Customer Comments

This book is astonishingly good. The main character is captivating, and I cared about her and about what she was doing throughout the story. Her passion about reading, her strange connection with the magical world, the ways she handled the various adults (and other childred) she had to deal with - all of it was was described wonderfully and felt true to life. I might have to read it again early this year.

Smolin presents a fascinating theory of "cosmological natural selection". Unlike any thing else I have ever read in cosmology, in this book he introduces the idea of Darwinian evolution to explain how the universe came to function as it does, why the different constants of nature - particle masses, the strength of basic forces - have the values they do. Though first published in 1996, this book is still very timely and well worth reading.

Very well written, with a wealth of information on cancer and the history of its treatment. The author also communicates, in a quite engaging manner, his own experiences as a physician and the human dimensions - the costs and tragedies - of this disease.