Sky in a Bottle

by Peter Pesic

The age-old question "Why is the sky blue?" begins a quest through science, history, and art, from Aristotle and Newton through Goethe and Einstein.

Genres: Science, Physics, Nonfiction

270 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 2005

Reviews

[Bill Wells · Rating 2 out of 5]

The actual historical part of this book was interesting, but some of the science was beyond me.

[Joe · Rating 3 out of 5]

Definitely a fascinating read but those with a background in mathematics or particle physics will get more out of it. Still worth exploring and contemplating something we rarely give much thought to.

[Ghada · Rating 3 out of 5]

The main questions presented in this book are intriguing; “Is it possible to capture the sky in a bottle?” and “Why is the sky blue?” -I’m sure that many of you have wondered about the latter question at some point during their childhood. I certainly did! Which is what initially drew me to this book.

Although it is an excellent piece of work (in terms of the history of scientists and artists who have pondered the same problems and conjured answers to those questions), I found the book a bit boring to get through. The questions are fascinating, but the answers lacked provoking that specific sense of fascination and inspiration that I usually feel while learning something that is equally as interesting for me. It was not very exciting to read. It is as simple as that!

[Jeremy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Engrossing historical survey of how physics answered the question "Why is the sky blue?" The story wends through the explorations of light, meteorology, art, color theory, wave mechanics, quantum theory and the reality of atoms. Absolutely fascinating.

[Mary · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great book on many world cultures outlook on the color blue. It also delves into various blue things like the sky in the mountains, piant ect...