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Atoms Under the Floorboards: The Secret Science Hidden in Your Home
Chris Woodford

Atoms Under the Floorboards: The Secret Science Hidden in Your Home

Why is falling off a ladder as dangerous as being bitten by a shark? Is it better to build skyscrapers like wobbly jellies or stacks of biscuits? How many atoms would you have to split to power a lightbulb?

From Wi-Fi Internet to heat-reflecting windows, science and technology powers our lives. But it still baffles many of us even when we've spent years studying it in school. Recent opinion surveys show that 80-90 percent of us are "interested" or "very interested" in science and acknowledge how important it is. Yet 30-60% of us think it's too specialized or too hard to understand and two thirds of 14 year-olds find it uninspiring. We confuse the "ozone layer" and "climate change", we think nuclear power is more risky than crossing the road and, despite 70% of us thinking that newspapers and TV sensationalize science, 86% of us rely on precisely these unreliable media to keep us "informed".

Atoms Under the Floorboards  helps put things right by exploring the science of everyday life in an engaging new way. Taking a tour round the house, it picks out the fascinating and surprising scientific explanations behind a variety of very common (and often entertainingly mundane) household phenomena, from gurgling drains and squeaky floorboards to rubbery custard and shiny shoes. Educational and authoritative, but also engaging and fun, it sheds new light on the science secrets hidden in our homes.

Book Details:

  • Author: Chris Woodford
  • On Submission
  • Rights Sold
    • UK: Bloomsbury
    • UK: Bloomsbury
    • China: Chemical Industry Press
    • Poland: Publicat
    • Germany: Hoffmann und Campe
    • Taiwan: Faces Publications
    • Russia: Mann-Ivanov-Ferber
    • Korea: BookiePublishing House
    • Italy: Il Saggiatore
    • Vietnam: Kim Dong Publishing House
    • Korea: Interpark
Chris Woodford

Chris Woodford

Chris Woodford had his first national magazine article published at the age of 13 and has been writing about science and technology ever since. After graduating from Cambridge University with a degree in Natural Sciences, he started his career in IBM's publishing division, then trained as an advertising copywriter in London with legendary maverick John Gillard. Quickly concluding that crisp packets and junk mail could never do justice to his literary ambitions, he moved into educational publishing as an editor at Dorling Kindersley (DK) just as it was pioneering electronic books in the mid-...
More about Chris Woodford

Book Reviews

  • "The author’s engaging narrative simplifies even the most complex of scientific phenomena to the point that anyone, from the person who hasn’t been in a science class since high school to the PhD scientist, will be able to gain knowledge and enjoyment out of this book."
    Library Journal
  • "Mostly the result is phenomenal. I love the way that Woodford thinks about things we don’t normally consider… and turns them into things that we look at differently and understand in more depth while still genuinely enjoying what’s being covered."
    Popularscience.co.uk
  • "In a mere 300 pages or so, “Atoms Under the Floorboards” provides elegant answers to questions so obvious it’s likely you’ve never thought of them… plenty here to interest those curious about the scientific underpinnings of the modern world."
    Wall Street Journal
  • "The author's engaging narrative simplifies even the most complex of scientific phenomena to the point that anyone, from the person who hasn't been in a science class since high school to the PhD scientist, will be able to gain knowledge and enjoyment out of this book."
    Library Journal
  • "Mostly the result is phenomenal. I love the way that Woodford thinks about things we don't normally consider... and turns them into things that we look at differently and understand in more depth while still genuinely enjoying what's being covered."
    Brian Clegg, Popularscience.co.uk,
  • "In a mere 300 pages or so, “Atoms Under the Floorboards” provides elegant answers to questions so obvious it’s likely you’ve never thought of them... plenty here to interest those curious about the scientific underpinnings of the modern world."
    Wall Street Journal
  • "Chris Woodford’s book stands out, both for its clarity and for the unusual phenomena he explains…. Each short chapter contains gems of lucid, accessible science writing. Students and teachers alike will be captivated not only by the answers to questions about our daily lives, but by the imaginative subject matter Woodford has selected…. so well written that one can happily read it from cover to cover."
    National Science Teachers Association
  • "The reader is bound to get puzzled at first, then intrigued and ultimately hooked as the book hurtles past theories in physics and biology as well as civil, mechanical, chemical and electrical engineering… Read this book to reawaken your curiosity."
    Business Standard, India
  • "Vastly informative… does explain some astonishing things."
    Cape Argus
  • "The book that should be given to every high school science teacher as curriculum support… the most accessible and enjoyable tour through the average house and the stuff found inside it… a pleasure to read good science clearly demystified."
    Cape Times (South Africa)

Book News

  • Chris Woodford wins 2016 Science Writing Award 17 Oct 2016

    Congratulations to Chris Woodford who has won the book category in the 2016 Science Writing Awards awarded by the American Institute of Physics Atoms Under the Floorboards: The Secret Science Hidden in Your Home.

