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4.27 AVERAGE
4.27 AVERAGE
Fascinating till is boring. First half 4/5 then put book to the side and walk to other location.
challenging
informative
slow-paced
I won this book in a giveaway, yes it was years ago and I feel terrible!
It took me almost a month to finish it, not because it was bad but because it takes sometime to fully digest the craziness of all the concepts shared by Dr Mack. Sometimes you have to just sit down and try to wrap you head around so many concepts! numbers and sizes too big for them to make sense in your head.
Another reason it took me some good time to finish it, was because from all the current events in the world I was feeling a little existential already, and reading about all this just made it worse. But then I started thinking of it as somewhat encouraging, because there are ways the universe and our world can end that don't involve human intervention and all the harm we cause. Only then I could fully read the book without having a crisis haha.
She is an amazing narrator and storyteller. The way she explains all these theories not only makes it understandable for people like me that don't have a background in astrophysics, but makes everything incredibly engaging, and she's very good at space puns.
I will definitely have to reread several of the chapters because now I have all this new information I want to learn more about!
It took me almost a month to finish it, not because it was bad but because it takes sometime to fully digest the craziness of all the concepts shared by Dr Mack. Sometimes you have to just sit down and try to wrap you head around so many concepts! numbers and sizes too big for them to make sense in your head.
Another reason it took me some good time to finish it, was because from all the current events in the world I was feeling a little existential already, and reading about all this just made it worse. But then I started thinking of it as somewhat encouraging, because there are ways the universe and our world can end that don't involve human intervention and all the harm we cause. Only then I could fully read the book without having a crisis haha.
She is an amazing narrator and storyteller. The way she explains all these theories not only makes it understandable for people like me that don't have a background in astrophysics, but makes everything incredibly engaging, and she's very good at space puns.
I will definitely have to reread several of the chapters because now I have all this new information I want to learn more about!
This book is ultimately a trippy, exciting adventure into the extraordinary science that describes not only the universe, our reality, and the eventual demise of both, but of our understanding of the complex nature of the cosmos and of our place in it. The author’s voice is a combination of cheeky wit and passionate enthusiasm for her subject matter. She is mindful and empathetic towards any non-physicist readers whose minds are continually being blown by the utter weirdness and incomprehensible nature of the scientific principles and theories of the universe that she’s describing. It also felt like she was truly invested in helping the reader comprehend the science well enough so that we got to play around in the larger conversations and explore the implications along with her. However, even with this justifiable handholding, there were a few moments where, even upon multiple readings of certain passages, I found myself wading through the proverbial “dark matter” wondering if I was just too stupid or the writing too obscure for me to understand. (This mostly happened for me in chapter 7 (Bounce) where I finally resigned myself to just not getting it.) I was somewhat comforted in these moments by the prevailing theme in this book that there is quite a bit about the universe that a lot of people (aka scientists) still don’t really understand, a point which the author herself continually brings up when discussing the popular theories of today and their basis on science that hasn’t yet been experimentally or observationally confirmed. This book is right in my wheelhouse of science nonfiction, apocalyptic reads, and books grappling with big questions. I highly recommend.
I received this book as a Goodreads Giveaway. This is my honest review of this book.
I received this book as a Goodreads Giveaway. This is my honest review of this book.
medium-paced
informative
reflective
medium-paced
challenging
informative
lighthearted
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
I’d like to say that I totally understood everything presented in this book and that I now have an appreciation for the possibilities of our universe ending. But, I don’t. And it’s not Katie Mack’s fault. She does an excellent job providing the different scenarios. However, while I consider myself a fairly smart individual, a lot of this is simply over my head. But, I do appreciate it.
I started following Mack on Twitter because of a famous clap back against a troll and it has broadened my astrophysical horizon. I don’t necessarily understand the science, but I enjoy that other people do. And, like Mack, I think I’m on Team Vacuum Decay as well.
I started following Mack on Twitter because of a famous clap back against a troll and it has broadened my astrophysical horizon. I don’t necessarily understand the science, but I enjoy that other people do. And, like Mack, I think I’m on Team Vacuum Decay as well.
Dr. Katie Mack gives a basic but humorous look at the most popular current theories for how the universe may meet its end.
Cosmology has always interested me, and ended up influencing my career path a good amount. I'm an aerospace engineer; I also did a physics minor in college. So when this book was making the rounds (thanks Hozier), I knew I had to get my hands on this one. This covers the creation of the universe, how we know some of what we know about physics, and then five major theories: the Big Crunch, Heat Death, the Big Rip, Vacuum Decay, and Bounce. I thought this did a really solid job at communicating complicated science topics to the leyman. It avoids using jargon, has a lot of graphs and illustrations, and expands on anything that I thought of to ask questions on. This is definitely designed not to be a text for people with graduate degrees in the subject, but for people who may not know much or anything about the subject to give them a baseline knowledge in a friendly and relatable way. For me with some background, it introduced me to a couple theories I wasn't familiar with and expanded on the ones I was. I don't really rate informational nonfiction because it's so different from my regular reading, but I thought this did a good job doing what it set out to do.
Overall, this was a really solid summary of our current end-of-the-universe theories. And it was really cool to read something from someone working at my university! Go Pack!
Cosmology has always interested me, and ended up influencing my career path a good amount. I'm an aerospace engineer; I also did a physics minor in college. So when this book was making the rounds (thanks Hozier), I knew I had to get my hands on this one. This covers the creation of the universe, how we know some of what we know about physics, and then five major theories: the Big Crunch, Heat Death, the Big Rip, Vacuum Decay, and Bounce. I thought this did a really solid job at communicating complicated science topics to the leyman. It avoids using jargon, has a lot of graphs and illustrations, and expands on anything that I thought of to ask questions on. This is definitely designed not to be a text for people with graduate degrees in the subject, but for people who may not know much or anything about the subject to give them a baseline knowledge in a friendly and relatable way. For me with some background, it introduced me to a couple theories I wasn't familiar with and expanded on the ones I was. I don't really rate informational nonfiction because it's so different from my regular reading, but I thought this did a good job doing what it set out to do.
Overall, this was a really solid summary of our current end-of-the-universe theories. And it was really cool to read something from someone working at my university! Go Pack!
One of the best quantum physics books for laymen I've read so far. Thorough and clear without being condescending, and expansive enough I'll definitely have to re-read it.
Mack is slightly distressed by the eventual death of the universe, while I'm mostly just curious, and this book helped me understand a few key concepts I still had misconceptions about. And it's also funny without feeling jarringly irreverent; we are talking about the death of the universe after all! Would definitely recommend it if this isn't your first rodeo, not sure it would be an ideal Baby's First Quantum Physics book.
Mack is slightly distressed by the eventual death of the universe, while I'm mostly just curious, and this book helped me understand a few key concepts I still had misconceptions about. And it's also funny without feeling jarringly irreverent; we are talking about the death of the universe after all! Would definitely recommend it if this isn't your first rodeo, not sure it would be an ideal Baby's First Quantum Physics book.