10 things I learned from the book || The Battery : How portable power sparked a technological revolution

Book Post : 24

Book Name : The Battery : How portable power sparked a technological revolution

Author : Henry Schlesinger

Genre : Non-Fiction/Science

What is it about?: It is about the history of how batteries were developed over the years. From the twitching of a frog's leg to the the nickel hydrogen batteries in the Hubble space telescope the book traces the many observations, discoveries, inventions and break throughs that lead to the batteries that we see in everyday use today. 

How I came to read it : I like to casually browse books in a library and on one such visit I saw this book and given my background in energy I had to read it. 

   

Did I like it? :  Yes I did. It starts off nicely, becomes a tad bit bland in the middle but becomes interesting once again as the military uses of batteries section comes up. I learnt a lot of new facts and trivia about batteries and the equipment they power.  

Top 10 things I learned from this book: 

1. We all the know the 'Bazooka', the rocket launcher which can be fired from the shoulder. It forms a quintessential part of so many action movies. The original bazooka was ignited by two standard sized D cells on the stock though later models eliminated the batteries altogether. Fun fact: The name 'Bazooka' was given by soldiers, after a musical instrument played by a radio comic called Bob Burns. 

2. Its not perfectly clear who invented the Walkie Talkie and is credited to many inventors including the engineering team at Motorola. I will only mention the Canadian connection here. Donald Hings, working at the Consolidated Mining and Smelting Company in Vancouver is said to have the invented a portable 2 way radio in 1937. 

3. Duracell was originally called P R Mallory company and it started off by manufacturing Mercury cells. This was the first new battery chemistry in over a century(better than the carbon-zinc config used in the majority of applications then). This was in the 1920s.  Sam Ruben was the one who invented the Mercury Cells. 

4. There is a law called Faraday's Law of Electrolysis which states that in order to double the output of any battery, the amount of material in that battery must be doubled. The battery industry hit this wall many times and found ways around it. 

5. World's first electric watch was released in 1957 by a company called Hamilton(this company was eventually taken over by Swatch). This electric watch was called Hamilton 500 and was priced at $175(around $1,300 today). It had a $1.75 energizer battery which was not too reliable. Elvis Presley bought a Hamilton Electric watch and so did Rod Sterling, the host of Twilight Zone. Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones wore Hamilton Electrics in the 'Men in Black' movies. 

6. Sonotone Corporation, a manufacturer of hearing aids became the first company in 1952 to offer a consumer product using transistors. Transistors were mostly used in military applications till then. AT&T provided the license to Sonotone for the use of transistors. Interestingly the license provided to Sonotone was royalty free in observance of Alexander Graham Bell's devotion to the deaf. AT&T was established by Bell and his father in law. 

7. TR-55, a transistorized radio model was released by a then young 10 year old company called the Tokyo Telecommunications Engineering Company. TR-55 was only available in Japan. The company wanted to release its next model TR-63 in the US too. For the exports the company changed its name to something that Americans can easily pronounce: Sony. TR-63 was a huge hit which ultimately popularized the pocket radios.  

8. This one is more of a fun fact. Its common that technical advances attract conspiracy theories. We are living in the age of misinformation so we are pretty used to this but the world was not short of conspiracies in the 50s too. One of these theories said that transistors were a product of reverse engineering alien technology salvaged from a crashed alien spaceship.

9.  In 1973, Sharp released a pocket calculator called Elsi Mate EL-805. It housed 5 Integrated Circuits and was less than an inch thick. It could run for 100 hours on a single AA battery. This power consumption was 1/9000 of other battery powered calculators on the market. This was chiefly because this calculator used LCD(Liquid Crystal Displays) for the first time ever. This was a big turning point. 

10. The Hubble Space Telescope, launched in 1990, had six 125 pound rechargeable nickel hydrogen batteries. Scientists and engineers at that time estimated their life expectancy to be around 5 years. They lasted for 19 years!   

10 things I learned from the book || Cool : How Air Conditioning changed everything

Book Post : 23

Book Name : Cool : How Air Conditioning changed everything

Author : Salvatore Basile

Genre : Non-Fiction/Science

What is it about?: A book detailing the history of Air Conditioning right from its earliest beginnings to the modern era. As the author states there were two struggles in the story of Air conditioning: one was actually making a perfect cooling device and the other was to convince people that they needed such a device.