    The judges enjoyed its “accessible, eloquent discussion of a variety of science topics using phenomena of our homes or everyday lives,” and describe it as an “excellent example of science writing for the public.”

    Woodford chose to explore writing about environmental topics because “communication about the environment is a major failure – possibly the biggest and most disastrous for the scientific community,” he said.

    Woodford has written, co-written, and edited dozens of science education books, including the best-selling “Cool Stuff” books, which have sold nearly 4 million copies worldwide. He has also created a science education website: explainthatstuff.com.

    “Running a science and technology website, I get a wonderful barrage of questions from people wanting to know how and why things work or don’t work in the way they expect,” Woodford said. “After replying to quite a few of these, I realized there was a common thread: many people don’t understand the science of ‘everyday stuff,’ and there was a need for an accessible introduction.”

  • Atoms Under the Floorboards: The Secret Science Hidden in Your Home one of Physics Books of Year 05 Dec 2015

    Congratulations to Chris Woodford whose Atoms Under the Floorboards: The Secret Science Hidden in Your Home has been selected as one of the physics books of the year

    “Woodford’s snappily written analysis of ordinary “household” science takes a sideways look at the physics of objects found in and around a typical British home, from the car parked outside to the heating systems that keep the inhabitants snug when they curl up with a book on a cold winter night.”

    http://blog.physicsworld.com/2015/12/03/top-physics-books-of-2015/

  • Recent Foreign Rights Sales 10 Nov 2015

    Italian rights in Danny Orbach’s The Plots Against Hitler.

    Thai rights for Daniel Tammet’s Born on a Blue Day.

    French rights in Casey Watson’s A Last Kiss for Mummy.

    Chris Woodford’s Atoms Under The Floorboard sold to Taiwan and Russia.

  • Atoms Under the Floorboards in the Daily Mirror 07 Sep 2015

    The Daily Mirror carried a big feature on Chris Woodford’s Atoms Under the Floorboards last week.

  • More good reviews of Atoms Under the Floorboards 27 Jul 2015

    There are more good reviews of Chris Woodford’s Atoms Under the Floorboards:

    “Chris Woodford’s book stands out, both for its clarity and for the unusual phenomena he explains…. Each short chapter contains gems of lucid, accessible science writing. Students and teachers alike will be captivated not only by the answers to questions about our daily lives, but by the imaginative subject matter Woodford has selected…. so well written that one can happily read it from cover to cover.”
    National Science Teachers Association

    “The reader is bound to get puzzled at first, then intrigued and ultimately hooked as the book hurtles past theories in physics and biology as well as civil, mechanical, chemical and electrical engineering… Read this book to reawaken your curiosity.”
    Business Standard, India

    “The book that should be given to every high school science teacher as curriculum support… the most accessible and enjoyable tour through the average house and the stuff found inside it… a pleasure to read good science clearly demystified.”
    Cape Times (South Africa)

    “Vastly informative… does explain some astonishing things.”
    Cape Argus

  • Great reviews for Atoms Under the Floorboards 25 Jun 2015

    Chris Woodford’s new book Atoms Under the Floorboards has been attracting terrific reviews, including the following:

    “The author’s engaging narrative simplifies even the most complex of scientific phenomena to the point that anyone, from the person who hasn’t been in a science class since high school to the PhD scientist, will be able to gain knowledge and enjoyment out of this book.” Library Journal

    “Mostly the result is phenomenal. I love the way that Woodford thinks about things we don’t normally consider… and turns them into things that we look at differently and understand in more depth while still genuinely enjoying what’s being covered.” Popularscience.co.uk

    “In a mere 300 pages or so, “Atoms Under the Floorboards” provides elegant answers to questions so obvious it’s likely you’ve never thought of them… plenty here to interest those curious about the scientific underpinnings of the modern world.” Wall Street Journal