The Snowflake

Snowflakes are indeed beautiful. Their patterns, often symmetrical, are surprisingly intricate. I'm surprised that more people haven't studied these remarkable objects. Now there is a terrific book on the subject by Caltech physicist Kenneth Libbrecht, with incredible photographs taken by Patricia Rasmussen. I remember how fascinated I was by Basil J. Mason's article on Snow Crystals in the January, 1961 issue of Scientific American. Now, finally, there's a work on the topic that brings us all up-to-date. It explains what types of snow crystals form at different temperatures and how minor changes in weather conditions as a snowflake falls determine the actual pattern while roughly maintaining the symmetry. As I see it, there are four major areas a good book about snowflakes ought to try to cover. The first is what snowflakes look like. This book does a superb job, noticeably better even than Wilson Bentley's 1931 book, Snow Crystals. The second is why snowflakes have the patterns they do, and how this enormous complexity originates. Again, this book does a fine job, extending the work of Ukichiro Nakiya by including results of experiments performed in Libbrecht's laboratory. The third is how to make artificial snowflakes. Once again, this book is superb, showing the excellent results of Libbrecht's attempts at making "designer snowflakes." These snowflakes are home-grown at the end of ice needles, a technique that Basil Mason had developed and Libbrecht has improved upon. The fourth should be a reference to some good software that would allow users to produce artificial snowflake designs on their computer screens. The lack of such a reference leads me to suspect that no good software exists yet.

It is hard to think of a natural phenomenon that has more intrinsic delight and fascination than a snowflake. Sure, the things pile up and please skiers and dismay drivers, but taken one by one, each snowflake is not only pretty, it has enough complexity and mystery about it to delight any careful observer. In _The Snowflake: Winter's Secret Beauty_ (Voyageur Press), two careful observers have documented what intrigues them about snowflakes. Kenneth Libbrecht is head of the physics department of Caltech, and he not only rushes out with a magnifying glass when it snows, he grows snowflakes artificially in his lab. Patricia Rasmussen is a photographer who started taking pictures of snowflakes with her own equipment and then used Libbrecht's special apparatus. This is a book a little larger than a hundred pages, but the pictures are elegant, and the text tells the current explanations, as far as we now know them (there are still mysteries), of why snowflakes look the way they do.The famous snowflake pictures of William Bentley inspired Rasmussen to start taking pictures of snow. Bentley's pictures are carefully reproduced white-on-black images, but Rasmussen has experimented with colored light to give multicolored pastels that shine on and through the hundreds of crystals depicted here. There are plenty of the six-armed variety, but also triangular snowflakes, and twelve, eighteen, or twenty-four armed ones, as well as tiny ice crystals shaped like needles, prisms, barrels, or bullets. can form at the right conditions. Different humidity and temperature produces the shapes. For the familiar snowflake, each arm experiences the same microclimate, so each changes in the same way. One arm of a flake thus does not "know" what the other arms are doing so it can turn itself out identically; they are all simply products of identical environmental history. As can be suspected, snowflakes that develop in the same regions have the same general design. But of course, everyone knows that no snowflakes are identical. Libbrecht considers whether this question is really true, and finds it cannot be answered without close considerations of "What is a snowflake?" and "What is identical?"Snowflake science is here presented clearly and with good humor by someone who obviously loves his work. Libbrecht demonstrates that since a snowflake is a billion billion water molecules grabbed from the atmosphere, some of them are from your own exhalations. He does the calculations to show that about a thousand of the water molecules in every snowflake you see in this book (and of course, any other snowflake) come from you. "Thank you for your contribution," he says, "and keep up the good work." Jaunty and illuminating scientific descriptions, plus the most beautiful pictures of snowflakes ever made, make this a volume that can be valued for eye-catching brilliance or mind-engaging elucidation.

The first thing that anyone will notice upon opening "The Snowflake" is Patricia Rasmussen's incredible photographs. I am something of a snowflake enthusiast, and I have never seen such stunning photographs of snow before. There are over 100 exquisitely detailed photographs of snow crystals and snowflakes that will take your breath away. Fans of "The Snowflake Man", W. A. Bentley, will love this book. But it isn't just pretty pictures. The photographs illustrate a text by physicist Kenneth Libbrecht. Dr. Libbrecht is a snow crystal researcher, and his fluid prose successfully communicates the depth of knowledge and enthusiasm he has for his subject. "The Snowflake" has eight chapters, all of which are generously illustrated with photographs and most of which are short. The first seven chapters explain how and why snow crystals form the way they do, as well as the history of our understanding of snow. Libbrecht's text is detailed and technical, but it is very readable and easily understood by a lay person. And he moves onto the next topic before you have a chance to become bored by the particulars of the last. Chapter 8, which is by far the longest chapter at 32 pages, is a "Field Guide to Falling Snow". All types of snow crystal, both common and rare, are described and pictured so that the reader will be able to identify just about anything he/she might encounter falling from the winter sky. "The Snowflake" is a thoroughly enjoyable and genuinely inspiring book. Patricia Rasmussen's photographs are a testament to the extraordinary beauty that can be found is such a small natural wonder as a snowflake. And Kenneth Libbrecht's writing is sure to inspire many of his readers to abandon their cozy living rooms and head outside with a magnifying glass the next time it snows. I think that Dr. Libbrecht succeeds in the seemingly absurd task of making us understand why snow crystals are so fascinating that a person might dedicate his professional life to understanding them. "The Snowflake" is a great winter read, a lovely "coffee table" book, an informative scientific text for enthusiasts of all ages, and it might even cheer you up during the next snow storm. If your car is stuck, your walk needs shoveling, and you are tired of all that white stuff, a chapter of "The Snowflake" and an inexpensive magnifying glass will surely put things in a better light. Fans and practitioners of macro photography will also find this book irresistible.

What a wonderful book! I had what I would calla passing interest in snowflakes -- untilI got this book. Since childhood I had heard that notwo snowflakes were alike. That was interesting.Well wait until you read this book. Snowflakesare not just interesting, they're fascinating! The photographs are amazing.Just stare at the photograph on page 37 for awhileand you will be convinced. Look at the extraordinarydetail, the amazing complexity, and yet the perfectsymmetry. Each of the 6 "arms" are the same and yetso complicated. And then look at a completelydifferent snowflake on page 50, for example. Again the complexity with the symmetry is striking.All arms very much the same but very different fromthe 6 arms on the page 37 flake. How do they do that?You'll have to read the book to find out. And the flakesare not all about the arms. Stare at the central portion of the snowflake on page 42 for example. Lookat the exquisite detail in there. To me it looks like 6 insects feeding at a trough. Just amazing.One of the most astounding facts to find out is thatyou are probably part of each and every snowflakepictured in the book! I'm talking about part of youphysically -- in every snowflake that falls tothe ground. That stood the hairs up on the back of my neck. Although this is a great coffee table book,it's also a book you're going to want to sit down and read. It makes a great gift to take when you visit someone. Itmakes a great gift in general and a particularly good one during the winter hoilday season. The quality is superb;it's hard to believe they can sell it for such a low price.And, oh, is it really true that no two snowflakes are alike?We're talking billions and billions of flakes here.Surely to goodness and mercy you can find two thatare alike. Well, you'll have to get the book to find outthe answer to that one. So far I've bought 14 of these gemsand I'll probably be getting more.I give this book the highest possible rating -- 5 stars!

If you are like me, you've often watched snowflakes settle on your glove or car windshield. The delicacy and complexity of their designs have often provided a delight for me in otherwise unpleasant circumstances. Each time I do this, I wish I knew more about how snowflakes are formed, why they vary so much in appearance and what the most spectacular ones look like. The Snowflake: Winter's Secret Beauty more than fulfilled all of those wishes for me.It's hard to know what to praise more: Dr. Libbrecht's remarkable text on snowflake research or Ms. Rasmussen's remarkable images of the snowflakes themselves. I found that either aspect of the book would be more than enough reason to assign this book five stars and praise it to the skies. In the text, you will learn about how we have learned what we know about snowflakes so far and what questions remain to be answered. I was fascinated to see the graphs that showed how temperature and humidity affect the shape of snowflakes so much over small changes in either factor. I was intrigued to learn how scientists have studied this fragile phenomenon (be sure to note how rabbit hair played a part). Scientists are now able to "grow" snowflakes in laboratories to help understand what happens in nature. I also enjoyed the statistical references that explained how it's likely that some water molecules that we each exhaled probably found their way into each snowflake we inspect.The images are terrific both as examples of the text and as worthy objects for contemplation in their own right. I was especially impressed by the way that Ms. Rasmussen used computer enhancements to add color that made illustrative highlights easier to see. As a result, you will often feel like you are looking at a catalog for a fine jeweler rather than a science book.The Snowflake: Winter's Secret Beauty vastly transcends the usual coffee table genre of photography accompanied by some text. Instead, this is a book that could easily be used for science classes. Certainly, many more people would want to study science if it could always be made so interesting and beautiful. Despite the rigor in the text, those who are not interested in rigor will still find the text rewarding. You can simply stop when you think you've learned as much as interests you.As I finished the book, I was reminded of how much more remarkable nature is than our own hand-made attempts to imitate or improve upon nature.