COSMIC VIEW: The Universe in 40 Jumps

by Kees Boeke

Kees Boeke's Cosmic View is a classic on learning about the scale of things. It is similar to the Morrison's Powers of Ten, but aimed at a younger audience. Its legacy includes Charles Eames's film Powers of Ten, the resulting book by Philip and Phylis Morrison, and several similar books which followed. Unfortunately, the problems Kees hoped to address, including peoples' understanding being fragmented by scale, remain as pressing today as they were in 1957. I place it online in the hope of encouraging awareness and activity in this area. Comments welcome - Mitchell Charity.

If you enjoy this book, you might also like my A View from the Back of the Envelope.

A note on copyright. I have placed this book online without permission. It has been 4 decades since Cosmic View was written, 3 since Kees Boeke died, and perhaps 2 since the last printing. Out of print, difficult to find, and largely forgotten. My hope is this noncommercial posting will further Kees's goal that every child and grownup develop a "cosmic view". If the current copyright holder, whomever that now is, should ever raise objection, the attached pages may go away.

The book Cosmic View is

Copyright (C) 1957 by Kees Boeke. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted, or reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photo-copying and recording, or in any information storage and retrieval system, without permission.

Notes

The url of this page is http://www.vendian.org/mncharity/cosmicview/

There is now another version of Cosmic View at Caltech.

And a list of Cosmic View sites here.

Author: Boeke, Kees Title: Cosmic View Subtitle: The Universe in Forty Jumps Publisher: John Day Company, Incorporated, Publ. Date: 1957 Contributor: Compton, H. Audience Type: Juvenile Aud. Grade: Fifth Grade thru All Upper Grades ISBN: 0381980162 Binding: Trade Cloth Language: English Status: Out of Print LoC #: 57-014500 Subject(s): SCIENCE - JUVENILE LITERATURE SCIENCE

The images in the book were intentionally 15 cm across. Rather than trying to make this happen on your screen, I have included a ruler for calibration. My images are smaller than the originals, and of lower quality.