ONLY A TRILLION

Abelard-Schuman, London and New York, 1959, 1^st ed/2^nd pr.  Hard cover, 195 pages.  Blue boards with gilt lettering on spine; corners and spine ends lightly bumped; bit of fading at spine head and bit of gilt rubbed at bottom end.  Binding sound; outer page block tanned with some age spotting.  Price-clipped dust jacket has edge and cover wear, short edge tears, some losses and age spotting, darkening to edges.  Interior clean and unmarked, some tables and figures; pages tanned with some age spotting.  ‘Part of the fascination of modern science lies in the range of size of the phenomena which are its concern.  Individual electrons, atoms and molecules are almost incredibly small, while the numbers used in discussing probabilities in the universe as a whole are almost incredibly large.  With such large numbers, probabilities become certainties.  Firm and far-reaching conclusions can be drawn from elementary arithmetical considerations.  This book shows how this can be done and how these conclusions can be applied to problems which cannot fail to interest anyone who has ever wondered about life and the environment in which it exists.’ (from front flap)