The Canon: A Whirligig Tour of the Beautiful Basics of Science

From the Pulitzer Prize winner and bestselling author of Woman, a playful, passionate guide to the science all around us. The Canon is an ebullient celebration of science that stands to become a classic.

Drawing on conversations with hundreds of the world’s top scientists and on her own work as a Pulitzer Prize–winning writer for the New York Times, Natalie Angier creates a thoroughly entertaining guide to scientific literacy.

The Canon 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. And it’s for every parent who has ever panicked when a child asked how the earth was formed or what electricity is.

Angier’s sparkling prose and memorable metaphors bring the science to life, reigniting our own childhood delight in discovering how the world works. The Canon is a joyride through the major scientific disciplines: physics, chemistry, biology, geology, and astronomy. Along the way, we learn what is actually happening when our ice cream melts or our coffee gets cold, what our liver cells do when we eat a caramel, why the horse is an example of evolution at work, and how we’re all really made of stardust. It’s Lewis Carroll meets Lewis Thomas—a book that will enrapture, inspire, and enlighten. The Canon is an ebullient celebration of science that stands to become a classic.