On Being

Review from previous edition Few can match the chiselled beauty of Peter Atkins's prose as he reflects on the nature of life and death, of beginnings and endings, urging us to put away comforting myths, and face into the keen wind of understanding which only science can bring. * Richard Dawkins *
On Being is a delight to read. Who else can cover the grand sweep of existence with such clarity and wit as Peter Atkins? The text sparkles with lively metaphors and arresting insights. Even death comes alive in the hands of this master expositor! * Paul Davies *
On Being is crisp with good sense, clear with scientific knowledge effortlessly imparted, and delicious with the sort of wit that makes you stop and put the book down just to enjoy it the more fully: the heaven of believers as 'a kind of celestial Poundbury', for example. It presents a vision of life and death, of matter and space and time, that is honest and consistent and miracle-free, except for the living and totally material miracle that is science and the scientific method. There's a level, unpretending, translucent nobility in this vision, and I admire it enormously. * Philip Pullman *
a paean to science * Times Literary Supplement *
genuine enjoyment * Times Higher Education Supplement *
Peter Atkins answers...succinctly and elegantly. * Nature *
An effortless read - a real page turner. * BBC Focus *