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aPriL does feral sometimes 's Reviews > The 4% Universe: Dark Matter, Dark Energy, and the Race to Discover the Rest of Reality
The 4% Universe: Dark Matter, Dark Energy, and the Race to Discover the Rest of Reality
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The '4% Universe: Dark Matter, Dark Energy, and the Race to Discover the Rest of Reality' by Richard Panek is a very readable history of the discovery of dark matter and dark energy, including brief biographies of the scientists involved. Particularly, it illuminates how the pressures of being a human being afflict those who are gifted intellectually and pursue astronomy and physics just as much as us more ordinary types who can't balance our checkbooks and can only recognize the Great Dipper constellation.
By the last chapter in the book, this will make sense to you: "In early 2010, the WMAP seven-year results arrived bearing the latest refinements of the numbers that define our universe. It was 13.75 billion years old. It's Hubble constant was 70.4, and its equation of state (w) -0.98, or, within the margin of error, -1.0. And it was flat, consisting of 72.8 percent dark energy, 22.7 percent dark matter, and 4.56 percent baryonic matter (the stuff of us) - an exquisitely precise accounting of the depth of our ignorance." page 242.
Yay! Right? Right? Wait, I'm still feeling a little dizzy....
:p
By the last chapter in the book, this will make sense to you: "In early 2010, the WMAP seven-year results arrived bearing the latest refinements of the numbers that define our universe. It was 13.75 billion years old. It's Hubble constant was 70.4, and its equation of state (w) -0.98, or, within the margin of error, -1.0. And it was flat, consisting of 72.8 percent dark energy, 22.7 percent dark matter, and 4.56 percent baryonic matter (the stuff of us) - an exquisitely precise accounting of the depth of our ignorance." page 242.
Yay! Right? Right? Wait, I'm still feeling a little dizzy....
:p
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Reading Progress
May 30, 2012
–
Started Reading
May 30, 2012
– Shelved
June 4, 2012
–
68.35%
"It started off great, deteriorated to good. The organization is each chapter to a project, which means overlap, and falling curiosity. Overlong examinations of how science gets done, focus being scientists' competition with each other which affects cooperation and acceptance of ideas."
page
203
June 4, 2012
– Shelved as:
non-fiction
June 4, 2012
– Shelved as:
science
June 4, 2012
–
Finished Reading
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PyranopterinMo
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Feb 09, 2021 12:47PM
So do WIMPs exist? (Weakly Interacting Massive Particles?) And are they important?
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PyranopterinMo wrote: "So do WIMPs exist? (Weakly Interacting Massive Particles?) And are they important?"Yes! No! Maybe?
They are trying to be discovered. Theoretically they make sense. The obvious candidates like neutrinos were considered, but this is still up to debate as far as I know. I don't remember what issue of Scientific American it was in, but they covered than the major candidates. Personally, I found this book to be a fascinating read, and gripping story. Yes, I lot is left unsaid, but the book was never intended to answer the questions that the scientists' findings elicited.
I thought the book was very good.
I hope you didn't think I was implying that you didn't. My comment was focused on PyranopterinMo comment. I probably should have posted it as a reply to their comment, sorry.I can add because I didn't address the second question. WIMPs or some other form of matter is extremely important. Without whatever it is our universe would not be as we know it, and we would probably not even be here to ask any questions. I can't resist the fact that dark matter is not the only missing mass we need to try to understand. This is dark energy. Nobody really has a clue to what this stuff might be. Or at least that I have heard of.
Stephie wrote: "I hope you didn't think I was implying that you didn't. My comment was focused on PyranopterinMo comment. I probably should have posted it as a reply to their comment, sorry.I can add because I d..."
No worries!
I’m glad you enjoyed the book too!
The place I used to read about sub atomic physics was in the British magazine New Scientist because 1. They had top top science coverage and 2 they would never leave a name like WIMP alone without a lot of chortling. However that was a couple decades ago and I really just read science news and the rare science book these days.
I also subscribed to New Scientist. It was my favorite of the science magazines I read.
I used to read it at some doctor's office before appointments. My reading of late has been away from science books for awhile as I concentrate on another subject. But, I am sure that that won't last forever. I have a 3 month free subscription to Kindle Unlimited which has a lot of books on my current subject. I found what look to be good science books on Kindle for free through the Open Access program. These are academic research books. I have read a few and they are pretty decent. They also have other kinds of research, like ethics. So if you have Amazon Prime you might want to check it out.
Thank you, I have Kindle Unlimited but I had no idea science books were available! I will be checking that out. Great news!
To clarify it is not Kindle Unlimited that has the good science books. My experience with those books are that most of the science books I found there are pretty lame. I was talking about open access books. Search "open access free books" and there are many pages of books. My last search had 43 pages.
Oh. Thank you for the clarification.
Wow, what an odd collection of academic books. I looked at one from Springer-Verlag, a science publisher I remember from grad school, and it was one of a fifteen book series. The first book in the series was $80 to buy, $20 to rent.
: OI suppose some of them did not renew copyrights and others are dated? I've seen weird hodgepodge selections on Amazon before.
These books contain recent research. Or as recent as anything that makes it into a book. I have been told by the time it reaches book form the research is already 4 years old. That was way back in the late 80s, so that might have changed significantly.Yes it is a big mish-mash. I don't know why open access gives (sell for no cost) these books away. There are a lot of series which the free books are part of. Maybe they are hoping you will purchase some more in the series.
Stephie wrote: "These books contain recent research. Or as recent as anything that makes it into a book. I have been told by the time it reaches book form the research is already 4 years old. That was way back in ..."That sounds possible!
I put eighteen open source free books on my wishlist so I can find them if I feel like reading textbooks again. Now Amazon keeps asking me if I am still interested in them. The list includes A couple math texts- who doesn't like boundary value problems, a book on micro plastics in fresh water- I like my fish seasoned with plastic so I want to know which fish, and some thing about the legacy of 100 years of chemical weapons all looked promising. I can't recall the rest. Oh, there was a book on molecular self assembly which might be worth reading in its entirety rather than just nibbling on.
The plastics thing is scary.
A year or two ago I watched a science streamer on Twitch cover recent research on micro plastics in the ocean. She used to cover articles from sciencemag dot org the online AAAS magazine. However she finished school and got a real job I guess since her account is gone. There is some kind of seaweed that collects plastic trash and makes balls out of it. I think the plastic will be less of a problem than toxic metals and radio active pollutants. Thank you Japan and Russia.
PyranopterinMo wrote: "A year or two ago I watched a science streamer on Twitch cover recent research on micro plastics in the ocean. She used to cover articles from sciencemag dot org the online AAAS magazine. However s..."😟
