Rate this book

The 4 Percent Universe: Dark Matter, Dark Energy, And The Race To Discover The Rest Of Reality (2011)

by Richard Panek(Favorite Author)

3.79 of 5 Votes: 2

ISBN

0618982442 (ISBN13: 9780618982448)

languge

English

genre

History & Biography

publisher

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

review 1: The problem with a book on dark matter and dark energy is that there really isn't enough known about them to fill a book that would be of interest to an average reader. So, most of the book is filled with biographies of the researchers who helped collect the data the points toward the existence of dark matter and dark energy. There's a lot of clashing personalities and politics, with debates about who is claiming too much credit and who isn't getting the credit they deserve. Some of the biggest questions I had about dark matter are never addressed in the book. (For instance, if dark matter is the predominant form of mass in the universe, why does it seem that our solar system is so unaffected by it on a local scale? We can land probes on Titan without having to adjust for ... moredark matter's influence.) Not a bad book, just not the book I thought I was buying.
review 2: I was hoping for a thorough explanation of dark matter/energy and what it means for science. What I got was more a "story so far" - a sort of evolution of the idea kind of thing. Though I didn't get what I was expecting, I was pleased with the story and its unexpected contributors. And I have a new role model, Vera Rubin. I'd recommend this to anyone interested in science and the history of science. less

Download links for: The 4 Percent Universe: Dark Matter, Dark Energy, and the Race to Discover the Rest of Reality

Advertising