How I came to read it : With my recent career change to energy efficiency in buildings I wanted to read books about Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning. A quick google search lead me to this book and I obtained it by making an Inter Library Loan request from the Okanagan Regional Library. Also the recent heatwaves in Canada resulting in a huge surge in demand for home ACs played a factor.

   

Did I like it? :  This was a decent read. Not overly exciting and at the same not too bland it was an okay read. It gets a bit repetitive in the middle but slowly pics up pace at the end. 

Top 10 things I learned from this book: 

1. The first proper Air Conditioning unit was invented by Willis Haviland Carrier in 1902. Yes the same Carrier which is a huge AC manufacturing company now. The first AC was built for a company called Sackett-Wilhelms Lithographic and Publishing company. The summers of 1900 and 1902 were very hot and humid and a large amount of paper stock was ruined because of it. So an Air Conditioning system was built for them by Willis Carrier (while working for Buffalo Forge) which not only kept the facility cool but also kept the humidity under control.  

2. Willis Carrier mentioned that when the problem of the above publishing company was assigned to him to solve he did not even know what Air Humidity was. Imagine Carrier, who is almost regarded as the father of AC, not knowing what Air humidity was. This only reinforces the fact that it doesn't matter if you don't know something, what matters is how you move from that point. Another modern example of this would be Elon Musk who knew nothing about Rockets. Now he has started off a revival of interest in space with his company SpaceX. 

3. In 1922 it was Willis Carrier again who invented the first centrifugal compressor, a very important piece in every modern AC system. 

4. The first Air Conditioned plane was the Boeing 247 operated by United Air Lines. It started operation in 1934 and was the first 24 hr coast to coast flight.

5. The first Air Conditioned skyscraper was the Milam building in San Antonia, Texas. For the first time 21 stories of office space were Air conditioned, a remarkable achievement at that time. It was Carrier who installed this system. This was in 1928. 

6. Fun Fact: When the 103 floor Empire State Building was built in 1931 it was the World's tallest building and it had no Air Conditioning. None at all. 

7. There was a time when theatres did not have ACs and watching a play in the summers was known to be a tough ordeal. People falling unconscious because of the heat was a common recurrence. This is the reason theatres were one of the earliest adopters of methods to try to cool the air. 

8. In those days (1800s and early 1900s) people believed that heat is something that is nature's way and it shouldn't be messed with. It took a lot of convincing by the early pioneers of ACs to change that view. ACs sort of had a 'Personal computer moment' in the early 1900s when most people believed that a personal home AC system is not needed and what use could an AC actually have for a small home. The 1950s changed all that and ACs were soon a rage. 

9. In 1911, Willis Carrier published a paper called the 'Rational Psychrometric Formulae' at a meeting of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers. This is regarded as the most significant document prepared in Air Conditioning. It presented the correlation between temperature and humidity. Engineering students still learn those formulae and I did too when I was doing my Bachelor's in Mechanical Engineering. '

10. A textile Engineer from North Carolina, Stuart Cramer was the first person to coin the term 'Air Conditioning' 

Book Post : Apollo's Legacy : Perspectives on the Moon Landings

Book Post : 22

Book Name : Apollo's Legacy : Perspectives on the Moon Landings

Author : Roger D. Launius

Genre : Non-Fiction/Science

What is it about?: Written by NASA's chief historian from 1990 to 2002 this book is a history of the Apollo program, which put humankind on the moon, and also talks about different points of view of the program and how some of them have changed or not changed over the years. 

How I came to read it : Casual browsing in my local library lead me to this book and since recent news have been dominated by Jeff Bezos and Richard Branson space flights I thought Ill read something about Humankind's biggest achievement till date. The moon landings. 

   

Did I like it? : A bit on the fence on this one. So unlike my usual posts I am going to keep this one a bit short. If you are looking at purely the story of the Apollo missions then this book is not the one. There are a few chapters on the actual story but the rest of the book is about the perceptions of the people about the achievement. The author also takes a look at the different aspects of the whole endeavor. The technology, the astronauts, useful research that has come out of it, its impacts on everyday life and how people remember it now. He also talks about the three main narratives that sprang up during and after the moon landing missions. One is that the whole mission was a technological high and it has resulted in many useful scientific advances which have translated into human life. The second is that there was no need for man to go to moon at that point in time as there were a number of other problems where efforts could have gone in and that would have resulted in much better results for humankind. The author explores these two points in depth often jumping from the past to the present. Surprisingly the author devotes an entire chapter to the third narrative: the conspiracy theories. The fact that a number of prominent people had to even entertain the existence of these conspiracy theories shows how ignorance and stupidity when spread into large numbers poses a real problem. Overall, the book is interesting if you are interested in the perceptions of the mission and not the mission itself. I am not in that category so this was a bit of uninteresting read for me. Twice I thought of abandoning the book but soldiered on just to finish what I started. 

