Between the microscopic world of quarks and atoms, and the macroscopic (observable) one of pebbles and planets, there is another world, strangely neglected by science. It is inhabited by things like pollen, DNA and viruses. Physicist Mark Haw tells the story of how scientists finally saw the restless middle world, having ignored it for so long.

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Reviews

'A delightful story of an overlooked and underappreciated science and the scientists who made it. The writing never falters.' - Mark Buchanan, author of Nexus

'Haw's excellent descriptions ensure that concepts normally encountered only at degree level are just part of a riveting story'. -Chemistry World

'An accessible and racy account...there is something for everyone in this highly enjoyable little book.' - Nature

'It's a phenomenal book. It's slender and makes for an easy read, yet still it explains fundamental concepts well, in terms of the experiments that led to their discovery. There's a reason we make biology students take physics and chemistry, and it's because their essential ideas are all tightly interlinked and this book makes a good case that viewing molecules as inhabitants of that Middle World is a powerfully unifying perspective.'

PZ Myers, Pharyngula Blog (www.scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/)

About the author

MARK HAW is a Materials Scientist at the University of Nottingham, UK, having spent a decade researching Brownian motion at the University of Edinburgh and the Ecole des Mines, France. He has written Physics and Chemistry features for Nature and Physics World, published numerous short stories and penned three novels.

Bibliographic Information

Book Title: Middle World
Book Subtitle: The Restless Heart of Matter and Life
Authors: Mark Haw
Series Title: Macmillan Science
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-230-55231-9
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan New York
eBook Packages: Palgrave History Collection, History (R0)
Copyright Information: Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Nature America Inc. 2007
Hardcover ISBN: 978-1-4039-8603-0Published: 28 November 2006
eBook ISBN: 978-0-230-55231-9Published: 03 October 2016
Series ISSN: 2947-7387
Series E-ISSN: 2947-7395
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: V, 202
Topics: History of Science, Physics, general, Popular Science, general, Condensed Matter Physics, Science, Humanities and Social Sciences, multidisciplinary

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Table of contents (13 chapters)

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Back Matter

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