POWERS OF TEN: About the Relative Size...

POWERS OF TEN: About the Relative Size of Things in the Universe by Philip Morrison, Phyllis Morrison and the Office of Charles and Ray Eames (Scientific American Library: $19.95; 159 pp., illustrated). A companion volume to the well-known film, “Powers of Ten” offers a graphic vision of the limits of human perception. Beginning with a photograph of a couple picnicking in a Chicago park, the authors take the reader on a journey through both the macro- and micro-cosmic. Expanding the image from 10 meters on a side to 10 to the 25th, or 1 billion light years on a side, extends it to the limits of the known universe. Shrinking it to 10 the -16m, about .1 fermi on a side, enters the realm of sub-atomic particles. This exceptional visual resource offers teachers and parents an easy way to demonstrate the relative scale of human existence.