Physics, once known as anatural philosophy, a is the most basic science, explaining the world we live in, from the largest scale down to the very, very, "very" smallest, and our understanding of it has changed over many centuries. In "Black Bodies and Quantum Cats," science writer Jennifer Ouellette traces key developments in the field, setting descriptions of the fundamentals of physics in their historical context as well as against a broad cultural backdrop. Newtonas laws are illustrated via the film "Addams Family Values," while "Back to the Future" demonstrates the finer points of special relativity. Poeas aThe Purloined Lettera serves to illuminate the mysterious nature of neutrinos, and Jeanette Wintersonas novel "Gut Symmetries" provides an elegant metaphorical framework for string theory.

An enchanting and edifying read, Black Bodies and Quantum Cats shows that physics is not an arcane field of study but a profoundly human endeavoraand a fundamental part of our everyday world.