science book rec: The Canon, by Natalie Angier

[tectonite]

I took a bit of a detour from reading about structural modeling to read The Canon: a whirligig tour of the beautiful basics of science by Natalie Angier. The book is about the fundamental ideas that underlie each of the sciences (physics, chemistry, evolutionary biology, molecular biology, geology, and astronomy)... but it isn't written for kids.

Comments

[rabidsamfan]

Would diamonds come out of mummified volcanoes then? You know the really been-dead-for-three-thousand years and all dried up kind?

*wink*

I've got to get me a copy of this book. It sounds like something that ought to be on my library's shelf. And my own!

[tectonite]

:D

I wasn't really sure whether any diamond-bearing kimberlite eruptions had ever been witnessed, so I went looking on the web for info. I found a cool web page that describes the volcanoes that bring diamonds to the surface. American Museum of Natural History's diamonds page. Very cool. And, yeah, it looks like the youngest kimberlite eruptions recognized are 50 million years. (When I was in college, I learned that kimberlite eruptions might have been supersonic, but I'm not a volcanologist and I think somebody told me that they were wrong about that. I don't think I want to be anywhere near a supersonic eruption... Diamonds may be a girl's best friend, but I prefer jade and malachite.)

I would say: yes, definitely the library needs it. It's fun enough to read -- a lot of science books really are more reference materials than things one reads for fun. And that's sad, because science is fun.