Savannas are far more common that you may realize. For instance, did you know that they make up roughly half of the surface area in the tropics and sub-tropics? That they cover approximately 45% of South America and nearly 50% of Africa?
Bringing commonly overlooked details of the astronomer’s life and work to the attention of a wider audience in an accessible format is at the heart of the new “Copernicus; A Very Short Introduction” by Owen Gingrich. In a mere 120 pages, a more full and nuanced understanding of The Copernican Revolution as well as the life and times of Copernicus himself is made available to any interested reader.
Not so very long ago, a colleague of mine, during a conversation between us about astronomy, took issue with the fact that I had conflated it with astrophysics. “The two are very different,” he insisted. He having studied the latter at university, and not being particularly learned in either subject myself, I was confused regarding the distinctions between the two – and, to be perfectly honest, have been ever since.
For years, whenever I have needed to get “up to speed” quickly on a subject, one of the first sources of information I turn to is the Oxford University Press Very Short Introductions series. For those who might not be familiar with this extraordinary collection, the Very Short Introductions (or “VSI”) series presently contains over […]