benja22

The Canon: A Whirligig Tour of the Beautiful Basics of Science

by Natalie Angier

Houghton Mifflin

Kings pour coffee on fairy god-sisters (mnemonic device for remembering the taxonomic system)

• Kingdom - Animalia: We belong in the animal kingdom.
• Phylum - chordata, subphylum - Vertabrata: We are vertebrates like 50,000 other animals in the animal kingdom along with reptiles, birds, fish, and amphibians.
• Class - Mammalia: We are mammals like 4,600 other animals. We have hair, produce milk, and have 4 part hearts.
• Order - Primate: We are primates like 200 species of monkeys, lemurs.
• Family - Hominidae: We are hominids like four of the apes (chimpanzees, bonobos, gorillas, and orangutans).
• Genus - Homos: We are the only living species in our genus. Others have come before us however. These include; Homo-erectus and Neanderthal.
• Species - Sapien: We are Sapiens and no other animal is or will ever be a sapien.

Natalie Angier is a science writer for the New York Times. She is Pulitzer Prize winner.

Her book is an attempt to explain what scientists wished all laymen understood about their field. Ms. Angier has done a pretty good job of translating what the scientists are saying into an entertaining and attention keeping book.

She covers most of the ‘hard’ sciences in individual chapters. Physics, Chemistry, Evolutionary Biology (Darwinism), Molecular Biology (cells), Geology and Astronomy. She also covers the simple, or not so simple, art of scientific thought in her chapter “Thinking Scientifically” and explains just what scientists mean when they say the word “theory”.

You’ll need to have a fairly good vocabulary or a dictionary, or the ability to overlook words while reading this book. Most of the scientific words are easy enough but this probably isn’t a science book that you would pass on to a child. For a grown up or teen with a brain this is a pretty good bathroom reader / refresher book.

I just wish I understood Ms. Angiers preoccupation with Goldilocks.