By Melanie Mitchell. New York, Oxford University Press, 2009. Index,
bibliography, notes, 349 pages. ISBN: 9780199798100. VSCL.
Get those
binoculars off the shelf in your home, clean them up, and take them
outside to see your local neighborhood with new eyes. Get a closer look
at that owl roosting in the pine tree. Look at the full moon in the
night sky. Take a look at the nearby hills.
Get that magnifying
glass you own into your pocket and take a closer look at some common
objects in the house and garden.
For my 65th birthday, my wife purchased for me a Celestron 44302 handheld digital microscope (USB 2.0 Powered, 2.0MP Digital Photo/Video, 10.0 - 40.0x and 150x Magnification, with Image Capture/Organization Software). This $50 microscope will, I'm sure, become a delightful tool to explore new realms of seeing. In particular, I'd like to look more closely at the insects living on our land.
For my 65th birthday, my wife purchased for me a Celestron 44302 handheld digital microscope (USB 2.0 Powered, 2.0MP Digital Photo/Video, 10.0 - 40.0x and 150x Magnification, with Image Capture/Organization Software). This $50 microscope will, I'm sure, become a delightful tool to explore new realms of seeing. In particular, I'd like to look more closely at the insects living on our land.
For a really
interesting “look” at the world of plant seeds and fruits, see if your
local library has “The Bizarre and Incredible World of Plants,” by
Wolfgang Stuppy, Rob Kesseler, and Madeling Harley. Firefly Books,
2009. Visual artist Rob Kesseler uses special light and scanning
electron microscopy to create astonishing images of a wide variety of
pollen, seeds and fruits. Razor-sharp cross sections that reveal
intricate interiors of flowers expose the astonishing strategies that
plants have evolved to ensure their survival.
“Equipped with our five senses - along with telescopes and microscopes and mass spectrometers and seismographs and magnetometers and particle accelerators and detectors sensitive to the entire electromagnetic spectrum - we explore the universe around us and call the adventure science.”
- Edwin Hubble
“The microscope is man's noblest, supreme, and most far-reaching tool.”
- Adrianus Pijper
