Into the Unknown, page 33
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Credit: Dan Addison
Kelsey Johnson is a professor of astronomy at the University of Virginia, former president of the American Astronomical Society, and founder of the award-winning Dark Skies, Bright Kids program. She has won numerous awards for her research, teaching, and promotion of science literacy. She lives in rural Virginia with her family, including two very large dogs.
Further Reading
CHAPTER 2
Principia Mathematica (2nd ed., 1925)
I don’t know how many people may actually want to read Principia Mathematica by Whitehead and Russell, but if you are curious, it is worth looking at just for the aesthetic value. It is brimming with cryptic symbols and fun mathematical logic.
Knowledge: A Very Short Introduction (2014)
Want to learn a little more about epistemology, but don’t have a lot of time? This little book by Jennifer Nagel is a good place to start.
Perception: A Very Short Introduction (2017)
In the same series as the book listed above on epistemology, this little book by Brian Rogers is short and sweet, providing a general overview of some of the major topics in perception.
The Structure of Scientific Revolutions (1962)
This is an absolute classic on the philosophy of science, scientific progress, innovation, and how we understand the world scientifically. This is not light reading, but the paradigm establishing nature in this text by Thomas Kuhn makes it worth the read.
Thinking, Fast and Slow (2011)
This book by Daniel Kahneman made a big splash when it debuted, and it changed the way I think about thinking. This book is intended for a general audience (as opposed to academics), which makes it eminently readable.
The Amazing Dr. Ransom’s Bestiary of Adorable Fallacies (2017)
I bet you didn’t expect a book on fallacies to have “adorable” in the title. This book by Douglas Wilson and N. D. Wilson is a gem—utterly whimsical and delightful. The text covers all of the major fallacies, while feeling a bit like a fantasy bestiary.
The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark (1996)
This book is classic Carl Sagan, cutting straight to the core of why pseudoscience is dangerous and the perils we face as a scientifically illiterate society. I feel so strongly about this book that I frequently assign it in one of my courses.
CHAPTER 3
The Cosmic Perspective (9th ed., 2019)
This is my favorite introductory astronomy textbook; the lead author, Jeff Bennett, is great at helping the reader build an understanding of core concepts in astrophysics. This book can provide background on many of the topics that come up in this book that you might want to learn more about.
The Inflationary Universe: The Quest for a New Theory of Cosmic Origins (1997)
If you want to take a deep dive into how inflation theory works and learn more about things like “false vacuums,” this book by one of the theory’s founders, Alan Guth, is a great place to start.
The Life of the Cosmos (1997)
From the title alone you may not infer that, at its core, this book is about the implications of our own universe being inside a black hole. In this book Lee Smolin lays out the vast ramifications of black hole cosmology, and what this could mean for the laws of physics.
Warped Passages: Unraveling the Mysteries of the Universe’s Hidden Dimensions (2005)
If you want to go down the rabbit hole, this book is a good entry point. The author, Lisa Randall, is one of the architects of brane theory, bringing together gravity, string theory, and extra dimensions, large and small.
The First Three Minutes: A Modern View of the Origin of the Universe (2nd ed., 1993)
This is a classic popular book that gives an in-depth overview of the very early universe. For better or worse, despite being a few decades old, our understanding has not substantively changed since Steven Weinberg published this book.
CHAPTER 4
Life in the Universe (5th ed., 2022)
This is the preeminent textbook on astrobiology, led by author Jeff Bennett, who has a deep understanding of pedagogy and learning. This book isn’t cheap, but if you really want to learn the material, this is the book you want.
Astrobiology, Discovery, and Societal Impact (2020)
There are a host of books out there on astrobiology, and I’m sure many of them are great. I specifically include this suggestion because the author, Steven Dick, goes beyond the science to discuss the societal factors at play. As a former chief historian for NASA, he has the chops to do this.
