ISBN: 978-0007395828
Published by Collins
Regular readers will know that I don’t really do
non-fiction, that is The Delightful Mr F’s domain. I should probably try a few
more, but the delights of fiction seem so much more attractive, and let’s be
honest, less heavy going. The history of MI5 I gave to Mr F a few years ago
requires several weeks in the gym before
one is strong enough to hold it in a reading position for any length of time.
There is one area of non-fiction which does seduce me,
and that is those lovely glossy books about science and the natural world,
normally published to link in with a “major new television series”
and often described as “stunning”. If it is really good it might even be “breath-taking”.
The first book of this type was given was The Trials Of Life which was based on
the David Attenborough series in the 1990s. It was full of faraway places where
animals I could never imagine roamed through forests. It almost seemed like
fiction.
The delightful Mr F kindly bought me the modern
equivalent of David Attenborough’s books, The Wonders Of The Universe based on
the Brian Cox TV series. There is of course the obligatory photo of the
strangely youthful Professor on the cover looking wistfully into the middle
distance. This isn’t a high brow astronomy book full of frightening maths, but does contain some quite difficult concepts explained with Brian Cox’s normal
accessibility. The book is packed full of wonderful photographs and diagrams
which make it feel really luxurious and really help that sense of wonder and
amazement. Fantastic ideas in a fantastic format.