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My main reason for reading this book was to look for similarities between the laws that rule different elements and parts of the universe. Particularly, it is fascinating to know if laws of the galaxies, atoms and subatomic systems could be applicable to the mind and the brain. Interestingly, Laidler himself notes that: “As scientists in the various disciplines continue their studies and probe in more and more detail, it becomes increasingly clear that the same basic laws of nature are valid for all aspects of our universe” (p. 314).
However, I would have enjoyed Laidler's The Harmonious Universe during my teenage or early years of the university more than now. This book, as an encyclopedia of scientists and science, provides us and every curious student with a brief review of the progress of human knowledge about the world in a harmonious manner. In each chapter of this book, Laidler narrates how theories about each subject (particles of the matter, energy, quantum, electromagnetic field, stars and galaxies, living things, etc.) developed and lets us know how the thinkers of modern science thought about these issues and how each of them stood on the shoulders of the previous scientists to provide a more comprehensive theory.
Interestingly, Laidler provides us with a chronological account of many of the scientists who developed the field of the scientific knowledge. He lets us know about the lives of those people and see their beginnings, ends, ambitions, goals, fears, and the problems they encountered in their lives and work. He also uncovers the private life of some of those people from which we can learn more. He repeatedly brings many of these gods down from heaven so we can see them as ordinary people with failures, faults, prejudices, and evil.