What Is Life? (1944, reprint 2012)
This is the classic book by the late Nobel laureate and founder of quantum mechanics Erwin Schrödinger. He had a brilliant mind, and this book (written for a general audience) gives us a glimpse into his thinking.
Astrobiology: A Very Short Introduction (2014)
If you don’t have a lot of time but want a quick primer, this is the book for you. David Catling gives a great overview and history of the topic.
CHAPTER 5
Dark Matter and Dark Energy: The Hidden 95% of the Universe (2019)
This is a great readable dive into everything from Chapter 5. The author, Brian Clegg, has a broad portfolio, which gives him a perspective tuned for a general audience.
The 4 Percent Universe: Dark Matter, Dark Energy, and the Race to Discover the Rest of Reality (2011)
Richard Panek takes us into the science behind the scenes as dark energy was discovered. This book will give you a glimpse into the world of cutting-edge science and how the discovery of dark energy unfolded.
The Elephant in the Universe: Our Hundred-Year Search for Dark Matter (2022)
In this text Govert Schilling gets deep into dark matter (without dark energy taking center stage) and our quest to understand what is going on in the universe.
The End of Everything (Astrophysically Speaking) (2021)
While this book isn’t specifically on dark matter or dark energy per se, I am impelled to include it just because Katie Mack is brilliant and hilarious. Here Mack takes the reader through the different scenarios in which the universe might end.
CHAPTER 6
Relativity Visualized (1985)
I know this is from 1985, but this book by Lewis Carroll Epstein is my all-time favorite for getting a more intuitive understanding of relativity. I am thrilled and grateful that it is still in print, so please go buy a copy while you can.
Black Hole Survival Guide (2020)
This is a gorgeous book in both text and illustration on black holes. Janna Levin is gifted at making science accessible in her writing, and this book is no exception.
The Information Paradox: A Pedagogical Introduction (2011)
This is a freely available PDF written by Samir Mathur, which you can find at https://arxiv.org/abs/0909.1038. Be warned, this is not for a novice reader and depends on some previous physics background. That being said, it is a deep and thorough discussion of the “paradox.”
The Black Hole War (2009)
Leonard Susskind went head-to-head with Stephen Hawking in their battle to understand if information is lost in black holes. Being written by Susskind, you should not be surprised that the book is heavily in favor of string theory and holograms.
Black Holes: A Very Short Introduction (2015)
This book is like the Cliffs Notes for black holes, coming in at less than one hundred pages. Katherine Blundell does a lovely job of distilling the essential physics of black holes into a short, readable format.
CHAPTER 7
The Order of Time (2019)
This is a beautifully written book by Carlo Rovelli that gives accessible overviews of the physics surrounding the nature of time. I have read many books on time, and this is probably my favorite.
Time: A Very Short Introduction (2022)
Like the other books in the Very Short Introduction series, this book by Jenann Ismael is essentially the Cliffs Notes on the nature of time. Written by a philosopher, you will get a slightly different perspective than the books written by physicists.
Time Reborn (2013)
Lee Smolin, as always, is a bit of a maverick, for which I have deep respect. In this book he throws down the gauntlet to physics on the nature of time. If you have read his other work, much in this book will seem familiar.
About Time: Einstein’s Unfinished Revolution (1996)
This is the oldest book on the list for this chapter, but, for better or worse, our understanding of time has not really changed in the last quarter century. I’m just an all-around fan of Paul Davies and his writing, so I had to include this one.
CHAPTER 8
Our Mathematical Universe (2015)
Max Tegmark has no qualms about thinking deeply about ideas that might seem outlandish on the surface. In this book, he gets deep into the motivation behind multiple universe conjectures and their mathematical basis.
The Elegant Universe: Superstrings, Hidden Dimensions, and the Quest for the Ultimate Theory (1999)
This is the book that inspired the NOVA miniseries by the same name. This book is classic Brian Greene, providing a great accessible introduction to the beauty of string theory.
