What Einstein Didn't Know

What Einstein Didn't Know
Author: Robert L. Wolke
Publisher: Courier Corporation
Total Pages: 244
Release: 2014-05-21
Genre: Science
ISBN: 0486492893

Presents scientific answers to a series of miscellaneous questions, covering such topics as "Why are bubbles round," "Why are the Earth, Sun, and Moon all spinning," and "How you can tell the temperature by listening to a cricket."

What Einstein Didn't Know

What Einstein Didn't Know
Author: Robert L. Wolke
Publisher: Tantor eBooks
Total Pages: 230
Release: 2012-08-31
Genre: Science
ISBN: 1618030833

A "Washington Post" columnist offers a fun, fascinating guide to everyday science for those who never wore a slide rule or a pocket protector.

What Einstein Told His Cook

What Einstein Told His Cook
Author: Robert L. Wolke
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
Total Pages: 380
Release: 2002
Genre: Cooking
ISBN: 9780393011838

Provides more than one hundred reliable and comical explanations for a variety of scientific questions related to the kitchen, food, and cooking.

Culinary Reactions

Culinary Reactions
Author: Simon Quellen Field
Publisher: Chicago Review Press
Total Pages: 258
Release: 2011-11-01
Genre: Cooking
ISBN: 1569769605

When you're cooking, you're a chemist! Every time you follow or modify a recipe, you are experimenting with acids and bases, emulsions and suspensions, gels and foams. In your kitchen you denature proteins, crystallize compounds, react enzymes with substrates, and nurture desired microbial life while suppressing harmful bacteria and fungi. And unlike in a laboratory, you can eat your experiments to verify your hypotheses. In Culinary Reactions, author Simon Quellen Field turns measuring cups, stovetop burners, and mixing bowls into graduated cylinders, Bunsen burners, and beakers. How does altering the ratio of flour, sugar, yeast, salt, butter, and water affect how high bread rises? Why is whipped cream made with nitrous oxide rather than the more common carbon dioxide? And why does Hollandaise sauce call for “clarified” butter? This easy-to-follow primer even includes recipes to demonstrate the concepts being discussed, including: &· Whipped Creamsicle Topping—a foam &· Cherry Dream Cheese—a protein gel &· Lemonade with Chameleon Eggs—an acid indicator

How to Read a French Fry

How to Read a French Fry
Author: Russ Parsons
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Total Pages: 362
Release: 2003
Genre: Cookery
ISBN: 9780618379439

In a book widely hailed for its entertaining prose and provocative research, the award-winning Los Angeles Times food journalist Russ Parsons examines the science behind ordinary cooking processes. Along the way he dispenses hundreds of tips and the reasons behind them, from why you should always begin cooking beans in cold water, to why you should salt meat before sautéing it, to why it's a waste of time to cook a Vidalia onion. Filled with sharp-witted observations ("Frying has become synonymous with minimum-wage labor, yet hardly anyone will try it at home"), intriguing food trivia (fruit deprived of water just before harvest has superior flavor to fruit that is irrigated up to the last moment ), and recipes (from Oven-Steamed Salmon with Cucumber Salad to Ultimate Strawberry Shortcake), How to Read a French Fry contains all the ingredients you need to become a better cook.

What Einstein Told His Barber

What Einstein Told His Barber
Author: Robert Wolke
Publisher: Dell
Total Pages: 290
Release: 2009-07-29
Genre: Science
ISBN: 0307568474

What makes ice cubes cloudy? How do shark attacks make airplanes safer? Can a person traveling in a car at the speed of sound still hear the radio? Moreover, would they want to...? Do you often find yourself pondering life's little conundrums? Have you ever wondered why the ocean is blue? Or why birds don't get electrocuted when perching on high-voltage power lines? Robert L. Wolke, professor emeritus of chemistry at the University of Pittsburgh and acclaimed author of What Einstein Didn't Know, understands the need to...well, understand. Now he provides more amusing explanations of such everyday phenomena as gravity (If you're in a falling elevator, will jumping at the last instant save your life?) and acoustics (Why does a whip make such a loud cracking noise?), along with amazing facts, belly-up-to-the-bar bets, and mind-blowing reality bites all with his trademark wit and wisdom. If you shoot a bullet into the air, can it kill somebody when it comes down? You can find out about all this and more in an astonishing compendium of the proverbial mind-boggling mysteries of the physical world we inhabit. Arranged in a question-and-answer format and grouped by subject for browsing ease, WHAT EINSTEIN TOLD HIS BARBER is for anyone who ever pondered such things as why colors fade in sunlight, what happens to the rubber from worn-out tires, what makes red-hot objects glow red, and other scientific curiosities. Perfect for fans of Newton's Apple, Jeopardy!, and The Discovery Channel, WHAT EINSTEIN TOLD HIS BARBER also includes a glossary of important scientific buzz words and a comprehensive index. -->

The Kitchen as Laboratory

The Kitchen as Laboratory
Author: Cesar Vega
Publisher: Columbia University Press
Total Pages: 338
Release: 2013-08-13
Genre: Cooking
ISBN: 0231153457

In this global collaboration of essays, chefs and scientists test various hypotheses and theories concerning? the physical and chemical properties of food. Using traditional and cutting-edge tools, ingredients, and techniques, these pioneers create--and sometimes revamp--dishes that respond to specific desires, serving up an original encounter with gastronomic practice. From grilled cheese sandwiches, pizzas, and soft-boiled eggs to Turkish ice cream, sugar glasses, and jellified beads, the essays in The Kitchen as Laboratory cover a range of culinary creations and their history and culture. They consider the significance of an eater's background and dining atmosphere and the importance of a chef's methods, as well as strategies used to create a great diversity of foods and dishes. Contributors end each essay with their personal thoughts on food, cooking, and science, thus offering rare insight into a professional's passion for experimenting with food.

Taste What You're Missing

Taste What You're Missing
Author: Barb Stuckey
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 418
Release: 2012-03-13
Genre: Cooking
ISBN: 1439190739

"The science of taste and how to improve your sense of taste so that you get the most out of every bite"--

Pandora's Lunchbox

Pandora's Lunchbox
Author: Melanie Warner
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 281
Release: 2013-02-26
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 145166673X

If a piece of individually wrapped cheese retains its shape, colour, and texture for years, what does it say about the food we eat and feed our children? Former New York Timesbusiness reporter and mother Melanie Warner decided to explore that question when she observed the phenomenon of the indestructible cheese. She began an investigative journey that takes her to research labs, food science departments, and factories around the country. What she discovered provides a rare, eye-opening-and sometimes disturbing-account of what we're really eating. Warner looks at how decades of food science have resulted in the cheapest, most abundant, most addictive, and most nutritionally devastating food in the world, and she uncovers startling evidence about the profound health implications of the packaged and fast foods that we eat on a daily basis. From breakfast cereal to chicken subs to nutrition bars, processed foods account for roughly 70 percent of our nation's calories. Despite the growing presence of farmers' markets and organic produce, strange food additives are nearly impossible to avoid. Combining meticulous research, vivid writing, and cultural analysis, Warnerblows the lid off the largely undocumented-and lightly regulated-world of chemically treated and processed foods and lays bare the potential price we may pay for consuming even so-called "healthy" foods.