With the intelligence and exuberance that made Woman an international sensation, Natalie Angier takes us on a whirligig tour of the scientific canon. Drawing on conversations with hundreds of the world's top scientists, and her own Pulitzer Prize-winning reportage for The New York Times, The Canon is a magical guide to scientific literacy that will enrapture, inspire, and enlighten. In a book that is vital reading for anyone who wants to understand the great issues of our time - from stem cells and bird flu to evolution and global warming - Angier leads a joyride through the major scientific disciplines: physics, chemistry, biology, geology, and astronomy. People magazine says, 'Angier has that rare dual talent: a true passion for science combined with a poet's linguistic flair'. Those gifts are on full display in The Canon, an ebullient celebration of science that stands to become a classic.