”. Quando è uscito Wave Watching non ho avuto dubbi, alla prima occasione (sconto in libreria) l’ho acquistato. Purtroppo è soltanto un libro carino, molto dispersivo e, vista la mole di argomenti trattati, abbastanza superficiale. Forse il mio giudizio è legato anche al fatto che, mentre delle nuvole sapevo poco o niente, le onde le conosco molto più di quanto non cerchi di spiegarle lui. In ogni caso non sono assolutamente d’accordo con chi afferma che la conoscenza di una cosa uccide la poesia; l’ignoranza può favorire la magia (nel senso di credenze superstiziose) ma non certo la poesia. Conoscere qualcosa sulle nuvole me le fa apprezzare infinitamente di più e le rende molto più poetiche. La poesia delle onde la vedo proprio grazie agli studi di fisica. Per apprezzare la poesia di qualunque cosa si deve conoscere, altrimenti si crede alle fate. Citando Dawkins che cita Adams: “Non è sufficiente godere della bellezza di un giardino? Che bisogno c'è di credere che nasconda delle fate?” ( )

Very interesting, I'm seeing the world differently now. As waves. ( )