Product Description

Drawing on the cross-pollination of geology, biology, and astrophysics, this work describes various astronomical discoveries.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #870597 in Books
• Published on: 2006-02-10
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 352 pages

Review
"This is the book for anyone who wants to see how much we know about our surroundings and how we got here. But it is even more worthwhile for its sense of adventure and for showing just what science - imagination constrained by evidence - can tell us." Martin Ince, The Times Higher Education Supplement "Neil deGrasse Tyson and Donald Goldsmith dip into astronomy, physics, geology, biology and chemistry with a racy and non-mathematical style. They encourage us to search for answers that could overturn much of what we think we already know. The task is daunting, but the excitement glows from every page." David Hughes, New Scientist"

About the Author
NEIL DEGRASSE TYSON is an astrophysicist and director of New York City's Hayden Planetarium. DONALD GOLDSMITH is an astronomy writer and the author of more than twenty books.

Customer Reviews

From the beginning
Writing for or from a TV science documentary is a challenge. The prose must address a wide spectrum of viewers' knowledge levels. The authors must neither insult nor overwhelm the viewer/reader. Tyson and Goldsmith have achieved that fine balance with this book. It provides a wealth of information about the origins and progress of the universe since its inception at the Big Bang. Tackling an amazingly complex subject, the authors break it down into a well-organised set of topics. Each step takes the reader into a more specific area of interest starting with what can be inferred about the earliest moments of the universe to the formation of planets.

Cosmology, even written for television, is a massive subject to impart. The range of subjects runs from immense forces to the minuscule movements of subatomic particles. The authors start at the smallest, but most powerful point - the time at which the entire universe was the size of a pinhead. From that initial condition, where all space and time were combined in a furiously energetic pellet, the authors follow the universe as it expands and cools. Black holes form and disappear, smudges of material begin to coalesce and the universe begins to display some patterns. Galaxies give birth to stars and planets appear where possible.

In depicting the events and conditions of universe building, the authors provide defining, useful explanations of many phenomena. The issue of "multiple universes" has gained many adherents in theoretical physics and cosmology. Because their very nature precludes observing them, the ranks of critics of the concept are about as equally swollen. "Dark matter", that mysterious material that would explain why things aren't moving about in the manner originally formulated, is clarified [at last!] well. Keeping math at bay in this book, the authors instead explain the concepts of how dark matter's influence was recognised and what efforts have been attempted to detect it. It's interesting at this point to note a dark matter galaxy has been recently identified.

From a topic as seemingly esoteric as dark matter, the authors turn to the more familiar. Stellar and planetary formation result from the accretion of material. Learning that this material is "dust" may give a few pause. This isn't the stuff under the divan, but much finer, assembled from but a few elements in the form of complex molecules. Clouds of this minuscule material may form a disc, leading to the heavier bits selecting locations and sweeping up nearby material. In the densest centre, enough material may initiate stellar ignition. Further out, little lumps combine, build and form planets. If you ask astronomers the details of the process, say the authors, "they can only gesticulate" - a new expression replacing "shrug their shoulders".

Shrewd expressions such as this permeate this book, making it a lively read. Quarks endure "shotgun" marriages and gravity "wriggles loose" from Planck matter. To some this "dumbs down" the findings of years of studious effort. To the reader new to these ideas, it smoothes the path to understanding. If you are new to cosmology, the origin of our universe and what conditions allowed us to inhabit a piece of it and ask all these questions, this book is a treasure to read and keep. Many of these issues will continue to be examined in the coming years. With a bit of effort, you may become one of the names in a later edition.