Segre, Gino. A matter of degrees; what temperature reveals about the past and future of our species, planet, and universe - Brief Article - Young Adult Review - Book Review

Kliatt, Jan, 2004 by Katherine Gillen

Penguin. 300p. illus. notes. index. c2002. 0-14-200278-X. $15.00. A

Professor Segre begins his book with an interesting rumination--why is it that almost all mammals and birds have an internal temperature close to 98.6 degrees? What is so special about that number in the scheme of things? Why is it that if you vary it by 1% you could be ill and by 5% you could be dead? Temperature becomes a common theme throughout A Matter of Degrees, in the measurement of it, in its importance to global warming (and freezing), in the study of the sun and in dealing with quantum mechanics. Speculation on the great unknowns in all these areas (and there is a great deal that is unknown) plays an interesting, but lesser role in the other chapters, however. More emphasis is placed on the history of each science, tracing the roots of thought from ancient times to the present. Segre does an excellent job of covering a great deal of material in a short amount of paper, and does it with a minimum of jargon. He teaches physics and astronomy at the University of Pennsylvania; if he teaches as well as he writes, his classes must be standing room only.

At one point Segre quotes from another gifted scientific writer, Steven Weinberg, in explaining his "justification" for studying such questions: "The effort to understand the universe is one of the very few things that lifts human life a little above the level of farce and gives it some of the grace of tragedy." (p. 226) Professor Segre's efforts give us all more than a little insight into our own existence and lifts us as he does it. Katherine Gillen, Libn., Luke AFB Lib., AZ

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