In What a Wonderful World, Marcus Chown, physicist, broadcaster and consultant for New Scientist, applies his deep understanding of complex things to simple questions about the workings of our everyday lives. Lucid, witty and hugely entertaining, the book explains the essence of our existance, stopping along the way to answer such questions as why do we breathe? How does the brain work? Why did life invent sex? Does time really exist? And how did an advanced breed of monkey like us get to dominate the earth?