The Infinite Monkey Cage – How to Build a Universe

By: Prof. Brian Cox, Robin Ince, Alexandra Feachem

Narrated by: Eric Idle

The Infinite Monkey Cage, the legendary BBC Radio 4 programme, brings you this irreverent celebration of scientific marvels. Join us on a hectic leap through the grand and bizarre ideas conjured up by human imagination, from dark matter to consciousness via neutrinos and earthworms.

Professor Brian Cox and Robin Ince muse on multifaceted subjects involved in building a universe, with pearls of wisdom from leading scientists and comedians peppered throughout.

Covering billions of concepts and conundrums, they tackle everything from the Big Bang to parallel universes, fierce creatures to extraterrestrial life, brain science to artificial intelligence. How to Build a Universe is an illuminating and inspirational celebration of science – sometimes silly, sometimes astounding and very occasionally facetious.

Critic reviews

Praise for the BBC Radio 4 programme The Infinite Monkey Cage:

‘A witty and irreverent look at the world according to science’ Independent

Praise for Professor Brian Cox:

‘Cox’s romantic, lyrical approach to astrophysics all adds up to an experience that feels less like homework and more like having a story told to you. A really good story, too.’ Guardian

‘He bridges the gap between our childish sense of wonder and a rather more professional grasp of the scale of things.’ Independent

‘Engaging, ambitious and creative.’ Guardian

‘Professor Cox shows us the cosmos as we have never seen it before – a place full of the most bizarre and powerful natural phenomena.’ Sunday Express

Infinite monkey cage n+1

As a long time listener of the BBC radio 4 show, I got what I expected and much more. It had Brian and Robin's usual banter with a touch of Sagan and Feynman packaged in humorous yet informative stories.

Inspiring. 100x better than its cover!

Thought Provoking and Inspiring. Don't judge it by its cover!
A great explanation of the fundamentals and foundations of modern Science with a good bit of philosophy thrown in. I loved this book.

Best audiobook

I’ve listened to this audiobook many many times! It’s light and fun but filled with knowledge

Humorous and Objective - Until It Wasn’t

Is both very funny and quite interesting for 2/3 of the experience. If you enjoy British humor, there’s plenty of it in spades, and some very complex ideas are discussed in ways that one can wrap their head around.

Sadly, the last third turns into a diatribe of the usual arrogance of those who believe reason precludes an open mind. I find a very strange they declare the concept “I don’t know“ is an exciting one for scientists, yet are utterly convinced in the nonexistence of God, immortality, or other out-of-the-box thinking.

It’s sad, really, because I had high hopes. Their approach was creative, and I had hoped for a more balanced approach to the diversity of thought.

Boring in many places

Provides some useful insights but Digresses into nonsense too often. Not worth the 3 hrs listening time.