The Universe Inside You: The Extreme Science of the Human Body from Quantum Theory to the Mysteries of the Brain

by Brian Clegg

In the sequel to his best-selling "Inflight Science," Brian Clegg offers a spectacular tour through the human body.

He explores mitochondria, in-cell powerhouses once separate creatures; how your eyes consume million-year-old photons of light; your many senses, which include the ability to detect warps in space and time; and why meeting an attractive person can turn you into a gibbering idiot.

Brian Clegg is a science writer who lives in Wiltshire, England. His previous books include "Before the Big Bang" (St Martin's Griffin, 2011) and "Inflight Science" (Totem Books, 2011).

Genres: Science, Nonfiction, Physics, Medicine, Biology, Popular Science, Psychology

224 pages, Paperback

First published June 19, 2012

About the author

Brian's latest books, Ten Billion Tomorrows and How Many Moons does the Earth Have are now available to pre-order. He has written a range of other science titles, including the bestselling Inflight Science, The God Effect, Before the Big Bang, A Brief History of Infinity, Build Your Own Time Machine and Dice World.

Along with appearances at the Royal Institution in London he has spoken at venues from Oxford and Cambridge Universities to Cheltenham Festival of Science, has contributed to radio and TV programmes, and is a popular speaker at schools. Brian is also editor of the successful www.popularscience.co.uk book review site and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.

Brian has Masters degrees from Cambridge University in Natural Sciences and from Lancaster University in Operational Research, a discipline originally developed during the Second World War to apply the power of mathematics to warfare. It has since been widely applied to problem solving and decision making in business.

Brian has also written regular columns, features and reviews for numerous publications, including Nature, The Guardian, PC Week, Computer Weekly, Personal Computer World, The Observer, Innovative Leader, Professional Manager, BBC History, Good Housekeeping and House Beautiful. His books have been translated into many languages, including German, Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese, Japanese, Polish, Turkish, Norwegian, Thai and even Indonesian.

Reviews

[Nemo ☠️ (pagesandprozac) · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF at around 50%. I was lukewarm through the whole thing, but the final straw was when Clegg said black holes "may not exist". This goes completely against scientific consensus, and whereas it's fair enough to say that, it doesn't make sense to say it when you're just giving little overviews of various topics, because then he just goes on to explain the properties of black holes. It just felt irresponsible to me to say that the empirical evidence of black holes may have been caused by a different phenomenon, but doesn't explain what that might be, nor says that black holes are the the most likely candidate by far. It was also at the beginning of the black hole section, so it just seemed like irritating sensationalism - "guess what guys, they might not even be REAL!"

I don't know why this annoyed me so much, but it did. I also wasn't really gelling with the writing, finding it a little haphazard at times.

Also, most of it isn't even about the human body, so thanks for the clickbait title.

Well, lesson learned. This is the last time I'm reading a science book that wasn't written by an actual scientist.

Disclaimer though, I'm not an actual scientist either so nobody crucify me for my opinions on this book lmao

[Amanda Patterson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is the perfect gift for people who want to explore science without being bored by academic jargon.
Clegg uses the human body as a vehicle for exploring science. Parts of the book are literally about the body, but the author links it to the larger world of science. For example, Clegg follows a photon of light from a star to your eye, and teaches you about cosmology and quantum theory.
The book is broken down into subjects such as vision, digestion, sensory perception, reproduction, and the brain. Clegg uses these to explain matters ranging from how light moves, why attractive women render men speechless, to how bumble bees fly and kangaroos hop.
This book is not intended for people who know a lot about science. It is for the masses and is brilliantly simple and easy-to-understand.

[Book Shark · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Universe Inside You: The Extreme Science of the Human Body From Quantum Theory to the Mysteries of the Brain by Brian Clegg


“The Universe Inside You" is a very engaging and educational book that takes us on an exploration of science of our bodies. By using our body as a laboratory the author cleverly takes us to other realms of science and helps us gain a better understanding of the world around and in us. Popular science writer Brian Clegg, provides the reader with a fun and interesting way to learn about the peculiarities of the human body by using the most current of scientific knowledge. I enjoyed this accessible and fun science book. This 224-page book is composed of the following nine chapters: 1. In the mirror, 2. A single hair, 3. Locked up in a cell, 4. Through fresh eyes, Marching on the stomach, 6. Feeling dizzy, 7. Two by two, 8. Crowning glory, and 9. Mirror, mirror.

