The Canon: A Whirligig Tour of the Beautiful Basics of Science Summary and Reviews

The Canon: A Whirligig Tour of the Beautiful Basics of Science
by Natalie Angier

The Canon: A Whirligig Tour of the Beautiful Basics of Science
List Price: $15.95
Our Price: $3.79
You Save: $12.16 (76%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $1.99 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions


or

Book Summary Information

Author: Natalie Angier
Edition: Paperback
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 2008-04-03
ISBN: 0547053460
Number of pages: 304
Publisher: Mariner Books

Book Reviews of The Canon: A Whirligig Tour of the Beautiful Basics of Science

Book Review: Informative, but wearying
Summary: 4 Stars

As with the human DNA she so effectively extols, Angier's book has a portion of useful material, but a great deal of useless "junk". An accomplished writer, she spends more ink in demonstrating those skills than in imparting the information she hopes her readers will respect. Her own declared intention of presenting the "Basics of Science" isn't fulfilled. Nor does she explicitly explain what "The Canon" is. Instead, she portrays what science has achieved. The "Canon" is the understanding that science is a dynamic, incessant process. "Final answers" aren't to be found, nor expected. That's an admirable approach, and when she actually depicts what science has done, Angier presents it clearly. It's the dross between these points which weary the interested reader. Her frequent quips and laboured analogies add little or nothing to understanding the point. It's an open question whether the "average" reader will endure her flowery prose, sifting it out for the data so camouflaged.

After addressing the question of how science has fallen into disrepute in her country, Angier embarks on a quest to explain its value. She explains that "Thinking Scientifically" requires mental outreach, avoiding acceptance of status quo. "Mysteries" can be explained, which does not, as some hold, diminish either their beauty or value. Opinion has its place, but the reality of science is its reality. Moving through a description of "probabilities" and the scales of Nature, she addresses the "hard sciences" of chemistry and physics. Through them all, she attempts to "lighten the mood" with pithy comments and sometimes bizarre, sometimes arcane, illusions. Whoever is "Brian 'String Bean' Greene" when he's at home? What is the "Vin Diesel line of lawn tools"? That's not counting all the "New Yorkisms" peppering the narrative.

The chapters on evolutionary biology and cell mechanism are easily the best. In fact, they nearly redeem the book from her surfeit of puns and pithy asides. The biological topics are of great interest to her, and are the ones most needed by her audience. After all, it's not Edwin Hubble or Kip Thorne that US "creationists" attack, but Charles Darwin and the host of researchers supporting his "theory". Her discource on the difference between a "theory" and a "hypothesis" should be read in every schoolroom and from every pulpit in the US. That every cell in our bodies, except the mature red blood cells, all contain an exact copy of DNA that launched our lives, will come as a surprise to many. Angier carefully explains that DNA doesn't change, but some parts of it will do one task while other segments have different roles.

While she's adept at presenting what science has found in Nature, she skips entirely the process of how things are revealed. Although she wants her readers to understand why science is important and hopes to see more young people enter the various fields, nowhere does she suggest the amount of dedicated work involved. Geologists, she notes, are the most interdisciplinary, enjoying perilous climbs and pottering about in labs doing analytical chemical or radiometric work. Yet, how much work it takes to understand what the results mean remains obscured. Fossils are explained, but palaeontology as a discipline is not. Instead we are deluged with references to candy, cartoon characters and sitcoms. Even those are limited to US sources, leaving the book an empty promise to those outside that nation.

The book contains not a single illustration, whether of examples of scale, cell structure or geophysical diagram. It might be said that some topics might be more amenable to diagram than others, but that hardly justifies the exclusion of all. The entire book is words, a good many of them made up or transferred bodily and only mildly appropriately, from other places. It also avoids any reference to the cognitive sciences and evolutionary psychology. She was wise in that omission - a good many harsh comments from the past would return to haunt her. That science, however, has as many implications for society as does the making of new proteins or how far we can see into the cosmos. Although a good book promoting recognition of science's value is needed, particularly in the US, this one hasn't quite done the job. [stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]

