Reviews

An estimable science writer ( Rainbows and Curveballs ) and even more expert TV producer/reporter ( Newton's Apple on PBS) here turns to a familiar, perhaps even stale form in his retelling of 24 famous ``serendipity of science'' stories, which reveal the hard-science origins of common domestic products and processes: Vaseline from petroleum, Velcro from a microscopic examination of the design of cockleburssp ok , microwave ovens from radar research, and so on. He offers lots of science trivia, but very little real science; James Burke's similar but more serious and probing The Day the Universe Changed has a reach and depth apparently beyond Flatow's grasp in this slight book, which lacks creativity. Nonetheless, it will appeal as a reference book to science teachers and aspiring young inventors. ( July )