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| The Canon: A Whirligig Tour of the Beautiful Basics of Science | 
| Author: Natalie Angier
Publisher: Mariner Books
Category: Book
List Price: $15.95
Buy Used: $1.86
You Save: $14.09 (88%)
New (38) from $7.77
Avg. Customer Rating:  76 reviews
Sales Rank: 6921
Media: Paperback
Edition: 1
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 304
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.7
Dimensions (in): 8.5 x 5.5 x 0.8
ISBN: 0547053460
Dewey Decimal Number: 500
EAN: 9780547053462
ASIN: 0547053460
Publication Date: April 3, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: Creases and dirt on exterior, some bent pages. Interior in good shape.
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| Customer Reviews:
 Not Bad, Not Great March 6, 2008
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
Natalie Angier's The Canon was... decent. I was excited to read it since I definitely don't have a healthy grasp on science. In the beginning, she does a pretty good job writing simply but without making you feel like an idiot.
As the book went on, however, I began to get frustrated. She routinely works in cutesy little rhymes and sayings that started to drive me crazy. As the concepts dealt with became more complex, her penchant for the poetic was really irritating. She would be talking about... I don't know, atoms maybe... and she would say something like "the size of a bird or this word or all the nerds in class." Please remember you're writing for adults who are intelligent and choosing to further educate themselves about science. I don't want to be driven off by cute.
In the end, I still think she didn't quite simplify some of the deeper concepts to a level I was really comfortable with. Maybe I am truly a science idiot, but I doubt it.
Verdict: C-
 Avoid this. It's horribly overwritten and bloated. January 8, 2008
4 out of 7 found this review helpful
Big fan of her science clips in popular mags but there she is likely confined to a word quota. This is too bloated with personal information (I didnt buy the book to hear her life story), badly overwritten sound bites and its even annoyingly subtly politicized in many spots. Not a very scientific book and not the delightful writing Im accustomed to from her. A big loser. I wish I could get a refund.
Worthy, bloated style of prose January 2, 2008
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
Compare this book with Natalie Angier's collection of essays The Beauty of the Beastly. Someone else said it already, too many metaphors that are supposed to paint word pictures for the reader. But, Natalie, when you are describing the orbits of electrons around a nucleus in chemistry a diagram would be worth a thousand words. I understand the intent is to capture the poetry of Science. I find it tough slogging away through the gilded phrases, and pop cultural references to get at the information. I wish she would re-edit down to a tighter presentation with some help from an able illustrator. Please. Too valuable to be loaded down with excess garnishing. Sorry, I wanted so much to like this book a lot more than I did.
The Canon: Natalie's Self-indulgent Tour January 1, 2008
8 out of 10 found this review helpful
I started this book fully interested and enthusiastic about Angier's approach to science. I finished it irritated that I had wasted my money by buying it. It is tedious in its predictability and annoying in its superfluity. After awhile, I found that I automatically skipped the ends of most of her sentences, where she predictably tacked on a cute and sometimes clever but typically distracting little joke. The book needs serious editing; if reduced to the ten-page pamphlet that it ought to be, it might be worth reading. As is, this book is little more than a self-indulgent display of the author's formidable vocabulary and ability to create entertaining tropes.
Please, Natalie, no more jokes! December 26, 2007
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
Basically coherent and fairly readable book about science for non-scientists like me. But Angier tells the corniest jokes on almost every page of this book. Very distracting. I laughed three times and groaned repeatedly. The woman who read this book on audio cd seemed to relish the corniness of the whole thing, doubling my agony. A good friend of Angier needs to tell her she just isn't funny.
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