Popular science at its best - Rated 
In agreement with the general tone of the reviews that this is a very good book for explaining concepts that are so counter-intuitive you really don't want to believe they are true. Popular science is in rude health at the moment and books like this can only add to that. My only gripe is that if you've already read The Never-ending Days of Being Dead you'll find some repeated material.
Quantum theory with a bonus. - Rated 
This is an absolutely brilliant book and a fine example to any budding science writers. The subject matter is explained in such a straight forward manner that anyone with an interest in the subject should be able to follow it. As a bonus, not only do you get an explanation of "special relativity" which many authors have tackled but in addition a clear and concise explanation of "general relativity" which very few authors have attempted and none of which, to my knowledge, successfully. Whoever designed that childish dust cover should be fired however the contents are absolutely top notch. Diagrams, who needs them when you can write like that. Marcus Chown you have a new fan !
It's amazing ideas not heavy maths - Rated
My latest read was part of my research into parallel universes. These figure highly in my own anarchic sci-fi writing although most of my limited knowledge of the subject had been gleaned from Douglas Adams.
I am also planning my Meet The Author video. Looking at the other contributors I met Marcus Chown talking about this book, liked what he said and now I've read his book.
With Quantum Theory cannot hurt you, Marcus Chown has achieved almost the impossible. He doesn't need to resort to a single equation or diagram to explain E=MC squared since he makes the subject so accessible and easy to understand. That's even when hyper-intelligent mega-beings like Einstein say that the only thing anyone understands about quantum theory or relativity is that nobody understands it.
So after reading this book do I understand more than Einstein? I doubt it although this book might have convinced me that I do. In fact, in a parallel universe, I do understand more than Einstein. Great. Right me, wrong universe. But this book has made up for the difference as much as anything abiding by the current rules of physics can.
Quantum theory cannot hurt you is a book I can see myself going back to again and again. I was so impressed I've just bought The Universe Next Door - not literally you understand, it's another of his books.
Very accessible introduction to quantum theory - Rated
Most popular science books presume the reader has an almost college level grasp of physics. This one doesn't. I really haven't ever read a book that deals with quantum theory in such an accessible way.
Marcus Chown steers clear of anekdotes and side steps, confining himself to basic explaining, the way a highschool teacher would do. No-one who already has some knowledge of the subject will learn anything new from this book, but it's an almost perfect stepping stone.
A tale of two theories - Rated
This book explains, in language understandable by (almost) anyone, two of the most important and least understood concepts in physics: quantum theory and the general theory of relativity.
"I think that I can safely say that nobody understands quantum mechanics", the great physicist Richard Feynman famously said. I'm sure he was right, and I certainly don't claim now to understand it, but at least after reading this book I feel for the first time that I have a basic grasp of some of the abstruse concepts involved, aided by the many incredible facts Chown sprinkles through the book, such as that the entire human race would fit in the volume of a sugar cube.
The second half of the book deals with Einstein's theory of relativity. The concepts here are far more familiar to me, but again Chown describes them in an elegant and accessible way, once again illustrating them with simple but memorable analogies and facts, such as that you age faster at the top of a building than the bottom.
Another reviewer complains that the book has no diagrams, something I noted with surprise when I first opened it. However, it is so clearly written that no diagrams are required - I certainly didn't ever feel I needed a diagram as I was reading it.
If you have an interest in these subjects (and, as they are central to everything in the universe, I think you should), then I thoroughly recommend this extremely readable book (even if it has a completely naff cover!).
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