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First You Build a Cloud: And Other Reflections on Physics as a Way of Life
For many of us, physics, like math, has always been a thing of mystery and complexity. In First You Build a Cloud, K. C. Cole provides cogent explanations through animated prose, metaphors, and anecdotes, allowing us to comprehend the nuances of physics-gravity and light, color and shape, quarks and quasars, particles and stars, force and strength. We also come to see how the physical world is so deeply intertwined with the ways in which we think about culture, poetry, and philosophy. Cole, one of our preeminent science writers, serves as a guide into the world of such legendary scientific minds as Richard Feynman, Victor Weisskopf, brothers Frank Oppenheimer and J. Robert Oppenheimer, Philip Morrison, Vera Kistiakowsky, and Stephen Jay Gould.
- GenresScienceNonfictionPhysics
240 pages, Kindle Edition
First published April 15, 1999
78 people are currently reading
200 people want to read
About the author
K.C. Cole
13Ìýbooks38ÌýfollowersFor the past ten years, K.C. Cole has been a science writer and columnist for the Los Angeles Times; she has also written for The New York Times, The New Yorker, The Smithsonian, Discover, Newsweek, Newsday, Esquire, Ms., People and many other publications. Her articles were featured in The Best American Science Writing 2004 and 2005 and The Best American Science and Nature Writing 2002. She has also been an editor at Discover and Newsday.
Cole is the author of several nonfiction books, including Mind Over Matter: Conversations with the Cosmos; The Hole in the Universe: How Scientists Peered Over the Edge of Emptiness and Found Everything; and The Universe and the Teacup, the Mathematics of Truth and Beauty.
Cole is the author of several nonfiction books, including Mind Over Matter: Conversations with the Cosmos; The Hole in the Universe: How Scientists Peered Over the Edge of Emptiness and Found Everything; and The Universe and the Teacup, the Mathematics of Truth and Beauty.
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
April 10, 2012
Well, I misplaced this book for a few days, went on to ASLEEP, then found it. Books may take 2nd place to my garden now that the weather is getting warmer!
Picked the book back up and found it to be wonderful! Makes me want to study physics, then I recall the details of physics lies in mathematics and I stop to rethink. Presents a very poetical review of the basic theories in physics, which attracts me. It may not be the most accurate professionally (according to reviews), but I'm not a physicist and not too worried about that. It gives a person a "feel" for the science, its scientists, and the theories of physics specifically.
I always thought of physics as very elevated, but I found it to be very basic! We're talking force and inertia, seeing things, light, order and disorder, particles and waves--which all seem very basic.
Cole also gives a good overview of the history of ideas and the scientists, from Newton to Einstein. I enjoyed ideas being presented in a historical manner. Kept things organized.
Favorite quote: Patterns may seem efemeral but in the end they are the enduring essence of things. They are the waves of substance that linger long after the momentary splashes of fate and fashion have gone silent.
Picked the book back up and found it to be wonderful! Makes me want to study physics, then I recall the details of physics lies in mathematics and I stop to rethink. Presents a very poetical review of the basic theories in physics, which attracts me. It may not be the most accurate professionally (according to reviews), but I'm not a physicist and not too worried about that. It gives a person a "feel" for the science, its scientists, and the theories of physics specifically.
I always thought of physics as very elevated, but I found it to be very basic! We're talking force and inertia, seeing things, light, order and disorder, particles and waves--which all seem very basic.
Cole also gives a good overview of the history of ideas and the scientists, from Newton to Einstein. I enjoyed ideas being presented in a historical manner. Kept things organized.
Favorite quote: Patterns may seem efemeral but in the end they are the enduring essence of things. They are the waves of substance that linger long after the momentary splashes of fate and fashion have gone silent.
July 18, 2019
The ideas of modern physics made delectable
Cole has taken great pains in shaping a book that informs and delights in the tradition of Guy Murchie, whose eminently readable Music of the Spheres may have served as an inspiration. In effect (since this is a complete reworking of her 1984 book, Sympathetic Vibrations) Cole wrote this book twice, the second time with the benefit of fifteen years of experience under her belt. It's clear that she wanted to accomplish two things: one, provide access to the ideas of physics to a wide readership; and two, convey the enthusiasm and awesome delight for physics found in the work of the greats like Newton, Einstein, Gamow, Bohr, Feynman and the Oppenheimer brothers.
She succeeds. This is science writing for a popular audience at its finest. As such it is a perfect gift especially for a young person interested in science, or for anyone who would like to know more about the way physicists view our world. It is a work of love filled with luscious quotes from the great scientists and others who have shaped our modern view of the universe. In a sense it is a celebration of the scientific view of life.
