Category: Book Review

The Special Theory of Relativity by David Bohm

The goal of this blog is to create a list of what I call super facts. Super facts are important and true facts that are nevertheless highly surprising to many, disputed among the public, or unnecessarily misunderstood. They are special facts that we all can learn something important from. However, I also make posts that are not super facts but feature other interesting information, such as this book review and book recommendation.

The Special Theory of Relativity by David Bohm

David Bohm a close colleague of Albert Einstein was one of the most interesting theoretical physicists of the 20th century. This book “The Special Theory of Relativity” is one of the most interesting and thorough introductory books on the Special Theory of Relativity that I have come across. It is a series of lectures on the topic. It features algebra, equations, and a little bit of differentials but not too much.

You may want to have some math, physics and some relativity under your belt before you tackle this book. In my estimate it is written for those who have taken high school AP physics and AP algebra, maybe calculus as well, or one or two college level physics classes and math classes (or more). It is probably too basic for professional physicists, but it is not written for laymen. I bought the paperback version.

  • Hardback –  Routledge; 1st edition (October 10, 1996), ISBN-10 : 0415148081, ISBN-13 : 978-0415148085, 256 pages, item weight : 13.6 ounces, dimensions : ‎ 5.75 x 0.75 x 9 inches. It is out of stock, and it costs $75.60 – $144.00 on US Amazon. Click here to order it from Amazon.com.
  • Paperback –  Publisher : Routledge; 1st edition (September 4, 2006), ASIN : 0415404258, ISBN-13 : 978-0415404259, 304 pages, item weight : 12 ounces, dimensions : 5.08 x 0.69 x 7.8 inches. It is out of stock, and it costs $12.36 – $17.21 on US Amazon. Click here to order it from Amazon.com.
  • Kindle –  Published : Routledge; 1st edition (September 29, 2015), ASIN : B009W3W6MG, 306 pages, it costs $10.10 – $13.77 on US Amazon. Click here to order it from Amazon.com.
Front cover of the paperback version of The Special Theory of Relativity by David Bohm. Click on the image to go to the Amazon page for the paperback version of the book.

Amazon’s Description of the Book

In these inspiring lectures David Bohm explores Albert Einstein’s celebrated Theory of Relativity that transformed forever the way we think about time and space. Yet for Bohm the implications of the theory were far more revolutionary both in scope and impact even than this. Stepping back from dense theoretical and scientific detail in this eye-opening work, Bohm describes how the notion of relativity strikes at the heart of our very conception of the universe, regardless of whether we are physicists or philosophers.

This is my five-star review for The Special Theory of Relativity

Note, I wrote this review in 2014, so it is relatively old, pun intended.

Lorentz Electrodynamics, Special Relativity, and our Perception of Reality

This book is a thorough and well written introduction to the “Special Theory of Relativity”. In addition to the basics of special relativity it covers the history of Special Relativity and it includes 60-pages of Lorentz Electrodynamics. The book also discusses Minkowski Diagrams, the Twin Paradox, relativistic Doppler effects, K-Calculus, and philosophy related to relativity. The book does not discuss General Relativity.

Bohm does not derive many formulas for electrodynamics, optics, quantum physics, thermodynamics, etc., and therefore this book does not resemble a textbook. Bohm’s focus is on a deeper understanding of the special theory of relativity itself, and on time and space.

He discusses perception of reality and includes discussions on child development, psychology and neurology related to perception, the meaning of the relational concepts in relativity, the structure of scientific revolutions (T.S. Kuhn), our perceptions of time and space, philosophy, and other related topics that cannot be classified as physics.

In K Calculus you draw the world lines of light pulses sent at constant intervals between different observers. Then you calculate what is essentially the Doppler factor K and uses it to explain what is going in relativity. In contrast the Lorentz transform is concerned with the space-time coordinates that you measure after taking into account that light have to travel a certain distance and that this takes time. Basically, the “actual time and space coordinates”.

K Calculus on the other hand is including both relativistic effects and the distance and time it takes for light to travel. K Calculus is thus not what you “measure” but what you “observe”. K Calculus makes it very easy to explain special relativity to an audience that is not strong in math and it also adds a new understanding to the special theory of relativity.

However, I see an inherent risk with K-Calculus in that it can end up fooling the student into believing that he understands relativity, for example, if a student incorrectly comes to believe that time dilation is some form of Doppler Effect.