PS: I believe that moon landings were indeed a technological marvel and it has helped humankind progress further in science and technology. Also, I believe that men have indeed landed on the moon and its not just some kind of a big fake set up. 

Book Post : Simply Electrifying : The Technology that transformed the world, from Benjamin Franklin to Elon Musk

Book Post : 21 

Book Name : Simply Electrifying : The Technology that transformed the world, from Benjamin Franklin to Elon Musk

Author : Craig R. Roach

Genre : Non-Fiction/Science

What is it about? : This book traces the journey of electricity from its earliest days when it was nothing but a curiosity to the present when we cant even think about living without electricity. The book is neatly divided into 5 major phases of electricity's journey. 

Part 1: The Age of Franklin : A Time of Awe and Discovery

Part 2: The Age of Edison: Let there be light (and power)

Part 3: The Age of Big: Big Government, Big Power Plants

Part 4: The Age of Harm: Crisis, Change, and Scandal

Part 5: The Age of uncompromising belief  

How I came to read it : When I moved to Kelowna one of the first things I did was check out the local library branch. Kelowna has the Okanagan Regional Library and while casually browsing through the books I spotted this book. I have been reading a lot of books on electricity lately and this seemed to be a good addition. 

   

Did I like it? : Yes I did. The book starts off nicely with Benjamin Franklin and James Watt, peaks with Michael Faraday, Maxwell, Tesla, Edison, Westinghouse, slowly starts to decline with Samuel Insull and gets a bit boring in the middle when talk moves to government, depression and policies. It ends on a high with George Mitchell and Elon Musk.  Overall what I loved about the book is how neatly the author has divided the different phases of electricity's journey. There is discovery, expansion, exploitation and finally a hope for a cleaner future. 

During the early years its mostly about how electricity was noticed and how curious minds like Ben Franklin set about investigating it. The author makes an interesting point here. Today we might know Benjamin Franklin as one of the founding fathers of USA and the general image is that his work on science was secondary. But the author says that he was a scientist first. His success, fame and respect he enjoyed both in America and Europe gave him the leverage to become a great statesman. The book is littered with interesting insights like these on many personalities and ideas. After, Franklin comes James Watt whos invention of the steam engine made the people dependent on machines and this set the stage for the development of the electricity run motors and the whole electricity infrastructure laid out by Edison, Tesla and Westinghouse. These days whenever discussions about inventors related to electricity come up people are quick to mention Edison vs Tesla. But there was a third person in this saga who seems to be forgotten in the general public. This was George Westinghouse. A famous inventor in his own right, his invention of the air brake changed the railways forever. After his success in the railway industry he turned his focus to the nascent electricity industry.  A brilliant entrepreneur in addition to being an inventor, Westinghouse took the path of developing the Alternating Current (AC) system. The war of the currents, AC vs DC was mostly Westinghouse (AC) vs Edison(DC). It was Westinghouse who recognized the talent of Tesla and employed him in his company. I feel its a shame that Westinghouse is largely forgotten today.

Next comes one of the most divisive personalities of the book Samuel Insull. Insull like Westinghouse remains largely forgotten today but he is the person responsible for spreading electricity across the country and made it accessible to a majority of the population. He is also responsible for the tariff structure of electricity later. Both sides of his story are presented here and the trial details of Insull make for interesting reading. Then comes Franklin D Roosevelt and his New Deal. Then there is talk of the time of big projects like building of Hoover Dam and Tennessee Valley Authority. The age of Harm stars off with talking about the person 'who started it all' Rachel Carson and her landmark book 'Silent Spring'. Then a large portion is dedicated to the California electricity crisis of 2003. A major portion of the book talks about deregulating of the electricity business. It was one of the most boldest moves in business and there are still debates about it going on even today. And the last part is about Obama, George Mitchell and Elon Musk. Leaving aside the criticism of Musk the author makes the point that at least he is making electricity and the science related to it cool again. 

