Take a look up at the stars on a clear night and you get a sense that the universe is full of mysteries beyond comprehension. But did you know that the key to unveiling the secrets of the cosmos is as close as the nearest toaster? In this conversational guide, Helen Czerski demystifies the world around us by linking such ordinary objects and occurrences as popcorn popping, coffee stains, and fridge magnets, to big ideas like climate change, the energy crisis, or innovative medical testing. Along the way, Czerski provides answers to a plethora of vexing questions: How does water travel from the roots of a redwood tree to its crown? How do ducks keep their feet warm when walking on ice? And why does it take ketchup so long to come out of the bottle?

"In an age when any questions we have about the workings of the world are instantly answerable via Google, physicist Czerski pushes us to resist the search engine…. Why not learn some simple physics so that you can try to puzzle things out for yourself?"—Scientific American