The canon : a whirligig tour of the beautiful basics of science / Natalie Angier.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Angier, Natalie.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Science--Popular works.

Science.

Physical Description:

293 pages ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Boston : Houghton Mifflin Company, 2007.

Summary:

Award-winning science journalist Angier takes us on a "guided twirligig through the scientific canon." She draws on conversations with hundreds of the world's top scientists, and her own work as a reporter for the New York Times, to create an entertaining guide to scientific literacy--a joyride through the major scientific disciplines: physics, chemistry, biology, geology, and astronomy. It's for anyone who wants to understand the great issues of our time--from stem cells and bird flu to evolution and global warming. It's also one of those rare books that reignites our childhood delight in figuring out how things work: we learn what's actually happening when our ice cream melts or our coffee gets cold, 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.--From publisher description.

Contents:

Thinking scientifically

Probabilities

Calibration

Physics

Chemistry

Evolutionary biology

Molecular biology

Geology

Astronomy.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [267]-279) and index.

ISBN:

0618242953

9780618242955

OCLC:

71006705

Online:

Publisher description