I’m afraid I didn’t enjoy this. I found the writing style disjointed and the content wasn’t very interesting.

Due to a sudden, unexpected passing in the family a few years ago and another more recently and my subsequent (mental) health issues stemming from that, I was unable to download this book in time to review it before it was archived as I did not visit this site for several years after the bereavements. This meant I didn't read or venture onto netgalley for years as not only did it remind me of that person as they shared my passion for reading, but I also struggled to maintain interest in anything due to overwhelming depression. I was therefore unable to download this title in time and so I couldn't give a review as it wasn't successfully acquired before it was archived. The second issue that has happened with some of my other books is that I had them downloaded to one particular device and said device is now defunct, so I have no access to those books anymore, sadly.

This means I can't leave an accurate reflection of my feelings towards the book as I am unable to read it now and so I am leaving a message of explanation instead. I am now back to reading and reviewing full time as once considerable time had passed I have found that books have been helping me significantly in terms of my mindset and mental health - this was after having no interest in anything for quite a number of years after the passings. Anything requested and approved will be read and a review written and posted to Amazon (where I am a Hall of Famer & Top Reviewer), Goodreads (where I have several thousand friends and the same amount who follow my reviews) and Waterstones (or Barnes & Noble if the publisher is American based). Thank you for the opportunity and apologies for the inconvenience

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley.

Getting to see some of the most notable experiments from a physicist POV makes for an enjoyable read.

Left me with a healthy respect for science and the world around us.

Extremely informative but never dull, this book should be on the reading list of every parent in the country. It does what all popular science should do: entertain before it educates. Outstanding.

I really loved this book and was pretty comfortable up to the midway point. The background information provided on scientists such as how they had to blow their own glassware for experiments is so cool. It has been a while since I was a student so maybe on second reading I would pick up more 😃.

It is so worth reading even if you aren't able to get to the end!!

A very interesting book. I have never been great at physics, so some elements went right over my head but the writing kept me going anyway.

As someone who wasn't really interested in Physics when younger and not overly an academic adult this book was interesting. Of course, some of the details went straight over my head but all in all it was interesting.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC.

The amazing world of the infinitesimally small

Review- Suzie Sheehy has done a marvellous job in showing the importance of physics in our everyday lives. Taking us through 12 key experiments she takes us from the early days of discovering the nature of matter right the way through to CERN, the Large Hadron Collider and the detection of the Higgs Boson. It’s quite a ride.

The stories of the individuals concerned, the history of the experiments and the discoveries made are fascinating but what struck me most is that far from being secreted away in academia todays physicists are a shining example of the values of collaboration and sharing. From the world wide web to using particle accelerators to improve medical diagnosis and the treatment of cancer CERN now shares it’s work and discoveries openly for the good of mankind. In some cases the technologies are shared before they can even make use of them themselves to maximise the benefits to others.

For me this elevates the book and the work physicists do. I finished the book with a greatly increased respect for their dedication to finding the answers to some of the biggest questions about the nature of the universe. But even more so for showing that collaboration and sharing knowledge can deliver so much more for the human race as a whole. There are important lessons here that can be applied to business and life.

I would have given the book five stars but the version I read lacked diagrams and illustrations which I felt would have supported and enhanced the text.

I never thought I would spend part of my holiday reading a book on particle physics. It was really interesting. It is well written and understandable though sometimes I would have liked to know more of how. How did they count 5 argon atoms in a tank of chlorine? We have all heard of CT , PET scans and radiotherapy but never realized they evolved from the pure science of searching for various particles in atoms etc. A fascinating read.

Fascinating, well researched, interesting to read, but quite hard going as pure text. Perhaps a diagram or photo might have livened it up a little. but well worth applying oneself and reading.

I felt like I almost needed to do some homework before tackling this one. I expected it to be more for a casual reader and I struggled with that a bit. So while I think it's very well written and hugely informative, a consideration on how the book is marketed might be worthwhile as this one was simply not for me I'm afraid.

Really enjoyed this explanation of some of the key experiments that have had huge impact in the world of physics. Nicely written, not a casual read but worth the time to really immerse myself in.

This book on Nuclear Physics was much more digestible than the somewhat academic works of Sir Steven Hawking. The author set out to explain stage by stage how Nuclear Physics evolved through practical experiments and the discovery of what matter is composed of. The reader should have a basic understanding of Physics to follow the thread of the history and a little bit of watching the Star Trek series helps as well! A good read for those with an interest in the subject.

