Reviews with content warning for Rape - The Disordered Cosmos: A Journey into Dark Matter, Spacetime, and Dreams Deferred

Came to this off a really great interview with the author about it, but I was disappointed by it overall. Despite the title, only maybe 20% of this is about space and the other 80% is about problems surrounding social justice within physics and other scientific fields, which might have been fine if it felt integrated as opposed to two entirely different books.
The social justice portion also left a lot to be desired for me, personally. Maybe I'm too used to reading academic articles which take a deep dive into specific topics, but none of this felt like more than a superficial skim (or a series of blog posts, which the author mentions writing), and every time they mentioned an idea from somebody else's scholarly work I wished I was reading one of those instead.
To be honest I'm not sure I would have gotten through this if it hadn't been in audiobook form. Maybe somebody less familiar with how racism and cissexism, etc. operate in society would find this a handy primer, but unfortunately it just kind of bored me.

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danielles_reads's review

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challenging informative reflective medium-paced

3.5

Vibes:

fuck the system
there is so much more to science than we typically see
confusing as hell physics

I’m not sure how to rate this book. On the one hand, some of the chapters were absolutely brilliant and emotional and made me think in a way I never have before. On the other hand, the first four chapters focusing on explaining particle physics and astrophysics were extremely confusing and imo unnecessary, and the chapters near the end were so broad (discussing social oppression in general and not just in science) and repetitive that the book started to lose me. So ultimately I think the middle section (phases 2 and 3) were the strongest, and the bookend sections (phases 1 and 4) were the weakest.

I’ve seen a lot of reviewers blame themselves for not being science people as being the reason they couldn’t understand the physics in chapters 1-4. I have two STEM degrees and have taken multiple physics classes in my life (including astrophysics way back when), and I was still SO confused. I’m sure part of it was because I was listening to the audiobook, but I think it would have taken me even longer if I read it with my eyes. And now that I’ve finished, I can’t remember a single thing I learned from those chapters. In one ear and out the other. But yet I still benefitted from the later chapters. So honestly I don’t see the point. I don’t think Prescod-Weinstein effectively communicated the science to laypeople and I don’t know why she tried to do so. There was one moment near the end where they said humans’ relationship to the universe is not as simple to understand as the Standard Model of particle physics and I laughed. That was supposed to be simple?

On a related note, I’m not sure who the audience for this book is. The science was very confusing to the point where I don’t see how most non-physics people would understand it. A lot of the author’s language about science used the pronoun “we” and the way she talked about her experiences in science made it seem like she was talking directly to scientists. But then they explained what an acronym is and what the GRE is… things most people even tangentially connected to academia would definitely know 😂

With those main complaints out of the way, I really related to a lot of Prescod-Weinstein’s story as a (white) woman myself in STEM. I haven't experienced anything near as bad as some of the stuff she has gone through, but I have definitely felt unappreciated, excluded, and just overall exhausted by the oppression from people in STEM, and that made this book hit me so much harder. I especially loved the chapter talking about the work that goes on behind the scenes in science, whether it’s the janitors keeping the offices clean, scientists’ wives keeping house and raising children, or the BIPOC professors mentoring minority students on how to deal with the shit from bigoted white professors. That last part especially resonated with me because I know a lot of my Black engineering friends went through the same thing. I also love the whole “the universe is queer” idea, and the concept that every child deserves the right to be able to look at the night sky in wonder. The chapter about

rape

was especially moving and made me tear up. The physics of melanin were so interesting, and I didn’t know melanin was a conductor! I find the history of science so fascinating so I really appreciated learning more about it from a queer Black feminist standpoint. I also loved the discussion on the name “dark matter” and how comparisons of Black people to it are so harmful and not even accurate. Black people are luminous matter ✨

I will say that it was kind of funny to see the author describe Trump’s presidency as like end-of-the-world fascist totalitarianism, seeing as in 2023 Biden is barely any better, and is just as bad in some ways. I also thought her describing Europe as an Asian peninsula was funny at first but she repeated it at least three times so it lost its luster. At the same time they only ever described West Asia as the Middle East, which is ironic seeing as that’s a Western colonial label. I also didn’t like how the author virtually ignored Asian people in general and pretty much only talked about Black, Latine, and Indigenous people (at one point they said Black people are human, “like white people, like Asian people” and didn’t mention any other races, and I don't know their intention but that phrasing implies that white and Asian people’s humanity are recognized as equal, which is definitely not the case in the U.S.). The author only brought up Asian-Americans in STEM from the POV of those making racist comments about them (dark matter comparisons and model minority comments). Yes, East Asians are overrepresented in STEM but that doesn’t mean they don’t deal with racism?! I don’t know how many times I heard my fellow engineering students make fun of our Chinese TAs for their accents. In addition, Southeast and West Asians are definitely underrepresented and deal with a lot of the same struggles Black, Latine, and Indigenous folks do. So that felt like a huge oversight.

Lastly, Prescod-Weinstein is very clearly an anti-Zionist Jew, which is in opposition to over 90% of Jews worldwide. She mentioned she donated to a “Jewish organization that is being attacked for recognizing the humanity of Palestinian people,” which is probably Jewish Voice for Peace, an organization that is run by mostly non-Jews and repeatedly mischaracterizes Jewish traditions and history. It was especially grating to hear them call out Israel for “pinkwashing” (something that all countries do to some extent), and not even mention corporations. They also only ever talked about Western colonialism, which I can partly understand since they most likely know more about it, but it feels weird to me to not at least see Soviet imperialism in terms of the Space Race mentioned. She briefly mentioned the Cold War, but only from the American point of view.

Overall, I really appreciated the project of this book, and I learned quite a bit that blew my mind. At the same time, I think if it had a much narrower focus it would have been a lot better.

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vincci's review against another edition

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challenging informative medium-paced

3.5

While the book starts off with a bang (no pun intended), I almost DNF'd in the first section as I just felt lost in all the physics talk. Once I pushed through, I found Prescod-Weinstein's commentary on how science is not objective, neutral or inclusive biting and important. This is a must-read!

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alsoapples's review against another edition

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informative reflective medium-paced

4.25

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kk_gotit_goinon's review against another edition

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challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective slow-paced

5.0

Everyone in academia should read this book. It calls out the experience of so many of us that most people refuse to acknowledge: racism, classism, ableism. All of these are still extremely prominent even in places that claim to be "committed to DEI" even in California where I live and work.

Dr. Prescod-Weinstein lays everything out so well but without talking down to you or coming off like she is right and you are wrong. She doesn't claim to have all the answers or to know how to solve everything while still pointing out the very real issues that have to be addressed.

Oh and the physics is pretty interesting but easy to understand (for a neuroscientist at least haha!)

A must read for a academics and folks who want to try to make the world a better place.

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rachbake's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional informative inspiring reflective slow-paced

4.0

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solenodon's review

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informative reflective slow-paced

5.0

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