Promotional Information

To make an apple pie, one first needs to build a universe. A brilliantly accessible introduction to today's physics by a young academic and educator.

About the Author

Harry Cliff is a particle physicist based at the University of Cambridge and was a curator at the Science Museum in London for seven years. He regularly gives public lectures and makes TV and radio appearances. His 2015 TED talk 'Have We Reached The End Of Physics?' has been viewed over 2.5 million times. He lives in London.

Reviews

Cliff's engaging and personable writing style, along with his infectious enthusiasm, follows in the best traditions of Feynman and Sagan . . . a page-turner.
*Jim Al-Khalili*

Witty, approachable and captivating . . . Every time you eat a pie, you'll find yourself contemplating the universe and why exactly there is one in the first place - a wild ride through the remarkable adventures and thoughts that have led to a species beginning to work out why it is and why everything else is too.
*Robin Ince*

A fascinating exploration of how we learned what matter really is, and the journey matter takes from the Big Bang, through exploding stars, ultimately to you and me.
*Sean Carroll, author of Something Deeply Hidden: Quantum Worlds and the Emergence of Spacetime*

A delightfully fresh and accessible approach to one of the great quests of science . . . Harry Cliff has found a recipe for an easily digestible approach to this subject, and the results go down a treat.
*Graham Farmelo, author of The Strangest Man*

Science is all about successful recipes and here’s a mouthwateringly good one for life, the universe and everything. The cosmic detail in chef Cliff’s climactic de novo apple pie makes the efforts of celebrity cooks seem thin and insubstantial.
*Roger Highfield, Science Director at the Science Museum*

Covers a vast amount of ground whilst remaining easy to read: from the birth of modern chemistry through to the very latest ideas in particle physics. All done with a light-hearted rigour . . . Brilliant.
*Jeff Forshaw, Professor of Particle Physics, University of Manchester*

How to Make an Apple Pie from Scratch lays out not just what we know, but how we found out (and what is left to be discovered), and gives us intriguing glimpses into the lives of the thinkers and tinkerers who put all the pieces together for us.
*Katie Mack, author of The End of Everything*

[An] outstanding book, sometimes as funny as The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy
*Kirkus*

Cliff is an expert writer who artfully takes on a complex subject in a comprehensible, entertaining, and humorous manner . . . Highly recommended.
*Library Journal*