For anyone with a better understanding of physics, I can imagine this book being a treasure trove of fascinating historical facts about their field. However, I struggled with this one. I generally enjoy history of science and especially how scientific thought has developed over time, but I don't have a background in science myself. I do have experience in scientific communication, though, and can appreciate that it is tricky. Finding the right balance between accurate information and keeping everything understandable for a lay reader is hard. This book erred on the side of precise, scientific explanations, and I often felt overwhelmed by the level of detail here. From context cues, it was obvious that certain changes to an experiment, for example, were revolutionary, but as I know nothing about physics, the importance of those changes were completely lost on me, and therefore I had trouble engaging with the story outlined here.

I love reading non fiction especially if I think it can improve my own knowledge hence choosing this book about 12 experiments that changed the course of history. I really wanted to enjoy this book but it was, at times, too technical and too much jargon for an average lay person to read.

The Matter of everything - twelve experiments that changed our world. This is a beautifully written, accessible book about how scientifc discoveries and breakthroughs have changed our lives and changed our world, and without the genious, luck, endeavour and sheer hard work and persistence of all those involved we would not have had radio, TV, x-rays, MRI scanners to name but a few.
I can't pretend to have understood everything, but Suzie Sheehy has made a difficult and dry subject hugely interesting and enlightening.

Not my usual book type but I actually enjoyed it. I found it to be informative and interesting. Would recommend whether you like physics or not

The story of the atom and quantum mechanics has been written many times, but usually, it is the theorists who take the glory and the experimentalists who play second fiddle. Here the roles are reversed with the lab workers cast in the starring role and the theoreticians their support act.

This book started quite slowly for me with a very familiar tale of the story of the discovery of the nature of the atom, starting with Röntgen and X-rays, and progressing to the discovery of the electrons and then the nucleus. But gradually a pattern began to emerge: usually, it is the theorists who take the glory and the experimentalists who play second fiddle. Here the roles are reversed with the lab workers cast in the starring role and the theoreticians their support act. Theoreticians like Bohr, Schrodinger, Planck and Einstein barely get a mention.

As the book progresses, the experiments gradually get more complicated and start to involve more people and require massive amounts of organisation of funding. I remember doing variants of some of the early experiments myself on a lab workbench in my days as a Physics undergraduate, but the days when a brilliant individual can break new ground in particle physics in the corner of a lab have, it would seem, long disappeared.

In reality, each of the experimentalists is drawing on the work of those before them (standing on the shoulders of giants as Newton said) and Suzie Sheehy has made a good job at making this a near-continuous narrative of discoveries built upon their predecessors.

Again and again, in every chapter, the author points out the technology spin-offs of the search for the understanding of matter, and the list is very impressive, and nobody should question the value of funding first-class research in these areas.

It looks like Dark Matter is where the next progress is likely to be made, and it is extraordinary how, despite all the work described in the book, and the brilliant lives devoted to research, there is so much which is not understood.

If there is a theme to a book for me it was: look at all this we have achieved, and we have to continue.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4681152949

In The Matter of Everything, accelerator physicist Suzie Sheehy introduces us to the people who, through a combination of genius, persistence and luck, staged these ground-breaking experiments. From the physicists who soared in hot air balloons on the trail of new particles, to the serendipitous discovery of X-rays in a German lab; and from the race to split open the atomic nucleus to the quest to find the third generation of matter, Sheehy shows how these experiments informed innumerable aspects of how we live today. Radio, TV, the chips in our smartphones, MRI scanners, radar equipment and microwaves, to name a few: these were all made possible by our determination to understand, and control, the microscopic.

Pulling physics down from the theoretical and putting it in the hands of the people, The Matter of Everything is a celebration of human ingenuity, creativity and curiosity: a powerful reminder that progress relies on the desire to know.
A very interesting book I’m sure I’ll come back to.

I was looking forward to reading this book as I struggle with many of the concepts in physics and was hoping to understand more, particularly as they often seem to describe the very essence of life.
I imagine as an author it is very difficult to pitch a book like this at the right level for most readers and unfortunately this wasn't the book to help me as I think I need a better level of understanding to start with and I felt a bit lost even in the author's introduction. I'm not sure if it was just my particular downloaded copy but I also struggled with sudden changes from experiments to biography of the scientist involved and their hairstyle. (part 1)
I tried dipping in and out but sadly in the end I didn't finish the book. I'm sure many other readers will really enjoy it though.
thank you to netgalley and Bloomsbury Publishing for an advance copy of this book