The Wavewatcher's Companion
| Author | Gavin Pretor-Pinney |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Genre | Science books |
| Publisher | Bloomsbury |
Publication date | 2010 |
| Publication place | United Kingdom |
| Media type | |
| Pages | 336 pp |
| ISBN | 978-0-7475-8976-1 |
The Wavewatcher's Companion is a 2010 science book by Gavin Pretor-Pinney.
The book was the 2011 winner of the Royal Society Winton Prize for Science Books.
Theme
The book is a wide-ranging discussion on waves in all their forms and how waves are such an intimate part of our lives.
The book's topics include:
- waves that exist within our bodies;
- the waves that give rise to music and colour;
- the waves that drive the information age;
- and the waves of nature, of the earth, sea and air.
As Jennifer Ouellette of the Wall Street Journal describes, Pretor-Pinney 'employs a chatty, conversational tone, with clear technical explanations enlivened by real-world examples, whimsical asides, personal anecdotes and inventive analogies' to explain his subject.[1]
Reception
The book was well received on its publication. Victoria Segal of The Guardian enthused that Pretor-Pinney "has the gifted teacher's knack for finding the right metaphor to hook the attention".[2] Toby Clements of the Daily Telegraph felt it was a worthy sequel to Pretor-Pinney's previous surprise best-seller, 'The Cloudspotter's Guide.[3]
The book was the 2011 winner of the Royal Society Winton Prize for Science Books,[4] the prestigious award for science writing. Richard Holmes, the Chair of judging panel, said it was a 'highly unusual and outstandingly effective piece of popular science writing and that Pretor-Pinney "had managed to use relatively straight-forward science to transform the readers' perspective of the world around them".[5] Richard Holmes noted the importance of the award stating “Popular science is an increasingly important genre, and this is an increasingly important prize".[4]
References
- ^ https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052748703720504575377123375671294, Jennifer Ouellette, The Wall Street Journal, 23 July 2010.
- ^ https://www.theguardian.com/books/2011/jun/24/wavewatchers-companion-gavin-pretor-pinney-review, The Wavewatcher's Companion by Gavin Pretor-Pinney - a Review, Victoria Segal, The Guardian, 24 June 2011.
- ^ https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/bookreviews/7881702/The-Wavewatchers-Companion-by-Gavin-Pretor-Pinney-review.html, Toby Clements, The Daily Telegraph, 13 July 2010.
- ^ a b http://royalsociety.org/news/Winner-of-the-Royal-Society-Winton-Prize-for-Science-Books-announced/, Royal Society Science News, 17 November 2011. Retrieved 19 February 2012.
- ^ "Expert in idleness is surprise winner of science book prize", The Independent, 18 November 2011