Positives:
1. Great accessible science writing.
2. A fun science book.
3. A very engaging book, the author provides experiments and a link so that readers can test out firsthand the concepts presented.
4. Great use of converging sciences at an accessible level to explain the human body.
5. A fun-filled fact book. “A typical human head houses around 100,000 hairs, those with blonde will usually have about the average, and those with red hair rather fewer”. The book is loaded with interesting factoids.
6. Human evolution…never boring.
7. A number of scientific discoveries inserted into an interesting narrative.
8. So much scientific territory was covered in such a brief book. Kudos.
9. The standard model of physics.
10. The significance of water in biology.
11. Fun with genetics. DNA, RNA, genes, epigenetics…
12. Basic quantum physics.
13. Optics for the masses…I see.
14. Cosmology for good measure.
15. Does a good job of debunking many long-held preconceptions in science.
16. Elementary chemistry.
17. Laws of thermodynamics.
18. The five key flavors detected by our taste buds.
19. A nice discussion about our senses.
20. The four forces that make it possible for our bodies to exist. Interesting.
21. Einstein’s special relativity.
22. Thought-provoking ideas, time travel.
23. The fascinating world of the human brain. Memory, decision-making and so much cool stuff.
24. A very interesting look at evolution and some misconceptions.
25. An appendix that basically serves as a bibliography.


Negatives:

1. This book is intended for the masses. Scientists or people heavily involved in any of these fields will find the book fairly basic.
2. A couple of errors of little consequence. A repeated word, a misspell…but that was about it.
3. No links to the appendix section.

In summary, I really enjoyed this book. It’s a fun science book that would make for a perfect gift for the layperson interested in science. I’ve read a number of science books as my further suggestions below will attest so a lot of what is presented in this book I am familiar with but I always learn something new and it also helped me better understand scientific concepts. Brian Clegg does a wonderful job of introducing readers to a number of scientific fields while using the human body as the template of the journey. A worthwhile and enlightening read for the masses, I recommend it.

Further suggestions: “50 Popular Beliefs That People Think Are True” by Guy P. Harrison, “Why Evolution Is True” by Jerry A. Coyne, “The Making of the Fittest” by Sean B. Carroll, “The Greatest Show On Earth” by Richard Dawkins, “Your Inner Fish” by Neil Shubin, “The Believing Brain” by Michael Shermer, “Human” by Michael S. Gazzaniga, “Mistakes Were Made (But Not By Me)” by Carol Travis and Elliot Aronson, “Science Matters” by Robert M. Hazen and James Trefil, and “SuperSense” by Bruce M. Hood.

[Ali · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well, that was disappointing. Maybe I have unreasonably high expectations in my popsci tastes, cultivated by the likes of About Time (Adam Frank) and We Need to Talk About Kelvin (Marcus Chown). Maybe it was because none of the information presented was new to me. I do think this book would be great for younger readers, to get them interested in nonfiction, as it presents a great skim about a lot of different sciencey subjects.

The title, alas, promises more than it can provide. Because each subject is treated so quickly there is no exploration of any of it, just a quick run down of some surface facts. Other books on my science shelf will be reread--I'm sure my brain glossed over some of the finer workings of particle physics or the structure of the eye, and I'll learn new things on a second or fifth reading. This one will be put gently in place, great cover design and all, and await friends who don't know much science and kids. It's great for that. It's kind of terrible if you're even mildly scientifically literate.

[SueSue · Rating 4 out of 5]

Felt like an entertaining review of every high school science class I ever had. I liked the way each topic ran smoothly to the next, and the website where the reader could experiment with their own senses was a nice addition.

[Dor · Rating 3 out of 5]

I bought this book in the hope I'd learn something about about biology and the human body; instead I got a book which uses the human body as a jumping off point to talk about other things: atoms and quantum physics and what happens to a helium balloon in a braking car (it heads towards the rear of the car because deceleration is acceleration in the opposite direction, and acceleration is the same as gravity, and the helium is lighter than air so heads away from gravity (or something), hence anybody in the back seat gets smacked in the face with a balloon, which I consider a tremendously useful tip).

It's not that it's bad, it's just not what I was looking for from this book because I've already read a couple of other books which cover some of the same subjects and more (like Bill Bryson's A Short History of Nearly Everything). I also found this a bit of a trog in places, but as it's split into short sections it's very easy to read a couple of pages, go away and come back.

