The cosmic mystery tour A high-speed journey through space & time

Science books for people in a hurry are all the rage these days. British science popularizer Nicholas Mee, who holds a PhD in particle physics, took on the challenge with The Cosmic Mystery Tour and has succeeded splendidly. At nearly the speed of light, Mee introduces readers to the basic laws that govern the universe, describes the variety of its celestial objects, and discusses the hottest topics in astronomy, such as dark matter, supermassive black holes, and exoplanets. "By the end of the book," he promises on page 10, "your knowledge will surpass Newton's.... You will even know where and how gold is created." What this slender book lacks in depth is made up in its engaging prose, which provides a broad overview of the universe's significant workings. Along the way, the reader also gets to meet some of the men and women who revealed these cosmic wonders. A curated selection of further reading provides interested readers with options for pursuing topics in more depth. Summing Up: Recommended. General readers and lower-division undergraduates. --Marcia Bartusiak, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Through a combination of engaging historical snippets and succinct overviews of recent and historical scientific discoveries, Mee (The Physical World, 2017) introduces readers to the evolving science of the cosmos. The first section explores the laws that govern the cosmos and the quest to find meaning in the universe. The second section examines the history of the cosmos along with its geography. The final section discusses the possibility of life beyond Earth. The entries are brief and wide-ranging, offering short introductions to numerous topics ranging from Einstein to Galileo to supermassive black holes and the Large Hadron Collider. Mee's engaging writing style enlivens the text. For example, the chapter on gravitational-wave detection is titled Lovely LISA as an ode to the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna. Images appear throughout the text, along with brief (sometimes too brief) annotations. The book concludes with suggestions for further reading and an index. An accessible introduction to all things cosmos, this would be a welcome resource for students or browsers with an interest in the subject.--Maren Ostergard Copyright 2019 Booklist