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Very Short Introductions #430
Microscopy: A Very Short Introduction
Microscopy is a dynamic area of science, incorporating both basic classroom microscopes and sophisticated research style instruments that can be driven by light, electrons, or X-rays. The rate of advance in the area over the last 50 years has led to a number of technological advances.
In this Very Short Introduction Terence Allen, an established expert on microscope techniques, describes the scientific principles behind the main forms of microscopy, and the exciting new developments in the field. Focusing on the main underlying principles, and introducing the power of what is achievable today using microscopes, Allen demonstrates how microscopy impinges on almost every aspect of our daily lives; from medical diagnosis to quality control in manufacture. Beginning with a brief history of the early stages of microscopy development, Allen then concludes with a comprehensive account of the diverse spectrum of microscopy available today.
ABOUT THE
The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.
In this Very Short Introduction Terence Allen, an established expert on microscope techniques, describes the scientific principles behind the main forms of microscopy, and the exciting new developments in the field. Focusing on the main underlying principles, and introducing the power of what is achievable today using microscopes, Allen demonstrates how microscopy impinges on almost every aspect of our daily lives; from medical diagnosis to quality control in manufacture. Beginning with a brief history of the early stages of microscopy development, Allen then concludes with a comprehensive account of the diverse spectrum of microscopy available today.
ABOUT THE
The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.
136 pages, Paperback
First published April 17, 2015
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
March 23, 2022
Microscopy: A Very Short Introduction by Terence David Allen is what the title says: a fine overview of (I was tempted to write "a close look at") microscopy as the field stood in early 2014. Allen covers optical and electron microscopy and their many variants, along with more recent developments such as scanning tunneling microscopy and superlenses. Despite microscopy's long history, Allen portrays a still highly active field, with breakthroughs on the regular and perhaps plenty of future Nobel Prizes to dole out. (I guess we haven't quite reached The End of Physics.) Given that breakthroughs in microscopy quickly find applications in medicine, microbiology, manufacturing, nanotechnology, microelectronics, materials science, forensics, environmental science, and even avalanche prediction, important new discoveries in the field are unlikely to escape the notice of the Nobel committee.
Microscopy features diverse technologies along with diverse costs. At the top of the budget are massive million-volt electron microscopes, and at the bottom are cheap digital microscopes and even microscopes made mostly from paper for 50 cents each. No kidding on that last one, see Manu Prakash's TED talk (2014) and his follow-on video, Lifesaving scientific tools made of paper (2017). That was probably my biggest "Holy cow!" moment from the book.
The writing style is generally good enough, with only a little non-plain-language bloat ("in order to"'s, cleft constructions) and ambiguous passive-voice-with missing actor. When will Oxford University Press have all its writers and editors read its own Oxford Guide to Plain English? Evidently never. However, as academic writers go, Allen is far from the worst (he's an Orwell of clarity compared to the typical humanities scholar). A bigger difficulty is the thicket of technical terms and acronyms, but given the subject matter, that is unavoidable. (See the quotations from the book for samples.) Wikipedia has articles for every term from the book that I looked up, and most of them go into greater depth and often have better illustrations than the book. Thus if you have access to the Web and some science background, nothing in the book should be opaque to you. But unless you are already a competent microscopist, or much smarter than I am, you probably won't read this book at full speed.
Microscopy features diverse technologies along with diverse costs. At the top of the budget are massive million-volt electron microscopes, and at the bottom are cheap digital microscopes and even microscopes made mostly from paper for 50 cents each. No kidding on that last one, see Manu Prakash's TED talk (2014) and his follow-on video, Lifesaving scientific tools made of paper (2017). That was probably my biggest "Holy cow!" moment from the book.
The writing style is generally good enough, with only a little non-plain-language bloat ("in order to"'s, cleft constructions) and ambiguous passive-voice-with missing actor. When will Oxford University Press have all its writers and editors read its own Oxford Guide to Plain English? Evidently never. However, as academic writers go, Allen is far from the worst (he's an Orwell of clarity compared to the typical humanities scholar). A bigger difficulty is the thicket of technical terms and acronyms, but given the subject matter, that is unavoidable. (See the quotations from the book for samples.) Wikipedia has articles for every term from the book that I looked up, and most of them go into greater depth and often have better illustrations than the book. Thus if you have access to the Web and some science background, nothing in the book should be opaque to you. But unless you are already a competent microscopist, or much smarter than I am, you probably won't read this book at full speed.
December 5, 2017
Not only covers the history and fundamentals of light microscopy, but also electron microscopy as well as some recent developments on the field. It is overall a very good and concise text.
June 7, 2023
I'm beginning to think that in a push to produce as many volumes as possible in this well regarded series, that the editing process has been somewhat compressed. This VSI on microscopy would have been a clear 4 star rating if it hadn't been for frequent unnessecary repetition especially in the later chapters. The second half of the book felt rushed and the level of explanation dropped which was a shame. I really hope the author gets a chance to revist and revise this text ironing out some of the problems in the current volume and maybe bringing us up to date on any advances with superlens technology etc. It may mean that the volume gets a little longer but still I'd rather the authors and editors were open to books in the 150-200 page range where a subject can be properly introduce and explained, than the increasingly truncated volumes which wind up sacrificing too much in the way of explanation in order to keep it not just "very short" but "way too short".
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews