Eureka: Discovering Your Inner Scientist

There are a lot of books on the shelves these days that try to demystify science or make it feel more approachable to the average reader. They often rely on simplifying key scientific concepts or employing elaborate metaphors to leave some of the scarier concepts behind.

But Eureka is the first I’ve encountered to take a wildly different approach: explaining how the average person is already a scientist. By mixing common laymen’s experiences and showing how they mirror the work of scientists in major fields, Orzel isn’t bringing science down to the reader’s level—which comes off as condescending, however well-intentioned. Instead, he’s elevating the reader, including you in the scientific community as an equal. It’s an immensely smart tactic, and one that bolsters his main point. Orzel tells us that science is not a spectator sport, and employs examples of deduction, the scientific method, and other centerpieces of scientific exploration that are part of everyday life and activities.

Although Orzel’s more technical digressions can run a little long, Eureka as a whole is well executed, serving as a valuable gateway to welcome interested minds.