The Canon (small-format edn)

the beautiful basics of science

Natalie Angier

' ... the best introduction to essential science I've read for many a year.'

John Cornwell (The Sunday Times)

'Pulitzer-winning science writer Angier distills everything you've forgotten from your high school science classes and more into one enjoyable book, a guide for the scientifically perplexed adult who wants to understand what those guys in lab coats on the news are babbling about, in the realms of physics, chemistry, biology, geology or astronomy ... This is a pleasurable and nonthreatening guide for anyone baffled by science.'

(Publishers Weekly)

'She does more than make science understandable: her clear, friendly, unexpectedly breezy and funny writing makes it almost irresistible. You may think science is boring; you may also think you can't understand it; you may think it has nothing to do with your life. The Canon may change your mind.'

Rick Sullivan (Adelaide Advertiser)

With the intelligence and exuberance that made Woman an international sensation, Natalie Angier takes us on a whirligig tour of the scientific canon. Drawing on conversations with hundreds of the world’s top scientists, and her own Pulitzer Prize–winning reportage for the New York Times, The Canon is a magical guide to scientific literacy that will enrapture, inspire, and enlighten.

In a book that is 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 — Angier leads a joyride through the major scientific disciplines: physics, chemistry, biology, geology, and astronomy.

Somewhere between Lewis Carroll and Lewis Thomas, it’s one of those rare books that reignites our childhood delight in discovery: we learn what’s actually happening when our ice cream melts, 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.

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.

'Science writing at its best.'

Frank O'Shea (Canberra Times)

Angier 'incorporates imaginative metaphors, concise analogies, and jokes into her writing, which result in clear and accessible explanations of complex ideas.'

(Bookmarks Magazine)

'Natalie Angier makes planets and particles sexy ... She turns guys with lab coats and pocket protectors into Daniel Craig.'

Sylvia Nasar, author of _A Beautiful Mind_

'Angier deploys extravagantly cascading metaphors, puns, and tangents to plant awareness of central scientific concepts for those who may be vague on what causes the seasons. Covering physics, chemistry, geology, astronomy, and evolutionary and cell biology, Angier induces from scientists in each discipline a zeal comparable to her own for figural explanations of science.'

(Booklist)

'Angier is a nimble stylist with a playful sense of alliteration and consonance.'

(Elle)

'Every sentence sparkles with wit and charm ... it all adds up to an intoxicating cocktail of fine science writing.'

Richard Dawkins

'An essential experience ... How dare she write so artfully, explain so brilliantly, rendering us scientists simultaneously proud and inarticulate!'

Leon Lederman, Nobel laureate

Natalie Angier

Natalie Angier is a Pulitzer Prize-winning writer for the New York Times and a frequent contributor to many magazines. She is the author of Woman: An Intimate Geography. Her honors include the Lewis Thomas Award and the AAAS Science Journalism Award. She lives near Washington, D.C., with her husband and their daughter.

The_canon Buy from Readings
Format: Pb
Extent: 304pp
Size: 210mm x 135mm
ISBN (13): 9781921372452
RRP: $27.95
Pub date: November 2008

Rights held:

ANZ