Except for the fact that some of the mathematical derivations were unnecessarily complex I thought this book presented relativity lucidly, the philosophical discussions were insightful, and it added to my understanding of the topic. It should probably not be your first book on Special Relativity but it is a very good second book. I highly recommend it for those who want to think through the concepts of relativity a little deeper.

Back cover of the paperback version of The Special Theory of Relativity by David Bohm. Click on the image to go to the Amazon page for the kindle version of the book.

To see the Super Facts click here

The End of Everything By Katie Mack

What will the end of everything be like? How will everything end? Will it be the Big Crunch as the Universe collapses back to a reverse Big Bang? Will it be the heat death, or what is better called the high-entropy death? Will it be the Big Rip as the Universe is ripped apart, or vacuum decay? Maybe it will be the Quantum Bubble of Death? Wouldn’t the Quantum Bubble of Death be a cool way to die?

The goal of this blog is to create a list of what I call super facts. Important facts that we know to be true and yet they are surprising, shocking or disputed among non-experts. Super facts are important facts that people get wrong. However, I sometimes create posts that are not super facts but other interesting information, such as this book review and book recommendation.

The End of Everything: (Astrophysically Speaking) by Katie Mack is a relatively easy book on cosmology. It features scientifically guided speculation on how the Universe will end. As in the previous book I reviewed the cosmic microwave background radiation (CMBR) is a major source for the information. It is amazing what it can tell you. I bought the hardback version of it. I can add that this book and my Amazon review was written in 2020, a good year for talking about the end of the world.

  • Hardcover –  Publisher : Scribner; Illustrated edition (August 4, 2020), ISBN-10 : 198210354X, ISBN-13 : 978-1982103545, 240 pages, item weight : 2.31 pounds, dimensions : ‎5.5 x 1 x 8.38 inches, it costs $19.14 on US Amazon. Click here to order it from Amazon.com.
  • Paperback –  Publisher : Scribner (May 4, 2021), ISBN-10 : 1982103558, ISBN-13 : 978-1982103552, 256 pages, item weight : 2.31 pounds, dimensions : ‎ ‏ : ‎5.5 x 0.6 x 8.38 inches, it costs $10.99 on Amazon. Click here to order it from Amazon.com.
  • Kindle –  Published : August 04, 2020, ASIN : B07Z41TTNK, 237 pages, it costs $14.89 on US Amazon. Click here to order it from Amazon.com.
  • Audiobook –  Publisher : Scribner (August 4, 2020), ASIN : B07Z8B5NZ8, it costs $13.12 on US Amazon. Click here to order it from Amazon.com.
Front cover of The End of Everything? Click on the image to go to the Amazon page for the hardcover version of the book.

Amazon’s description of The End of Everything By Katie Mack

A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK OF 2020

NAMED A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR BY * THE WASHINGTON POST * THE ECONOMIST * NEW SCIENTIST * PUBLISHERS WEEKLY * THE GUARDIAN

From one of the most dynamic rising stars in astrophysics, an “engrossing, elegant” (The New York Times) look at five ways the universe could end, and the mind-blowing lessons each scenario reveals about the most important concepts in cosmology.

We know the universe had a beginning. With the Big Bang, it expanded from a state of unimaginable density to an all-encompassing cosmic fireball to a simmering fluid of matter and energy, laying down the seeds for everything from black holes to one rocky planet orbiting a star near the edge of a spiral galaxy that happened to develop life as we know it. But what happens to the universe at the end of the story? And what does it mean for us now?

Dr. Katie Mack has been contemplating these questions since she was a young student, when her astronomy professor informed her the universe could end at any moment, in an instant. This revelation set her on the path toward theoretical astrophysics.

Now, with lively wit and humor, she takes us on a mind-bending tour through five of the cosmos’s possible finales: the Big Crunch, Heat Death, the Big Rip, Vacuum Decay (the one that could happen at any moment!), and the Bounce. Guiding us through cutting-edge science and major concepts in quantum mechanics, cosmology, string theory, and much more, The End of Everything is a wildly fun, surprisingly upbeat ride to the farthest reaches of all that we know.

