How to make an apple pie from scratch : in search of the recipe for our universe-from the origins of atoms to the big bang / Harry Cliff.
Record details
- ISBN: 0385545657 : HRD
- ISBN: 9780385545655 : HRD
- ISBN: 9780385545655
- ISBN: 0385545657
- ISBN: 9781984898890
- ISBN: 1984898892
- Physical Description: pages cm
- Publisher: New York : Doubleday, [2021]
Content descriptions
Bibliography, etc. Note: | Includes bibliographical references. |
Summary, etc.: | "By an experimental physicist who works on the Large Hadron Collider, a mind-altering look at the foundational questions bedeviling modern physics, among them: Where does matter come from? Carl Sagan famously said, "If you wish to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first invent the universe." But what fundamental matter is the universe made of? What banged in the Big Bang? And how did that matter arise from nothing into the world we now know? In How to Make an Apple Pie from Scratch, Harry Cliff--a University of Cambridge particle physicist, researcher on the Large Hadron Collider, and acclaimed science presenter--sets out in pursuit of answers. He ventures to the largest underground research facility in the world, deep beneath Italy's Gran Sasso mountains, where scientists look into the heart of the Sun using the most elusive of particles, the ghostly neutrino. He visits CERN in Switzerland to behold the 'Antimatter Factory,' where this stuff of science fiction is manufactured daily (and we're close to knowing whether it falls up). Cliff illuminates the history of physics and chemistry that brought us to our present understanding--and misunderstandings--of the world, while offering readers a front row seat to the dramatically unfolding quest to unlock, at long last, the secrets of our universe. A transfixing deep-dive into the origins of the world, How to Make an Apple Pie from Scratch investigates not just the makeup of our universe, but the awe-inspiring, improbable fact that it exists at all"-- Provided by publisher. |
Search for related items by subject
Subject: | Particles (Nuclear physics) > Popular works. |
Genre: | Science. |
Available copies
- 6 of 7 copies available at Bibliomation.
- 0 of 1 copy available at Somers Public Library. (Show)
Holds
- 1 current hold with 7 total copies.
Location | Call Number / Copy Notes | Barcode | Shelving Location | Status | Due Date |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Somers Public Library | 523.0197 CLI (Text) | 34042149355929 | Adult Nonfiction | Checked out | 04/11/2024 |
Brookfield Library | 523.0197/CLIFF (Text) | 34029150569399 | Adult Nonfiction | Available | - |
C.H. Booth Library - Newtown | 523.0197 CLI (Text) | 34014150065911 | Adult Nonfiction | Available | - |
North Branch - Bridgeport | 523.01 CLIFF (Text) | 34000151288016 | Adult Nonfiction | Available | - |
Silas Bronson Library - Waterbury | 523.0197 CLI (Text) | 34005151169660 | Adult Nonfiction | Available | - |
Terryville Public Library | 523.01 CLI (Text) | 34028153255014 | Adult Nonfiction | Available | - |
Weston Public Library | 523.01 CLIFF (Text) | 34053150436631 | Adult Nonfiction | Available | - |
Kirkus Review
How to Make an Apple Pie from Scratch : In Search of the Recipe for Our Universe, from the Origins of Atoms to the Big Bang
Kirkus Reviews
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
An entertainingly accurate account of how everything in the universe came to be, as told by a leading experimental physicist and popularizer. Carl Sagan once said, "If you wish to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first invent the universe." On July 4, 2012, the scientific community celebrated Higgsdependence Day, when the more than 10,000 physicists from around the world who had worked together for more 15 years announced conclusive evidence for the Higgs boson, the "God particle." Without the Higgs boson and all the other star stuff that makes the universe and holds it together, butter, flour, water, and apples wouldn't exist, and bakeries would have nothing to sell. In his first book, Cliff, a particle physicist at Cambridge and researcher at CERN's Large Hadron Collider in Switzerland, brings physics down to Earth and persuades us that even if one can easily buy fruit and pie crusts, we should still care about their deep origins. Through a clear knowledge of many areas of physics as well as individual physicists, years spent in hands-on work at CERN, the instincts of a good storyteller, and a wicked sense of humor, Cliff draws readers into the bizarre and beautiful world inside the atom, offering an accessible education on the "standard modelĆ¢ĀĀ¦a deceptively boring name for one of humankind's greatest intellectual achievements. Developed over decades through the combined efforts of thousands of theorists and experimentalists, [it] says that everything we see around us--galaxies, stars, planets, and people--is made of just a few different types of particles, which are bound together inside atoms and molecules by a small number of fundamental forces." In addition to the ins and outs of the Standard Model, this outstanding book, sometimes as funny as The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, will also teach readers why experimental subjects are often called "guinea pigs." The book for anyone who wants to understand some of the world's most important scientific questions. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
