I’m totally engrossed in this book at the moment. Science has always interested me but I stopped really studying it at age 18 (1996). This book was published in 2003, so it’s bringing me up to date a bit and more importantly it’s really broad. It covers, physics, chemistry, astrophysics, geology and more but in an accessible, easy to read and good humoured way. It takes you on a journey through the discoveries of science and towards the cutting edge of human knowledge in each area…
“We know that the Earth’s magnetic field changes in power from time to time: during the age of the dinosaurs, it was up to three times as strong as it is now. We also know that it reverses itself every five hundred thousand years or so on average, though that average hides a huge degree of unpredictability. The last reversal was about seven hundred and fifty thousand years ago. Sometimes it stays put for millions of years – 37 million years appears to be the longest stretch – and at times it has reversed after as little as twenty thousand years. Altogether in the last hundred million years it has reversed itself about two hundred times, and we don’t have any real idea why. This has been called ‘the greatest unanswered question in the geological sciences’”
One of the things I like best about Bill’s style is the way he nonchelantly drops helpful etymological explanations into his prose.
Tags: astrophysics, chemistry, geology, humour, non-fiction, physics, science