How to Make an Apple Pie from Scratch

Based on the number of times I found myself exclaiming aloud some variation on the theme of "nifty!", this book is worth a read. The humour and wonder the author exhibits, the playful framing, greatly increased my enjoyment and comprehension, and the likelihood that I'll engage in a non-fiction topic I don't have an educational background in. I'd say the book is about equal parts science history, covering the people, theories and experiments of times past, and science present, introducing current people in various specialities, the current theories, and the impressive new tools available. I'll admit to finding the history portions more satisfying, seeing the contrast between what worked and didn't work when experimental proof arrives to vindicate one theory/angle of focus over another. The latter third of the book focusing heavily on possible theories and repeatedly bumping up against 'but here's why that doesn't totally fit, or here's why we may never find any evidence to prove it', was a bit unsatisfying, even if Cliff is right that there are still many exciting discoveries and avenues to pursue, that theories can be useful for disparate reasons. The subtitle on the cover allows me to say this without spoiler concerns: this is a book by a particle physicist (I know what that means now!) who freely acknowledges that we don't have the full recipe for the universe and may never, and again it's his indomitable curiousity for what we can discover now and in the future that stops that conclusion from being a downer.

Sidebar: I really appreciated the equality in acknowledgement of scientific discovery, not just the contributions of women in the history of the field, but where people of different nations made the same discovery at basically the same time, all are recognized, and there's a reverence for all instances of collaboration, as well as commiseration for those who were not properly acknowledged in their time.