Physics books that captured the imagination in 2021

In keeping with our festive tradition, the December episode of Physics World Stories is all about physics books. Host Andrew Glester is joined by Physics World’s reviews and careers editor Laura Hiscott and the magazine’s editor-in-chief Matin Durrani to discuss a handpicked selection of popular-science books reviewed in 2021.

One of the year’s most memorable titles is Hawking Hawking: the Selling of a Scientific Celebrity by Charles Seife. Stephen Hawking’s status as an exceptional scientist and human being are beyond question. But Seife takes a warts-and-all look at the role self-publicity played in the British cosmologist’s public persona as the smartest scientist since Einstein.

Hawking Hawking is discussed in the first part of the podcast and there is a fun quiz for you to test your knowledge of Hawking’s life. In the second part, the Physics World journalists discuss these other books and the wider talking points that they raise:

• Flashes of Creation: George Gamow, Fred Hoyle, and the Great Big Bang Debate by Paul Halpern
• Helgoland by Carlo Rovelli
• Shell Beach: the Search for the Final Theory by Jesper Grimstrup
• Science Fiction by Sherryl Vint
• How to Talk to a Science Denier: Conversations with Flat Earthers, Climate Deniers, and Others Who Defy Reason by Lee McIntyre