The Canon: A Whirligig Tour of the Beautiful Basics of Science
Pulitzer-winning science writer Angier (Woman:  An Intimate Geography) 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. More important even than the brief rundowns of  atomic theory or evolution—enlivened by interviews with scientists like Brian  Greene—are the first three chapters on scientific thinking, probability and  measurement. These constitute the basis of a scientific examination of the  world. Understand these principles, Angier argues, and suddenly, words like  "theory" and "statistically significant" have new meaning. Angier focuses on a  handful of key concepts, allowing her to go into some depth on each; even so,  her explanations can feel rushed, though never dry. Angier's writing can also  be overadorned with extended metaphors that obscure rather than explain, but  she eloquently asks us to attend to the universe: to really look at the stars,  at the plants, at the stones around us. This is a pleasurable and  nonthreatening guide for anyone baffled by science.(May 8)Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.--This text refers to theHardcoveredition.