Great Explanations — 20 amazing scientists on the best thing they ever learnt

You don’t need a PhD in horology to know that there are piles of great popular science books out there and not enough time to read them all. So I’ve collected a bunch of the best established and emerging science writers — people working at the cutting edge of their own particular disciplines — and asked them to distil their passions into just one chapter each.

The result is Great Explanations, an anthology of the most pressing, fascinating and sometimes just plain overlooked topics from the far reaches of science, engineering and maths topped with a smattering of the philosophy and history of science. These are the subjects that working scientists are most passionate about, or interested in, or surprised by, in their own disciplines — the things they think curious general readers really ought to know.

We’ve also teamed up with Sense about Science, which promotes the public interest in sound science and evidence. Some of the contributing authors are part of their Voice of Young Science network and 15% of the book’s profits will be donated to the charity.

Contributors include:

• Astronomer Royal, and 60th President of the Royal Society, Lord Martin Rees
• Sir David John Spiegelhalter OBE FRS, Winton Professor for the…