The 4% Universe: Dark Matter, Dark Energy, And The Race To Discover The Rest Of Reality (2011) - Plot & Excerpts
I love reading physics materials, and this one was pretty good. I get less interested during the political intrigue where this scientist is mad at that one and so on, but it's part of the history and is worth both the telling and the hearing. Mr. Panek does a very good job of balancing the science with the story and doing justice to both. The science is presented in a very approachable manner despite the intrinsic difficulty it could present to us laymen.I find the concepts of dark matter, dark energy, the multiverse and related materials just fascinating. To know that we're almost completely unable to even detect more than 90% of the universe around us is just amazing. It seems that we'll never run out of mysteries to uncover in this great creation we call home. If you want a great walk through the truth that's stranger than fiction, this is a good tour.Also, because the scientific progress that underpins this story of discovery covers such a broad span of time, it's nice to have it "sped up" in the telling of one book. Things that took decades to unfold, animosities and alliances to form and break, make an interesting study in human behavior when examined through lens of a book read in just a few days. Overall, I enjoyed this book very much. The author goes step by step into the discoveries and ideas that have led to the current ideas in cosmology. Specifically the ideas of accelerating expansion, dark matter and dark energy. This is a subject that fascinates me, and I really enjoy thinking and reading about it. In addition to the science, the author tells much of the human story of the people involved in this work over the decades. Along with these stories, there were a couple of times that I started to lose a little interest because he went on slightly too long in describing some of the wrangling and dissension between various groups and people working in the field. But, it was always not long after I realized that I was losing interest that the book shifted on to something I found more interesting.I also give kudos to the author for not making any blatant jabs against religion or people who believe in God. There is some minor ribbing against Isaac Newton who invoked God to explain why the apparently static universe that he observed was not collapsing as he thought it should under the influence of gravity. But, I was able to give the author the benefit of the doubt that it wasn't meant unkindly.
What do You think about The 4% Universe: Dark Matter, Dark Energy, And The Race To Discover The Rest Of Reality (2011)?
Could have used 2 or 3 equations. Wikipedia helped providing those!
—AmandaNico13
Another very good book on Physics and understanding our Universe!
—viju
A good book... entertaining and well written.
—saramarie