I have read Cole's The Universe and the Teacup: The Mathematics of Truth and Beauty (1998) which enjoyed a well-deserved popular success, but I can tell you, this is an even better book. There is a sincerity and depth of earnestness here that delights. Cole's warm and human style brings the world of modern physics to life.
--Dennis Littrell, author of “The World Is Not as We Think It Is�
Cole has taken great pains in shaping a book that informs and delights in the tradition of Guy Murchie, whose eminently readable Music of the Spheres may have served as an inspiration. In effect (since this is a complete reworking of her 1984 book, Sympathetic Vibrations) Cole wrote this book twice, the second time with the benefit of fifteen years of experience under her belt. It's clear that she wanted to accomplish two things: one, provide access to the ideas of physics to a wide readership; and two, convey the enthusiasm and awesome delight for physics found in the work of the greats like Newton, Einstein, Gamow, Bohr, Feynman and the Oppenheimer brothers.
She succeeds. This is science writing for a popular audience at its finest. As such it is a perfect gift especially for a young person interested in science, or for anyone who would like to know more about the way physicists view our world. It is a work of love filled with luscious quotes from the great scientists and others who have shaped our modern view of the universe. In a sense it is a celebration of the scientific view of life.
I have read Cole's The Universe and the Teacup: The Mathematics of Truth and Beauty (1998) which enjoyed a well-deserved popular success, but I can tell you, this is an even better book. There is a sincerity and depth of earnestness here that delights. Cole's warm and human style brings the world of modern physics to life.
--Dennis Littrell, author of “The World Is Not as We Think It Is�
July 16, 2021
Read half. I had hoped for new knowledge, but this author’s presentation of physics in its relation to metaphysics, aesthetics, morality, etc. . . was quotidian. Any high school graduate is already aware of the grounds this author covers. Who is this author’s target audience?
August 1, 2021
"What men are poets who can speak of Jupiter if he were like a man, but if he is an immense spinning sphere of methane and ammonia mut be silent? - Richard Feynman
Sometimes I "finish" a book thinking the subject matter is too hard for me to understand, but "Cloud' is one of the few books that makes me doubt my abiltiy to understand physics. An imaginative, fun and sometimes frustrating book about imagination of our universal systems. Be it the solar system or our atomic sturcture, K.C. Cole argues that our perceptions are limited. Our laws of the universe few. Yet, through an understanding of forces we have been able to reach far beyond our everyday sensations to make sense of the world.
This epistemological worldview presents itself to the curious and open-minded, but I found myself fighting to understand the threaded worldview across all subjects. I suppose forces and relationship are at the core..but alas it may be my own limitations with physics and hard-science that prevented me from the deep connection of this book.
Sometimes I "finish" a book thinking the subject matter is too hard for me to understand, but "Cloud' is one of the few books that makes me doubt my abiltiy to understand physics. An imaginative, fun and sometimes frustrating book about imagination of our universal systems. Be it the solar system or our atomic sturcture, K.C. Cole argues that our perceptions are limited. Our laws of the universe few. Yet, through an understanding of forces we have been able to reach far beyond our everyday sensations to make sense of the world.
This epistemological worldview presents itself to the curious and open-minded, but I found myself fighting to understand the threaded worldview across all subjects. I suppose forces and relationship are at the core..but alas it may be my own limitations with physics and hard-science that prevented me from the deep connection of this book.
January 30, 2023
Nothing against the book but physics has always given me nightmares, especially in undergrad years. However I loved the tying of physics to biology (my fav subject) and just life in general. I did catch more than one typo but it’s a science book not an English one and I know I couldn’t do better writing a book about physics. I must admit I started to skim in the latter half of the book (maybe it was the topic or writing I’m not entirely sure).
January 22, 2022
Varies between presenting great explanations of difficult scientific concepts, yet also delves quite deeply into complicated matters without offering much in the way of background info.
I walked away with a desire to do further research on various scientific endeavors.
I walked away with a desire to do further research on various scientific endeavors.
February 16, 2020
There is a lot of interesting information, but the book is a little long and sometimes got me sleepy.
February 19, 2023
Excellent use of analogy to provide a basic overview of the theories of physics accessible to a general yet curious reader.
February 6, 2025
Interesting jaunt through physics, but errors in the text detracts from the writing.
June 27, 2011
Wonderful. Imagery, prose, and, dare I say poetry, combine to describe physics and the world of physics. I didn't get to finish this one, as the library needed it back, but I still feel it deserves five stars.
March 12, 2008
It's a wonderful book! It gives you a practical perspective on complicated physics. Must read!
Currently reading
July 23, 2008This book really put me to a sleep.
January 21, 2010
This book really changed the way I thought about the world. I read this during my first year of teaching and thought what a great idea
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
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