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Mercury Fall 2007 Table of Contents

by Michael Chabin

I want to write a book.

I want to tell the story astrophysics tells -- not how we came to know it or who made which discovery but the story itself...the beginning of time and space, the condensation of matter, and how that matter was processed into the stuff of which we, and even our dreams, are made. The story of simple rules and the even simpler objects they acted on and still act on and will act on, forever.

It should be engaging. After all, what mystery can be more baffling and fascinating than the concept of a field or the notion of flexible space?

It should be spare and beautiful and, most of all, it should convince. Astrophysics is one of the most compelling arguments ever made. To tell its story without changing the reader’s mind is to fail to tell it at all.

Clearly, I'm going to need a model and, of course, everyone with whom I've talked expects a text but, at the moment, I'm leaning towards a children’s book. They set a higher standard. After all, with so much to learn, children are unwilling to waste time on bad books.

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