The Royal Society has announced its shortlist for the 2007 General Prize for Science books. The longlist included a book called Bang! The Complete History of the Universe by Brian May, et al. If you said, “Wait. The guitarist from Queen?” Give yourself 10 points.

You may have missed this if you weren’t stuck in an airport yesterday like I was watching Headline News repeat the story approximately 100 times. Stephen Hawking, astrophysicist, paralytic, and author of A Brief History of Time experienced weightlessness in the zero G “vomit comet” airplane ride.

Janet Maslin reviews that giant new Einstein book at the NYT.

And here’s Thomas Dolby.