Warped Passages: Unraveling the Mysteries of the Universe’s Hidden Dimensions (2006)
(This book is also recommended for further reading for Chapter 3.) Lisa Randall is one of the architects of brane theory, and this text distills the salient concepts for a general reader and illuminates the thought process of one of the leaders in the field.
CHAPTER 9
Superintelligence: Paths, Dangers, Strategies (2016)
This book will take you on a journey down the rabbit hole to where artificial intelligence may be headed. Guided by Nick Bostrom, one of the world’s preeminent thinkers on the intersection of philosophy and artificial intelligence.
The Road to Reality: A Complete Guide to the Laws of the Universe (2007)
This book is a full five-course meal, so you will need time to digest. That being said, Nobel laureate Roger Penrose goes deep into the math and physics underlying what we know of the universe, with a dash of philosophy thrown in for good measure.
The Lightness of Being (2008)
Nobel laureate Frank Wilczek is one of the world’s top experts in particle physics, and with this book he explores that field and the unification of forces (not to mention how ridiculous gravity is).
Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid (1979)
Wow, I can’t believe this book is over forty years old. I devoured it in my early twenties, and Douglas Hofstadter’s weaving together of aesthetics, physics, and consciousness was exactly what I needed. The main concepts in this book are evergreen.
CHAPTER 10
Just Six Numbers (2001)
Martin Rees is one of the luminaries in the field and has been a prolific author of popular science books. This short book gets deep into some of the most fundamental parameters in the universe.
The Goldilocks Enigma (2008)
I am a big fan of Paul Davies books and his hybrid approach through the lenses of science and philosophy. Read this book side by side with Just Six Numbers to get an interesting sense of how Rees and Davies perceive things differently.
Fine-Tuning in the Physical Universe (2020)
This is an edited compendium on several aspects of fine-tuning. Be warned, though: it is meant as a textbook, and it is correspondingly dense and full of high-level concepts.
Large Number Coincidences and the Anthropic Principle in Cosmology (1973)
(In Proceedings of Symposium: Confrontation of Cosmological Theories with Observational Data.) I wouldn’t normally recommend conference proceedings, but this is the classic paper by Brandon Carter that lays out the anthropic principle in cosmology. You can access this freely online.
Notes
CHAPTER 1: A LITTLE PERSPECTIVE
1. Since 2015, we have the exciting new realm of observations using gravitational waves! But that’s for a later chapter.
2. In other words, the light has traveled 13 billion light-years. To be clear, I know that “light-year” sounds like a unit of time (it even has the word “year” in it!), but don’t be fooled. A light-year is simply the distance light travels in a year, which is a long way. Given the enormously sized scales involved in talking about the universe, it is helpful to have a unit that can keep up. If we measured everything in miles, or kilometers, that would be silly. For example, just to get to the Andromeda Galaxy—the nearest spiral galaxy similar to the Milky Way, we would need 15,000,000,000,000,000,000 miles. Do you even know how to say that number? (OK, fine, it is 15 quintillion miles.)
3. A. Chirico et al., “Designing Awe in Virtual Reality: An Experimental Study,” Frontiers in Psychology, 2018; C. Anderson et al., “Are Awe-Prone People More Curious? The Relationship Between Dispositional Awe, Curiosity, and Academic Outcomes,” Journal of Personality, 2020; V. Griskevicius and M. N. S. Shiota, “Influence of Different Positive Emotions on Persuasion Processing: A Functional Evolutionary Approach,” Emotion, 2010.
4. D. Keltner and J. Haidt, “Approaching Awe, a Moral, Spiritual, and Aesthetic Emotion,” Cognition and Emotion, 2003.
5. Keltner and Haidt, “Approaching Awe, a Moral, Spiritual, and Aesthetic Emotion”; J. Piaget and B. Inhelder, The Psychology of the Child, Basic Books, 1969.
