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3.63 AVERAGE
3.63 AVERAGE
I'll confess: a lot of this was over my head. (I tell myself that's largely because I was listening to the audiobook instead of reading the text, which makes it easier to quickly re-scan some confusing bit of deepness.) Nonetheless, it was a rewarding book because of the sense of deep connection with the universe it evokes. I will very probably read Krauss' other pop-science book, "A Universe from Nothing".
This a well written book about atomic physics, detailing the experiments and discoveries that have led us to our current understanding. Really a good account of both the science and personalities involved. No 5th star because the writer inexplicably rants against religion, which i find detracts from his thesis. he is no Richard Dawkins, although Dawkins is mentioned, Anyway, subtract the distribe and you have an excellent science book.
I need to stop getting science books for grown ups. Maybe Ladybird make something at my level.
DNF. This is no reflection on the book.
DNF. This is no reflection on the book.
No offence but it was a pretty boring, God bashing book that didn’t make much sense to me. It’s like the author expected the readers to have some knowledge of particle physics (which I do not) and he made many assumptions on particle behaviour based on who said what. And ironically he uses Bible verses to start each chapter
My thoughts as I picked up this book were largely around what I could likely gain from reading this that I haven't from reading other such non-fiction, science tomes written by Lawrence Krauss and his peers in the Physics community. It did prove a little bit different, though. The title is a play on the greatest story that is claimed to be - namely the Bible - but the story alluded to here is a story of the journey of humans in unraveling the mysteries of science that have given us the wealth of human knowledge we study and take pride in. Starting from the early historical records of human inquiry into the nature of the universe, Krauss maps the journey of scientific thought and experimentation through the ages, touching upon the greatest intellectual contributions from the likes of Newton, Faraday, Maxwell, Paul, Fermi, Dirac, Chandra, Bose, Einstein, Glashow and Higgs.
The story is a relation of the scientific understanding of the fundamental forces of nature and how over time, the interrelationships between the forces have led to theories of unification whereby many of them have been understood at the quantum level, to be the same primary force. The idea that electricity and magnetism are parts of the same essential force is a widely accepted and unquestioned construct at this point. The discovery of the W and Z bosons has led to the unification of electromagnetism with the weak force thus explaining beta decay. The journey continues at this point, towards a Grand Unification Theory that explains all fundamental forces as part of a core essential force of nature. The discovery of the Higgs boson and the proposition of the Higgs field are major contributors towards this objective. The way that the story builds up elucidates this is a very compelling and convincing fashion.
The only thing that leaves something to be desired of the book is the author's propensity to state very complex ideas and leap from one to the next with the kind of agility that would require someone with a PhD in Physics to ape. At the very minimum, comprehending some of the concepts presented in this book will require a second reading if not further research into adjunct material that explains the concept in layman's terms. That said, the author does forewarn the reader of this pitfall. Some of these concepts are so esoteric as to baffle some of the leading physicists of the day who have dedicated themselves to the study of particle physics and allied fields. For someone without that kind of background, some of the presented material might be too high to reach for. One has to acknowledge though that while the details don't often offer themselves to easy comprehension, the overall idea is very compelling and supremely interesting. Good for anyone trying to gain more perspectives on the nature of the universe, great for those who harbor some enthusiasm for the fundamental forces of nature, the particles that seem to govern them and the search for a unified theory that explains them all.
The story is a relation of the scientific understanding of the fundamental forces of nature and how over time, the interrelationships between the forces have led to theories of unification whereby many of them have been understood at the quantum level, to be the same primary force. The idea that electricity and magnetism are parts of the same essential force is a widely accepted and unquestioned construct at this point. The discovery of the W and Z bosons has led to the unification of electromagnetism with the weak force thus explaining beta decay. The journey continues at this point, towards a Grand Unification Theory that explains all fundamental forces as part of a core essential force of nature. The discovery of the Higgs boson and the proposition of the Higgs field are major contributors towards this objective. The way that the story builds up elucidates this is a very compelling and convincing fashion.
