The Matchbox That Ate a Forty-Ton Truck: What Everyday Things Tell Us About the Universe

by Marcus Chown

Look around you. The reflection of your face in a window tells you about the most shocking discovery in the history of that at its deepest level the world is orchestrated by chance; that ultimately, things happen for no reason at all. The iron in a spot of blood on your finger shows you that somewhere out in space there is a furnace at a temperature of 4.5 billion degrees. Static on your TV screen proclaims that the universe had a beginning. The bulb above your head emits light, and the light waves emerging from it are about five thousand times bigger than the atoms that spit them out—as paradoxical a thought as the idea of a matchbox swallowing a forty-ton truck.

Marcus Chown takes familiar features of the everyday world and shows us, with breathtaking clarity, wit, and suspense, how they can be used to explain profound truths about the ultimate nature of reality. This is an essential cosmology primer for anyone curious about their surroundings and their place in the universe.

Genres: Science, Nonfiction, Popular Science

288 pages, Hardcover

First published May 11, 2010

About the author

Marcus Chown is an award-winning writer and broadcaster. Formerly a radio astronomer at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, he is currently cosmology consultant of the weekly science magazine New Scientist. He is the author of the bestselling Quantum Theory Cannot Hurt You, The Never Ending Days of Being Dead and The Magic Furnace. He also wrote The Solar System, the bestselling app for iPad, which won the Future Book Award 2011. Marcus Chown has also written a work for children, Felicity Frobisher and the Three-Headed Aldebaran Dust Devil.

Reviews

[Noah · Rating 3 out of 5]

As an explainer, this book mostly failed for me. All it really did was reinforce how profoundly strange and mindbending a lot of the scientific insights of the 20th century are. I'm starting to accept that I'll never REALLY understand the double-slit experiment.

[Geoffrey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quite a mind blowing look at the mysteries of the universe.

Includes copious endnotes, a glossary and an index which are all very useful.

I think, however, that I prefer the original British title: We Need to Talk About Kelvin.

[Dale · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review of The Matchbox that Ate a 40 Ton Truck by Marcus Chown

This is a popular science book, showing how everyday observations are linked to insights into the fundamental structure of nature. Sometimes the connection between the observable world and the underlying physics is a bit of a stretch, but it makes for enjoyable and fascinating reading.

The title of the book comes from the phenomenon of photons scattered by electrons. It is as if an ocean wave were scattered by a pebble on the beach. Chown explains, in a non mathematical way, how this works, and along the way describes a good deal of quantum mechanics.

About half the book deals with quantum mechanics, and the other half with large scale phenomena: stars, galaxies, and the history of the universe. There are no equations anywhere in the book, and really very little in the way of mathematics of any kind: quite a feat, and I'm not wholly convinced it's a good idea to leave mathematics out of even the broadest of popular science surveys. But I think that someone wholly unfamiliar with physics would come away with at least some understanding, and that's probably enough to hope for.

[Lee · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm a pretty big pop. physics/astronomy nut, and was eager to have new ways to relate various difficult concepts with the everyday world. However, this book in some ways let me down. First, I was expecting it to cover a wider array of topics, but found it to be a bit narrow in scope. Second, I found some portions of the writing a bit repetitive and nonessential which in turn made the reading in places quite tedious. Third, about half of the "everyday occurrences" seemed to be stretches and serve more as a gimmick than anything else. Not all is disappointing though. For example, I've known for a long time that the various chemical elements are created in stars, but Marcus Chown wonderfully and clearly depicts how this occurs and why it is possible. Also, his first few chapters on light were a good basic physics refresher. Overall, this book was an interesting read but did not reach the potential I think the idea of explaining big concepts with everyday occurrences merits.

[D.J. Sylvis]

Gave up on page 55 - while this is billed as an easy explanation of scientific concepts, I quickly got bogged down. I'll save the book for a later time, but at the moment I just can't get through it.

[Jesse Richman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not at all the light reading I was expecting, but does a great job of explaining quantum mechanics and such.

[Nicole · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quantum theory and spacetime make my head hurt. In another life I could have been a scientist. This stuff is fascinating. Most of it is make-believe.

[Magic Mary Austin · Rating 3 out of 5]

I couldnt get past page 40 or so. Too technical for me. Im one who wants to know how to drive a car without learning how an internal combustion engine works.

[Taja · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book. Chown does a wonderful job of explaining physics to the layman in an interesting way.

[Brendan · Rating 2 out of 5]

These are okay, just not very helpful to me ( might be to someone else )

[Diane Henry · Rating 3 out of 5]

Still looking for the perfect book to explain quantum physics. Oddly, I loved the glossary.

[Jennifer Kunz · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was the only book I've ever read that explained quantum theory in a way that actually made sense! I loved the book and would recommend.

[Kate · Rating 4 out of 5]

Explanation of quantum physics. interesting, need someone to talk about it with.

[Cathy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didn't understand lots of it! I don't have a physics brain.

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fascinating read although heavy on the scientific jargon.