A word to the wise: this is not cosmology for dummies. Parts of the text are nearly impenetrable, and Stewart’s compact...
Stewart (Mathematics/Univ. of Warwick; Professor Stewart’s Incredible Numbers, 2015, etc.) tackles the universe in this latest compendium of facts and fancy.
The prolific popularizer shows that he is not only a polymath in the sense that he is a master of all fields of mathematics, but also in his comprehension of physics, astronomy, and cosmology. The author begins by chronicling how humans throughout history have thought about the universe, from Babylonian and Greek thinkers to Galileo and Newton. Stewart then pauses to note that Newton’s laws of motion and gravity have been fundamental to our understanding of celestial motions and, in many cases, still work. Then Einstein upset the apple cart with his observations confirming findings that while the speed of light is a constant, space-time is not flat, á la Newton, but curved due to the gravitational effects of stars and other objects with mass. From this point on, the author describes mathematical models developed to explain observations and revisions of the models in light of better data. The problem is that the models are always simplifications, Stewart observes, and when better observations contradict the model, either the model has to change or the observations are proved to be wrong. Today, the accepted model of the origin of the cosmos is the Big Bang that happened 13.8 billion years ago, a model that has been modified by the concepts of inflation, dark matter, and dark energy. Alas, these introduce other problems—not to mention recent observations that some stars appear to be older than 13.8 billion years. By the end of the book, readers are likely to be daunted by current models and controversies, but that seems to be Stewart’s point: we are human, we speculate, we constantly revise—and we also write science fiction.
A word to the wise: this is not cosmology for dummies. Parts of the text are nearly impenetrable, and Stewart’s compact style provides few diagrams or even equations. However, he effectively shows that time and technology will evolve ever better calculations of the cosmos.Pub Date: Oct. 25, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-465-09610-7
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Basic Books
Review Posted Online: July 30, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2016
An intriguing meditation on the nature of the universe and our attempts to understand it that should appeal to both...
Italian theoretical physicist Rovelli (General Relativity: The Most Beautiful of Theories, 2015, etc.) shares his thoughts on the broader scientific and philosophical implications of the great revolution that has taken place over the past century.
These seven lessons, which first appeared as articles in the Sunday supplement of the Italian newspaper Sole 24 Ore, are addressed to readers with little knowledge of physics. In less than 100 pages, the author, who teaches physics in both France and the United States, cogently covers the great accomplishments of the past and the open questions still baffling physicists today. In the first lesson, he focuses on Einstein's theory of general relativity. He describes Einstein's recognition that gravity "is not diffused through space [but] is that space itself" as "a stroke of pure genius." In the second lesson, Rovelli deals with the puzzling features of quantum physics that challenge our picture of reality. In the remaining sections, the author introduces the constant fluctuations of atoms, the granular nature of space, and more. "It is hardly surprising that there are more things in heaven and earth, dear reader, than have been dreamed of in our philosophy—or in our physics,” he writes. Rovelli also discusses the issues raised in loop quantum gravity, a theory that he co-developed. These issues lead to his extraordinary claim that the passage of time is not fundamental but rather derived from the granular nature of space. The author suggests that there have been two separate pathways throughout human history: mythology and the accumulation of knowledge through observation. He believes that scientists today share the same curiosity about nature exhibited by early man.
An intriguing meditation on the nature of the universe and our attempts to understand it that should appeal to both scientists and general readers.Pub Date: March 1, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-399-18441-3
Page Count: 96
Publisher: Riverhead
Review Posted Online: Dec. 7, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2015
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Loads of good explaining, with reminders, time and again, of how much remains unknown, neatly putting the death of science...
Bryson (I'm a Stranger Here Myself, 1999, etc.), a man who knows how to track down an explanation and make it confess, asks the hard questions of science—e.g., how did things get to be the way they are?—and, when possible, provides answers.
As he once went about making English intelligible, Bryson now attempts the same with the great moments of science, both the ideas themselves and their genesis, to resounding success. Piqued by his own ignorance on these matters, he’s egged on even more so by the people who’ve figured out—or think they’ve figured out—such things as what is in the center of the Earth. So he goes exploring, in the library and in company with scientists at work today, to get a grip on a range of topics from subatomic particles to cosmology. The aim is to deliver reports on these subjects in terms anyone can understand, and for the most part, it works. The most difficult is the nonintuitive material—time as part of space, say, or proteins inventing themselves spontaneously, without direction—and the quantum leaps unusual minds have made: as J.B.S. Haldane once put it, “The universe is not only queerer than we suppose; it is queerer than we can suppose.” Mostly, though, Bryson renders clear the evolution of continental drift, atomic structure, singularity, the extinction of the dinosaur, and a mighty host of other subjects in self-contained chapters that can be taken at a bite, rather than read wholesale. He delivers the human-interest angle on the scientists, and he keeps the reader laughing and willing to forge ahead, even over their heads: the human body, for instance, harboring enough energy “to explode with the force of thirty very large hydrogen bombs, assuming you knew how to liberate it and really wished to make a point.”
Loads of good explaining, with reminders, time and again, of how much remains unknown, neatly putting the death of science into perspective.Pub Date: May 6, 2003
ISBN: 0-7679-0817-1
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Broadway
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2003
BOOK TO SCREEN
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