The One Thing You Need to Know: The Simple Way to Understand the Most Important Ideas in Science

From gravity to black holes, special relativity to global warming, this authoritative and entertaining book from bestselling author Marcus Chown breaks down complex science into manageable chunks, explaining the one thing you really need to know to get to grips with the subject.

Rather than trying to bend your mind around all the vast and confounding details of things like gravitational waves, electricity, and black holes, wouldn’t it be easier to understand just one central concept from which everything else follows?

If you’ve ever found yourself fascinated by the idea of quantum computing but feel a little overwhelmed by the mind—blowing subject of quantum mechanics, or concerned by climate change but haven’t been able to get to grips with the details of global warming, this book is for you. Let’s take gravitational waves, for example – they sound poetic, but why are they creating so much excitement? Think of them as the voice of space or vibrations on the drumskin of space—time, before delving into all their complexities.

In 21 short and engaging chapters, Chown explains the one thing you need to know to understand some of the most important scientific ideas of our time. Packed full of astounding facts, scientific history, and the entertaining personalities at the heart of the most pivotal discoveries about the workings of our universe, this is an accessible guide to all the tricky stuff you’ve always wanted to understand more about.