Description

THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER
‘Explores just about every area of life’ DAILY MAIL
‘If only Adam Rutherford and Hannah Fry were on tap to all of us, all the time . . . The pair have such a gift for making life, numbers and the forces at work in the universe all the richer, stranger, funnier and more marvellous.’ Stephen Fry

In Rutherford and Fry’s comprehensive guidebook, they tell the complete story of the universe and absolutely everything in it – skipping over some of the boring parts.
This is a celebration of the weirdness of the cosmos, the strangeness of humans and the fact that amid all the mess, we can somehow make sense of life.

Our brains have evolved to tell us all sorts of things that feel intuitively right but just aren’t true: the world looks flat, the stars seem fixed in the heavenly firmament, a day is 24 hours… This book is crammed full of tales of how stuff really works. With the power of science, Rutherford and Fry show us how to bypass our monkey-brains, taking us on a journey from the origin of time and space, via planets, galaxies, evolution, the dinosaurs, all the way into our minds, and wrestling with some truly head-scratching questions that only science can answer:

What is time, and where does it come from?
Why are animals the size and shape they are?
How horoscopes work (Spoiler: they don’t, but you think they do)
Does my dog love me?
Why nothing is truly round?
Do you need your eyes to see?

‘A wonderfully engaging blend of wit, enthusiasm, clarity and knowledge.’ Bill Bryson
‘Like the universe itself, this book is multi-faceted, surprising and full of wonders. It’s also funny, wise and exceedingly brainy. You really owe it to yourself to read it.’ Tim Harford, author of How To Make The World Add Up

Publisher Review

A wonderfully engaging blend of wit, enthusiasm, clarity and knowledge. — Bill Bryson The illustrations are truly excellent. — Professor Alice Roberts Like the universe itself, this book is multi-faceted, surprising and full of wonders. It’s also funny, wise and exceedingly brainy. You really owe it to yourself to read it. — Tim Harford, author of How To Make The World Add Up If only Adam Rutherford and Hannah Fry were on tap to all of us, all the time: we could turn to them whenever we wanted delicious explanations, narratives and theories to make sense of the material world. But we do have this deeply addictive book as a companion. The pair have such a gift for making life, numbers and the forces at work in the universe all the richer, stranger, funnier and more marvellous. — Stephen Fry