This is my five-star review for The End of Everything

The End of the Universe can be a lot of fun

Katie Mack’s timely (it’s 2020 after all) survey of the various ways the Universe might end, based on current physics, was a delightful read. It is an interesting and fun book. We learn about the Big Crunch (the Universe shrinking back), the Heat Death, or rather the high-entropy death, the Big Rip, Vacuum decay, or the “quantum bubble of death” if you want to call it that, and the “bounce”. 

To understand where the various ideas regarding the end of the Universe come from, you need to understand some of the physics and the cosmology. We learn something about CMB, or the Cosmic Microwave Background, Big Bang, cosmic inflation, Planck Time, GUTs, Nucleosynthesis, the standard model, de Sitter Space, black holes, electroweak symmetry breaking, the Higgs Boson and the Higgs field, multiverses, and much more.

Perhaps most importantly, we learn about dark matter and dark energy, which are important concepts that have greatly changed cosmology over the last few years. Chapter 2 on the Big Bang reminded me a lot about an old book by Stephen Weinberg, the first 3 minutes. However, Katie Mack puts a modern spin on it and goes much further beyond our Universe. I was intrigued to hear that it might be possible to communicate between different Universes in a multiverse using gravity, or gravity waves.

The book is written for laymen, and I found it to be between Neil De Grasse Tyson / Carl Sagan and Stephen Hawking in difficulty level. The book covers a lot of concepts and theories but does so concisely, simply and not in a mathematical way. Not so simply though that it is misleading.

I am an Engineer with an undergrad degree in physics so I may not be the best person to judge whether this is an easy read for laymen, but I believe it is. I am very interested in these kinds of topics, and I read all popularized books on cosmology, modern physics, the standard model, that I can find. This was one of the most fun books that I’ve ever read.

Back cover of The End of Everything? Click on the image to go to the Amazon page for the hardcover version of the book.

Would you like to travel in time into the future to see the end of the Universe?

To see the Super Facts click here

The Giant Bubble of No Space

Cosmology is the science of the origin and development of the universe, and this post is about a book on Cosmology, “What’s Eating the Universe?: And Other Cosmic Questions” by Paul Davies.

What’s eating the Universe is one of the 30 questions answered in this book. It refers to the mysterious gigantic super-voids we’ve found. Could they be the result of collisions with other universes? Could they be the result of expanding giant bubbles with no space at all in them? That’s not just empty bubbles with empty space, but bubbles in which space itself is missing. Try to imagine that. Some of the 30 questions have answers, others just feature several guesses.

The goal of this blog is to create a list of what I call super facts. Important facts that we know to be true and yet they are surprising, shocking or disputed among non-experts. Super facts are special facts that a well-informed person may want to know.

However, I sometimes create posts that are not super facts but just interesting information, such as this one. What’s eating the Universe is a relatively short and easy read. I bought the hardback version of it.

  • Hardcover –  Publisher : University of Chicago Press; First Edition (September 22, 2021), ISBN-10 : 022681629X, ISBN-13 : 978-0226816296, 208 pages, item weight : 12.2 ounces, dimensions : ‎5.67 x 0.71 x 8.58 inches, it costs $19.84 on Amazon. Click here to order it from Amazon.com.
  • Paperback –  Publisher : University of Chicago Press; First Edition (September 30, 2022), ISBN-10 : 0226823873, ISBN-13 : 978-0226823874, 183 pages, item weight : 9.6 ounces, dimensions : ‎ ‏ : 5.5 x 0.46 x 8.5 inches, it costs $15.67 on Amazon. Click here to order it from Amazon.com.
  • eTextBook –  Publisher : University of Chicago Press; First edition (September 22, 2021), ASIN : B096L2WP51, 172 pages, it costs $14.89 on US Amazon. Click here to order it from Amazon.com.
Front cover of What’s Eating the Universe? Click on the image to go to the Amazon page for the hardcover version of the book.

Amazon’s description of the book

Combining the latest scientific advances with storytelling skills unmatched in the cosmos, an award-winning astrophysicist and popular writer leads us on a tour of some of the greatest mysteries of our universe.

In the constellation of Eridanus, there lurks a cosmic It’s as if something has taken a huge bite out of the universe. But what is the culprit? The hole in the universe is just one of many puzzles keeping cosmologists busy. Supermassive black holes, bubbles of nothingness gobbling up space, monster universes swallowing others—these and many other bizarre ideas are being pursued by scientists.