6. Ironically, the “truth” is that Nietzsche did not actually say this. Instead, he said, “No, facts are precisely what is lacking; all that exists consists of interpretations” (F. Nietzsche, The Will to Power: An Attempted Transvaluation of All Values, translated by Anthony Ludovici, T. N. Foulis, 2016 [1913]. Made available through Marc D’Hooghe Free Literature/Project Gutenberg, https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/52915). Still, the made-up quote is a good one and clearly has staying power on the internet.
7. A. C. Clarke, “Hazards of Prophesy: The Failure of the Imagination,” in Profiles of the Future: An Enquiry into the Limits of the Possible, Harper & Row, 1962.
CHAPTER 2: WHAT IS KNOWLEDGE?
1. A. N. Whitehead and B. Russell, Principia Mathematica, 2nd ed., Cambridge University Press, 1950.
2. Beware, the simple statement “I think, therefore I am” gets us caught in a paradox of self-reference. In this case, for example, by virtue of being an action, “thinking” necessarily changes the state of the subject (you), which renders the definition of who “you” are obsolete by the time you have done the thinking.
3. You might note the “typically” in the previous sentence—many people have some level of color blindness, and you may well be one of them.
4. Be warned: there are lots of online tests to determine if you might be a tetrachromat that are pretty much BS. Remember all the stuff of skepticism? Keep that in play.
5. R. Feynman, Cargo Cult Science, Caltech Commencement Address, 1974.
6. Aristotle facing zombie cats could be a solid plot device for a B-grade movie.
7. Full disclosure: Feynman gets a lot of credit for this quote, and it is a great sound bite (which is why I deployed it here), but it’s not clear that he ever said precisely this. He did certainly have similar statements (e.g., “On the other hand, I can safely say that nobody understands quantum mechanics” (R. Feynman, The Character of Physical Law, MIT Press, 1965).
8. Scientists can have a whole range of things named after them: laws, theorems, physical constants, units, and other normal things. But they can also have odd things like instabilities (e.g., the Parker instability) and holes (e.g., the Lockman Hole) take on their name. That seems like a lot more fun to me.
9. J. L. Lauritsen and N. White, Seasonal Patterns in Criminal Victimization Trends, Bureau of Justice Statistics, 2014; Federal Reserve Economic Data (FRED), Industrial Production: Manufacturing: Non-Durable Goods: Ice Cream and Frozen Dessert, https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/IPN31152N, accessed May 2023.
10. David Dunning and Justin Kruger have done some interesting work in this area, after whom the “Dunning-Kruger effect” is named, based on their 1999 study with the fabulous title “Unskilled and Unaware of It: How Difficulties in Recognizing One’s Own Incompetence Lead to Inflated Self-Assessments” (Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 1999).
CHAPTER 3: WHAT CAUSED THE BIG BANG?
1. If you want to know more about any of these topics, like comets, molecular clouds, nucleosynthesis, and stellar evolution, I provide some book recommendations in Further Reading.
2. T. Aquinas, Summa Theologiae: Questions on God, Cambridge University Press, 2006.
3. Augustine, St. Augustine’s Confessions (translated by E. B. Pusey), Project Gutenberg, 2001. As with many infamous quotes, this supposed quote from Augustine is also not accurate, and, in fact, Augustine says he would not answer this way. In Chapter XI of Augustine’s Confessions, he writes, “See, I answer him that asketh, ‘What did God before He made heaven and earth?’ I answer not as one is said to have done merrily (eluding the pressure of the question), ‘He was preparing hell (saith he) for pryers into mysteries.’”
4. E. Kolb and M. Turner, The Early Universe, Chapman and Hall, 2018.
5. It is worth noting that from the perspective of a particle in this very early universe, 10−32 seconds is a significant fraction of the age of the universe. Moreover, if the particles were traveling at close to the speed of light (“relativistically”), they would have experienced time dilation, and 10−32 seconds could be a very long time in their view.
