How to Make an Apple Pie from Scratch
Harry Cliff Picador £20 HB
Unless you’re a big fan of the late astronomer Carl Sagan, you might be at first puzzled about whether the title of this book, by particle physicist Dr Harry Cliff, actually belongs on the same shelf as other popular physics books. I would say, however, that this is one of the best books of that genre I have read.
Starting with an apple pie, Cliff works backwards, breaking down the ingredients to their elements, then atoms, and keeps on going to describe what we believe is happening on the smallest of scales. This book is a wonderful exploration into the origins of matter – and how you got to be here reading these words.
What sets this book apart are the human stories that are woven into the physics being described. Of course you’ll read about the giants of particle physics, but Cliff also introduces a new generation of scientists who are pushing the boundaries of our understanding. You’ll be connected to the experiments these ordinary scientists are working on, and share in their passion. My favourite examples include the DeLoreanlike machine under London’s streets that is looking for undiscovered quantum fields, or the Borexino experiment below an Italian mountain that is studying solar neutrinos.
The storytelling is really captivating and easy to follow. This book soon replaced my usual bedtime reading: something a popular physics book has never done. I will, however, admit that the last third of the book gets heavy. If you’ve heard the terms ‘quantum field theory’, ‘supersymmetry’, or the ‘Higgs field’ and wondered what it was all about, here is where you’ll learn. This is another great element of the book. Cliff stares right in the face of some of the most bizarre physics concepts we have. Instead of brushing over quantum electrodynamics, for instance, you will instead come away with a good understanding of what it’s all about.
So, at the end of the book you may be able to ‘invent the Universe’: take the ingredients, which include a smidge of spacetime, and follow the witty instructions that detail how to actually make an apple pie from scratch. ★★★★★
Laura Nuttall is a Reader of Astrophysics at the Institute of Cosmology and Gravitation at the University of Portsmouth