2008-02-22 A bit too thorough at points

Like Bill Bryson, with whose 'A short history of nearly everything' 'The canon' is almost necessarily compared, Natalie Angier chooses a personal perspective when running through the basics of science in her book. Unlike mr Bryson, however, ms Angier does not write for a broader audience of laymen, but for the scientificly inclined. She is the lesser narrator, but better at explaining.

Let there be no doubt that this is a well written and thoroughly researched book - a bit too thoroughly, perhaps, because the information density is just a bit too overwhelming at points, even for those who find confirmation in these pages, rather than new knowledge. In the first chapter, for instance, 24 living scientists are being quoted, next to references to scores of dead ones and the odd philosopher.

Ms Angier starts her book with a litany about those silly people who take no interest in science. 'The canon' will have won her no converts. But then, that job was already taken on by mr Bryson.