Name: The Universe
ISBN: 9780500024645

Paul Murdin

The story of our Universe, from its beginning in the first milliseconds of the Big Bang up to our present moment and beyond, told in a gripping narrative by one of the world's leading astronomers.

A Biography

The Universe

Greg Talbot

Since the Webb space station launch in late 2021, stunning images and sounds of the universe that could only be arrived at through logic are being verified. This last week alone, the sound of a black hole has been recorded. Jupiter was recorded with it’s raging storms across different filters to highlight its topology. Preparing for a return trip to the moon, NASA has identified 13 spots to land at. Even the heliocentric theory identified by Galileo , seems off in its origin. Our planet, sun, and galaxy having no particular axis or center point to the expanding universe. Paul Murdin’s biography of “The Universe” attempts to tell the story from big bang to human discovery. Not unlike Bill Bryson’s generative “A Short History of Nearly Everything”, Murdin attempts delicate chapters to make sense of this larger story. Some of the watershed moments of understanding our nature here are shared here. Newton’s principals of physics extrapolated beyond apple trees and to planetary movements. Baade with the prominent Hooker Telescope maps out galaxies well beyond the human eye. Through experiments, observations, and mathematics we derive the world we are only beginning to see in our news feed. The relationship between technology and our explorers captured my attention the most. The various telescopes that helped us make sense of radio waves, galaxy shape, spaghettification and neutrinos (well maybe this was with a pool in a cave) was really fascinating. Also, just the ingenious theorizing about how the whole universe came from the big bang of helium and hydrogen. As a reader, it is a daunting read. There are times I found myself going back or speeding through other parts. Chapters about black holes, the sun, our future, and the big bang itself stood out most prominently. There were times I wish Murdin injected more of his personality or contextualized the discoveries to their improbability. But still, the book gave me some space for my little position on this planet. And out there..over billions of human years, stars continue to explode, our galaxy moves further out, black holes continue to eat material. We understand more, but the cosmic mystery entrances. Get lost, marvel, feel small, and be happy we exist at all!

The Universe A Biography

Reviews

Highlights