Beyond Coincidence

Description

'A first-rate book' - The Observer Laura Buxton, aged ten, releases a balloon from her garden. It lands 140 miles away in the garden of another Laura Buxton, aged ten. Coincidence? Or something beyond coincidence? Is someone playing snap with our lives? Could it be the hand of God? 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? Beyond Coincidence is a celebration of the universe's most beguiling phenomenon, containing more than 250 amazing stories of coincidence. From sympathetic magic to the science of probability, from the vicissitudes of gamblers to the mysterious communions of subatomic 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.

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. Brian King is an award-winning pioneer of radio fly-on-the-wall documentaries and producer of hundreds of BBC radio features, dramas and comedy programmes including, coincidentally, a Radio 4 series about coincidence, presented by Martin Plimmer. As well as Beyond Coincidence, he's the author of books about lying (The Lying Ape) and embarrassment (Walking in on Mum and Dad). When he's not making radio programmes or writing books, he can be found fighting slugs on his allotment, strumming his guitar or organising folk festivals.

A first-rate book -- The Observer Guaranteed to send a shiver down your spine -- Good Book Guide Extraordinary stories -- Daily Mail