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The Day Without Yesterday: Lemaître, Einstein, and the Birth of Modern Cosmology by John Farrell
wldflwrs's review
informative
medium-paced
3.75
The Day Without Yesterday is an absolutely fascinating read-- and a great guide to cosmology. I found myself excited to continue reading this, and as someone who typically stays away from non-fiction, I was impressed by how concise and well-written this book is.
I was initially a bit iffy about reading this one. Cosmology is a complicated topic, and my background for physics was HS physics. I found that Farrell, for the most part, has no trouble making these broad concepts easy to understand. Of course, there are parts where a more nuanced understanding of physics would have been useful, but, if anything, it has increased my curiosity around the subject.
This book is a great way to introduce yourself to developments in cosmology during the 20th century and mentions some of the unsung heroes who helped us get to where we are today in terms of understanding the universe.
I received an e-copy of this book via Booktasters in exchange for an honest review.
I was initially a bit iffy about reading this one. Cosmology is a complicated topic, and my background for physics was HS physics. I found that Farrell, for the most part, has no trouble making these broad concepts easy to understand. Of course, there are parts where a more nuanced understanding of physics would have been useful, but, if anything, it has increased my curiosity around the subject.
This book is a great way to introduce yourself to developments in cosmology during the 20th century and mentions some of the unsung heroes who helped us get to where we are today in terms of understanding the universe.
I received an e-copy of this book via Booktasters in exchange for an honest review.
epollack's review
4.0
Well written, and easy to read book.
It may be that no book on astrophysics and cosmology would be simple enough for me but, that said, I hate it when there is a throw-away line and I don't get it - like not understanding the punchline of a joke.
Specifically, Farrell writes (I think misspelling Wilhelm Olbers' name as"Olber") "...if the universe was truly infinite in space and time, why was the sky dark at night?" (p162). Now I'm sure the answer is obvious to most people but not to me. And Wikipedia didn't explain it either. It is like reading books written from before 1940 where they use French or Latin phrases to illustrate a point (think, T. S. Eliot) without translating the phrase. I understand that an educated person was/is expected to know those languages but I admit my education was deficient. At least now I can use the internet to more easily remedy those shortcomings where for the previous fifty years I was just (more) lost.
It may be that no book on astrophysics and cosmology would be simple enough for me but, that said, I hate it when there is a throw-away line and I don't get it - like not understanding the punchline of a joke.
Specifically, Farrell writes (I think misspelling Wilhelm Olbers' name as"Olber") "...if the universe was truly infinite in space and time, why was the sky dark at night?" (p162). Now I'm sure the answer is obvious to most people but not to me. And Wikipedia didn't explain it either. It is like reading books written from before 1940 where they use French or Latin phrases to illustrate a point (think, T. S. Eliot) without translating the phrase. I understand that an educated person was/is expected to know those languages but I admit my education was deficient. At least now I can use the internet to more easily remedy those shortcomings where for the previous fifty years I was just (more) lost.
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