One of the points I loved was that that electricity is a revolutionary force. The author says that during the early stages of electricity's development there was a sense of scientific adventure and excitement which seems have dwindled down recently. No longer do people associate electricity with scientific achievement or discovery. And this is so true. When I look at electricity related news its all about policies, regulations, prices etc, all important stuff undoubtedly but pretty mundane. There is no sense of scientific excitement, if I can use that term. Hopefully things change in the future!

Overall 'Simply Electrifying' is a pretty decent read and I enjoyed it!

My top 5 Horror Movies (Part 2)

The last post I wrote about my favorite horror movies was in 2015. Its been almost 5 years since then and my list of favorites has now a number of new additions. Without further ado here are my favorite horror movies (in no particular order) since that last post. 

1. The VVitch

The VVitch (that's how its spelled in old english) is the debut feature of Robert Eggers who is considered one of the 'hottest' horror directors working today (along with Ari Aster). One of my top 3 horror movies of recent times, VVitch tells the story of a couple in 1630 who's youngest son disappears. Suspicions turn towards their eldest daughter who is suspected of Witchcraft. Bordering on the style of fairytales of the Grimm's brothers (not the fairytale of the Disney kind) The VVitch stays true to the period it is set in with old English dialogues and the details of the living conditions. Full of atmospheric horror and unsettling scenes, it is a Slowburn horror. The tension builds slowly and it never fully eases till the ending. It has some of the best witch depictions I have seen so far. The best scene comes quite early in the movie, the eldest daughter is playing a game of peekaboo with her youngest brother. She covers her eyes three times and uncovers it making the baby laugh, the fourth time when she opens her eyes, there's no baby. 

Why I liked it: Slowburn horror, extreme tension in the air, unsettling scenes and unexpected twists. 

2. The Wailing

The Wailing is a Korean horror movie about strange happenings in a town: people killing their family members and looking like zombies the next day. A police inspector is tasked with investigating these murders. The rural setting immediately brings to mind the classic Korean movie 'Memories of Murder' but here what looks like elements of supernatural soon turn into full scale evil. There are so many things happening in this movie its hard to keep up with it. As the story progresses it feels less like a linear narrative and more like branches of a tree with many different things all happening. Half way through the movie the police inspector calls for help in the form of a famous shaman. His entry adds more spice to the proceedings. The Wailing contains the finest exorcism scene I have seen so far in horror movies. So many unexpected things happen in this movie that somewhere along the way you know that anything can happen and even then nothing prepares you for the final twist. Thoroughly entertaining and absolute fun!  For full effect I watched this movie at 12 am in the night and it ended somewhere between 2am and 3am. Not to mention that I used to live alone at that time. Sometime after completing this movie as I was just falling asleep someone rang my doorbell. Needless to say I was sacred shitless. But I did go and after calling out 'whos there' and opening the door I saw no one at the door. I slept with my lights on for the rest of the night. The next day I found out that the guy next door had drunkenly rang my doorbell instead of the light switch which was the adjacent switch. I couldn't help but think that it had to happen on that night of all nights.   

Why I liked it: Creepy scenes, brilliant cinematography, amazing actors and a thoroughly unsettling ending. 

3. It Follows

'It follows' has a simple plot. There is a curse going on that jumps from one person to another through sex. Who ever has it, that person is followed by a strange entity which is never fully explained. This entity takes the form of other people. During the initial part of the movie the protagonist gets it from her boyfriend.  The rest of the movie is about how she tries to figure out a way to escape from it. The acting is top class but the highlight is the downright creepy soundtrack by Disasterpeace. What sets apart this movie is that unlike other entries on this list the movie is set in a town and all of it happens in everyday situations and places. 

What I liked about it: Creepy throughout with some top quality jump scares. In fact some of the best  jump scares I have seen so far. 

4. Suspiria (1977)

Suspiria is the most recent addition to this list and I was blown away in the first 10 mins itself. The first 10 mins of the movie has everything that makes me a horror fan. I have watched that scene multiple times now. The movie begins with a girl making her way out of the airport to a ballet school she has come to join in the city. As she begins to walk out, we hear the spine chilling theme music begin to play and we immediately get the sensation that something is wrong. She takes a taxi to the ballet school in the pouring rain. Here we the emotions on her face as she is coming to grips with the roughness of her situation. A single woman in a new city at night time in pouring rain. Shades of pink from the surrounding lights fall on her face as she tries to strike a conversation with the taxi driver. The red and pink color palette contribute in a huge way to make Suspiria what it is. As she begins to spend more time at the school she notices strange happenings and soon comes to a conclusion that something is wrong with her instructors. What it is I leave it for you to find out. Originally from Italy, the land of the Giallo, Suspiria is Dario Argento's masterpiece. 

