Frequently Asked Questions About the Universe

Jorge Cham, Daniel Whiteson John Murray £10.99 PB

Out of the 20 questions in this book, I’ve wondered about nearly all of them, usually after watching a sci-fi film. Why can’t we teleport? Will an asteroid hit Earth? Why can’t we travel back in time? And why was Biff such a bully?

Okay, that last one isn’t in the book, but I bet that physicist Daniel Whiteson and researcher-turned-cartoonist Jorge Cham would have a funny, intelligent answer for us if it was. Each chapter tackles a different question, though a single answer isn’t guaranteed. Some require a little lenience in the definitions of possible and impossible – travelling through time might not be impossible, albeit with very strict parameters; if general relativity isn’t right about black holes, then it could be possible to survive one.

Cham and Whiteson’s clever analogies help explain some of the concepts, but I did have to Google a phrase every now and then. Perhaps the target reader has a little more knowledge, but I would have appreciated a description of things like quantum states, or a refresher on the laws of physics.

Still, this book is full of fun snippets of information that you’ll want to share with others. It also has moments of awe and of sensitivity. “Is there another you?” may seem more like a question for philosophers than physicists, but it’s incredible to think a quadrillion decisions had to occur since the Big Bang for you to exist right now. That’s a quadrillion and one, I suppose, if you count your decision to read this review. ★★★★★

Amy Arthur is a science writer and speaker