Cassell鈥檚 Laws of Nature by James Trefil, Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 拢25, ISBN 0304357596 Reviewed by Roy Herbert
THIS is a marvellous book that ought to be on the shelves of anyone keen to have some knowledge to hand of how the Universe works.
Cassell鈥檚 Laws of Nature tackles the widest possible range of 鈥渓aws鈥�, (a convenient term to cover others such as 鈥減rinciples鈥�, or 鈥渢heories鈥�) that are the underlying forces of our world, what James Trefil calls 鈥渢he skeleton of the Universe鈥�. He maintains they are accessible to the average person 鈥� and proves it.
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The 200 essays on subjects that range from the most contemporary such as black holes and DNA to the abstruse such as Heisenberg鈥檚 uncertainty principle are written with unique clarity and wit. They instantly communicate his delight in nature, leaving you with a sense of optimism. Trefil is a dab hand at analogy, always a tricky method of explanation, but here used with real point. There are short biographies, timelines to fit discoveries into context, a glossary and index. Moreover the illustrations and diagrams are splendid.
A bonus is that he has taken time to add an introduction on science and the scientific method. This is inspiring, especially now, when science has lost a lot of the prestige it had in the first half of the last century and is under renewed attack, for example by the proponents of 鈥渋ntelligent design鈥� and even in its own backyard by chaos theory.