The Address Book: Our Place in the Scheme of Things

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The Address Book: Our Place in the Scheme of Things
Tim Radford

Over the years, millions of school children must have written out their address in the same way – their house number and street, their town, their country, their continent, planet Earth, the universe…

Following this simplest of patterns, taking each line of the address as a starting point, Tim Radford explores our place in the scheme of things – why we are attached to a particular geographical place and what significance do we have when faced with the realms of astronomy and astrophysics.

Fascinating, entertaining and completely original, The Address Book tackles some of the most fundamental questions facing us, and allows us see ourselves completely afresh.

The Address Book

Our Place in the Scheme of Things

TIM RADFORD

To my family

Contents

Cover (#ud659aa30-b167-5a00-a7f9-1b6c0c6c9d89)

Title Page (#u70e546a7-58ce-5dd5-8e5a-ee37b50a9148)

Chapter One: The Number and the Street - Whose House is it Anyway?

Chapter Two: The Town - The Man from Somewhere

Chapter Three: The County - A Piece of Chalk

Chapter Four: The Country - England, Their England

Chapter Five: The Nation - How to Unite a Kingdom

Chapter Six: The Continent - An Attempt to Join Europe

Chapter Seven: The Hemisphere - A Divided World

Chapter Eight: The Planet - Down to Earth

Chapter Nine: The Solar System - Places in the Sun

Chapter Ten: The Galaxy - There Goes the Neighbourhood

Chapter Eleven: The Universe - All There is

Acknowledgements

Copyright

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