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IF YOU THINK that science at the micro- and nanoscales is an unlikely topic for a coffee-table book, you’ll be pleasantly surprised by “No Small Matter: Science on the Nanoscale,” the second col-laboration by Harvard Uni-versity chemist George M. Whitesides and photogra-pher Felice C. Frankel. Their new book is a follow-up to “On the Surface of Things: Images of the Extraordinary in Science,” published more than a decade ago.

The 60 brief essays and accompanying photos of “No Small Matter” encompass a broad range of scientific top-ics, from information technology to micro-fluidics to biology to alternative energy such

as solar and fuel cells. All of the pieces share the attribute that they are in some way related to the micro- or nano-scale, even if the image de-picts an everyday macroscale object. Although loosely or-ganized into the volume’s six sections, the essays stand on their own. You can read the book straight through—as I did in two sittings—or you can flip through the book, stopping to read those essays that catch your eye. Open the book to any page and you’re unlikely to be disappointed by what you find.

None of the essays is simply a caption for the ac-

companying photo. The text alludes to the photo and usually provides a brief explana-

tion, but the prose and image work together to convey a larger point about life or the world. The prose is full of metaphorical—dare I say philosophical—musings. For example, in one vignette, Whitesides

says: “As a chemist, I’ve come to uneasy terms with the weirdnesses of electrons and photons, and with their ability to meld into the ordinariness of macroscopic things. But sometimes, lying awake in a strange hotel room at 4 a.m., considering what I might say that I really understand about anything, I fret that the answer is: almost nothing.”

But I must be honest. The selling point of this book is the gorgeous images. They keep coming with each turn of the page, and every reader is likely to have his or her favorite.

One of the most arresting images in the entire collection is the atomic force microscope tip that illustrates the second piece. In the accompanying text, “Seeing is Feeling,” Whitesides describes the AFM tip as “a finger that brushes surfaces with such delicacy that it can feel individual atoms.” The concept of delicacy is at odds with the image of that incredibly sharp AFM tip.

Some of the images can be deciphered only by reading the text. The image that most surprised me was a close-up of the grooves in a vinyl recording of the Beatles’ album “Revolver.” When I first saw the photo, I thought I was looking at the grain in a piece of decaying wood. The gradual revelation of what’s in the picture is one of

the joys of the accompa-nying essay, entitled “El-eanor Rigby.” Whitesides explains how vibrations of the record player needle generate voltages in a

NO SMALL MATTER: Science on the Nanoscale, by Felice C. Frankel and George M. Whitesides, Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2009, 182 pages, $35 hardcover (ISBN: 978-0-647-03566-9)

BOOKS

TO THE POINT Image of an atomic force microscope tip.

FE

LIC

E F

RA

NK

EL

(A

LL

)

0 OR 1 These wine glasses spell out a binary addition equation.

A BIG PICTURE LOOK AT THE SMALL SCALE

Book’s LUSH ILLUSTRATIONS, engaging text bring micro- and nanoscale science to a broad audience

REVIEWED BY CELIA HENRY ARNAUD

53WWW.CEN-ONLINE.ORG FEBRUARY 15, 2010

crystal that are amplified through speakers to produce pressure waves in the air that our brains process as music. But his ulti-mate point is that these physical phenom-ena “transmute sound into emotion.”

I learned the most from the selection “Counting on Two Fingers.” It briefly explains binary addition—something I learned in high school but have not needed to use since—and then illustrates it with an array of wine glasses photographed from above. Some of the glasses are empty and some are filled with deep red Shiraz, sig-

nifying 0 and 1, respec-tively. The arrangement of the glasses illustrates the equation 001100 + 010110 = 100010 or 12 + 22 = 34, for those of us more fluent in decimal than binary. I went to the

Internet to remind myself how binary addi-tion works, so I could check up on the sum.

“Counting on Two Fingers” is also one of the pieces featured in the explanatory epi-logue, “Five Not-So-Easy Pieces: Notes from the Photographer.” In this section, Frankel lets us in on the magician’s secrets and explains the thinking behind five of the il-

LIFE BEYOND MOLECULES AND GENES: How our Adaptations Make Us Alive, by Stephen Rothman, Templeton Press, 2009, 240 pages, $29.95 paper-back (ISBN 978-1-59947-250-8)

Makes the bold case that it is, in fact, our adaptive abilities, hewn by evolution, that make us alive. The author reveals a hidden harmony between science and life as we live it.

VELVET REVOLUTION AT THE SYN-CHROTRON: Biology, Physics, and Change in Science, by Park Doing, MIT Press, 2009, 160 pages, $28 hardcover (ISBN 978-0-262-04255-0)

Examines the change in scientific prac-tice at a synchrotron laboratory as biology rose to dominance over physics. Draws on the author’s own observations and experiences at the Cornell University syn-chrotron as he considers the implications of that change for the status of scientific claims.

A NUCLEAR WINTER’S TALE: Science and Politics in the 1980s, by Lawrence Badash, MIT Press, 2009, 403 pages, $40 hardcover (ISBN 978-0-262-01272-0)

Maps the rise and fall of nuclear winter, examining research activity, the popular-ization of the concept, and the Reagan-era politics that combined to influence policy and public opinion.

NEW & NOTEWORTHY

lustrations encountered in the book and the tricks she played to capture the final images.

This book is aimed at a wide audience and is written at a level to be enjoyed and appreciated by all, scientists and nonscien-tists alike. Scientists are unlikely to learn

any new fundamental science—although Whitesides touches on such a broad range of topics that I could easily be wrong—but they may be spurred to think about old things in new ways. If nothing else, there are the stunning images to savor.

ROCK ’N’ ROLL Music lurks within the grooves of the Beatles’ “Revolver” album.