George’s Secret Key to the Universe by Lucy and Stephen Hawking.

This was a bit different and we all thought it was an excellent concept! What you get is a story illustrated along the way with wonderful photos and interesting fact boxes about the ‘scientific’ things that are mentioned. For us, it was a very palatable way of learning a bit more about space and quantum physics – only a bit mind! This is no text book – just a vehicle for firing your enthusiasm to learn more. Meg was particularly impressed as she professes no interest in space but got quite excited about the photos of the landscape on Mars and intrigued by the birth and death of stars. Scores varied between 7 and 10 but none of us thought this was a dud and some of us thought it was excellent.

Having said that the plot is paper-thin and very unconvincing in places. We liked the characters, finding most of them believable and appealing but wondered where the authors’ sympathies really lay as the ‘green’ characters were pilloried for most of the book and were only dealt with sympathetically at the end. This felt a bit uncomfortable.

Meg is cynical and thinks Stephen Hawking’s name on the front is purely a sales gimmick and that the book was probably written by Lucy with help from Christophe Galfard who is credited at the end. Stephen, she thinks, probably had a token input. This sort of ploy is common in publishing. But she fell for it and the book is none the worse for that!

So a thumbs up for this and the ensuing series – definitely worth a look even if stars and planets bore you to tears!

Next book group meeting is 20th July at Warwick Books. Do join us!