Impossibility by John D. Barrow, (Vintage, £7.99)

`The limits of science and the science of limits' is the subtitle of this book and it neatly sums up its contents

`The limits of science and the science of limits' is the subtitle of this book and it neatly sums up its contents. Are there things we can never really understand because they are just too difficult. Let's admit it now and stop losing sleep over it. Conversely, are there things we can never really know because there are limits to understanding posed by the nature of our humanity. Barrow provides a crisp and accessible discussion of such issues, contrasting the scientist's view with that of the philosopher. He believes that appreciation of the things we cannot know, do or see will define our universe more completely than those things we can.

Dick Ahlstrom