What I liked about it: theme music, the setting, creepy atmosphere, opening scene, colour scheme

5. Tumbbad 

Tumbbad is a Hindi language movie which tells the story of a man searching for a hidden treasure in the village of Tummbad. Set in the Pre-independence days (before 1947) the sets and costumes are authentic, adding to the creepy nature of the movie. For me the number one criteria for a good horror movie is the atmosphere of dread it creates and Tummbad absolutely nails it in this area. There are folk elements present and more than one mystery to understand. Some characters are downright nightmarish  and many scary situations. In fact I was watching this movie with a group of friends and on at least occasions I could hear a audible of f**k go around the room. I am a huge horror fan both of stories in the written form and movies. Keeping in mind all of my horror fascination in mind and the work that I have read and watched I can safely say that Tumbbad is one of the best Hindi Horror movies ever. If I can take it a bit further it can be even be called the best Hindi horror movie ever.

What I liked about it: The authentic feel, the atmosphere of dread throughout, the crisp visuals, the multiple layers of mysterious characters.

Book Post 20: A Brief History of Creation by Bill Mesler and H. James Cleaves

Book Name : A Brief History of Creation

Author : Bill Mesler and H. James Cleaves

Genre : Non-Fiction/Science

 

What is it about? :   One of the most enduring mysteries of science has been the origin of life. How did it all began? What was the first organism to appear? What differentiates living from non living? Where is the boundary that separates the two? These are some of the questions mankind's best mind have been trying to answer for a long time. In this book the authors, Bill Mesler and James Cleaves trace the history of the ideas/concepts about the origin of life and the people behind them.  

How I came to read it : For the first time since years I was in a position where I had not read a book in 3 months. This was the longest gap in years for me. This was largely because of some change in jobs and some moving around. Eventually though I couldn't hold up any longer and I went to the nearest Indigo branch and headed straight for the sale section. This was one of the only two science paperbacks on sale and I got this immediately. 

   

Did I like it? : Loved it! This book made me question why I had not started reading science books much earlier in life. No fiction can match the thrill of the stories of the brilliant minds of science.  

Coming to the book itself, it starts off the history from the time of Anaximander and Aristotle. The spontaneous generation theory supported by Aristotle was something that was in vogue for the next few hundred years. Then came Van Leeuwenhoek whose mind blowing work with microscopes opened up a new understanding of the tiny creatures around us. This way, the book slowly moves on from on one major advancement to another, from one scientist to another all the while keeping in mind the big question of when and how life originated. Some of the amazing scientists include Voltaire, Andrew Crosse, Charles Darwin, Louis Pasteur,  JBS Haldane, Stanley Miller, Sidney Fox, Crick and Watson. 

One of the most exciting parts of the books is the anticipation of which scientist is going to turn up next. People you don't expect to turn up in a book about origin of life turn up at the most unexpected times. That was by far my best experience about this book. Also, being a energy professional myself the appearance of electricity piqued my interest. Mary Shelley, the creator of Frankenstein makes an appearance in this section. During the early days of electricity people tended to believe that electricity had life giving properties. Mary's inspiration for Frankenstein was no different. It was a result of the intense debate and discussion going around electricity at that time. She was largely inspired by experiments of Andrew Crosse and Luigi Galvani. Galvani's experiment where he accidentally observed the twitching of a frog leg by electricity became hugely famous. Fun fact: the English word 'Galvanize' meaning 'to stimulate' or 'to bring to life' originated from Galvani's famous experiment. 

Slowly, as the narrative progresses, it narrows down to biology and medicine focusing on Watson, Crick and Rosalind Franklin who discovered the shape of DNA, a landmark achievement in understanding the origin of life. The book spans from the time of the Greeks to the late 1990s. A tremendous tour of the inspiring journey of humankind's quest for an answer to the, some say, ultimate question of science, how did life originate? Thrilling and inspiring I enjoyed every bit of this book. Best 4 bucks ever!