BOOKThe Universe Within
Neil Shubin (Allen Lane)
★★★✩✩
IN A NUTSHELL
Shubin tries to make sense of the universe using the human body and behaviour as the keyhole to peep through.
REVIEW
The universe, as lesser scientists than Neil Shubin have pointed out, is a vast place.
It contains wonders that defy credulity all presented in magnitudes that stretch the meagre capacities of our imagination.
Tall order then for an author to capture its marvels in print, especially in such a compact length - other authors please take note.
Distinguished scientist Shubin has opted to take the tricks of his first love - paleontology - to give this book a spine. Fossils are glimpses and clues to the real beast. In the same way, the human body is a synedoche for just about everything there ever was.
From DNA, to time-telling, from the products of the Big Bang, to celestial imbalances that produce Ice Ages, Shubin sets out to show that a residue of all existence is contained in our own bodies. Neat idea, neat book.
