Philip Ball writes regularly in the scientific and popular media and worked for many years as an editor for physical sciences at Nature. His books cover a wide range of scientific and cultural phenomena, and include Critical Mass- How One Thing Leads To Another (winner of the 2005 Aventis Prize for Science Books), The Music Instinct, Curiosity- How Science Became Interested in Everything, Serving The Reich- The Struggle for the Soul of Science Under Hitler, Invisible- The History of the Unseen from Plato to Particle Physics and The Water Kingdom- A Secret History of China.
This is the book I wish I could have written, but am very glad I've read. It's an accessible, persuasive and thorough appraisal of what the most important theory in all of science actually means. -- Jim Al-Khalili Excellent. -- Andrew Crumey * Spectator * Ball is an exceptionally talented writer who manages to combine accessibility and thoroughness in razor-sharp prose -- Philip Moriarty * Physics World * Riveting ... Ball is an intelligent guide -- Natalie Wolchover * Nature * A deeply fascinating book ... Philip Ball is a rare writer in having such depth of knowledge of a difficult field, yet retaining the critical eye of an observer. Highly recommended. -- Jon Butterworth, Professor of Physics at UCL and author of SMASHING PHYSICS