Synopsis
A snappy little book containing facts, jargon, and inside information--all that readers need to know to hold their own among the experts.
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About the Author
After spending a large chunk of his childhood in an involuntary study of the tuberculosis bacillus, Brian Malpass wound up at Birmingham University with a First in Chemistry and a Doctorate. When asked what he wrote his thesis on, he replies truthfully, 'Fag packets mostly'. He did in fact make a living as a polymer chemist before drifting into surface science and thence into the management of science and technology. After that, by a series of unplanned sideways and upward lurches, he staggered into finance and ultimately general management of a large public company. He now seems to have embarked on yet another career as a writer, watched spellbound by his wife, a fellow lapsed chemist, and their two grown-up daughters -- who have turned out remarkably well in the circumstances.
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
The Bluffer's Guide to Science
Bluff Your Way in ScienceBy Brian MalpassOval Books
Copyright © 2006 Brian MalpassAll right reserved.
ISBN: 9781903096680
Impossibility
If ever a truly eminent man of science over the age of fifty-five pronounces with great conviction that something is impossible, it is a safe bet that he will be proved wrong shortly.
Ad infinitum
Although it has not been conclusively proven, there are those who believe that quarks may not be points occupying no space, which would mean that they in turn were made up of even smaller particles. This would come as no surprise to the bluffer, who worships the dictum: 'Big fleas have little fleas upon their backs to bite em, and little fleas have lesser fleas and so ad infinitum'.
White hot
It is ironic that among his legacies is Newton's Law of Cooling, for the man himself passed the greater part of his life in a state of self-stoked white-hot incandescence.
Twaddel
The only unit of measurement more oddly named than the slug-foot-second which is used in British aerodynamics, is the twaddel, a scale named after W. Twaddel which is used to measure the relative density of liquids. Frankly, it's wasted on that.
Kudos
Perhaps the ultimate sign that you have arrived in science is to have a unit of measurement named after you, although it can take 200 years for recognition to arrive, which lessens its value to the individual concerned. Examples include the coulomb, gauss, ohm, oersted, volt, newton and twaddel.
If ever a truly eminent man of science over the age of fifty-five pronounces with great conviction that something is impossible, it is a safe bet that he will be proved wrong shortly.
Ad infinitum
Although it has not been conclusively proven, there are those who believe that quarks may not be points occupying no space, which would mean that they in turn were made up of even smaller particles. This would come as no surprise to the bluffer, who worships the dictum: 'Big fleas have little fleas upon their backs to bite em, and little fleas have lesser fleas and so ad infinitum'.
White hot
It is ironic that among his legacies is Newton's Law of Cooling, for the man himself passed the greater part of his life in a state of self-stoked white-hot incandescence.
Twaddel
The only unit of measurement more oddly named than the slug-foot-second which is used in British aerodynamics, is the twaddel, a scale named after W. Twaddel which is used to measure the relative density of liquids. Frankly, it's wasted on that.
Kudos
Perhaps the ultimate sign that you have arrived in science is to have a unit of measurement named after you, although it can take 200 years for recognition to arrive, which lessens its value to the individual concerned. Examples include the coulomb, gauss, ohm, oersted, volt, newton and twaddel.
Continues...
Excerpted from The Bluffer's Guide to Scienceby Brian Malpass Copyright © 2006 by Brian Malpass. Excerpted by permission.
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