The Universe Within, Neil Shubin
I like sense-of-wonder science, like Carl Sagan’s assertions that we are “starstuff”. This sounds as if it’s going to be in that vein, and in a way it is — certainly it brings home that it’s only possible for us to have iron in our blood because of ancient fusion in the hearts of stars — but on a more banal level, it’s the perfect way of revising what you’ve learnt in the Open University’s introduction to science module, S104. If you can follow and understand everything here, you’re okay on at least the first and second book of that course.
It’s fairly simply written, not going too much into depth about the technical details, but more providing a survey of some important scientific discoveries. Though the title The Universe Within may imply that it’s more about our own bodies, it actually goes into a lot of Earth science, touching on continental drift, global warming, even the formation of planets and the existence of water in the solar system.
It’s an easy enough read, and not a bad way to check your understanding.
Rating: 3/5
I enjoy watching Cosmos, both the old and the new versions, but have to admit that most of what they discuss is over my head. Think this would probably be as well, but glad that you enjoyed it!
Terri @ Alexia’s Books and Such…
Haha, most popular science probably would be for me too if I weren’t doing a science course atm!
I finished S104 last year and seriously need to revise (I couldn’t continue due to lack of funds, but hope to pick it up again Feb 2015). I’ll check this out. Amusingly there is another book called The Universe Within by Neil Turok, who is one of my favorite physicists!
It covers maybe the first two books of S104, which is a start at least. It doesn’t go into the more complex stuff!