Many books on astrophysics, or particle physics, tend to be simplistic in tone, given that the field cares nothing less than the birth of the universe and the origin of all life. Not so Harry Cliff. A particle physicist from the University of Cambridge and CERN takes a refreshingly realistic approach to his book: The Search for the Ultimate Apple Pie Recipe. In “What Do Quarks Do in an Apple Pie?” asks the question: How do you bake an apple pie from scratch?
Steaming an apple pie to its ingredients
Cliff was inspired by Carl Sagan, who said on his TV series “Our Cosmos,” “If you want to make apple pie out of nothing, you must first invent the universe.” In order to solve this mystery, Cliff begins his work. A book with the sweet and (intentionally) stupid experience of steaming an apple pie down to its ingredients at his parents’ cottage.
From chapter to chapter, Cliff sharpens the lens through which he sees the world. It begins with the elements, identifies individual atoms, breaks them down into their component parts and ends with the Standard Model, the Higgs field, and speculation about missing pieces of the universe’s puzzle. At the same time, it moves roughly chronologically through the parameters of physics. It begins thousands of years ago with the ancient Greeks’ theory of the four elements (Earth, Water, Air, and Fire) and ends with an entertaining homemade science fiction poster about the Galactic Particle Physics Organization’s press conference at the opening of the Impossible exhibit. The Large Hadron Collider in 843 million. Cliff succeeded in putting together an impressive physical and historical outline of atomic, nuclear, astrophysics and particle physics in just 400 pages.
“Explorer. Communicator. Music geek. Web buff. Social media nerd. Food fanatic.”
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