You Are Here

You Are Here by Christopher Potter
New York : Harper Perennial, 2010.
1st Harper Perennial ed.
294 p. ; 21 cm.

This book is a darn good read for the scientifically inclined. Does a bang up job of covering a lot, and I mean a lot of material in a short readable bit of space. The book begins with size on the macro scale, moving out into the cosmos in sets of meters (starting at 1-10 meters) ending in the over 10²⁶ meters range (over 10 billion light years) and then later heads in the opposite direction down to the 10^-10 meter range. Between these scales Potter gives us a brief history of science from the presocratics to the present.

As if this weren't enough, Potter helps us understand the nature of light (all forms), time and the origin of the universe, and finally with the history of good old earth and current thinking about human origins. Amazingly Potter manages to do all this without being dull or extremely confusing. The only section I found slow was the information on the various early scientific theories, but any young person reading this could skip or skim this part and still not lose the benefits of the book.

Definitely a recommended read for the student wanting a contemporary science overview. I also should mention that this book had one of the best explanations of basic quantum theory for the lay person.