Beyond Coincidence (HARDBACK)
UK £12.99,Canada $25.00,
UK Publication March 2000
ISBN 9781840465341
Hardback
Buy:
Laura Buxton, aged ten, releases a balloon from her garden in Staffordshire. It lands 140 miles away in Wiltshire, in the garden of another Laura Buxton, aged ten.
Coincidence? Or something beyond coincidence?
Two sisters in Alabama decide, independently, to visit the other. En route, their identical jeeps collide and both are killed.
Is someone playing snap with our lives? Could it be the hand of God? Or magic? Or are we, as some scientists have suggested, being granted an insight into a hyper-connected universe whose ubiquitous web-like workings we can only dimly discern?
Sceptics see only the laws of probability at work. But what are the odds against mathematician Ian Stewart being struck by a meteorite moments after discussing the odds of such a thing happening?
Beyond Coincidence is a celebration of the Universe's most beguiling phenomenon, containing more than 200 amazing stories of coincidence and many intriguing insights into its workings. From sympathetic magic to the science of probability, from the vicissitudes of gamblers to the mysterious communions of sub-atomic particles, this book chases coincidence in all its many guises, analysing how it affects every aspect of our lives and why it means so much to even the most sceptical of us.
Next time you bump into your bank manager in the Amazonian rainforest, you may understand why ...
There is now a new, extended edition out in paperback. Click here to see the new edition.
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"Extraordinary stories" Daily Mail
"An intriguing investigation of the cosmos's most improbable events...a first-rate book" Observer
"An entertaining and intelligent study" Mail on Sunday
"Pretty amazing" Simon Hoggart, Guardian
"Fascinating" The People
"Beyond Coincidence has already resulted in many an overlong stay in the toilet" David Baddiel
"Hundreds of great stories to keep you entertained" Focus
"Addictive" Midweek
"A cornucopia of coincidence brimming with more than 200 case histories ...a superbly-crafted compilation of the most celebrated examples of the genre ...a marvellous 'greatest hits' album" Worchester Evening News
"Addictive" The List
"Book of the Month" ***** Maxim
"Absorbing" Ink
"An intriguging book containing more than 200 stories of coincidence"Radio Times
"Fascinating" Fate & Fortune
"Guaranteed to send a shiver down your spine" Good Book Guide
"Amazing" The Lady
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Martin Plimmer is a journalist and broadcaster and author of the fictionalised memoir King of the Castle. Once, while in the waiting room of a hospital after banging his head, Martin found a two-year-old magazine open at an article he had written on the subject of headaches.
See more books by: Martin Plimmer
Brian King is an award-winning producer of radio documentaries, drama and comedy. He is the author of the bestselling Beyond Coincidence and The Lying Ape.
See more books by: Brian King
