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From gravity to black holes, special relativity to global warming,
this authoritative and entertaining book from bestselling author
Marcus Chown breaks down complex science into manageable chunks,
explaining the one thing you really need to know to get to grips
with the subject. Rather than trying to bend your mind around all
the vast and confounding details of things such as gravitational
waves, electricity and black holes, wouldn’t it be easier to
understand just one central concept from which everything else
follows? If you’ve ever found yourself fascinated by the idea of
quantum computing but feel a little overwhelmed by the mindblowing
subject of quantum mechanics or concerned by climate change but
haven’t been able to get to grips with the details of global
warming, this book is for you. Let’s take atoms, for example –
what on earth are they? Well, if you start to think of them less
like things you can’t see with complex little nuclei and more
like the alphabet of nature, which in different configurations can
make a rose, a galaxy or a newborn baby, they might start to feel a
little more understandable. Or gravitational waves – they sound
poetic, but why are they creating so much excitement? Think of them
as the voice of space, vibrations on the drumskin of space-time –
before delving into all their complexities. In twenty-one short and
engaging chapters, Chown explains the one thing you need to know to
understand some of the most important scientific ideas of our time.
Packed full of astounding facts, scientific history and the
entertaining personalities at the heart of the most pivotal
discoveries about the workings of our universe, this is an
accessible guide to all the tricky stuff you’ve always wanted to
understand more about.
The spellbinding stories of the scientists whose eureka!
breakthroughs in modern physics reveal science's astonishing
predictive power. 'An excellent popular science book.' DARA O
BRIAIN 'A thoroughly informative and entertaining read.' ANNA
BURNS, Booker Prize-winning author of Milkman 'One of the
best-written books about phsyics I have ever come across.' POPULAR
SCIENCE 'Highly entertaining and accessible.' IRISH TIMES
'Fascinating, life enhancing entertainment.' PROSPECT 'Thoroughly
enjoyable . . . Chown has done it again.' BBC SKY AT NIGHT
Breakthrough takes us on a breathtaking, mind-altering tour of the
eureka! moments of modern physics. Charting the spellbinding
stories of the scientists who predicted and discovered the
existence of unknown planets, black holes, invisible force fields,
ripples in the fabric of space-time, unsuspected subatomic
particles and even antimatter, Marcus Chown reveals science's
greatest mystery: its astonishing predictive power. ***
Breakthrough was previously published in 2020 in hardback under the
title The Magicians.
The two towering achievements of modern physics are quantum theory
and Einstein's general theory of relativity. Together, they explain
virtually everything about the world we live in. But, almost a
century after their advent, most people haven't the slightest clue
what either is about. Did you know that there's so much empty space
inside matter that the entire human race could be squeezed into the
volume of a sugar cube? Or that you grow old more quickly on the
top floor of a building than on the ground floor? And did you
realize that 1% of the static on a TV tuned between stations is the
relic of the Big Bang? Marcus Chown, the bestselling author of What
A Wonderful World and the Solar System app, explains all with
characteristic wit, colour and clarity, from the Big Bang and
Einstein's general theory of relativity to probability, gravity and
quantum theory. 'Chown discusses special and general relativity,
probablity waves, quantum entanglement, gravity and the Big Bang,
with humour and beautiful clarity, always searching for the most
vivid imagery.' Steven Poole, Guardian
Look around you. The reflection of your face in a window tells you
that the universe is orchestrated by chance. The iron in a spot of
blood on your finger tells you that somewhere out in space there is
furnace at a temperature of 4.5 billion degrees. Your TV tells you
that the universe had a beginning. In fact, your very existence
tells you that this may not be the only universe but merely one
among an infinity of others, stacked like the pages of a
never-ending book. Marcus Chown, author of Quantum Theory Cannot
Hurt You, What a Wonderful World and The Solar System, takes
familiar features of the world we know and shows how they can be
used to explain profound truths about the ultimate nature of
reality. His new book will change the way you see the universe:
with Chown as your guide, cutting-edge science is made clear and
meaningful by a falling leaf, or a rose, or a starry night sky...
We Need To Talk About Kelvin: What Everyday Things Tell Us About
The Universe is a hugely accessible exploration of quantum theory,
relativity, cosmology, biology and chemistry. Taking our everyday
experiences, Marcus Chown quickly and painlessly explains the
unltimate truths of reality.
With wit, colour and clarity, What A Wonderful World quickly and
painlessly brings us up to speed on how the world of the 21st
century works. From economics to physics and biology to philosophy,
Marcus Chown explains the complex forces that shape our universe.
Why do we breathe? What is money? How does the brain work? Why did
life invent sex? Does time really exist? How does capitalism work -
or not, as the case may be? Where do mountains come from? How do
computers work? How did humans get to dominate the Earth? Why is
there something rather than nothing? In What a Wonderful World,
Marcus Chown, bestselling author of Quantum Theory Cannot Hurt You
and the Solar System app, uses his vast scientific knowledge and
deep understanding of extremely complex processes to answer simple
questions about the workings of our everyday lives. Lucid, witty
and hugely entertaining, it explains the basics of our essential
existence, stopping along the way to show us why the Atlantic is
widening by a thumbs' length each year, how money permits trade to
time travel why the crucial advantage humans had over Neanderthals
was sewing and why we are all living in a giant hologram.
