John Gribbin Popular Books

John Gribbin Biography & Facts

John R. Gribbin (born 19 March 1946) is a British science writer, an astrophysicist, and a visiting fellow in astronomy at the University of Sussex. His writings include quantum physics, human evolution, climate change, global warming, the origins of the universe, and biographies of famous scientists. He also writes science fiction. Biography John Gribbin graduated with his bachelor's degree in physics from the University of Sussex in 1966. Gribbin then earned his Master of Science (MSc) degree in astronomy in 1967, also from the University of Sussex, and he earned his PhD in astrophysics from the University of Cambridge (1971).In 1968, Gribbin worked as one of Fred Hoyle's research students at the Institute of Theoretical Astronomy, and wrote a number of stories for New Scientist about the Institute's research and what were eventually discovered to be pulsars.In 1974, Gribbin, along with Stephen Plagemann, published a book titled The Jupiter Effect, which predicted that the alignment of the planets in a quadrant on one side of the Sun on 10 March 1982 would cause gravitational effects that would trigger earthquakes in the San Andreas Fault, possibly wiping out Los Angeles and its suburbs. Gribbin distanced himself from The Jupiter Effect in the 17 July 1980, issue of New Scientist magazine, stating that he had been "too clever by half".In February 1982, he and Plagemann published The Jupiter Effect Reconsidered, claiming that the 1980 Mount St. Helens eruption proved their theory true despite a lack of planetary alignment. In 1999, Gribbin repudiated it, saying "I don't like it, and I'm sorry I ever had anything to do with it."In 1984, Gribbin published In Search of Schrödinger's Cat: Quantum Physics and Reality. The Spectator Book Club described it as among the best of the first wave of physics popularisations preceding Stephen Hawking's multi-million-selling A Brief History of Time. Gribbin's book was cited by BBC World News as an example of how to revive an interest in the study of mathematics.In 2006, Gribbin took part in a BBC radio 4 broadcast as an "expert witness". Presenter Matthew Parris discussed with Professor Kathy Sykes and Gribbin whether Albert Einstein "really was a 'crazy genius'".At the 2009 World Conference of Science Journalists, the Association of British Science Writers presented Gribbin with their Lifetime Achievement award. Critical response to Gribbin's writings The conservative political magazine The Spectator described Gribbin as "one of the finest and most prolific writers of popular science around" in a review of Science: A History, which it praises as "the product of immense learning, and a lifetime spent working out how to write in a vivacious way about science and scientists".Henry Gee, a senior editor at Nature, described Gribbin as "one of the best science writers around".A review of The Universe: A Biography in the journal Physics World praised his skill in explaining difficult ideas.A Wall Street Journal review of Flower Hunters (co-authored with Mary Gribbin) described the writing as "pedestrian", with plenty of domestic detail but a failure to convey a larger cultural context. It stated that the book's chapter-length biographical sketches are too often superficial, and criticised the book for glaring omissions of prominent plant collectors.In a review of The Reason Why, the Times Higher Education states that Gribbin writes on speculative matters and presents some of his theories without supporting evidence, but noted his comprehensive research and lyrical writing. Works Science (1999) Almost Everyone's Guide to Science: The Universe, Life, and Everything, Yale University Press, ISBN 0-300-08460-9 (1999) Get a Grip on New Physics, Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London. ISBN 0-297-82703-0 (1999) The Little Book of Science, Barnes and Noble, ISBN 978-0-7607-1687-8 (2003) Science: A History 1543–2001, Gardners Books, ISBN 0-14-029741-3 (2003) The Scientists: A History of Science Told Through the Lives of Its Greatest Inventors, Random House, ISBN 0-8129-6788-7 (2006) The Fellowship: The Story of a Revolution, Allen Lane, ISBN 0-7139-9745-1 (the story of the Royal Society) (2006) History of Western Science, 1543-2001, Folio Society, London [2nd edition of Science: A History, 1543-2001, with minor amendments and a new preface by the author]. (2009) Flower Hunters, Oxford University Press, with Mary Gribbin, 320 pages, ISBN 978-0-19-956182-7 (2010) In Search of the Multiverse: Parallel Worlds, Hidden Dimensions, and the Ultimate Quest for the Frontiers of Reality, Wiley, ISBN 0-4706-1352-1 (2017) Out of the shadow of a giant: Hooke, Halley and the birth of British science. London: William Collins. 2017. ISBN 978-0-00-822059-4. OCLC 966239842. (with Mary Gribbin)Children's books on science (2000) Eyewitness: Time & Space, DK Children, ISBN 0-7894-5578-1 (2003) Big Numbers: A Mind Expanding Trip to Infinity and Back (co-author Mary Gribbin), Wizard Books (children's imprint of Icon Books) 2005 edition ISBN 1-84046-661-8 (2003) How far is up? : Measuring the Size of the Universe (co-author Mary Gribbin), Icon Books, 2005 edition ISBN 1-84046-439-9 (2008) Time Travel for Beginners (co-author Mary Gribbin), Hodder Children's, ISBN 978-0-340-95702-8Predictions (1974) The Jupiter Effect: The Planets As Triggers of Devastating Earthquakes (co-author Stephen H. Plageman), Random House ISBN 0-394-72221-3; revised edition published as The Jupiter Effect Reconsidered, Vintage Books (New York, NY), 1982. ISBN 0-394-70827-X (February 1982) The Jupiter Effect Reconsidered (1983) Beyond the Jupiter Effect, Macdonald, ISBN 0-356-08686-0The Sun (1980) The Death of the Sun, Dell Publishing ISBN 978-0-440-51854-9 (also as The Strangest Star: The Scientific Account of the Life and Death of the Sun, 1980, Athlone Press, ISBN 978-0-485-11207-8) (1991) Blinded by the Light: The Secret Life of the Sun, Bantam, ISBN 978-0-593-02064-7Quantum physics (1984) In Search of Schrödinger's Cat: Quantum Physics and Reality, Bantam Books, ISBN 0-553-34253-3 (reprinted in 2012 by Random House ISBN 978-1-4464-2376-9) (1996) Schrödinger's Kittens and the Search for Reality, Back Bay Books, ISBN 0-316-32819-7 (1998) Q Is for Quantum: An Encyclopedia of Particle Physics, Free Press, ISBN 0-684-85578-X (2002) Quantum Physics (Essential Science), Dorling Kindersley, ISBN 978-0-7513-3976-5 (2007) (in French) La physique quantique, Pearson Education, ISBN 978-2-7440-7263-5 (2014) Computing with Quantum Cats: From Colossus to Qubits, Prometheus Books, ISBN 978-1-6161-4921-5 (2019) Six Impossible Things: The 'Quanta of Solace' and the Mysteries of the Subatomic World, Icon Books, ISBN 978-1785784996Evolution and human genetics (1982) The Monkey Puzzle: A Family Tree (co-author Jeremy Cherfas), Pantheon Books, ISBN 0-394-52794-1 (1988) The One Percent Advantage: The Sociobiology of Being Human, Blackwell Publishers, ISBN 978-0-631-16004-5 (1990) Children of the Ice: Climate and.... Discover the John Gribbin popular books. Find the top 100 most popular John Gribbin books.

Best Seller John Gribbin Books of 2024

  • Beneath the Night synopsis, comments

    Beneath the Night

    Stuart Clark

    From stone age to space age, every human who has looked up at the night sky has seen the same stars in the same patterns. They reveal our entire history, as well as hinting at our ...

  • Stephen Hawking synopsis, comments

    Stephen Hawking

    John Gribbin

    Stephen Hawking is no ordinary scientist. Perhaps more than any other scientist, he has broadened our basic understanding of the universe. His theoretical work on black holes and t...