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Fizz
Fizz is a novel telling the story of the history of physics-mankind unraveling the universe-from the perspective of a young woman. Fizz revives the edu-novel genre made famous by Sophie's World, which sold 30 million copies worldwide. In response to environmental degradation, the Eco-community sect eschews science and technology, returning to an austere agricultural life of nature-worship. But one young member, Fizz, has a burning curiosity that defies suppression. Risking life and social standing, Fizz embarks on a quest that brings her face to face with the often-eccentric giants of physics, from Aristotle and Galileo, to Einstein and Hawking. One encounter at a time, Fizz pieces together the intricate workings of our universe, and struggles with the resulting intellectual, moral, and personal challenges. Returning as a changed person from the epic quest, Fizz faces the decision that will change her world forever.
- GenresScience
528 pages, Paperback
First published May 3, 2011
11 people are currently reading
55 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
May 17, 2019
Fizz nothing is as it seems by Zvi Schreiber
Fizz is the thoroughly enjoyable story of a young girl we call Fizz coming of age in a community that shuns technology blaming it for everything from war to global warming. She's a strong intelligent young woman who may seem a bit of a standout in the community she lives in. But, that's because her father long ago made the choice to return to the world of technology, which meant that he would be shunned by the community and unable to return as a resident. A measure of her strength and independence though, is that she is about to make a decision that will take her way out of her comfort zone.
This is a great novel for anyone who loves physics and anyone who thinks they cant understand it. And maybe even a few who hate physics. It's also a great novel for anyone who loves historic novels. Though In both these cases I'm not sure I'm the best qualified to attest to the veracity of the content. Along with Fizz the reader gets some quick easy physics lessons while meeting various historical personages.
We pick up Fizz in her life when she is old enough to make the choice to leave her protective community and mingle with the evils of the outer world while making an informed decision about where to spend the rest of her life. Unlike some other communities that shun the modern world that have sprung up throughout the ages this one doesn't seem to have any firm roots in religious beliefs in a god and creator(I at least could not discern any). It does have strong opinions about and against the study of science. Fizz finds herself questioning many things around her, which she's expected to take at face value. So,though it is common for most who reach her age to take a pass on this option to strike out into the world, she is strongly considering it because of her inquisitive mind and possibly a chance to be with her father.
Add to this the notion that her father (who has already left the community before she was born) has spearheaded the construction of a time machine and you have the beginnings of an odd but engaging experiment. And, all of this she accepts with both trepidation and excitement.
This novel takes the reader and Fizz on a historic journey back through time to begin the study of physics on a quest to answer a few simple questions that Fizz is certain will be solved in one simple visit with one of the great minds of the past. As the story builds we not only get a glimpse of Fizz but we get a glimpse of what must be a universal principle; that the more you know the more you need to know. We get to see Fizz grow and the reader perhaps begins to question the wisdom of a community that has stifled someone with such a brilliant intellect and thirst for knowledge.
And somewhere in all of this she may begin to see the work of a creator.
I can't say that I agree with the eventual path the author took. The logic of the story for me did not seem to follow through till the very end and the only way I could reason that Fizz made her final decision was that we missed perhaps a moment when she might have bumped her head.
What is important, though, is that the story of Fizz as it evolves is highly entertaining while being somewhat educational, giving the reader a chance to later look up more about the people Fizz meets in her journey of discovery.
This is a great book for people who love Time Travel stories and Sci-Fi and fantasy.
The only thing I might wish is that the author revisit Fizz sometime and perhaps give us more incite into how she made her decision and how that works out for her.
J.L. Dobias
Fizz is the thoroughly enjoyable story of a young girl we call Fizz coming of age in a community that shuns technology blaming it for everything from war to global warming. She's a strong intelligent young woman who may seem a bit of a standout in the community she lives in. But, that's because her father long ago made the choice to return to the world of technology, which meant that he would be shunned by the community and unable to return as a resident. A measure of her strength and independence though, is that she is about to make a decision that will take her way out of her comfort zone.
This is a great novel for anyone who loves physics and anyone who thinks they cant understand it. And maybe even a few who hate physics. It's also a great novel for anyone who loves historic novels. Though In both these cases I'm not sure I'm the best qualified to attest to the veracity of the content. Along with Fizz the reader gets some quick easy physics lessons while meeting various historical personages.
