Mind Over Matter
by K.C. Cole
Harcourt $133
Using simple words and short chapters - most are 21/2 pages long - Los Angeles Times science writer K.C. Cole makes science fun for casual readers. She's at her best when relating ordinary events to scientific problems. She explains how calendar time is an arbitrary concept with an anecdote about the time she and her daughter couldn't decide whether to bring in the New Year at midnight Pacific Time or midnight New York time. Cole links physics, cosmology, mathematics and astronomy to politics, art and daily life. While the personal shtick provides a few neat hooks, it wears thin. Before long, the branches of science start to look the same - much as they might before the lay reader picks up this book.