The Canon: A Whirligig Tour of the Beautiful Basics of Science
About this audiobook
From the Pulitzer Prize winner and bestselling author of Woman, a playful, passionate guide to the science all around us. The Canon is an ebullient celebration of science that stands to become a classic.
Drawing on conversations with hundreds of the world’s top scientists and on her own work as a Pulitzer Prize–winning writer for the New York Times, Natalie Angier creates a thoroughly entertaining guide to scientific literacy.
The Canon is vital reading for anyone who wants to understand the great issues of our time—from stem cells and bird flu to evolution and global warming. And it’s for every parent who has ever panicked when a child asked how the earth was formed or what electricity is.
Angier’s sparkling prose and memorable metaphors bring the science to life, reigniting our own childhood delight in discovering how the world works. The Canon is a joyride through the major scientific disciplines: physics, chemistry, biology, geology, and astronomy. Along the way, we learn what is actually happening when our ice cream melts or our coffee gets cold, what our liver cells do when we eat a caramel, why the horse is an example of evolution at work, and how we’re all really made of stardust. It’s Lewis Carroll meets Lewis Thomas—a book that will enrapture, inspire, and enlighten. The Canon is an ebullient celebration of science that stands to become a classic.
About the author
Natalie Angier writes about biology for the New York Times, where she has won a Pulitzer Prize, the American Association for the Advancement of Science journalism award, and other honors. She is the author of The Beauty of the Beastly, Natural Obsessions, and Woman, named one of the best books of the year by the Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, People, National Public Radio, Village Voice, and Publishers Weekly, among others.
Nike Doukas is an actress who is most recognizable for her recurring role in Desperate Housewives. She performs regularly at South Coast Repertory in Costa Mesa, California, and has appeared several times at the Old Globe in San Diego, the Pasadena Playhouse, the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles, the Berkeley Repertory Theatre, and the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco. Born in Boston, Massachusetts, she now lives in Costa Mesa.
