Why read The New Ambidextrous Universe?

Book cover of The New Ambidextrous Universe: Symmetry and Asymmetry from Mirror Reflections to Superstrings

Book description

"What makes Gardner so appealing is his ease in exploring deep ideas . . . and making them accessible to the interested but nontechnical reader. This is a special talent and no one has ever displayed it quite as well as he does." — Los Angeles Times
"Absorbing; enlightening; lucid;…

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Why read it?

1 author picked The New Ambidextrous Universe as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Geraint F. Lewis

Author

In the 1950s it was discovered that the cosmos was broken, a thing we boringly call parity violation. Physicists were shocked as they realized that the universe was not as perfect and symmetrical as they assumed. In his wonderful book, Gardner explores the meaning of symmetry and asymmetry in nature, from the fact that life prefers molecules with a particular twist, to the startling revelation that our universe seen in a mirror is not our universe. Whilst physicists have made their peace with a fundamentally broken universe, for the uninitiated the discovery is still disturbing.

From Geraint's list on The best books on the mysteries of the cosmos.