---
product_id: 12467898
title: "The Canon: A Whirligig Tour of the Beautiful Basics of Science Paperback – April 3, 2008"
brand: "natalie angier"
price: "A$33"
currency: AUD
in_stock: true
reviews_count: 9
url: https://www.desertcart.com.au/products/12467898-the-canon-a-whirligig-tour-of-the-beautiful-basics-science
store_origin: AU
region: Australia
---

# The Canon: A Whirligig Tour of the Beautiful Basics of Science Paperback – April 3, 2008

**Brand:** natalie angier
**Price:** A$33
**Availability:** ✅ In Stock

## Quick Answers

- **What is this?** The Canon: A Whirligig Tour of the Beautiful Basics of Science Paperback – April 3, 2008 by natalie angier
- **How much does it cost?** A$33 with free shipping
- **Is it available?** Yes, in stock and ready to ship
- **Where can I buy it?** [www.desertcart.com.au](https://www.desertcart.com.au/products/12467898-the-canon-a-whirligig-tour-of-the-beautiful-basics-science)

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## Description

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## Customer Reviews

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 5.0 out of 5 stars







  
  
    A Fine Introduction To The Major Areas of Science
  

*by E***K on Reviewed in the United States on August 9, 2008*

Sometimes the best explainers of a topic are outsiders or laymen, rather than practitioners in the field. The author isn't a scientist so she can still see complex topics from the layman's viewpoint. This is, simply put, a great book. It covers not only the nuts and bolts of science (what is the doppler effect?) but the philosophy behind science (why does the scientific method do such a good job at explaining our world?)The writing is breezy and not stilted, using metaphors instead of math to explain difficult topics. The chapter on evolutionary biology is my favorite, and covers not only the mechanics of evolution but the controversy, and explains the tenets (and bad reasoning) of the Intelligent Design movement. After reading this chapter it seemed like a veil lifted from my eyes, and I got excited and yelled, "I get it!"A couple of my favorite quotes:From the chapter on evolutionary biology: "Natural selection is the force that transforms drift and randomness into the gift of extravagance. It takes the doctrinaire sloth of the second law of thermodynamics, the tendency of every system to get frowzier over time, and hammers it into a magic, all-purpose, purpose-making machine that turns around and breaks entropy at the knees."From the chapter on astronomy, talking about the search for extraterrestrials: "We are such indefatigable telecommunicators that the world and its 6.5 billion content providers don't feel like enough, and we can't help  but wonder, Who else can we call?"The book is wonderful and definitely is worth reading several times. My only gripes: there is the occasional reference to some current pop culture celebrity, and I think this will make an otherwise timeless book seem dated in a few years. Also I think that the book would have been enhanced by an occasional illustration. For instance, the explanation of the galaxies flying away from each other is much easier understood if you actually see a picture of a balloon with dots on it to represent the galaxies.

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐ 4.0 out of 5 stars







  
  
    The Beautiful Basics of Natural Science
  

*by D***G on Reviewed in the United States on February 1, 2023*

In “The Canon,” Natalie Angier takes her readers along on a systematically referenced and indexed, rapid drive through the concepts, tools and data of the natural sciences, in an often irreverent and amusing, but always informative and provocative manner. The result is an inclusive work that is eminently worth the time and attention required.

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 5.0 out of 5 stars







  
  
    Priceless...with disclaimer
  

*by T***R on Reviewed in the United States on May 28, 2007*

In the United States nowadays, a person can graduate from college having taken only a couple of token soft science classes, and these may have been adjusted (dumbed down) for humanities majors.  A surprising percentage (well over half?) of our US population doesn't believe in evolution.  In the industrialized world, we rank dead last for this statistic, except for Turkey, which is caught up in the Muslim version of intelligent design.  The vast majority of our state and federal legislators are not educated in the sciences, but in the humanities.  No wonder they are so easily misled when it comes to making informed decisions about, for example, climate change.A decision to side with mainstream science is almost always the right decision, but it would be nice to know what mainstream science is saying (read "Discover" or other science magazines), why it is so valid, and how the scientific method works.  Of course, it's not perfect - it's administered by people, with all their tendencies to delusion, misuse of data, and greed; but it's relentlessly self-correcting and it has consistently provided the most usable strategy to find out how things work.Natalie Angier has written a book that will help us with our scientific literacy.  The first three chapters cover basics about the scientific method.  The human default method of decision-making, gut instinct, worked well for hunter-gatherers, but today we can do better.  Read these chapters if you don't read anything else (one chapter inspired me to order a book on probabilities).  The next six chapters are about the specific fields of physics, chemistry, evolutionary biology, molecular biology, geology, or astronomy.How much physics can you learn in 34 pages?  Well, you get a feel for how and why electrons can be harnessed to power our homes - or perhaps you'd like to know how the Houdini-like maneuver, "quantum leap" got its name.  The chapter on chemistry gives an overview of chemical bonds - why DNA has hydrogen bonds, a weaker type (so they can easily unzip for reading by messenger RNA) and stronger types of bonds are on nitrogen (and why that makes them useful as explosives).  In the evolution chapter, you learn why "nothing in biology makes any sense outside of evolution," with a strong outline on the basics.  Despite what you may have heard, "Natural selection is about as nonrandom a force as you can imagine." - Richard Dawkins.In the chapter on molecular biology, you learn how a cell bristles with proteins, looking (if you could lift the lid and look inside) like a beehive or ant-bed of activity, but at fast-forward speed.  This beautifully written chapter reminded me of Lewis Thomas's classic, "Lives of a Cell" from 1974.  Geologists immediately descend onto the site when a new tunnel is blasted through a hillside.  We live on a planet that records its own history and each stone is a potential Rosetta stone.  Astronomy is among the most popular of sciences, "chaster than other sciences, purer of heart and freer of impurities, mutagens, teratogens, and animal testing."  It answers the eternal questions: Who are we?  Where do we come from?Each chapter covers enough basics to be able to provide a strong finish.  For the scientifically challenged, for the reader who needs a science booster, or for the confirmed science nut like me, don't let this book get away.  It is even available in audio so you can buff up your education the easy way.Now for the disclaimer:  The 5 stars is for the subject matter.  Her deliver is "too cute" to the point of distraction.  The last book I recall of this type was Bill Bryson's - "A Short History of Nearly Everything."  His book doesn't suffer from maladies of this sort and is superior.

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*Store origin: AU*
*Last updated: 2026-02-24*