The World’s Great Wonders
How They Were Made & Why They
Are Amazing
Jheni Osman
Lonely PlanetWhat makes a wonder of the world?
For the Ancient Greek historian
Herodotus, they were seven man-made
marvels ranging from the Pyramids to
the Colossus of Rhodes. Later writers
expanded the list, including cultures
far beyond those known to the classical
Greeks, the achievements of modern
architecture, and the most awesome sights
the natural world has to offer.
Jheni Osman’s new book follows in this
long tradition, offering an enticing and
informative overview of 50 wonders both
natural and artificial. They range from
old favourites such as the Grand Canyon
and the Great Pyramid of Giza, to 21st
Century achievements such as the Burj
Khalifa and the Large Hadron Collider.
Despite being at heart a beautifully
presented reference book, The World’s
Great Wonders reveals its ‘Lonely
Planet’ heritage through useful practical
information supporting each entry.
The vast majority are also adorned with
stunning, specially commissioned maps.
Osman’s text is clear and engaging
throughout, making the whole book
an irresistible package for any armchair
traveller. Time to start a checklist, I think!The Perfect Theory
A Century Of Geniuses And The
Battle Over General Relativity
Pedro G Ferreira
Little, Brown
Scientific research is sometimes mind-
bendingly hard and tedious. Yet it’s also
often rocked by heated controversies, rivalry
and outright feuding. As a professor of
astrophysics at Oxford University, Pedro
Ferreira works on issues seemingly well-
insulated from such human foibles. He’s
an expert on Einstein’s theory of gravity,
General Relativity. But as he shows in this
entertaining account, Einstein’s ‘perfect
theory’ has been the source of many bitter
disputes – and still is.
Within weeks of its emergence in
1915, General Relativity had provoked
a spat between Einstein and the greatest
mathematician of the day, David Hilbert,
who had independently discovered the
same equations. Only their mutual respect
prevented a bitter dispute over priority.
In the years that followed, other scientists
showed no such restraint, with brilliant if
immodest theorists telling everyone they
were stupid, only to see their own ideas
crumble, to the obvious pleasure of others.
Prof Ferreira is an outstanding storyteller,
and the tales here reveal more about how
science really works than any number of
textbooks.
DEAN BURNETT is a doctor of neuroscience and stand-
up comedianTIMANDRA HARKNESS is a presenter of BBC
Worldwide’s YouTube channel Head SqueezeGILES SPARROW is a science writer and the
author of Physics In MinutesROBERT MATTHEWS is a visiting reader in
science at Aston UniversityThere’s an XKCD comic where a physicist
annoys people in other disciplines by stating
that their field can be reduced to a simple
model with a few variables to account for
complexity. Michio Kaku’s The Future Of
The Mind is essentially 350 pages of that.
Kaku clarifies that the mind has eluded
definition for centuries, then defines it using
physics. Kaku paints a picture of neuroscience
and related fields as scrabbling around with
their primitive tools before the advanced tech
of physics benevolently stepped in. MRIs
directly read thoughts (they don’t), and
anything can be controlled with a chip in thebrain (it really can’t).
He’s clearly interested and fascinated by the
mind and writes well, but his physics bias and
lack of awareness for the uncertain nature of
the subject is grating, and could actively
mislead readers.
If a neuroscientist wrote that physicists
could control mass purely because they’ve
uncovered the Higgs Boson, this would be
unacceptable. But this book does that; it just
switches the subjects around.The Future Of The Mind
The Scientific Quest To Understand,
Enhance And Empower The Mind
Michio Kaku
Allen LaneThePerfectTheory The Knowledge The World’s GreatW
How To Rebuild Our World From
Scratch
Lewis Dartnell
The Bodley Head‘The World as we know it has ended.’ A
bleak start to Lewis Dartnell’s thought
experiment, but one that gives him
enormous freedom to explore why
we need science and technology.
Starting with the basics – food, shelter,
drinking water – rapidly forces us to take
in some basic physics and chemistry, along
with engineering, key bits of history, and
observations on the technology used in
developing countries.
There is no shortage of quotable pub
facts. Did you know, for example, that
the word alkali comes from the Arabic,
al-Qaliy, meaning ‘burnt ashes’? Because
you’ll be burning wood, or seaweed, to
get the raw materials for soap or iodine.
The conceit is that this book tells you
everything you’ll need to reboot civiliz-
ation, from agriculture to zinc batteries.
It’s a lot of ground to cover, making for
a satisfyingly dense read, all conveyed
with no expectation of prior scientific
knowledge. At times, the quantity of
technical know-how would benefit from
more diagrams and illustrations. Mostly,
though, Dartnell has a light turn of phrase
and a gift for analogy that makes the body
of knowledge easy to absorb.TThheeFFuuttuurreeOOffTThheeMM