The Wonders Of The Universe By Prof Brian Cox

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.

101 Cool Science Experiments with Glen Singleton

ISBN:174121744X

Published: 2004

We move away from fiction and enter the wonderful world of science for this post. This exciting book is full of experiments to try at home. The experiments use basic household items to demonstrate scientific principles. You can find out how dinosaurs digested their food, create a tsunami and prove that something can be on the inside and outside at the same time. Some of the experiments require heat from a hob, and so some supervision may be required just to make sure the kitchen isn’t burned down, some are also likely to make a bit of a mess, which is perhaps why they are such fun! I had a wonderful science teacher who once said “Science is full of big bangs, and horrible smells, you are going to love it!”. There is nothing like discovering science by seeing it in action, and this book is a great way to see the basic principles at work!

Buy this book from Fennell Books on Amazon