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History provides the narrative frame for so many popular science books these days that it’s a treat to discover writers focusing on modern science in all its complexity. Our reviewers enjoyed John Charap’s “well-informed, accessible” guide to the new age of physics Explaining the Universe (Princeton University Press, £12.95), George Johnson’s “beguiling combination of clarity and enthusiasm” in his exploration of quantum computing, A Shortcut through Time (Vintage, £7.99), Jim Al-Khalili’s “excellent”Quantum: A guide for the perplexed (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, £14.99) and Imagining Numbers by Barry Mazur (Penguin Mathematics, £7.99) “a delightful case for the pleasures of abstract thought” – and that includes the square root…