We pick up Fizz in her life when she is old enough to make the choice to leave her protective community and mingle with the evils of the outer world while making an informed decision about where to spend the rest of her life. Unlike some other communities that shun the modern world that have sprung up throughout the ages this one doesn't seem to have any firm roots in religious beliefs in a god and creator(I at least could not discern any). It does have strong opinions about and against the study of science. Fizz finds herself questioning many things around her, which she's expected to take at face value. So,though it is common for most who reach her age to take a pass on this option to strike out into the world, she is strongly considering it because of her inquisitive mind and possibly a chance to be with her father.
Add to this the notion that her father (who has already left the community before she was born) has spearheaded the construction of a time machine and you have the beginnings of an odd but engaging experiment. And, all of this she accepts with both trepidation and excitement.
This novel takes the reader and Fizz on a historic journey back through time to begin the study of physics on a quest to answer a few simple questions that Fizz is certain will be solved in one simple visit with one of the great minds of the past. As the story builds we not only get a glimpse of Fizz but we get a glimpse of what must be a universal principle; that the more you know the more you need to know. We get to see Fizz grow and the reader perhaps begins to question the wisdom of a community that has stifled someone with such a brilliant intellect and thirst for knowledge.
And somewhere in all of this she may begin to see the work of a creator.
I can't say that I agree with the eventual path the author took. The logic of the story for me did not seem to follow through till the very end and the only way I could reason that Fizz made her final decision was that we missed perhaps a moment when she might have bumped her head.
What is important, though, is that the story of Fizz as it evolves is highly entertaining while being somewhat educational, giving the reader a chance to later look up more about the people Fizz meets in her journey of discovery.
This is a great book for people who love Time Travel stories and Sci-Fi and fantasy.
The only thing I might wish is that the author revisit Fizz sometime and perhaps give us more incite into how she made her decision and how that works out for her.
J.L. Dobias
December 26, 2020
Got given this by our physics teacher - this was a very entertaining explanation of newtonian physics right from its inception, introducing ideas of relativity but seemingly in a world where people can take pictures by blinking their eyes but are not fully prepared with an understanding of the underlying physics of the world in school, which one would assume would have filtered down the curriculum.
Read
July 29, 2015Originally posted at Butterfly-o-Meter Books on Dec 22 2011:
This is a very smart idea, this edu-novel concept where you’re reading a fiction that takes you on a cruise through a subject, in our case physics.
Physics for me is…how do I put this…there’s a reason why after studying it and chemistry well enough in high-school I went for sociology in college and didn’t become an engineer like both my parents. One of the reasons is I like physics when Michio Kaku is talking to me about it, for instance, on TV of course, or Stephen Hawking, or Morgan Freeman in the Through the Wormhole series. I’m gonna love to watch the episode, give it my full attention, keep the info I find interesting. Learning it, per se, as science? Never been a fan of the drier part of it – theory. I was always a fan of the experiments, but they were few and in between.
After the first chapter of this novel, when the Collective makes an appearance, I wasn’t much into it but I stuck it out for a few more chapters. It didn’t work out; I mean, this Collective to begin with freaks me out. So we have these people, that have this very solid and set in stone view of things (and it doesn’t matter to me what they’re basing it on), that are striving for this communitary ecological way of life, but have a very closed off attitude toward this apparently evil Outside that is more techy-oriented and less naturey-oriented. My honest thoughts on this concept? Great, another group of extremist/close-minded people that are on a mission, marvelous. It’s a sort of attitude that makes me think not much of someone, that sort of “I know the Truth, I know the Way – and mine is the only way!”, yada yada yada. Not a fan of that, at all.
And then comes the science, in a quite scientific tone, for me that not being much of a good thing, since I’m not a fan of that.
So I capitulated, I tried it, it didn’t work out, I didn’t connect with the characters, the world, nothing, no chemistry there so to speak. If you guys wanna experiment with it, I say give it a try, the concept is interesting and smart.
This is a very smart idea, this edu-novel concept where you’re reading a fiction that takes you on a cruise through a subject, in our case physics.
Physics for me is…how do I put this…there’s a reason why after studying it and chemistry well enough in high-school I went for sociology in college and didn’t become an engineer like both my parents. One of the reasons is I like physics when Michio Kaku is talking to me about it, for instance, on TV of course, or Stephen Hawking, or Morgan Freeman in the Through the Wormhole series. I’m gonna love to watch the episode, give it my full attention, keep the info I find interesting. Learning it, per se, as science? Never been a fan of the drier part of it – theory. I was always a fan of the experiments, but they were few and in between.
