A Best Book of 2020 NPRA Best Book of 2020 The EconomistA Top Ten Best Science Book of 2020 SmithsonianA Best Science & Technology Book of 2020 Library JournalA Must-Read Book to Escape the Chaos of 2020 NewsweekStarred review BooklistStarred review Publishers WeeklyAn historically unprecedented disconnect between humanity and the heavens has opened. Jo Marchant's book can begin to heal it.For at least 20,000 years, we have led not just an earthly existence but a cosmic one. Celestial cycles drove every aspect of our daily lives. Our innate relationship with the stars shaped who we are--our art, religious beliefs, social status, scientific advances, and even our biology. But over the last few centuries we have separated ourselves from the universe that surrounds us. It's a disconnect with a dire cost.Our relationship to the stars and planets has moved from one of awe, wonder and superstition to one where technology is king--the cosmos is now explored through data on our screens, no
Free yourself from cosmological tyranny! Everything started in a Big Bang? Invisible dark matter? Black holes? Why accept such a weird cosmos? For all those who wonder about this bizarre universe, and those who want to overthrow the Big Bang, this handbook gives you 'just the facts': the observations that have shaped these ideas and theories. While the Big Bang holds the attention of scientists, it isn't perfect. The authors pull back the curtains, and show how cosmology really works. With this, you will know your enemy, cosmic revolutionary - arm yourself for the scientific arena where ideas must fight for survival! This uniquely-framed tour of modern cosmology gives a deeper understanding of the inner workings of this fascinating field. The portrait painted is realistic and raw, not idealized and airbrushed - it is science in all its messy detail, which doesn't pretend to have all the answers.
Instant New York Times Best-seller“A splendid and invigorating read.”—Maria Popova, Brain PickingsFrom the world-renowned physicist and best-selling author of The Elegant Universe comes a captivating
A new look at the first few seconds after the Big Bang—and how research into these moments continues to revolutionize our understanding of our universeScientists in the past few decades have made cruc
The essence of temporal universe creation is that any analytical solution has to comply with the boundary condition of our universe; dimensionality and causality constraints. The essence of this
How a team of researchers, led by the author, discovered our home galaxy's location in the universe.You are here: on Earth, which is part of the solar system, which is in the Milky Way galaxy, which i
An engaging critique of the science and metaphysics behind our understanding of the universe The James Webb Space Telescope, when launched in 2021, will be the premier orbital observatory, capab
An engaging critique of the science and metaphysics behind our understanding of the universe The James Webb Space Telescope, when launched in 2021, will be the premier orbital observatory, capabl
Looking at the night sky, you'd be forgiven for thinking it's all quiet up there in space. But you'd be wrong. Extreme events are forever unfolding: galaxies explode, cosmic debris hurtles through the
Recent cosmological observations have posed a challenge for traditional theories of gravity: what is the force driving the accelerated expansion of the universe? What if dark energy or dark matter do not exist and what we observe is a modification of the gravitational interaction that dominates the universe at large scales? Various extensions to Einstein's General Theory of Relativity have been proposed, and this book presents a detailed theoretical and phenomenological analysis of several leading, modified theories of gravity. Theories with generalised curvature-matter couplings are first explored, followed by hybrid metric-Palatini gravity. This timely book first discusses key motivations behind the development of these modified gravitational theories, before presenting a detailed overview of their subsequent development, mathematical structure, and cosmological and astrophysical implications. Covering recent developments and with an emphasis on astrophysical and cosmological applica
A revised and updated edition of the successful book, now featuring the most recent discoveries, technologies, and images. Since the original edition of The Space Book was published in 2013, much ha
Light of the Stars tells the story of humanity’s coming of age as we awaken to the possibilities of life on other worlds and their sudden relevance to our fate on Earth. Astrophysicist Adam Frank trac