Rutherford and Fry’s Complete Guide to Absolutely Everything (Abridged)
  • Published: 29 November 2022
  • ISBN: 9780552176712
  • Imprint: Penguin
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 304
  • RRP: $30.00

Rutherford and Fry’s Complete Guide to Absolutely Everything (Abridged)

new from the stars of BBC Radio 4

Formats & editions
Paperback
29 Nov 2022
EBook
16 Sep 2021
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The presenters of BBC Radio 4's flagship show, The Curious Cases of Rutherford and Fry, set about explaining why the world is as it is, and celebrate how we know what we know (even while we get so much wrong).

In Rutherford and Fry's comprehensive guidebook, they tell the complete story of the universe and absolutely everything in it - skipping over some of the boring parts. This is a celebration of the weirdness of the cosmos, the strangeness of humans and the fact that amid all the mess, we can somehow make sense of life.

Our brains have evolved to tell us all sorts of things that feel intuitively right but just aren't true: the world looks flat, the stars seem fixed in the heavenly firmament, a day is 24 hours... This book is crammed full of tales of how stuff really works. With the power of science, Rutherford and Fry show us how to bypass our monkey-brains, taking us on a journey from the origin of time and space, via planets, galaxies, evolution, the dinosaurs, all the way into our minds, and wrestling with some truly head-scratching questions that only science can answer:

What is time, and where does it come from?
Why are animals the size and shape they are?
What is a thought?
How horoscopes work (Spoiler: they don't, but you think they do)
Does my dog love me?
Why nothing is truly round
Do you need your eyes to see?
  • Published: 29 November 2022
  • ISBN: 9780552176712
  • Imprint: Penguin
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 304
  • RRP: $30.00
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About the authors

Adam Rutherford

Adam Rutherford is an award-winning geneticist, writer and broadcaster. His books include Creation (2014), The Book of Humans (2018), and the best-selling A Brief History of Everyone Who Ever Lived (2016). He has written and presented numerous documentaries for BBC radio and television, including Inside Science and The Cell. Adam has also worked as a science consultant on the Oscar-winning films Ex-Machina (2015) and Annihilation (2018).

Hannah Fry

Hannah Fry is an Associate Professor in the mathematics of cities from University College London. In her day job she uses mathematical models to study patterns in human behaviour, and has worked with governments, police forces, health analysts and supermarkets. Her TED talks have amassed millions of views and she has fronted television documentaries for the BBC and PBS; she also hosts the long-running science podcast, ‘The Curious Cases of Rutherford & Fry’ with the BBC.

portrait photo of Hannah Fry

Praise for Rutherford and Fry’s Complete Guide to Absolutely Everything (Abridged)

A wonderfully engaging blend of wit, enthusiasm, clarity and knowledge.

Bill Bryson

The illustrations are truly excellent.

Professor Alice Roberts

Like the universe itself, this book is multi-faceted, surprising and full of wonders. It's also funny, wise and exceedingly brainy. You really owe it to yourself to read it.

Tim Harford, author of How To Make The World Add Up

If only Adam Rutherford and Hannah Fry were on tap to all of us, all the time: we could turn to them whenever we wanted delicious explanations, narratives and theories to make sense of the material world. But we do have this deeply addictive book as a companion. The pair have such a gift for making life, numbers and the forces at work in the universe all the richer, stranger, funnier and more marvellous.

Stephen Fry

Explores just about every area of life.

Daily Mail