Qbits by Peter Fitzgerald

THE author says that the goal of writing this funny, whimsical and hugely informative book is to encourage a teenager or young adult to pursue a career in science, and I reckon he has certainly created the platform to do so.

In this fictional adventure filled with a treasure trove of scientific facts, we meet Tom Jackson who is a young research physicist and lecturer at Sydney University. He has created a whole other world in his head – a world inhabited by the Qbits  – GG (Galileo Galilei), Mac (Marie Curie), Alby (Albert Einstein) and Newts (Sir Isaac Newton). Tom reaches this world through quantum teleportation - although not by choice. He seems to be summoned at will by the Qbits who meet in The Great Hall.

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As the Qbits try to save the world from colliding satellites and a nuclear explosion, Tom and his scientist friend `Mad Dog’ are sent to the Global Svalbard Seed Vault near the North Pole where a huge meteor storm is fast approaching. Everyone in the world is now involved in saving the planet – the Russians, the CIA, NASA…

This book is way out of the box – these Qbits even start Facebook pages. The author makes this book so accessible because the two main characters, Tom and Mad Dog, are just regular guys who love their coffee; and the Qbit scientists are as funny, vain, welcoming and competitive as the rest of us.

Excellent originality, a rip-roaring adventure suited to readers from primary school age onwards. And so many interesting facts, that Fitzgerald has made science interesting.

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Wendy O’Hanlon, Acres Australia.