Waves are a ubiquitous fact of life for boaters and those working or playing on the water. They come, they go and for the most part little is thought of them until they grow large enough to cause a problem. Of course there are many other types of waves and learning more about them opens a greater universe of understanding.
In his book, The Wave Watcher’s Companion – From Ocean Waves to Light Waves via Shock Waves, Stadium Waves and All the Rest of Life’s Undulations, Gavin Pretor-Pinney has taken a question from his daughter and with his answer takes readers on a journey beyond expectation.
A Series of Oncoming Waves
Pretor-Pinney introduces his readers to the components of waves and then proceeds through the text laying chapters as a series of oncoming waves. The First Wave starts as personal, waves describing the circulation of blood by the heart. Other living waves transport snakes, reflect brain activity and provide locomotion of bacteria. As it turns out, Gavin Pretor-Pinney has captured these examples as analogies for describing transverse, longitudinal and torsional waves. Seems a little sneaky.
- The First Wave: Describing transverse, longitudinal and torsional waves
- The Second Wave: Explains wave refraction and diffraction as the ways of the wave
- The Third Wave: Waves as a message transmission medium
- The Fourth Wave: Standing waves or waves that don’t appear to travel
- The Fifth Wave: Really nasty waves or things that go boom in the night
- The Sixth Wave: People as waves, the stadium wave in motion. Waves of bees, birds and bugs
- The Seventh Wave: The largest waves found in the ocean
- The Eighth Wave: The colors of nature
- The Ninth Wave: Surf's up, dude
More About Waves Than Can be Imagined!
It turns out the author, through his series of chapters, shows readers similarities between waves of all kinds and uses many unexpected metaphors to convey his story. The text is entertaining and readable. It takes a reader further into the subject than they may have otherwise dared travel. The Wave Watcher’s Companion spreads its message through excellent quotes, illustrations and photos. Each chapter ends with a unique woodcut drawing.
As Pretor-Pinney says of a Hawaiian wave that has just crashed over him, “…I just floated there beneath the surface, looking upward, my body pulled back and forth by the rotating sweep of the water. I felt, from the inside, the death throes of this particular Pacific swell, and watched the sunlight filter down through the dancing, effervescent surface of the wave.”
The Wave Watcher’s Companion (ISBN 9780399534263) is a 320-page hardcover book published by Perigee in New York and its retail price is listed as $22.95. Gavin Pretor-Pinney has also written The Cloudspotter’s Guide and founded the Cloud Appreciation Society.
Alan Sorum - Alan Sorum is the Maritime Operations Project Manager for the Prince William Sound Regional Citizens' Advisory Council (PWSRCAC). Alan is ...
