Let's face it. You've been hoping someone would bring universal physics down to earth with a few simple, basic essays so you could get a handle on all that stuff that's got the scientific community's knickers in such a twist. (In addition to my own very wonderful prose, of course!) Well, your wish has been granted.
Mind Over Matter -- Conversations With the Cosmos -- is one of those rare volumns that teases the intellect while breaking through all that scientific jargon standing between us and the wonders of the universe. This book makes me wonder what the author was doing when I was in high school. I could have used her brilliance during a few testing sessions I remember with distate.
The author, K.C. Cole, is a bright young lady (judging from her photo on the cover) who is an award-winning writer for the Los Angeles Times and the New Yorker. She also received the American Institute of Physics Award for Best Science Writer. And she deserves every award she gets in my opinion.
When I first glanced over the list of chapter headings in this modest paper book, I was amazed. A full 92 brief articles span such topics as Wind, and Calibration, Imperfection, Geometry, Holes, Time and "The Sun Painter." If those aren't intriguing enough, how about Fail Safe, Dubious Discoveries or even Recycling? Her style is just exactly my choice. I don't know about you, but I like my science in small bites. Bites that chew well and go down easy, to be digested without a lot of heartburn. Then I can get on with seeing where that new bit of energy will take me. If you like a chance to munch on a new idea for breakfast so you can mull it over during the day, you'll enjoy Mind Over Matter as much as I have.
Not convinced yet? Then let me talk about how she moves gracefully through a chapter comparing our inability to see the coming downfall of Enron to our desire to avoid our responsibility for destroying the environment. Or her expose' on the new DNA evidence that is proving so many people wrongly convicted of crimes based on fallible eyewitness testimony. And on from there to consider the "om" being sung by the universe.
Honestly, if it's intriguing and about science, it's probably in this book. But don't take my word for it. Grab a copy for yourself and have your own "conversation with the cosmos."
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