Opening gambits: why first sentences in science are just so hard

I’m having trouble knowing how to start this article. That’s because we’ve been busy compiling a Physics World book quiz for you to enjoy on your summer holidays (or winter holidays for readers in the southern hemisphere).

We’ve pulled together the first sentences from several well-known popular-science books and your job is to match them to the titles in question. You can take the quiz here.

In seeking examples for the quiz, it quickly dawned on us that opening sentences are tricky to get right.  The 16 books we’ve picked out all have striking starts. But many we looked at were excluded for being too obvious or just plain boring.

A few contained quirky, surprising or supposedly amusing anecdotes that presumably sought to draw the reader in and yet they just ended up droning on. Other books started with the clichéd “This book” before launching into a humdrum précis of the contents. (I won’t name names.)

Another tired trope is to invoke humans gazing in wonder at the night sky (invariably since the dawn of civilization) as they muse on their tiny, insignificant place in the cosmos.

In fact, history is always fertile territory for popular-science writers despite it being easy to get wrong when attempting to be dramatic. John Gribbin, for example, starts his seminal In Search of Schrödinger’s Cat by claiming that Isaac Newton “invented physics”.

Apart from actually reading the whole book, perhaps the quickest way of gauging its quality is the “page 99 test”. First suggested by American writer and literary critic Ford Madox Ford, the idea is that by page 99 an author will have hit their stride and the text there is likely to reflect the rest of the content. The opening pages or back-cover blurb, in contrast, will have been given extra attention and might provide a misleading impression of what’s to follow.

Although initially aimed at works of fiction, Ford’s approach is now used for  all types of books, including science. There is, of course, a website that casts its verdict on selected titles. And if you think turning to page 99 might provide too many spoilers, there’s an alternative called the “page 69 test”. In these days of information overload, I reckon both are a neat, time-saving ruse, if potentially brutal for the books’ authors.

But of all the entries in our quiz, my favourite has to be the almost biblical opening sentence, “The Cosmos is all that is or ever was or ever will be.” If it sounds familiar, jot down your answer on the back page. I think this opening gambit is a wonderful beginning that compels the reader to continue.

Fortunately, they won’t be disappointed.

● What’s your favourite start to a popular-science book? E-mail us at pwld@
ioppublishing.org

For the record, here’s a full rundown of what is in the issue. Remember that if you’re a member of the Institute of Physics, you can read the whole of Physics World magazine every month via our digital apps for iOS, Android and Web browsers. Let us know what you think about the issue on Twitter, Facebook or by e-mailing us at pwld@ioppublishing.org.

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• The first-sentence challenge –Take our books quiz compiled by Sarah Tesh.