When it's interesting, it is very interesting, the tone is light and the explanations clear. I certainly learned something, but at other times I would have liked it to be a bit more comprehensive. There are also numerous mentions of experiments etc you can do on the associated website. Although that's a good thing if you're interested, for me I'd rather have a book which isn't constantly telling you to go to a website. If I'm reading a book, I'm reading a book. As I am already familiar with most of the experiments referred to, I didn't have any problems reading the text about them. Even if you weren't familiar with the experiments, I think you'd be okay.

I read this on Kindle and had no problems doing so - there are a few diagrams but they were all clear to me.

So, not really what I was looking for but decent for what it is. If I hadn't already known a good quarter of what was in this book, it may well have been four stars. I'd certainly consider other books by the author.

[Jackie · Rating 4 out of 5]

As someone who is interested in science, but didn't "get it" at school, I found this to be a really good introduction to some very complex ideas.
Brian Clegg has a writing "voice" that I found appealing. His sense of humour comes across, but never at the expense of imparting information.
I will admit to still not "getting" certain things covered here, but I feel a step closer to understanding and confident that I can field some of my child's questions about why things are and how they work.

[Mark Gray · Rating 3 out of 5]

An engaging style with some useful little facts but probably best for someone with a little bit of scientific knowledge, a good filler but I would probably not read it again

[Claudia · Rating 4 out of 5]

The author states that his aim is not to give all the information about any one area but instead to give an overview of interesting facts from many areas. He succeeds in this - while I was reading it, I would tell my Mum some of the fun facts when she rang me. So I feel a little churlish saying I almost wish the author had included fewer things so he could spend more time on less so there would be less bouncing about between topics. Less bouncing about might also make the book read more smoothly, and might have ironed out a couple of peculiarities, for instance, on one page there is a truly terrible description of enzymes, what they are and how they work, and then, not more than two pages later, there's a perfectly good and workable description of the same thing.

The book is a fun race through some interesting science, but I am left with a feeling that less would have been more.

[Laurie Knapp · Rating 4 out of 5]

Easily digestible, and he debunks a lot of myths in popular science as well, which makes him a more trustworthy narrator than others. My only criticism is that this was seemingly intended to be a book about biology, but it’s much more about physics than anything. Even the chapters which were structured around parts of the body rarely mentioned any biological functions. Of course I didn’t mind the review of chemistry, quantum mechanics and atomic theory. Nothing too revolutionary for those who read often in the field, but his strength is in dropping those well crafted mind blowing tidbits of wisdom you’ll want to remember at dinner parties.

[Nick · Rating 5 out of 5]

this book was fucking wild yo
like half the population having "eye mites"... 😶🤯😱

[Helen · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wanted to know more about human bodies so this was pretty disappointing.

[Kenichi Fujiwara · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book The Universe Inside You, teaches you that you not only is just a body but you are also you are a technical lab and that you can explore all the different extraordinary facts and things about your body. You can not only learn about what the future technology would be, but you can learn about what kind of struggles it took to create the devices that help our body today. We shouldn't just look at our body as just a body, it is really a cool advanced lab that you can actually study and learn about a ton of things about your body and how your body relates to a ton of things. I think this book really made me think of my body in a different way and learn about how my body is actually a great place to learn about things. The ending is really nice and is well put and skilled. "With the paradoxical simplicity of evolution and its magical capability to change organisms from one species to another without ever seeing such a change from generation to generation, we have come to the end of our exploration of science using your body as our laboratory. I hope that you will never again look in a mirror and just think 'I really need a bitt more exercise.' Take a moment every time you see that remarkable structure to enjoy a sense of wonder. There's all of science coming together to make what you see work. Your body is a window on the universe." The ending to this book is really remarkable, because it clearly states that the whole time that Brian Clegg was explaining the whole process and things about our body he was always using your body as an example.

I think that Brian Clegg was really good at explaining how things in our body work. He also explained that although you think that your body is really simple and easy and understanding how the body works or how things in the human body are functioning and how some things in our brain can relate to things we might be able to understand in the future. It shows that understanding our human body not only can tell us a lot of things about our brain, but it also tells us about how our human body relates to the future of science and what our next step in innovation is.

This book also haves many different experiments that you can do for yourself on the website. Brian Clegg always wants you to try this at home too. I personally think that you should visit the website at this link. Copy paste it to see for yourself. http://www.universeinsideyou.com/expe....

