Rated  of 5
by Peter Best
Some good answers to the Big Questions!
As a physicist of old, this book is a revelation as it maneuvers so easily between many technical subjects - in fact it reminds me of Peter Watson's "A Terrible Beauty" - a favourite- in its breadth and fluidity. It is not a "popular science" book if you expect oversimplification; it does give many insights into the ways and perils of the "scientific method". The use of orders of magnitude to take you up and down the scales of space and time works well. The book has enough surprises and short anecdotes to entice a reader to keep going (and delving for themselves).
My one disappointment was that Christopher Potter looked fully at most aspects of "You are here" except the "You". I would have loved an extra chapter or two with him delving through recent areas such as "interpersonal neuropsychology" to look at what is involved in the creation of self and perception, both in childhood when we start wondering about the universe and in older age when we have the luxury of pondering our own fuzzy path through life.
But I am heartily recommending the book to friends who appreciate an enjoyable read and explorations in personal space-time. |
