Bob Berman is a leading astronomy writer and the author of Zoom and The Sun's Heartbeat. He contributed the popular `Night Watchman' column for Discover for seventeen years and is currently a columnist for Astronomy, a host on Northeast Public Radio and science editor of The Old Farmer's Almanac. He lives in Willow, New York.
`The narrative is briskly conversational: we're on the porch, shooting the breeze with a knowledgeable neighbour. Mr. Berman's avowed goal in writing this book, he says, was to open a window onto the enormous universe of omnipresent energies . Once that window is thrown open, it is hard to look at the world the same way.' * <i>Wall Street Journal</i> * `Nimbly busts common myths... Erudite but never stuffy, Berman writes with enthusiasm and clarity, making this an informative and digestible read for the science-curious.' * <i>Booklist</i> * `Captivating...fear not the long-winded scientific discourse: Berman zings through historical and scientific adventures.' * <i>American Scholar</i> * `[Berman is] an unfailingly congenial explainer, always ready with the kinds of fascinating facts his readers might have missed in school.' * <i>Christian Science Monitor</i> * `An enthusiastic account... deftly separates fact from myths about cell-phones, brain scans, and other sources of radiation.' * <i>Kirkus</i> * `Astronomy writer Berman runs through a fascinating history of the rainbow's invisible bands in this breezy, accessible read... In the style of a favorite professor, Berman injects bits of odd humor and captivating tangents into this complex but familiar topic.' * <i>Publishers Weekly</i> * `Like any good pop science book, along the way Zapped offers an endless series of tidbits, from how GPS works to how a software glitch led to the worst incident of radiation poisoning from a medical device (the notorious Therac-25).' * <i>New Republic</i> * `[Berman] excels at making complex concepts accessible for lay readers...this is a great option for those curious about history, theories, and function of everyday things.' * <i>Library Journal</i> * `Explaining light using anecdotal history and colloquial explication, Zapped makes entertaining sense out of what could be dry maths and physics.' * <i>Shelf Awareness</i> *