Stephen Hawking described it as 'the discovery of the century, if
not of all time', yet the scientists who first detected the cosmic
radiation that was identified as the afterglow of the big bang had
to admit that it was more by accident than intention. At first its
discoverers mistook the readings for the disruption caused by the
droppings of pigeons that had nested in their telescope, and yet
they went on to win the Nobel prize. In the mid-1990s New Scientist
writer Marcus Chown drove across America to interview the key
scientists who had made this astonishing discovery. Their account
and Chown's description of their achievement was published to much
acclaim. But now, over a decade later, in this new and fully
revised edition he goes behind the hype and the hysteria to provide
a clear and lively explanation of one of the biggest discoveries in
modern science - and a brilliant picture of what happened next.
A mind-bending journey through some of the most weird and wonderful
facts about our universe, vividly illuminating the hidden truths
that govern our everyday lives. The tone is consistently light and
breezy...an addictive, intriguing, and entertaining read...a handy
guide for anyone yearning to spice up their conversational skills.
-- Booklist Fact: You could fit the whole human race in the volume
of a sugar cube. Fact: The electrical energy in a single mosquito
is enough to cause a global mass extinction. Fact: You age more
quickly on the top floor than on the ground floor. So much of our
world seems to make perfect sense, and scientific breakthroughs
have helped us understand ourselves, our planet, and our place in
the universe in fascinating detail. But our adventures in space,
our deepening understanding of the quantum world, and our leaps in
technology have also revealed a universe far stranger than we ever
imagined. With brilliant clarity and wit, bestselling author Marcus
Chown examines the profound science behind fifty remarkable
scientific facts that help explain the vast complexities of our
existence.
The Sunday Times Science Book of the Year 2017 'Does Einstein proud
. . . Eminently readable' Guardian 'No one has covered the topic
with such a light touch and joie de vivre . . . a delight' Brian
Clegg Gravity was the first force to be recognised and described
yet it is still the least understood. If we can unlock its secrets,
the force that keeps our feet on the ground holds the key to
understanding the biggest questions in science: what is space? What
is time? What is the universe? And where did it all come from?
Award-winning writer Marcus Chown takes us on an unforgettable
journey from the recognition of the 'force' of gravity in 1666 to
the discovery of gravitational waves in the twenty-first century.
And, as we stand on the brink of a seismic revolution in our
worldview, he brings us up to speed on the greatest challenge ever
to confront physics.
In 140 pages, two masterly popularisers present 140 explanations of
the biggest questions in physics - in the form of 10 or so tweets
per page. They set themselves the challenge of boiling down what is
essential on each subject into sentences of 140 characters, and the
results are both entertaining and brilliantly informative. Not a
word is wasted. The reader is not patronized and learns something
on every page. If only all science writing could be so precise and
so economical. Only science writers of a very high calibre could
achieve such compression. Marcus Chown - 'the finest cosmology
writer of our day' (Matt Ridley) - has known the Dutch writer
Govert Schilling for twenty years. Schilling pioneered this very
swift form of explanation in a Dutch newspaper, and suggested to
Chown that they collaborate on bringing it to a wider audience.
Tweeting the Universe is unlike any other science book.
In Chown's most ambitious book to date he sets out to answer some
of the most provocative questions of today: - Is Elvis alive and
kicking in another space domain? - Will we ever find ET? - What's
beyond the edge of the Universe? - Did aliens build the stars? -
Can we live forever?
Bestselling author Marcus Chown explores some of the most profound
and important science about us, our world and the universe with
fifty fascinating and mind-bending facts. Our adventures in space,
our deepening understanding of the quantum world and huge leaps in
technology over the last century have revealed a universe far
stranger than we could ever have imagined. With brilliant clarity
and wit, bestselling author Marcus Chown examines the profound
science behind fifty remarkable scientific facts that help explain
the vast complexities of our existence. Did you know that you could
fit the whole human race in the volume of a sugar cube? Or that the
electrical energy in a single mosquito is enough to cause a global
mass extinction? Or that, out there in the universe, there are an
infinite number of copies of you reading an infinite number of
copies of this? Infinity in the Palm of Your Hand is a mind-bending
journey through some of the most weird and wonderful facts about
our universe, vividly illuminating the hidden truths that govern
our everyday lives.
Bestselling author Marcus Chown explores some of the most profound
and important science about us, our world and beyond by examining
some astonishing facts that reveal the vast complexities of the
universe. There is much about our world that seems to make perfect
sense, and important scientific breakthroughs have helped us
understand ourselves, our planet and our place in the universe in
fascinating detail. But our adventures in space, our deepening
understanding of the quantum world and huge leaps in technology
over the last century have also revealed a universe far stranger
than we could ever have imagined. With brilliant clarity and wit,
bestselling author Marcus Chown examines the profound science
behind fifty remarkable scientific facts that help explain the vast
complexities of our existence. Did you know that you could fit the
whole human race in the volume of a sugar cube? Or that the
electrical energy in a single mosquito is enough to cause a global
mass extinction? Or that, out there in the cosmos, there are an
infinite number of copies of you reading an infinite number of
copies of this? Infinity in the Palm of Your Hand is a mind-bending
journey through some of the most weird and wonderful facts about
our universe, vividly illuminating the hidden truths that govern
our everyday lives.
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