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Is the universe perfectly balanced? Physicist Frank Close looks at symmetry and the deep structures of the universe in his luminescent book Lucifer's Legacy. Matter and antimatter, positive and negative charge, even the curious properties of quarks all seem to be arranged in diametrically opposed pairs (or triplets, when you consider zero-state properties like neutral charge). Yet we plainly live in a skewed environment--we can't find antimatter unless we make it, almost all of our proteins are left-handed, and there are 10 Windows machines for every Mac. Is this asymmetry essential for life? Is it in fact a necessary consequence of creation? Dr. Close examines these questions and more in intimate but not obsessive detail, showing that life as we know it couldn't exist without a few crucial imbalances. The question of whether or not we just got lucky with this universe is due to be answered in 2005, when CERN, where Close works, will test theories relating to the Big Bang. The author has a gift for explaining the intricacies of particle physics in terms that lay readers can easily grasp and even come to love. His poetic sensibilities, which frame the book and give it its title (from the statue of Lucifer in Paris's Tuileries gardens), reflect the human and cosmic mysteries inherent both in the nature of physics and the work of physicists. There's a wee bit of maths and geometry herein, but not so much to scare off the numerophobic; in fact, the cogent explanations and illustrations may win Close a few converts to hard science. In the final analysis, Lucifer's Legacy carries a hint of irony: it is such a thoroughly good read that you'll find yourself hunting in vain for flaws. --Rob Lightner
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