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A review by ineffablebob
The Biggest Ideas in the Universe by Sean Carroll
challenging
informative
medium-paced
5.0
Sean Carroll's The Biggest Ideas in the Universe: Space, Time, and Motion is both an introduction to the underlying laws of physics as we understand them today, and a deeper dive for those who know the basics. Space, time, geometry, laws of motion and conservation - these and more are presented in a descriptive, high-level overview first, then expanded upon with the underlying mathematical definitions (and often the history of how those were developed). There's a good amount of technical notation present, but Carroll always explains what he means, and the presentation of the math is done in support of the narrative, without getting into the detail of how it was derived (though some of that is in the appendices).
I consider myself a fairly educated layman around the basics of the laws of physics, and most of the early part of the book was pretty easy for me to understand. I knew those concepts, but the book gave me another layer of understanding in terms of different ways to view the same concepts, as well as a good reminder of the history behind the discoveries. Later on in the book, as the subjects moved into spacetime and black holes and relativity, it was slower going as those are concepts I had a much shakier grasp on to start with! Carroll does a fine job of both making those concepts understandable and providing a pathway to step from one to another. I'm still no expert on those things, but I definitely feel that I have a better understanding now, and a better chance to follow along when I run across expert discussion of the subject.
I consider myself a fairly educated layman around the basics of the laws of physics, and most of the early part of the book was pretty easy for me to understand. I knew those concepts, but the book gave me another layer of understanding in terms of different ways to view the same concepts, as well as a good reminder of the history behind the discoveries. Later on in the book, as the subjects moved into spacetime and black holes and relativity, it was slower going as those are concepts I had a much shakier grasp on to start with! Carroll does a fine job of both making those concepts understandable and providing a pathway to step from one to another. I'm still no expert on those things, but I definitely feel that I have a better understanding now, and a better chance to follow along when I run across expert discussion of the subject.