What does the world look like before we have learned what everything is supposed to mean?
At just 52½ centimetres, a small investigator begins life with almost no useful information. He does not know what his hands are for, why objects fall, why the four-legged creature called Freja moves around so efficiently, or why the adults surrounding him behave in ways that frequently contradict their own rules.
So he does what any serious investigator would do.
He observes. He experiments. He compares results. And, as soon as language permits, he asks questions.
The investigations begin with the immediate mysteries of childhood: hands that refuse to cooperate, gravity that repeatedly interferes with ambitious plans, cupboards that suddenly become forbidden, a sister whose behaviour raises serious questions about fairness, and adults who encourage independence while simultaneously preventing it.
But as the investigator grows, so does the territory under examination.
Words bring explanations—but also new problems. Rules lead to questions about fairness. Fairness leads to power and authority. School introduces knowledge, but also raises the uncomfortable question of whether remembering an answer is the same as understanding it.
Eventually even some of history’s greatest thinkers come under investigation. Newton and Einstein are examined for their involvement with gravity. Sherlock Holmes offers useful lessons about observation and evidence, although his remarkable certainty occasionally deserves questioning of its own.
Behind the humour is a larger exploration of how we learn to understand the world—and what may happen to our curiosity along the way.
Children begin without many answers, but perhaps that is also their advantage. A hand can be fascinating. A spoon falling from a table can become an experiment. A dog can present an intellectual puzzle. Nothing has yet become too ordinary to deserve another look.
52½ Centimetres of Pure Brilliance follows one investigator from infancy toward adulthood as his knowledge increases, his equipment improves and his questions become more complicated.
It is a humorous and affectionate exploration of childhood, learning, evidence, science and the sometimes bewildering logic of the grown-up world—and a reminder that growing up need not require us to stop asking why.