CULTURE & COMEDY

The Canon, A Whirligig Tour of the Beautiful Basics of Science
By Natalie Angier
Or Science for Dummies

Is the mental content of most Americans what it ought to be for the leading nation of the world? If we believe the news, most of our citizenry are thinking about such consequential issues as the latest passing fancies on American Idol and Survivor.

While some people certainly still have admirable thoughts about topics such as love, family life, and geopolitics, even fewer seem to have a working knowledge of science.

With her new book, The Canon, A Whirligig Tour of the Beautiful Basics of Science, Natalie Angier, science writer, is out to remedy the shortfall.

She has done an excellent job of making the basics of science accessible to anyone who will read her book. She presents, as beautiful and worth knowing in themselves, such concepts as matter and energy, the origins and structure of living things, and the natural history of our planet, solar system, galaxy and universe.

The more urgent question is, will a significant number of her readers learn, not only some basic scientific principles, but the most consequential lesson science teaches, which is that the things we believe ought to have a demonstrable foundation in fact.

Now, there’s a revelation that would enhance the content of many an American mind.

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