After the first chapter of this novel, when the Collective makes an appearance, I wasn’t much into it but I stuck it out for a few more chapters. It didn’t work out; I mean, this Collective to begin with freaks me out. So we have these people, that have this very solid and set in stone view of things (and it doesn’t matter to me what they’re basing it on), that are striving for this communitary ecological way of life, but have a very closed off attitude toward this apparently evil Outside that is more techy-oriented and less naturey-oriented. My honest thoughts on this concept? Great, another group of extremist/close-minded people that are on a mission, marvelous. It’s a sort of attitude that makes me think not much of someone, that sort of “I know the Truth, I know the Way – and mine is the only way!”, yada yada yada. Not a fan of that, at all.
And then comes the science, in a quite scientific tone, for me that not being much of a good thing, since I’m not a fan of that.
So I capitulated, I tried it, it didn’t work out, I didn’t connect with the characters, the world, nothing, no chemistry there so to speak. If you guys wanna experiment with it, I say give it a try, the concept is interesting and smart.
April 16, 2013
Fizz is truly one of the most interesting concepts I have come across in quite some time. The first time novelist begins his story about 100 years into the future. In a time where the ecological community or Ecommunity has completely separated themselves from the rest of civilization and has gone back to an agrarian lifestyle, dependant on the land and manual labor to produce the necessities of life. Fizz is a girl that is coming of age and must make a decision about her future. Fizz's father left the Ecommunity when she was very young but has come back to visit on her birthday as allowed in the Treaty of Separation. He is a scientist in the Outside world and her mind has been flooded since early childhood with science questions that are taboo in the Ecommunity. Every eighteen year old is given the opportunity to spend up to three weeks in the outside and then allowed to come back or remain in the outside. She exercises her PCC- Personal Choice Clause in a very unique fashion. She uses her father’s newest invention to learn science from the greatest scientific minds of the past by traveling to them. This is a great coming of age story as well as a science lesson all rolled into one. While some artistic license is taken in the accounting of the interactions between Fizz and these people, it is still a lot of fun imagining the responses to this young girl asking these questions in a time when young girls didn’t ask these type questions.
Overall this was an excellent book. Well written and fun to read. The science geek in me especially loved it. The characters were thoroughly developed and you saw the maturation of Fizz into a capable young woman. I also thought the glimpse into many of the great scientist’s lives was interesting and very well done. Like I said earlier, some artistic license is taken but mostly in the timing of certain experiments not in who made discoveries or what discoveries were made. I found this to be one of the most fascinating books I have read in years. It had me from the beginning and kept me enthralled to the end.
Originally posted on To Read Or Not To Read, July 6, 2012.
Overall this was an excellent book. Well written and fun to read. The science geek in me especially loved it. The characters were thoroughly developed and you saw the maturation of Fizz into a capable young woman. I also thought the glimpse into many of the great scientist’s lives was interesting and very well done. Like I said earlier, some artistic license is taken but mostly in the timing of certain experiments not in who made discoveries or what discoveries were made. I found this to be one of the most fascinating books I have read in years. It had me from the beginning and kept me enthralled to the end.
Originally posted on To Read Or Not To Read, July 6, 2012.
Read
December 23, 2012Originally posted on Dec 22 2011 at Butterfly-o-Meter Books:
This is a very smart idea, this edu-novel concept where you're reading a fiction that takes you on a cruise through a subject, in our case physics.
Physics for me is...how do I put this...there's a reason why after studying it and chemistry well enough in high-school I went for sociology in college and didn't become an engineer like both my parents. One of the reasons is I like physics when Michio Kaku is talking to me about it, for instance, on TV of course, or Stephen Hawking, or Morgan Freeman in the Through the Wormhole series. I'm gonna love to watch the episode, give it my full attention, keep the info I find interesting. Learning it, per se, as science? Never been a fan of the drier part of it - theory. I was always a fan of the experiments, but they were few and in between.
After the first chapter of this novel, when the Collective makes an appearance, I wasn't much into it but I stuck it out for a few more chapters. It didn't work out; I mean, this Collective to begin with freaks me out. So we have these people, that have this very solid and set in stone view of things (and it doesn't matter to me what they're basing it on), that are striving for this communitary ecological way of life, but have a very closed off attitude toward this apparently evil Outside that is more techy-oriented and less naturey-oriented. My honest thoughts on this concept? Great, another group of extremist/close-minded people that are on a mission, marvelous. It's a sort of attitude that makes me think not much of someone, that sort of "I know the Truth, I know the Way - and mine is the only way!", yada yada yada. Not a fan of that, at all.
