REVIEWS OF The Never-Ending Days of Being Dead

In the UK

The Guardian, 27 January 2007

A limousine among popular-science vehicles, containing superb essays on many-worlds theory, cellular automata, the yoyo universe, why quantum weirdness is not observed in large objects, time, the origin of mass, where to look for alien signals, and 'God's number' (which contains the answer to life, the universe and everything).

The Independent, 21 January 2007

Reading this book is a little like being at a party with an almost perfect DJ. The tracks Chown plays - a mixture of the familiar and the cutting edge - are not records, however, but the highlights of recent attempts to answer some of the biggest scientific questions there are, from 'What is beyond the edge of the universe?' to 'Why do we experience a past, present and future?'

Astronomy Now, February 2007

A masterpiece. Unputdownable. I cannot find fault with this book. The style is yummy, the mathematics non-existent and the concepts surprising.

Focus, February 2007

Strange ideas brilliantly explained.

Dazed & Confused, March 2007

It will make you hug your knees, and rock back and forth saying 'Whoa!'

The Times Higher Education Supplement, 13 November 2007

The intellectual exuberance on display here is refreshing. Marcus’s explanations of the weirdest ideas, which range over mathematics and complexity theory as well as cosmology, are admirably clear. He does an excellent job of conveying the flavour of the ideas without the benefit of mathematics.

Brian May, Bri's Soapbox , 10 September 2007

Recommended! For all armchair cosmologists! (like me!) . My friend Marcus Chown's masterpiece is now in soft cover!

 
The Times Literary Supplement, 15 June 2007

A lively guide who is also serious about science ... Chown has taken us on an exhilarating and wide-ranging journey.

New Scientist, 10 February 2007

Marcus Chown explains why quantum weirdness can't invade everyday life, where to look for messages from the gods, and how Elvis might yet sing again if the big bang keeps repeating itself - or if, as one controversial idea goes, we are all resurrected at the end of time. Comforting.

Sunday Business Post (Ireland), 4 February 2007

Chown hits exactly the right balance between the extremes of experimental frontier work on nuclear physics and his and other thinkers' whimsical flights of imagination. The quality and pace of his writing is consistent throughout, creating a book that is challenging, thought-provoking, entertaining and mind boggling all at once.

Metro, 17 January 2007

Acclaimed science writer Marcus Chown simplifies the mind-bendingly complex and brings within the grasp of the ordinary reader some of the beautiful mysteries of modern science.

Astronomy & Geophysics, August 2007

Chown tackles fundamental questions with implications for everyday life and the nature of reality. A stimulating and, in places, astounding read.

New Statesman, 26 January 2007

The questions he asks are interesting, and his writing is lively. It may not solve the universe's mysteries, but it does serve up food for thought.

The Financial Times, 5 January 2007

A short cut to the latest ideas. Chown writes lucidly and with enthusiasm.

The Guardian, 30 Dec 2006

A book about some of the gloriously implausible but not necessarily impossible ideas floated to explain how the universe got here, and what happens when it ends.

The Oxford Times, 8 March 2007

Chown attempts to answer some of the bigger questions regarding life, the universe, and everything.

The Sunday Express, 4 April 2007

Chown takes us on a journey from the birth of the Universe to its death.

In Australia

Cosmos, November 2008

A remarkable collection of ideas from the fringes of science. These are probably not ideas that you have come across before. They are weird. Mind-bogglingly weird. That's what makes them so interesting. The book is a pleasure to read – Chown explains complex concepts with style and clarity. He revels in the extraordinary theories that he has uncovered, describing them with a gentle undercurrent of humour and a dash of irreverence.

In New Zealand

The New Zealand Listener, 8-14 December 2007

This has one of the year’s best titles and some of the year’s best cosmological concepts. Chown looks at moments before the Big Bang, the four-line formula that may contain all our universe’s complexities, whether stars are artefacts and particles just vortices in a field. At the end, he offers a conclusion to space-time that would see us all immortalised inside a cosmic computer. Prepare to go “Cor!” twice on every page.