The Einstein Paradox: And Other Science Mysteries Solved by Sherlock Holmes

By Colin Bruce

Book Overview

In this marvelous book, the reader is introduced to the bizarre concepts of modern physics as the only way to solve a casebook of otherwise impossibly paradoxical crimes. Murder on a royal train. Divers dead of heatstroke at the bottom of an icy sea. An epidemic of insanity among the world's top scientists. This is the story of the great paradigm shifts of science, told as never before: in Sherlock Holmes adventures set amid the grandeur and squalor of Victorian London. Holmes, Watson, and other beloved characters created by Arthur Conan Doyle are challenged by mysteries, each of which hinges on a scientific paradox or principle. Colin Bruce has recreated the atmosphere of the original Sherlock Holmes stories to give a truly compulsive read. You won't even realize you've learned something until it's too late!

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0738200239
• ISBN13: 9780738200231
• Release Date: September 1998
• Publisher: Basic Books
• Length: 272 Pages
• Weight: 0.75 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.6" x 8.3"

Customer Reviews

Very Fun Read - And you learn something besides!

I love a think-outside-the-box kind of book! This one is it!

modern physics that makes sense to my ten-year-old

Serious Sherlock Holmes fans may be offended by the use of their favorite characters, but the characters are well done and make the subject vastly more accessible. I've been reading this aloud to my ten-year-old, with only occasional asides explaining an unfamiliar word or pointing out an anachronism, and he now knows more about relativity than most adults. The explanation of how an atomic bomb works is wonderfully clear. The plots and characters retain my son's interest, keeping this firmly among the ranks of "fun" rather than "improving" books, while explaining important material in an easily understood way.

A good book - much more interesting than the usual way

I have read the first several chapters of this book. It is very good. The way it was written is much more interesting than the traditional way of writing physics books. Although it was somewhat difficult to understand in places, I could usually figure them out after I read them again. Also provides some of the history of physics. A good book for beginners.