Marcus Chown, author of 'Quantum Theory Cannot Hurt You', takes familiar features of the world we know and shows how they can be used to explain profound truths about the ultimate nature of reality.

In What a Wonderful World, Marcus Chown, physicist, broadcaster and consultant for New Scientist, applies his deep understanding of complex things to simple questions about the workings of our everyday lives. Lucid, witty and hugely entertaining, the book explains the essence of our existance, stopping along the way to answer such questions as why do we breathe? How does the brain work? Why did life invent sex? Does time really exist? And how did an advanced breed of monkey like us get to dominate the earth?

Marcus Chown reveals the wonders of modern physics - and explains why the faster you travel, the slimmer you get.

Why the force that keeps our feet on the ground holds the key to understanding time and the origin of the universe

The spellbinding stories of the scientists whose eureka! breakthroughs in modern physics reveal science's astonishing predictive power.