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Impossible, Possible, and Improbable: Science Stranger Than Fiction
'Gribbin has inspired generations with his popular science writing' Jim Al-Khalili
A scintillating collection of short essays that really does cover 'life, the Universe, and everything'.
From the mysteries of the subatomic world to the curious property of water that makes our planet inhabitable, master of popular science John Gribbin delves into the astonishing facts that underlie our existence.
Some aspects of the quantum world really do seem impossible to 'common sense', but have been proved correct by experiments. Other features of the Universe appear obvious, such as the fact that atoms are mostly empty space. But this familiarity hides the truly amazing truths underpinning these observations. And some things merely seem improbable but are also hiding a Deep Truth, such as the fact that the Moon and Sun look the same size as viewed from Earth.
This book will change forever the way you view the world.
A scintillating collection of short essays that really does cover 'life, the Universe, and everything'.
From the mysteries of the subatomic world to the curious property of water that makes our planet inhabitable, master of popular science John Gribbin delves into the astonishing facts that underlie our existence.
Some aspects of the quantum world really do seem impossible to 'common sense', but have been proved correct by experiments. Other features of the Universe appear obvious, such as the fact that atoms are mostly empty space. But this familiarity hides the truly amazing truths underpinning these observations. And some things merely seem improbable but are also hiding a Deep Truth, such as the fact that the Moon and Sun look the same size as viewed from Earth.
This book will change forever the way you view the world.
- GenresNonfictionSciencePhysics
351 pages, Kindle Edition
Published September 1, 2022
8 people are currently reading
130 people want to read
About the author
John Gribbin
380 books843 followersJohn R. Gribbin is a British science writer, an astrophysicist, and a visiting fellow in astronomy at the University of Sussex. His writings include quantum physics, human evolution, climate change, global warming, the origins of the universe, and biographies of famous scientists. He also writes science fiction.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
October 27, 2022
This is a compendium volume, bringing together three short books by the man who Americans would probably term the dean of British science writers, John Gribbin. These were Six Impossible Things, Seven Pillars of Science and Eight Improbable Possibilities. (Seeing a theme here?)
The first of these parts is my favourite, which is odd because it focuses on the interpretation of quantum theory, a topic that can veer towards 'angels dancing on the head of a pin' territory. This is not the detail of quantum physics itself, but rather the attempts to provide theories, mostly incapable of being disproved scientifically, that will explain how the apparent probabilistic nature of quantum reality somehow translates into the apparently non-probabilistic everyday world. These are often complex ideas that are difficult to get your head around, but Gribbin's coverage is as simple as it possibly could be.
The second section effectively builds the pillars not so much of science as the science of life, starting from the origins of atoms and leading through to the genetic code and hydrogen bonding. Although these stray from Gribbin's core subjects of physics and cosmology, he still is able to give excellent insights, particularly where the two fields overlap, such as his description of Fred Hoyle's contribution to our understanding of the way that stars created the elements.
The third section takes in theories that are the best we have, but seem unlikely or surprising. Some of these really stood out for me, notably how unusual the Moon is (and how that influences the environment on Earth), Newton's bucket - which is a brilliant introduction to consider a really difficult physical conundrum, and the origins of complex life on Earth. If I'm honest, I couldn't get as excited about, say, ice age rhythms and human evolution, or dark energy - in the case of the latter because it has been so widely covered - but everything here was worth reading. I do have one significant moan (about something I didn't notice when reading the individual title). At one point, Gribbin says that 'The only possible explanation' for the way galaxies rotate is huge halos of dark matter, where there is a perfectly good explanation in modified Newtonian dynamics. Neither explanation works perfectly as yet - but it simply isn't true that dark matter is the only possible explanation.
If you don't have any of the component titles, this is a handy way to get all three in one go. Having said that, I much preferred the individual books. In part this is because they were handsome little hardbacks which were just nicer to hold and read than this big lump of a book. But it's also because there's almost an element of the whole being less than the sum of the parts. The 21 topics (as Gribbin points out, half of Douglas Adams' 42 number, providing presumably half the answer to the ultimate question) might feel a little heavy going by the end because there are just too many different components, where reading each of the individual books was a delight. If you go for this compendium, I'd consider reading something else between each of the three sections.
The first of these parts is my favourite, which is odd because it focuses on the interpretation of quantum theory, a topic that can veer towards 'angels dancing on the head of a pin' territory. This is not the detail of quantum physics itself, but rather the attempts to provide theories, mostly incapable of being disproved scientifically, that will explain how the apparent probabilistic nature of quantum reality somehow translates into the apparently non-probabilistic everyday world. These are often complex ideas that are difficult to get your head around, but Gribbin's coverage is as simple as it possibly could be.
The second section effectively builds the pillars not so much of science as the science of life, starting from the origins of atoms and leading through to the genetic code and hydrogen bonding. Although these stray from Gribbin's core subjects of physics and cosmology, he still is able to give excellent insights, particularly where the two fields overlap, such as his description of Fred Hoyle's contribution to our understanding of the way that stars created the elements.
The third section takes in theories that are the best we have, but seem unlikely or surprising. Some of these really stood out for me, notably how unusual the Moon is (and how that influences the environment on Earth), Newton's bucket - which is a brilliant introduction to consider a really difficult physical conundrum, and the origins of complex life on Earth. If I'm honest, I couldn't get as excited about, say, ice age rhythms and human evolution, or dark energy - in the case of the latter because it has been so widely covered - but everything here was worth reading. I do have one significant moan (about something I didn't notice when reading the individual title). At one point, Gribbin says that 'The only possible explanation' for the way galaxies rotate is huge halos of dark matter, where there is a perfectly good explanation in modified Newtonian dynamics. Neither explanation works perfectly as yet - but it simply isn't true that dark matter is the only possible explanation.
If you don't have any of the component titles, this is a handy way to get all three in one go. Having said that, I much preferred the individual books. In part this is because they were handsome little hardbacks which were just nicer to hold and read than this big lump of a book. But it's also because there's almost an element of the whole being less than the sum of the parts. The 21 topics (as Gribbin points out, half of Douglas Adams' 42 number, providing presumably half the answer to the ultimate question) might feel a little heavy going by the end because there are just too many different components, where reading each of the individual books was a delight. If you go for this compendium, I'd consider reading something else between each of the three sections.
April 22, 2025
Having read other more focused work by Gribbin I think he was better with one subject he attends to more deeply. However with that said I must admit the middle section of this book was excellent, only slightly let down by the pace of the first section which was a little hectic. The blend of the cutting edge and the historical here was carefully edited and successful. Overall Gribbin is a very good teacher and I wonder if he had not turned to publishing (or perhaps he has!) he would have patiently helped many in their understanding of the bizarre truths that science has revealed about the world, the stars, and the universe.
This was a fun read and unless broken up too much follows quite well considering the complex quantum physics he is trying to explain. Would recommend to teenagers reading sciences.
This was a fun read and unless broken up too much follows quite well considering the complex quantum physics he is trying to explain. Would recommend to teenagers reading sciences.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews