Robin Ince is a comedian and science enthusiast. He presents one of the world's most popular science podcasts called The Infinite Monkey Cage with Professor Brian Cox, a physicist. Unlike the science-for-the-layman books written by scientists like Carl Sagan and Carlo Rovelli, this is not a straight-forward explication of a particular science or a broad-strokes look at the many aspects of science. At least, it is not only that.
Robin Ince takes an interesting approach. The story of science and what we have learned in the study of everything from cosmology to geology, from biology to quantum physics is laid out and interspersed with stories of people who work in these fields, and presented in the broader context of what all these sciences and discoveries mean for us as humans, how they impact our view of ourselves, our thoughts about God, religion and faith, the way we organise our societies and what we prioritise in our politics.
Ince writes that the twin powers of a scientist are curiosity and doubt. Curiosity leads them to ask questions and to try to learn more about the world. A healthy amount of doubt means that they know that they don't know everything and that they don't have all the answers or all the right answers at any given point. They are open to new ideas and new information, which might lead them to revise their theories, and change some of their ideas.
He goes on to write about certainties in religion and politics (the kind that are not usually found in science) that lead to the rise of demagogues who are believed, uncritically, by the people who follow them, people engaging in increasingly tribal behaviour and the irrationalities that result from this. This book was written in 2020 during the Covid pandemic, which exacerbated a lot of the harmful trends and tendencies of the current era, notably the belief in conspiracy theories, and the refusal to acknowledge, let alone examine, any evidence to the contrary, and the suspicious attitude to science and scientists.
This book begins with the author writing about his own personal journey toward his love for science. Robin Ince writes that he, like all other kids, had a sense of wonder about the world, but as he grew up and got to middle school, science class went from being fascinating to being dull and complicated. He lost interest and decided, the way so many of us do, that science was not for him, and got on with his life.
But things changed for him as an adult, and he managed to recapture the curiosity and the sense of wonder he had as a child. He started asking questions, looking around, reading, trying to learn and make sense of the world in a way that I think would benefit all of us in some measure. That's the primary argument of this book, that it is important to be interested in the world around around us, and everything that we've learned about it.
It is impossible to learn anything about cosmology and not come away feeling awed by the sheer size and magnificence of the known universe. It is difficult to learn anything about quantum physics and not think that underneath all the complicated mathematics that explain it, there is a little bit of magic.
This is a wonderful book, a magnificent effort by a layman to show his fellows how fascinating life can be when we engage in a bit of intellectual curiosity.