A playful, passionate, ebullient guide to the science all around us by a Pulitzer Prize winner and best-selling author.
Buckle up for a joy ride through physics, chemistry, biology, geology, and astronomy. Drawing on conversations with hundreds of the world's top scientists and her own work as an award-winning science writer, Natalie Angier does the impossible: She makes science fascinating and seriously fun, even for those of us who, in Angier's words, "still can't tell the difference between a proton, a photon, and a moron."
Most of the profound questions we will explore in our lives—evolution, global warming, stem cells—have to do with science. So do a lot of everyday things, like our ice cream melting and our coffee getting cold and our vacuum cleaner running (or not). What does our liver do when we eat a caramel? How does the horse demonstrate evolution at work? Are we really made of stardust? (Yes, we are.)
In The Canon, Lewis Thomas meets Lewis Carroll in a book destined to become a modern classic—because it quenches our curiosity, sparks our interest in the world around us, reignites our childhood delight in discovering how things work, and instantly makes us smarter.
Reviews
...
The title tells it all. Starting with the basics of scientific thinking, probability, and statistical measurement, Angier sets us up for a wild joyride through the central scientific discoveries of the last two centuries in physics, chemistry, geology, biology, and astronomy. It is a lively, enjoyable tour meant especially for science phobes but is also a useful refresher course. Narrator Nike Doukas dances with obvious delight over some of Angier's more playful analogies. Her voice sparkles with precision and youthful vitality. She immediately takes charge of the text and seems to understand intuitively the more difficult concepts, as well as the author's offbeat, anything-but-didactic tone. If you're struggling with the transition from James Bond to the ionic bond, this is the book for you. P.E.F. (c) AudioFile 2007, Portland, Maine
People...
Angier has that rare dual talent: a true passion forscience combined with a poet's linguistic flair.
About the Author
NATALIE ANGIER has won a Pulitzer Prize for her writing on biology for The New York Times. Her work "Woman: An Intimate Biography" was a National Book Award finalist. She lives with her family in Takoma Park, Maryland.
