Invisible: The Dangerous Allure of the Unseen
- ISBN-10
- 022623889X
- ISBN-13
- 9780226238890
- Series
- Invisible
- Category
- History
- Pages
- 332
- Language
- English
- Published
- 2015-04-08
- Publisher
- University of Chicago Press
- Author
- Philip Ball
Description
Science is said to be on the verge of achieving the ancient dream of making objects invisible. Invisible is a biography of an idea, tied to the history of science over thelongue durée. Taking in Plato to today's science, Ball shows us that the stories we have told about invisibility are not in fact about technical capability but about power, sex, concealment, morality, and corruption. Precisely because they refer to matters that lie beyond our senses, unseen beings and worlds have long been a repository for hopes, fears, and suppressed desires. Ideas of invisibility are, like all ideas rooted in legend, ultimately parables about our own potential and weaknesses. Invisible presents the first comprehensive survey of the roles that the idea of invisibility has played throughout time and culture. This territory takes us from medieval grimoires to cutting-edge nanotechnology, from fairy tales to telecommunications, from camouflage to early cinematography, and from beliefs about ghosts to the dawn of nuclear physics and the discovery of dark energy. Invisible reveals what our age-old fantasies about what lurks unseen, and whether we can enter that realm ourselves, truly say about us.
Get the book
Other editions
-
- 2015-04-08
- 336 pages
- Ebook
- University of Chicago Press
Similar books
-
Invisible Reality: Storytellers, Storytakers, and the Supernatural World of the Blackfeet
By Rosalyn R. LaPierThe stories they passed to new generations and outsiders reveal the fundamental philosophy of Blackfeet existence, namely, the belief that they could alter, change, or control nature to suit their needs and that they were able to do so with ...
-
The Invisible Man
By Herbert George WellsIn this renowned novel by H.G. Wells, a heavily disguised man takes up residence at a rural English inn and begins performing secret experiments, leading to intense curiosity from the...
-
Invisible: A Novel
By Ginny L. YttrupThree women on physically and emotionally self-destructive paths find their faith in God tested and their self-esteem bolstered as their lives intertwine.
-
Invisible: A Novel
By Danielle SteelIn this extraordinary novel, Danielle Steel tells the story of a woman who must decide how high a price she is willing to pay to pursue her passion—and whether it is possible to stay true to herself while she does.
-
Invisible: A Novel
By Paul AusterThree different narrators tell the story of Invisible, a novel that travels in time from 1967 to 2007 and moves from Morningside Heights, to the Left Bank of Paris, to a remote island in the Caribbean.
-
Invisible Man
By Ralph EllisonFor not only does Ralph Ellison's nightmare journey across the racial divide tell unparalleled truths about the nature of bigotry and its effects on the minds of both victims and perpetrators, it gives us an entirely new model of what a ...
-
Invisible
By María BarandaPascual is a boy who sometimes feels like he is invisible since no one listens to him when he speaks or pays any attention to him.
-
Invisible
By James Patterson, David EllisRead the #1 New York Times bestselling thriller Invisible, then continue the series with Unsolved.
-
Invisible
By Pete HautmanDoug and Andy are unlikely best friends--one a loner obsessed by his model trains, the other a popular student involved in football and theater--who grew up together and share a bond that nothing can sever.
-
Selling the Invisible: Biz Books to Go - A Field Guide to Modern Marketing
By Harry BeckwithSELLING THE INVISIBLE is a succinct and often entertaining look at the unique characteristics of services and their prospects, and how any service, from a home-based consultancy to a multinational brokerage, can turn more prospects into ...