Wendy O’Hanlon
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.
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.
Wendy O’Hanlon, Acres Australia.