The only thing that leaves something to be desired of the book is the author's propensity to state very complex ideas and leap from one to the next with the kind of agility that would require someone with a PhD in Physics to ape. At the very minimum, comprehending some of the concepts presented in this book will require a second reading if not further research into adjunct material that explains the concept in layman's terms. That said, the author does forewarn the reader of this pitfall. Some of these concepts are so esoteric as to baffle some of the leading physicists of the day who have dedicated themselves to the study of particle physics and allied fields. For someone without that kind of background, some of the presented material might be too high to reach for. One has to acknowledge though that while the details don't often offer themselves to easy comprehension, the overall idea is very compelling and supremely interesting. Good for anyone trying to gain more perspectives on the nature of the universe, great for those who harbor some enthusiasm for the fundamental forces of nature, the particles that seem to govern them and the search for a unified theory that explains them all.
This was amazing and beautiful I am holding back tears.
I've had the privilege of attending one of Professor Krauss' lectures on particle physics in person for the occasion of this book's launch. He's a fabulous orator so I greatly recommend this book as an audiobook.
This was an interesting discussion on the millennia of science and thought processes that have led from the philosophy of Plato's cave, to the new theoretical physic's research in dark energy and the start/end of our universe. Simple enough for a non-physic's major and detailed enough to keep a science nerd hooked and awed.
Because of this book, I'm going to email my university tutor tomorrow about the possibility of doing a master's in a subject that will bring me closer to the physics and technology described in this book, so that I may live every day in the tearful wonder that I experienced reading this.
Science is awesome.
Disclaimer: I'm a computer science/engineering student so can't judge how understandable this book will be to none-scientist. I would say quite a lot, as Prof. Krauss draws great analogies, but I wouldn't know.
I've had the privilege of attending one of Professor Krauss' lectures on particle physics in person for the occasion of this book's launch. He's a fabulous orator so I greatly recommend this book as an audiobook.
This was an interesting discussion on the millennia of science and thought processes that have led from the philosophy of Plato's cave, to the new theoretical physic's research in dark energy and the start/end of our universe. Simple enough for a non-physic's major and detailed enough to keep a science nerd hooked and awed.
Because of this book, I'm going to email my university tutor tomorrow about the possibility of doing a master's in a subject that will bring me closer to the physics and technology described in this book, so that I may live every day in the tearful wonder that I experienced reading this.
Science is awesome.
Disclaimer: I'm a computer science/engineering student so can't judge how understandable this book will be to none-scientist. I would say quite a lot, as Prof. Krauss draws great analogies, but I wouldn't know.
3.5 fascinating. Author is a bit arrogant but the science is mind boggling.
challenging
informative
reflective
slow-paced
I thoroughly enjoyed this look into the development of the Standard Model of particle physics that goes into both the history of the discoveries and what was discovered in enough detail that I was both educated and challenged. I felt the framing conceit detracted from the overall though. The bible is sometimes called "the Greatest Story Ever Told", and Krauss presents this one as both more interesting and relevant. I agree, but it comes off here as arrogant and needlessly offensive, and the frequent bible quotations begin to come across as grating once the science starts really getting underway.
All that being said, this is the most accessible and complete explanation of the Standard Model I've seen that's quite frank about what's still missing in our understanding. You probably want to be at least passingly familiar with some of these concepts before reading though: I felt the book skims over some fundamentals that the author takes for granted (relativistic theory for instance), but a good high school science education should be enough of a prerequisite.
All that being said, this is the most accessible and complete explanation of the Standard Model I've seen that's quite frank about what's still missing in our understanding. You probably want to be at least passingly familiar with some of these concepts before reading though: I felt the book skims over some fundamentals that the author takes for granted (relativistic theory for instance), but a good high school science education should be enough of a prerequisite.
Explanations of physical principles are good enough but...
Why are the bible verses everywhere? Why do I get told stuff about Picasso? Why is he thinking so much about philosophy?
Why are the bible verses everywhere? Why do I get told stuff about Picasso? Why is he thinking so much about philosophy?