I think that this book really helped me understand how my body works to function and how complicated our bodies can be. I think that Brian Clegg also wants people to understand that our body not only provides an ideal place to do experiments on and try to understand, but it also helps you function and complete the task that you want to get done.

I personally give this book a five star out of five because of all the knowledge I have gained from this book.
I recommend this book to all kinds of readers that like learning and love learning about human bodies.

[M.G. Mason · Rating 3 out of 5]

Following on from my review of In-flight Science by the same author, I moved into this one with interest. Have you ever thought about what a remarkable machine the human body is? Why does a mirror reflect an image left to right but not upside down? This book addresses some questions you might have about how you can see, the bacteria in our bodies and many more questions besides.

Like the previous book, Clegg looks at the body by showing us examples how they pertain outside the body – for example, in showing us how light reaches the eye and it’s interpreted by our brain, he takes us on a journey around the local star cluster, talking about the planets, our solar system and atmospheric interference. He points to the possibility of life elsewhere in the universe but reminds us that our current range for realistic communication is just 20 light years, a mere stone’s throw in real terms covering just a handful of stars. When talking about the digestive system, he delves into chemistry and geology of all things.

This might seem a little odd at first, and I have to admit that this book feels a little less coherent than In-flight Science because of the examples he uses (largely because they feel slightly less relevant or tangible), but on reflection it makes perfect sense for why he chooses to do it this way. Animated, vivid examples can be the best way to explain to the uninitiated how things work and how they relate to the real world. This writing style then is a matter of personal taste. Couple this with the use of simple experiments so people can see for themselves how these things work, and you have a great formula of popular science writing.

Therein lies the problem though, theses books are largely aimed at a virgin audience – somebody who has had little interest in science until now and looking for an accessible way in. I applaud Clegg for writing in a style that is very easy on the eye; it’s great and we undoubtedly need more writers of popular science who know how to talk on a real level that most people can understand. Unfortunately, and this is unavoidable, you’re going to lose an audience who may be familiar with the content and looking to learn something new and really get their teeth into it. I skipped parts of this, not because I was bored (because I wasn’t), but because it all felt just a little too familiar. If anything, the science level here is slightly lower than it was in In-Flight Science, because most of it I remember doing in GCSE science when I was a teenager.

Good stuff, but unlikely to rock the worlds of science geeks.

See more book reviews at my blog

[Michael Moats · Rating 4 out of 5]

A look at the human body and how physics rule. Includes easy to do experiments that help illustrate the book's points. A great introductory book for those who want a better understanding of how our bodies are part of the universe.

[Lucus · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Universe Inside You is a great book. It takes you through your body and uses it to explain many other things in science, like light and the universe itself. I enjoyed the writing and the facts, although I must say the contents don't need to be that long. An excellent read for young scientists.

[Mart · Rating 2 out of 5]

A great concept but unfortunately the Human Body aspect is crowbarred in and this turned out to be a rather regular pop science exploration of the usual topics found in countless other books. It's well written, and a very easy read, but one for a younger reader I think.

[Antonello Piemonte · Rating 3 out of 5]

liked it, but in general not among the best popular science books I have read so far. Occasionally had a feeling that the subject topic was not really connected with the human body and also there was significant subject hopping without a consistent theme. However, still an informative book.

[xe01 · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read the book some years ago, so I cannot really remember everything about it. It did contain some interesting bits (and the language/style was easy to follow) but a lot of it was forgettable too. Wouldn't consider it the best introduction to the topic.

[Kristyan · Rating 4 out of 5]

an excellent book if you want to brush up on science. some very good points made and is a good read for any age

[gargravarr · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought this was interesting, but I'm a sucker for facts of most sorts.

[Catherine · Rating 2 out of 5]

Nothing like what I expected and am quite disappointed

[Roddy · Rating 3 out of 5]

A reasonably good romp through various science subjects but not a book about the science of the body. The title and "vehicle" for the book is a bit contrived.

[Gary West · Rating 5 out of 5]

An insightful must read that provokes a sense of wonder and leaves you wanting to delve deeper into the mysteries it covers.

[Tim · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some interesting facts, but I found the book a little bland...

[Bill Walker · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good stuff...some new material for me and some reinforcement of older learnings. Great flow and energy.

[Pam]

I don't often read Non-Fiction but found this interesting, and written with a sense of humour, and although I don't profess to understand it all, I did find it enjoyable.

[Justin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting and well written. Not much actionable though.