BookList Review
How to Make an Apple Pie from Scratch : In Search of the Recipe for Our Universe, from the Origins of Atoms to the Big Bang
Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
In his first popular science book, particle physicist Cliff expertly mixes chemistry, physics, a dash of astronomy, and an abundance of humor, offering everyone interested in baking and the universe the most thorough and wonderfully appealing apple pie recipe of all time (at least for the last 13.8-billion years!). The title references Carl Sagan, who once remarked, "if you wish to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first invent the universe." "From scratch" is key for Cliff, who deconstructs an apple pie, teasing out fundamental ingredients, elements and atoms, and then further dismantles atoms into their component parts. Cliff's rich use of metaphor and analogy provides readers with fascinating and easily digestible summaries of major discoveries by legendary scientific minds past and present as he masterfully reassembles the history of human understanding into an astounding confection. Set your cosmic cooker to a trillionth of a second after the Big Bang and enjoy. Cliff's review of the origins of matter and scientific mysteries still to be solved is a delicacy.
Publishers Weekly Review
How to Make an Apple Pie from Scratch : In Search of the Recipe for Our Universe, from the Origins of Atoms to the Big Bang
Publishers Weekly
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Physicist Cliff (The Sun) takes readers on an enthusiastic tour of the universe and modern physics in this enlightening survey. Using Carl Sagan's quote, "If you wish to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first invent the universe" as a prompt, Cliff describes how the concept of the atom has changed over centuries, profiling relevant thinkers and scientists and giving accessible explanations of their research (Aristotle, for example, dismissed atomic theory in ancient Greece, while John Dalton's work with atoms in the late 18th century caused a stir). Cliff highlights the curiosity behind the experiments and discoveries that led to the modern understanding of the universe, covering the troublesome standard model of particle physics and the cutting-edge labs, "like a Bond villain's mountain lair," where experiments yield clues to the Big Bang and stellar evolution. Cliff describes complex ideas vividly and accessibly, and he's got a knack for making theory exciting. This enlightening and entertaining outing is worth savoring. (Aug.)
Library Journal Review
How to Make an Apple Pie from Scratch : In Search of the Recipe for Our Universe, from the Origins of Atoms to the Big Bang
Library Journal
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Cliff (particle physics, Univ. of Cambridge) says that he was inspired by astronomer Carl Sagan to write this book, his first work of popular science. In the introduction, Cliff refers to an episode of the popular 1980 TV series Cosmos, where Sagan says, "If you wish to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first invent the universe." Cliff aims to do just that, by breaking down the apple pie into its most basic ingredients to uncover the fundamental elements of matter and tell the story of the origin of the universe. To do so, he visits various scientific sites around the globe (including the Geneva particle physics lab CERN) and delves into the groundbreaking contributions of the scientists who helped attain our current understanding of the universe. He examines the major cosmological events that eventually formed the biological materials that make up an apple pie (including the big bang, the creation of stars, and the formation of heavy elements). VERDICT Cliff is an expert writer who artfully takes on a complex subject in a comprehensible, entertaining, and humorous manner. He even describes his own childhood attempt to uncover the chemical composition of an apple pie. This fascinating work is highly recommended.--Dave Pugl, Ela Area P.L., Lake Zurich, IL