The heart of the (anti)matter

One of the pleasures of life as a researcher is that you can spend an afternoon curled up with a good book and call it work. Today's good read: Antimatter by Frank Close. It's a little book packed with big ideas about the nature of the "stuff" (and anti-stuff) that makes up our universe.

Despite his first-class credentials (Professor of Physics at Oxford, former head of Communications and Public Education at CERN), Close isn't above taking on the cultish conspiracy theories buzzing around antimatter, subjects I suspect other writers might deem unworthy their highly-educated attention. Good for him: That's the fun stuff, the stuff that makes readers pick up the book in the first place.

Plus, Close has sympathy for poor antimatter. Hopelessly outnumbered by normal matter, just-born antimatter particles are thrust into existence only to be annihilated split-seconds later when they have the misfortune to run in to ordinary matter.

Now, back to reading. I'll let you know if there's a happy ending.