Due to breathtaking progress in astronomy, the history of our universe is now better understood than the history of our own planet. But these advances have uncovered some startling riddles. In this electrifying new book, renowned cosmologist and author Paul Davies lucidly explains what we know about the cosmos and its enigmas, exploring the tantalizing—and sometimes terrifying—possibilities that lie before us.

As Davies guides us through the audacious research offering mind-bending solutions to these and other mysteries, he leads us up to the greatest outstanding conundrum of Why does the universe even exist in the first place? And how did a system of mindless, purposeless particles manage to bring forth conscious, thinking beings? Filled with wit and wonder, What’s Eating the Universe? is a dazzling tour of cosmic questions, sure to entertain, enchant, and inspire us all.

This is my five-star review for What’s Eating the Universe?: And Other Cosmic Questions.

Cosmology explained the easy way

This book is organized into 30 cosmological questions that the author is answering or clarifying. His explanations are naturally not in depth but high level and easy to understand for anyone with an interest in the topic. He manages to keep the topic fascinating and the book is a real page turner. I read the book in a little bit more than one day.

The book discusses cosmology, relativity, the standard model, black holes, the big bang, the CMB, dark matter, dark energy, multiverses and the fate of our Universe, extraterrestrials, and much more, and he gives us insight into the very latest discoveries and views of cosmology.

I especially enjoyed reading chapter 20 & 21 “Can the Universe Come from Nothing” and “How Many Universes Are There”. He tells us that most cosmologists he knows believe there are infinitely many universes. One model is eternal inflation, a space/time mechanism beyond our universe that keeps causing new universes to bubble up and initially expand rapidly, but there are other models. I was surprised that he didn’t mention Roger Penrose’s model, cycles of time, with one Universe giving rise to another (after full expansion and heat death).

However, if there’s only one Universe and time came into existence with it (singularity) it doesn’t help those who want to insert a creation moment. If time didn’t exist before the big bang, the concept of a prior physical cause is meaningless. Asking what was before the big bang is like asking what lies north of the North Pole.

I also especially enjoyed reading chapter 30 “What’s New on the Cosmic Horizon” in which he lists mysteries and recent exciting discoveries, the cold patch in Eridanus (CMB), the mystery with the Hubble constant, what’s beyond the standard model, the prospect of top-down models, etc. Well, all the chapters were interesting.

This book is a quick and easy summary of what’s going on in cosmology. It’s accessible and engrossing writing and the straightforward organization make the book a great introduction to the topic. I highly recommend this book.

Back cover of “What’s Eating the Universe?” Click on the image to go to the Amazon page for the paperback version of the book.

Finally, a list of the 30 questions

  • Journey from the Edge of Time
  • The search for the key to the Universe
  • Why is it dark at Night?
  • The Big Bang
  • Where is the Center of the Universe?
  • Why the Cosmos is Actually Fairly Simple?
  • What is the Speed of Space?
  • What is the Shape of Space?
  • Explaining the Cosmic Big Fix
  • Most of our Universe is Missing
  • What is Dark Energy
  • Where Does Matter Come From?
  • Gravity Conquers All
  • Warped Time and Black Holes
  • Is Time Travel Possible?
  • What is the Source of Time’s Puzzling Arrow?
  • The Black Hole Paradox
  • A Theory of Everything?
  • Fossils from the Cosmic Dawn
  • Can the Universe Come from Nothing?
  • How Many Universes Are There?
  • The Goldilocks Enigma
  • What’s Eating the Universe?
  • Is the Universe Actually a Botched Job?
  • Are We Alone?
  • Is ET in Our Backyard?
  • Why Am I Living Now?
  • The Fate of Our Universe
  • Is There a Meaning to It All?
  • What’s New on the Cosmic Horizon?

To see the Super Facts click here

The Little Book of Cosmology

Cosmology is the science of the origin and development of the universe, and this post is about a book on Cosmology, The Little Book of Cosmology by Lyman Page. This is a big and, in my opinion, interesting topic. A lot of cosmology is speculative, multiverses, what was before the big bang, has the universe always existed, has there been an infinite number of big bangs, what about conformal cyclic cosmology in which each cycle result in a new big bang (Roger Penrose), what is the future and end of the universe, is the Universe a hologram, is it self-aware, etc.

