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The Canon

A Whirligig Tour of the Beautiful Basics of Science

By Natalie Angier

(6)

| Hardcover | 9780618242955

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Book Description

With the singular intelligence and exuberance that made Woman an international sensation, Natalie Angier takes us on a “guided twirligig through the scientific canon.” She draws on conversations with hundreds of the world’s top scientists, and her own work as a Pulitzer Prize–Continue

With the singular intelligence and exuberance that made Woman an international sensation, Natalie Angier takes us on a “guided twirligig through the scientific canon.” She draws on conversations with hundreds of the world’s top scientists, and her own work as a Pulitzer Prize–winning reporter for the New York Times, to create a thoroughly entertaining guide to scientific literacy. People magazine says, “Angier has that rare dual talent: a true passion for science combined with a poet’s linguistic flair.” Those gifts are on full display in The Canon, an ebullient celebration of science that stands to become a classic. The Canon is a joyride through the major scientific disciplines: physics, chemistry, biology, geology, and astronomy. It’s vital reading for anyone who wants to understand the great issues of our time—from stem cells and bird flu to evolution and global warming. It’s also one of those rare books that reignites our childhood delight in figuring out how things work: we learn what’s actually happening when our ice cream melts or our coffee gets cold, what our liver cells do when we eat a caramel, how the horse shows evolution at work, and that we really are all made of stardust. It’s Lewis Carroll meets Lewis Thomas—a book that will enrapture, inspire, and enlighten.

Critics

  • Lab fab guide to life

    The Canon - The Beautiful Basics of Science by Natalie Angier Faber & Faber £17.99, pp293 The premise of The Canon, illustrated by the author's sister cancelling her children's science museum membership as they reach adolescence, is that there is an ... (read full critics)

    guardian.co.uk published on Sat, 25 Sep 2010

  • What's it all about?

    The Canon: The Beautiful Basics of Science by Natalie Angier 304pp, Faber, £17.99 There is hardly a scientist or science writer who hasn't lamented that while educated people would rather die than admit they hadn't read Shakespeare, they wear their f ... (read full critics)

    guardian.co.uk published on Sat, 25 Sep 2010

1 Review

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  • 1 person find this helpful

    A rollercoaster ride everyone must take!

    Why are people so scared of science? Why is most of the public so illiterate about science even though they use it every second of their life?

    It is these problems that NYTimes science journalist Natalie Angier attempts to solve in this book by taking the reader on a fun filled, informational ... (continue)

    Why are people so scared of science? Why is most of the public so illiterate about science even though they use it every second of their life?

    It is these problems that NYTimes science journalist Natalie Angier attempts to solve in this book by taking the reader on a fun filled, informational ride through the entire spectrum of science. The chapters of the book deal with scientific thinking, probabilities, scales, physics, chemistry, evolution, molecular biology, geology and ends in a bang with astronomy. This is not a dull science book with figures, facts and formulas. There is none of that. Instead, Natalie attempts to do storytelling in each chapter and explains everything using fun analogies and prose.

    So how is the book? I felt it was great. Everyone, no matter how science literate or illiterate he is, will gain something from this book. Natalie's prose is superlative and her analogies are really fun. Distilling the vast cloud of science into a few hundred readable pages is no easy task. I have to say that I haven't come across any work before that has achieved it like this book. Since each chapter deals with distinctly different areas of science, the book can be split over many days without any feeling of book amnesia. The only chapter where stuff went over my head was that on molecular biology, all that protein synthesis and folding was too much for me. Other than that, the book was a complete win-win. Basic science has progressed much beyond the textbooks of my school days. This book gave me a chance to catch up to some of it. I came out of this experience with a better understanding and awe for every single thing around me -- from the air I breathe to the sky I see every morning.

    Is this helpful?

    Ashwin Nanjappa said on Jul 9, 2007 | Add your feedback

Book Details

  • Rating:
    (6)
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  • English Books
  • Hardcover 304 Pages
  • ISBN-10: 0618242953
  • ISBN-13: 9780618242955
  • Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
  • Pub date: May 01, 2007
  • Dimensions: 1484 mm x 1032 mm x 194 mm Just how big is that?
  • Also available as: Paperback and Others
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9780618242955 Hardcover $27.00 $23.08 bn.com
$27.00 -- The Book Depository
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