Microcosmos: Discovering The World Through Microscopic Images From 20 X To Over 22 Million X Magnification Download Free (EPUB, PDF)
A journey into everyday life through spectacular microscopic images. This substantial volume brings together extraordinary images produced through the latest technologies in microphotography. Most of the 205 stunning, full-color photographs have been taken using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), allowing us to see our world as never before. Each image is a close-up that reveals remarkable forms, shapes and colors. The book is divided into six chapters that cover: Micro-organisms Botany The human body Zoology Minerals Technology. Every spread includes complete, informative captions that identify the photograph and describe both the image and the way in which it was captured. With its stunning full-color photographs and text written in clear and accessible language, Microcosmos provides a fascinating journey of discovery.
Hardcover: 432 pages
Publisher: Firefly Books (August 2007)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1554072379
ISBN-13: 978-1554072378
Product Dimensions: 9 x 1.9 x 5.9 inches
Shipping Weight: 2.9 pounds
Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (37 customer reviews)
Best Sellers Rank: #1,124,670 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #31 in Books > Science & Math > Experiments, Instruments & Measurement > Electron Microscopes & Microscopy #75 in Books > Science & Math > Experiments, Instruments & Measurement > Microscopes & Microsocopy #143 in Books > Computers & Technology > Graphics & Design > Computer Modelling > Imaging Systems
Reading through this book was a frustrating experience. After every page I wanted more... but not in a complementary way. I was left feeling like with just a bit more effort, this could have been really great book.The photos, are of course, the main event here. They're fascinating to look at, and some are quite beautiful. But the accompanying text feels like it goes out of its way to be unhelpful. It alternates between dropping unexplained, non sequitur factoids ("In the extreme corners of the stem, the best position mechanically, small collenchyma cells are visible"), and a rote listing of textbook labels ("The xylem and phloem are surrounded by a ring of parenchyma cells.").I suppose I was hoping for an pithy synopsis of each image, from an expert--a botanist, biologist, or a materials scientist--but one gets the impression that an intern was hired to copy random paragraphs from wikipedia for the accompanying text.So the words are forgettable, but who cares, the pictures are pretty, right? Except the decision was made to limit every image to half the page, leaving the other half for explanatory text (which is never more than one paragraph) and thus mostly empty! Why would you do that?!There is always a large magnification label (e.g., 1000X) but no real sense of scale is ever given. This could have been easily done with an inset image of the subject zoomed out, or with an introductory chapter giving familiar examples for scale comparison, or with measurement overlays, or any number of ways. People are really bad at conceptualizing exponential scale; just listing the magnification power isn't really sufficient.So, this makes a great coffee table book, but if you're looking for more depth, you'll need to find it elsewhere.
I try to confine my reviews to serious books about education and philosophy. When sent an email asking me to review this book (because, after all, I had bought it), I thought, no, I don't want to blur what I'm doing.But what the heck, folks, this is a wonderful book. It's your perfect gift for smarter people. Not costly. Beautifully designed. Not a coffee table book, by the way, but sort of petite.I'm a big believer in telling students about the very large and the very small (as people tend to think that the world they can see around them is pretty much all there is). Microcosmos is the perfect first portal into the unseen all about us. I'm also a big believer in trying to excite in people a sense of awe and wonder (as an educational tool). Microcosmos excites.This book contains more than 200 color photographs divided into six categories: Microorganisms, Botanics, Human Body, Zoology, Minerals, and Technology.
Images in this book are excellent. I will be able to use them to get some of the high school age kids I teach enthused about learning microscopy.
Affordable price, excellent photos, good color printing. Regrettably, the type of binding -- glue -- is unlikely to last many years before it dries out and starts falling apart. I guess that is the downside of the afforable price!
I love this book! As a deep look at the unseen world around us, it will speak to anyone with a love of nature and science. The beauty and composition of the photos is amazing, as the are selected images and the narrative that accompany them. The layout is in 'categories'(Microorganisms, Zoology, Technology, etc), making it easy to find your favorite section -- I love the ant carrying the microchip!I work in Public Health, and this has become my 'gift of choice' for my senior staff. (I've purchased 6 copies,...so far.) It's compact size makes it much more workable than a 'Coffee Table' book, and the beauty and coloration enhancement of the photographs make it a book I also read with my 4 year old grandchild.Fifty years ago, the Walt Disney World TV program used to show clips of slow-motion droplets of liquid falling into dishes and flowers opening. If the unseen wonders of the amazing world we live in 'talk' to you, this is the book to remind you of the miracle of planet Earth.
There are not many books with microscopic images on : bearing that in mind this book would deserve an extra star, it is divided on sections each with a subject, minerals, plants, human body etc.. The frustating thing is the lack of care on the books design, each page is half blank with few big O letters on what the pic is about: more text would be welcome as pointed out by another reviewer...either this or to blow up the picture to frame the whole page, the description line would be fine on the margin.On the end the book could be half on size that would make no difference.Nice pictures though.
I bought this as a gift for an 11 yr old smart girl who loves reading books but she got tired of it pretty quickly. IMHO it would have been nice to add some interesting details about each photo.
if you enjoy the world of the very, very small, then this book is for you. divided into chapters covering subjects as diverse as microorganisms, botanics, zoology, and the human body, and featuring magnifications from as low as 38x to as high as 12,000x and above, these photographs are stunning. beautifully colored to highlight the smallest details, each page is a journey of discovery. it is hard to believe, for example, that single celled animals can have hairlike structures, and even harder to believe that you can view these incredibly tiny features. While this book is geared toward adult audiences, children too will find many of the images captivating, especially those like the head of a mosquito, or butterfly scales.A steal at twice the price, you can't afford to pass this one up at a price of under $10.
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