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3.74 AVERAGE
3.74 AVERAGE
The author does a good job of interpreting some of the latest information on cosmology in lay language. Especially good at explaining how ideas like inflation, multiple universes, and the energy of empty space are not just ideas dreamed up to explain the unknown, but are driven by data.
Absolutely stunning and beautiful. Krauss is brilliant.
With the passing of Christopher Hitchens (RIP) I believe Lawrence Krauss should take his chair at the table of the four horsemen alongside Dawkins, Dennett, and Harris.
As most reviewers have pointed out, this book came to be after the enormous success that a lecture by Krauss had on Youtube on the same subject. I haven't seen it personally, but I must admit that I am inclined to recommend you to see it instead of reading this book. Or listening to it, which is what I did.
Now, don't get me wrong, I found the topic very fascinating and, while I think it could've used a better audiobook narrator (it is Krauss in my version), Krauss' writing was quite engaging and accessible. However, the book didn't need to be as long as it was, and I got the gist of it pretty quickly. Especially because in Krauss' exploration of the topic, he decided to go beyond physics to more philosophical meanderings, but his superficial approach of these didn't add much to the argument. In fact, I feel like it might have detracted from its objectiveness. Some of his key concepts, e.g. nothingness and flat universe, I think could've used more explanation. I also don't think he actually answered the main question of "why" something emerges from 'nothingness'. I might have missed something, but I'm pretty sure he just said "because it can".
Besides that, I found some of his remarks... slightly unnerving, let's say. Most likely something very entwined in my personal experience, but for example when he talked about how coincidental acts that are interpreted by some people as having meaning, really don't have any. Namely, someone dreaming of something and that exact thing happens the day after. Paraphrasing here: "oh, in such an immense span of space and time, anything can happen, so don't take that as some sort of sign". Hmm, ok? I don't even think that has anything to do with his argument, so that seems kind of a jerk move to me.
There are really interesting points of discussion presented in this book, nonetheless, and in its majority I found it enjoyable. Namely, I liked the discussion on dark energy, dark matter and general relativity. But I probably should've just watched the lecture.
Now, don't get me wrong, I found the topic very fascinating and, while I think it could've used a better audiobook narrator (it is Krauss in my version), Krauss' writing was quite engaging and accessible. However, the book didn't need to be as long as it was, and I got the gist of it pretty quickly. Especially because in Krauss' exploration of the topic, he decided to go beyond physics to more philosophical meanderings, but his superficial approach of these didn't add much to the argument. In fact, I feel like it might have detracted from its objectiveness. Some of his key concepts, e.g. nothingness and flat universe, I think could've used more explanation. I also don't think he actually answered the main question of "why" something emerges from 'nothingness'. I might have missed something, but I'm pretty sure he just said "because it can".
Besides that, I found some of his remarks... slightly unnerving, let's say. Most likely something very entwined in my personal experience, but for example when he talked about how coincidental acts that are interpreted by some people as having meaning, really don't have any. Namely, someone dreaming of something and that exact thing happens the day after. Paraphrasing here: "oh, in such an immense span of space and time, anything can happen, so don't take that as some sort of sign". Hmm, ok? I don't even think that has anything to do with his argument, so that seems kind of a jerk move to me.
There are really interesting points of discussion presented in this book, nonetheless, and in its majority I found it enjoyable. Namely, I liked the discussion on dark energy, dark matter and general relativity. But I probably should've just watched the lecture.
This is a book that makes you think on a very deep level. It demolishes one of the last bastions of theism: "Why is there something rather than nothing?" by revealing science's contributions to a question normally marked off for philosophers and theologians, and exploding the traditional notion of "nothing"— that true void we all think of does not exist, and that nothingness is unstable and turns into something. It also points out the eschatological ramifications that physics have led us to–not only the eventual return to nothingness, but the collapse of the ability to properly observe the universe, and the scientific method leading future (as in trillions of years later) cosmologists to wrong conclusions. Krauss also points out that while future discoveries might invalidate that, the universe doesn't give a four-letter-word about what is comforting to humans. All in all, this an eye-opening book
Great, condensed, but well explained science of the big bang, universe expansion, and overall cosmology.
A good overview of the current knowledge of cosmology. It sums up why something does spring up from nothing and how the universe needs no creator to exist. Since this is meant to be a book that the layman can understand, there does not seem to be any end notes or further reading list. I was a little disappointed in that as I frequently use such lists to find my next book and expand on a subject.
Very interesting and well written. I don’t think I’m smart enough to understand it completely, but the author explains his topic well. It did give me a bit of an existential crisis though!
Krauss has written a book for the lay reader about the latest developments in theoretical physics, explaining how the big bang was created from nothing, and has gone onto create all the things that make up the visible universe.
He goes on to explain how the universe is expanding, and the methods that they use to ascertain its size, and some of the latest theories, but quantum physics has always been a bit beyond me, and this book has confirmed that I am out of my depth with a lot going on in theoretical physics at the moment.
He goes on to explain how the universe is expanding, and the methods that they use to ascertain its size, and some of the latest theories, but quantum physics has always been a bit beyond me, and this book has confirmed that I am out of my depth with a lot going on in theoretical physics at the moment.