Science Books

Book Subjects
Most talked about in Recommended Reading for Atheists
Stardust: Supernovae and Life --- The Cosmic Connection ImageStardust: Supernovae and Life --- The Cosmic Connection
by Dr. John Gribbin, Mary Gribbin, John Gribbin
Yale University Press; Published: 2001-09-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $1.89
Price in other shops: $18.50
The Canon: A Whirligig Tour of the Beautiful Basics of Science ImageThe Canon: A Whirligig Tour of the Beautiful Basics of Science
by Natalie Angier
Mariner Books; Published: 2008-04-03; Paperback; Book
Best price: $2.27
Price in other shops: $15.95
The Triumph of Evolution...And the Failure of Creationism ImageThe Triumph of Evolution...And the Failure of Creationism
by Niles Eldredge
Published: 2000-04-30; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $7.06
Price in other shops: $24.95
The Life and Death of Planet Earth: How the New Science of Astrobiology Charts the Ultimate Fate of Our World ImageThe Life and Death of Planet Earth: How the New Science of Astrobiology Charts the Ultimate Fate of Our World
by Peter D. Ward, Donald Brownlee
Holt Paperbacks; Published: 2004-01-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.58
Price in other shops: $16.00
Evolution ImageEvolution
by Stephen Baxter
Del Rey; Published: 2004-02-03; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.93
Price in other shops: $7.99
Godless ImageGodless
by Pete Hautman
Simon Pulse; Published: 2005-10-25; Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.43
Price in other shops: $8.99
Duck Egg Blue: A Novel ImageDuck Egg Blue: A Novel
by Derrick Neill
Prometheus Books; Published: 1999-04; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $5.14
Price in other shops: $30.98
The Quotable Atheist: Ammunition for Non-Believers, Political Junkies, Gadflies, and Those Generally Hell-Bound ImageThe Quotable Atheist: Ammunition for Non-Believers, Political Junkies, Gadflies, and Those Generally Hell-Bound
by Jack Huberman
Nation Books; Published: 2006-12-20; Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.49
Price in other shops: $15.95
The Portable Atheist: Essential Readings for the Nonbeliever ImageThe Portable Atheist: Essential Readings for the Nonbeliever
by Christopher Hitchens
Da Capo Press; Published: 2007-11-05; Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.89
Price in other shops: $17.50
Why Darwin Matters: The Case Against Intelligent Design ImageWhy Darwin Matters: The Case Against Intelligent Design
by Michael Shermer
Holt Paperbacks; Published: 2007-07-24; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.25
Price in other shops: $14.00
Similar books summaries and other product reviews
A Short History of Nearly Everything ImageA Short History of Nearly Everything
by Bill Bryson
Broadway; Published: 2004-09-14; Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.68
Price in other shops: $16.95
The Stuff of Thought: Language as a Window into Human Nature ImageThe Stuff of Thought: Language as a Window into Human Nature
by Steven Pinker
Penguin (Non-Classics); Published: 2008-08-26; Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.10
Price in other shops: $16.00
The Drunkard's Walk: How Randomness Rules Our Lives (Vintage) ImageThe Drunkard's Walk: How Randomness Rules Our Lives (Vintage)
by Leonard Mlodinow
Vintage; Published: 2009-05-05; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.52
Price in other shops: $15.00
What Is Your Dangerous Idea?: Today's Leading Thinkers on the Unthinkable ImageWhat Is Your Dangerous Idea?: Today's Leading Thinkers on the Unthinkable
by John Brockman
Harper Perennial; Published: 2007-03-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.48
Price in other shops: $13.95
Evolution for Everyone: How Darwin's Theory Can Change the Way We Think About Our Lives ImageEvolution for Everyone: How Darwin's Theory Can Change the Way We Think About Our Lives
by David Sloan Wilson
Delta; Published: 2007-12-26; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.51
Price in other shops: $15.00
Your Inner Fish: A Journey into the 3.5-Billion-Year History of the Human Body (Vintage) ImageYour Inner Fish: A Journey into the 3.5-Billion-Year History of the Human Body (Vintage)
by Neil Shubin
Vintage; Published: 2009-01-06; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.97
Price in other shops: $13.95
The Beauty of the Beastly ImageThe Beauty of the Beastly
by Natalie Angier
Mariner Books; Published: 1996-04-04; Paperback; Book
Best price: $1.84
Price in other shops: $16.00
God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything ImageGod Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything
by Christopher Hitchens
Twelve; Published: 2009-04-06; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.16
Price in other shops: $14.99
Plato and a Platypus Walk into a Bar . . .: Understanding Philosophy Through Jokes ImagePlato and a Platypus Walk into a Bar . . .: Understanding Philosophy Through Jokes
by Thomas Cathcart, Daniel Klein
Penguin (Non-Classics); Published: 2008-06-24; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.54
Price in other shops: $12.00
Woman: An Intimate Geography ImageWoman: An Intimate Geography
by Natalie Angier
Anchor; Published: 2000-02-15; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.07
Price in other shops: $15.95