And then comes the science, in a quite scientific tone, for me that not being much of a good thing, since I'm not a fan of that.
So I capitulated, I tried it, it didn't work out, I didn't connect with the characters, the world, nothing, no chemistry there so to speak. If you guys wanna experiment with it, I say give it a try, the concept is interesting and smart.
This is a very smart idea, this edu-novel concept where you're reading a fiction that takes you on a cruise through a subject, in our case physics.
Physics for me is...how do I put this...there's a reason why after studying it and chemistry well enough in high-school I went for sociology in college and didn't become an engineer like both my parents. One of the reasons is I like physics when Michio Kaku is talking to me about it, for instance, on TV of course, or Stephen Hawking, or Morgan Freeman in the Through the Wormhole series. I'm gonna love to watch the episode, give it my full attention, keep the info I find interesting. Learning it, per se, as science? Never been a fan of the drier part of it - theory. I was always a fan of the experiments, but they were few and in between.
After the first chapter of this novel, when the Collective makes an appearance, I wasn't much into it but I stuck it out for a few more chapters. It didn't work out; I mean, this Collective to begin with freaks me out. So we have these people, that have this very solid and set in stone view of things (and it doesn't matter to me what they're basing it on), that are striving for this communitary ecological way of life, but have a very closed off attitude toward this apparently evil Outside that is more techy-oriented and less naturey-oriented. My honest thoughts on this concept? Great, another group of extremist/close-minded people that are on a mission, marvelous. It's a sort of attitude that makes me think not much of someone, that sort of "I know the Truth, I know the Way - and mine is the only way!", yada yada yada. Not a fan of that, at all.
And then comes the science, in a quite scientific tone, for me that not being much of a good thing, since I'm not a fan of that.
So I capitulated, I tried it, it didn't work out, I didn't connect with the characters, the world, nothing, no chemistry there so to speak. If you guys wanna experiment with it, I say give it a try, the concept is interesting and smart.
June 7, 2011
FROM FOREWORD CLARION REVIEW - FIVE STARS by Holly Doering:
Not since Sophie’s World, to which this novel bears important similarities, has there been a book to do for the scientific world what the former did for philosophy—inform, intrigue, and entertain… Young girls who accompany Fizz on her journey will quickly discover how good it feels to satisfy their curiosity about how the universe works. Men and women of all ages who enjoy learning outside of school will also be enthralled with these adventures in physics… Zvi Schreiber’s writing is clear and the plot zooms along… A lot of fun.
Not since Sophie’s World, to which this novel bears important similarities, has there been a book to do for the scientific world what the former did for philosophy—inform, intrigue, and entertain… Young girls who accompany Fizz on her journey will quickly discover how good it feels to satisfy their curiosity about how the universe works. Men and women of all ages who enjoy learning outside of school will also be enthralled with these adventures in physics… Zvi Schreiber’s writing is clear and the plot zooms along… A lot of fun.
February 8, 2012
I thoroughly enjoyed reading Fizz. It was not only entertaining, but it was also informative. Despite its extreme length, I recommend it for any person, young or old, interested in knowing more about how the world works and how we figured it out.
See the in-depth review at Sift: http://www.siftreviews.com/2012/01/fi...
Review by: Kevin of Sift Book Reviews
Sift Book Reviews received a free copy for review from the author. This has, in no way, affected the reviewer's opinion.
See the in-depth review at Sift: http://www.siftreviews.com/2012/01/fi...
Review by: Kevin of Sift Book Reviews
Sift Book Reviews received a free copy for review from the author. This has, in no way, affected the reviewer's opinion.
May 3, 2012
Im just 129 pages in...and intrigued...but...it feels a little forced for me right now...like Im reading a history book with some poor dialogue and "action" thrown in to keep me going. My dad recommended the book..so Im going to have to finish it. Hes says the ending is unexpected. I can see that its going to be a good book to get some basic history of science under my belt. I'll let you know more when Im finished.
February 14, 2013
I wanted to like this book, a story of a girl from the future who learns about the world, and physics, by traveling back in time to learn from the great minds: Aristotle, Galileo, Newton, Einstein. Unfortunately, if fell short for me. I found Fizz unlikable and the interactions between the characters was too forced. The explanation of physics ideas was complete and clear, the highlight of the book. But, I honestly did not care enough to even finish.
July 29, 2016
Interesting as a high-level historical overview of physics/natural philosophy, less so as a novel.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews