Dodos, Pangolins, Crossbows, and Space Lawyers

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	• Another Look at Atlantis and Fifteen Other Essays Willy Ley Bell Publishing, 1969 - 229 pages average customer review:based on 1 review view larger image
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Dodos, Pangolins, Crossbows, and Space Lawyers

Willy Ley died of a heart attack on July, 1969. His final "For Your Information" column appeared in the November 1969 issue of _Galaxy_. It was about the latest theory concerning the death of the dinosaurs-- the notion that a temporary loss of the earth's magnetic field coupled with a solar flare caused a time of great dying at the end of the Cretaceous. Ley did not altogether rule it out, but he was cautious. We don't really know how long it took the dinosaurs to die out, he concluded. This essay was the end of an era. For eighteen years, many _Galaxy_ readers turned to Ley's column before they read anything else. Ley gave the magazine a certain flavor.

_Another Look at Atlantis_ (1969) is a collection of sixteen science essays from _Galaxy_ that must have been assembled just before his death. Like the first collection, _For Your Information: On Earth and in the Sky_ (1965), it is both informative and entertaining.

What strikes me as a bit unusual is what is not there. There is an absence of columns on spacecraft. Ley wrote plenty of columns of this sort for _Galaxy_ over the years-- on artificial satellites, manned orbital spacecraft, proposed space stations and lunar rockets, and weather probes and sounding rockets. And he answered a multitude of basic questions from readers about how rockets worked. These columns were certainly popular with readers, and sometimes they even recieved cover illustrations. But it may be that by 1969, many of these articles were considered a bit dated. There are several astronomy related pieces here, however-- all at the end of the book. "Who'll Own the Planets?" is a fascinating look at space law and how planets or asteroids may be claimed in the future. "The Re-Designed Solar System," published in 1966, gives an updated description of the solar system in the wake of the Zond and Mariner space probes. It is a somewhat regretful farewell to the old system with its Martian canals and deep blue Martian skies. "The Sound of Meteors" reminds us that it won't be the same in different parts of the atmosphere. And "Death of the Sun" describes how our sun will finally die-- 8,000 million years from now.

Two articles-- "Another Look at Atlantis" and "The Great Pyramid, the Golden Section, and Pi"-- are sensible treatments of two pseudoscientific areas. I don't suppose that they will change the minds of any True Believers, but they will certainly appeal to readers of a more critical bent.

There are a lot of articles on curious animals. "Largest of Their Kind" was written in response to a letter from a high school class asking for Ley to tell them which animals (bird, reptile, mammal, etc.) were the biggest. They probably didn't realize how complex their question really was. There is a chapter on odd newly discovered animals. And there are individual chapters on the ground sloth, the pangolin, the moa, and the dodo. The chapter on the dodo is really two related essays. And if you think that this strange bird doesn't merit that much attention, I challenge you to read chapter 9. "Let's Build an Extraterrestrial!" is about the construction of various mythical beasts.

"Who Invented the Crossbow?" might seem like a strange topic. But Ley was interested in the history of weaponry. He wrote knowledgeably in other essays about the development of the torpedo, the smallest bombs of WW II, the V-1 and V-2 rockets, and the development of cannons. In an earlier article (not, however, for _Galaxy_), Ley recounted how German scientists once taught that the sound barrier was impenitrable while on the opposite side of town, soldiers were daily breaking the sound barrier when they fired their cannons for target practice. If you want to know the finer points of how crossbows and catapults work, this is the essay for you.

"The Wreck of the _La Lutine_" deals with the sinking of a treasure ship off the coast of Holland and the various salvage methods used to recover the loot. "The Laws of Utter Chaos," in spite of the title, does not really have anything to do with modern chaos theory. It is instead a discussion about the good old-fashioned Brownian motion of molecules. Of course, your high school chemistry teacher told you about this early in the school year... But be honest. Do you _really_ remember what it is? In detail? Read Ley's chapter for a quick review.

When I was in high school, I once heard Ley give a talk. He had a strong German accent, but he was understandable. His subject was the early days of the space race, and he was filled with anecdotes about rocket tests that exploded in a spectacular manner and how various security agencies were spying on each other as well as on the scientists. He was fascinating to hear in person. You will likewise find him fascinating to read.

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Atlantis, a new look at a lost continent...the building of the Great Pyramid...the dodos, the moas and the pangolins...the sound of meteors...the legal question of who will own the planets...these are just a few of the subjects discussed in this new collection of sixteen science and natural history essays by Willy Ley. Whether discussing the possibility that the giant ground sloth is really not extinct but alive and healthy in South America, or how to salvage a hundred and ten million dollar treasure ship off the coast of Holland, Willy Ley is always informative and entertaining.

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