Infinity in the Palm of Your Hand: Fifty Wonders That Reveal an Extraordinary Universe [Paperback]

A mind-bending journey through some of the most weird and wonderful facts about our universe, vividly illuminating the hidden truths that govern our everyday lives.

The tone is consistently light and breezy...an addictive, intriguing, and entertaining read...a handy guide for anyone yearning to spice up their conversational skills. —Booklist

Fact: You could fit the whole human race in the volume of a sugar cube.
Fact: The electrical energy in a single mosquito is enough to cause a global mass extinction.
Fact: You age more quickly on the top floor than on the ground floor.

So much of our world seems to make perfect sense, and scientific breakthroughs have helped us understand ourselves, our planet, and our place in the universe in fascinating detail. But our adventures in space, our deepening understanding of the quantum world, and our leaps in technology have also revealed a universe far stranger than we ever imagined.

With brilliant clarity and wit, bestselling author Marcus Chown examines the profound science behind fifty remarkable scientific facts that help explain the vast complexities of our existence.Marcus Chownis an award-winning writer and broadcaster. Formerly a radio astronomer at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, he is cosmology consultant of New Scientist. His books includeThe Ascent of Gravity(named the Sunday Times' 2017 Science Book of the Year),What A Wonderful World,Quantum Theory Cannot Hurt You, andWe Need to Talk About Kelvin(shortlisted for the 2010 Royal Society Book Prize). Marcus has also tried his hand at apps and won the Bookseller Digital Innovation of the Year award forSolar System for iPad. Prolific science writer Chown (The Ascent of Gravity, 2017) explains in the foreword to this book that he's always looking for fun facts to liven up book readings and entertain strangers at cocktail parties. With that end in milk