This book is not focused on scientific speculation but on what we know about the structure of the universe, the big bang and the expansion of the universe, the well understood basics. I think it is amazing how much we can learn from the Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation (CMB).

The goal of this blog is to create a list of what I call super facts. Important facts that we know to be true and yet they are surprising, shocking or disputed among non-experts. Super facts are special facts that a well-informed person may want to know. However, I sometimes create posts that are not super facts but just interesting information, such as this one. The Little Book of Cosmology is a relatively short and easy read. I bought the hardback version of it.

  • Hardcover –  Publisher : Princeton University Press; First Edition (April 7, 2020), ISBN-10 : 0691195781, ISBN-13 : 978-0691195780, 152 pages, item weight : 2.31 pounds, dimensions : 5.59 x 0.79 x 8.58 inches, it costs $15.39 on Amazon. Click here to order it from Amazon.com.
  • Kindle –  Publisher : Princeton University Press (April 7, 2020), ASIN : B07Z1DWB4P, 132 pages, it costs $9.99 on US Amazon. Click here to order it from Amazon.com.
Front cover of The Little Book of Cosmology. Click on the image to go to the Amazon page for the hardcover version of the book.

Amazon’s description of The Little Book of Cosmology by Lyman Page

The cutting-edge science that is taking the measure of the universe

The Little Book of Cosmology provides a breathtaking look at our universe on the grandest scales imaginable. Written by one of the world’s leading experimental cosmologists, this short but deeply insightful book describes what scientists are revealing through precise measurements of the faint thermal afterglow of the Big Bang—known as the cosmic microwave background, or CMB—and how their findings are transforming our view of the cosmos.

Blending the latest findings in cosmology with essential concepts from physics, Lyman Page first helps readers to grasp the sheer enormity of the universe, explaining how to understand the history of its formation and evolution in space and time. Then he sheds light on how spatial variations in the CMB formed, how they reveal the age, size, and geometry of the universe, and how they offer a blueprint for the formation of cosmic structure.

Not only does Page explain current observations and measurements, he describes how they can be woven together into a unified picture to form the Standard Model of Cosmology. Yet much remains unknown, and this incisive book also describes the search for ever deeper knowledge at the field’s frontiers—from quests to understand the nature of neutrinos and dark energy to investigations into the physics of the very early universe.

This is my five star review for The Little Book of Cosmology

What the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) can tell us

This is a short book describing the evolution of the Universe since the Big Bang and its composition. How do we know all this stuff? The Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) can tell us a lot.

The CMB is a black body radiation remnant from the time (400,000 years after the Big Bang) when the Universe had cooled enough to allow the formation of hydrogen atoms and the decoupling of photons from electrons so that they could roam free.

CMB is in itself evidence for the Big Bang but in addition we get additional information from the minor anisotropy and polarization of the CMB, and add the composition of the elements (hydrogen, helium, lithium, and heavier elements), redshifts of galaxies, gravity lensing, and we can tell quite a bit about the evolution of the Universe and where it is heading.

It’s fascinating science detective work. This eventually leads to the Standard Model of Cosmology, which is something I’ve never heard of before, but it’s cool.

I found the facts about the size and age of the Universe, the early giant stars in the Universe, dark energy and dark matter, very interesting. The book is filled with basic and fascinating facts that I did not know. Because of the CMB (rather than particle accelerator experiments) we know roughly the mass (rest mass) of neutrinos.

We know why dark energy can’t be space dust, or rogue planetoids, or black holes or neutrinos, so what is it? The book explains why it can’t be any of those. There’s a lot we can know because of the CMB and other information, and some things we don’t know. Finding out what we do know was quite exciting and finding out what the mysterious “what we don’t know” was equally exciting. Again, the focus is on CMB and how it is measured, it tells us a lot.

The book is easy to read and require no degree in physics or mathematics. I admit I have a degree in Engineering Physics, and I am also interested in astronomy and cosmology, but I can tell it was light reading. It is a truly popular science book like those that Neil De Grasse Tyson writes, and it was short but very informative. There’s a lot of information you can extract from CMB. It was a fun short read for anyone interested in the mysteries of the Universe.

Back cover of The Little Book of Cosmology. Click on the image to go to the Amazon page for the kindle version of the book.

To see the Super Facts click here