The first two chapters started off slowly, but the book gained momentum and became a joy to read. This is a well-written and interesting book that discusses the physics behind everyday objects and occurrences, such as why wool keeps you warm; how detergents work; how toilets work; fluid dynamics; the science of cooking; cooling and heating; how digital camera's and music work; how light; radio and cell phones work; squeaky floors and elastics; glass and why we can see through windows; metal alloys and stainless steel; how glue works; fuel and transport; and why buildings don't fall down.

Too bad there weren't any equations and a bit of maths. On the other hand, the author did provide many black and white diagrams to illustrate certain key concepts. As an additional "bonus", the author discusses the science and keeps any personal waffling to a minute minimum (for which this reader is entirely grateful).

This would make a good book for the interested general reader, teenager or even scientist who may not be familiar with everything covered in this book. The material in this book is not over-overwhelmingly complicated, but not simplified into uselessness. The author also includes addition reading matter suitable for the general public.

Addendum: My 90 year old grandmother thought this book was brilliant.
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This book contains all the information that we "learned" in science class in school and/or at the science museum and forgot soon afterwards. Going back as an adult with more experience in the world, the innovations and discoveries in this book can be related to your experiences, making the information more interesting and relevant to our lives. I'm giving it a 3 because it took me so long to read, which means it could've been more interesting. Irrelevant information creeps up every chapter and the sidebars say almost the same thing as the main text.

Just one note for American readers: the author is British and measurements are metric, so you have to think a little harder regarding specific locations and read the parentheses to know how many miles x number of km is. Some people find that annoying, but I like getting information from people who aren't American every now and then.

My food for thought quote: "What are you actually like? Can you sum yourself up in nothing but numbers? And, if the answer is 'no', why do we suppose we can compress a Picasso painting into digital photos or squash a Beethoven piano sonata into an MP3 file?" ( )

There’s a reason for everything and everything is explainable. From bicycle wheels to dust on the bookshelf, everything has a story. Chris Woodford is the kind of person who has to understand everything inside out. I had a friend whose wife feared to bring anything home because she knew he would seize it and dismantle it and put it back together only after he was satisfied he understood exactly how it worked. Then maybe she could use it. I got the same feeling reading Atoms Under the Floorboards. Woodford has been this way all his life, and he relates stories from his childhood to prove it. It’s very user friendly and entertaining.

There are fascinating insights into things we take for granted (pretty much everything) like why our fingers wrinkle when soaked a long time, how self-cleaning windows do their thing, or how the three different types of glue work and their resulting advantages and problems. I also appreciated his description of atoms as nothing like the artwork we’re used to seeing. They’re more like a speck of dirt at center field in a stadium. He manages to avoid most of the math, replacing it with stories and illustrations that make the journey fascinating. He combines a childlike fascination with scientific curiosity.

My favorite story concerns tea leaves and why they concentrate in the center of the cup instead of covering the entire bottom. The answer was provided in a scientific paper by a certain A. Einstein in 1926.

Blissfully, there an index in Atoms Under the Floorboards, so you can look at what’s happening when you are faced with the issue at hand.

David Wineberg ( )