The chanllenge of the Universe

This is a real oddity. As someone with a physics degree, who has left it all far enough behind to be very (very!) vague about the details, I found it fascinating. It’s supposed to be a popular science title - thirteen heavy-duty scientists, with the inevitable appearance by Stephen Hawking, look at how the universe works. I found, though, that the treatment was a bit heavy unless you had a basic grounding to follow what these guys (not a woman among them) are wittering about.

The CD-ROM’s well-structured map links different aspects of the universe from elementary particles to time itself. Click on a section and you will be presented with a handful of clips - usually a postage stamp talking head surrounded by a faintly illustrative graphic. There’s also an index, which is useful to look up a particular topic that you’d like to hear more on. This CD cries out for more multimedia illustration, but at least it’s a start on answering what should be the most fascinating question in existence.

Overall - 13 big name scientists try to explain how the Universe ticks, for the educated lay person. Windows CD. Around £50 in the UK. Distributed by OUP, web site: http://www.oup.co.uk