A Life Full of Quarks

This darkly comic tale of science and family tells the story of John Chant, who in childhood is entangled with dinosaurs, a robot, an alien astronaut, a particle accelerator, giant monsters, quantum superposition, and a malevolent experimental chimpanzee. After exile and many swerves he ends up a professor of physics at a spectacularly dysfunctional university. Along the way he encounters cosmic rays and an underground lair, a Marxist sister and a venomous pet, poets and atomic secrets, alcoholics and cancer victims, crackpots and Nobelists, and brilliant, beguiling women. Through it all John explores the fantastical mysteries of the universe, including the biggest mystery of all: love.


"Heartbreaking and hilarious" -- Kirkus Reviews (starred review).


"A thrillingly inventive novel of growing up the son of a mad scientist." -- BookLife