How To Build A Universe: Part 1

Prof Brian Cox, Robin Ince and Alexandra Feachem William Collins £20 HB

BBC Radio 4’s The Infinite Monkey Cage, hosted by Brian Cox and Robin Ince, is hugely popular (and in many ways unique) with its mix of comedy, celebrity guests and light-hearted debunking of the scientific world. How To Build A Universe represents an attempt to transfer that format to the printed page, but unfortunately fails. Occasionally funny, often informative, but ultimately disappointing, the fan of the radio show will feel somewhat cheated by this book, while those unfamiliar with the format will come away feeling frustratingly perplexed.

Although the book could have been half the size without the overindulgent use of whole-page quotes from its own text, in unfeasibly large fonts, there is some interesting content.

Cox and co. discuss the origins of the Universe, gravity, dark matter, dark energy, particle physics, space exploration, paranormal phenomena and so on, all with an admirable drive and enthusiasm. Eric Idle’s short preface is an inspired highlight of irreverence. But the conversation that makes up the book is just that: a conversation, which often detracts from the subject at hand.

For the serious armchair scientist there are far more informative and fascinating (even humorous) accounts of modern astrophysics available at the book shop. For the fan of irreverent comedy there is also a plethora of printed matter to choose from. Putting these two things together in print was always going to be difficult. And unfortunately, even though the BBC radio show is rightly praised, the attempt at an accompanying book is not a success.