We always thought of ourselves as being at the center of the Universe and at rest. It was not until very recently that Copernicus explained how our Earth is orbiting the Sun and that the Sun, not the Earth, is at the center of our solar system. Today’s theories such as Einstein’s special and general relativity, still believe that we and our galaxy, are at the center of the Universe. In fact, relativity with its “cosmological principle” claims that any observer on any galaxy in the Universe can consider him or herself at the center and at rest.
Getting a grip on the creation and ultimate fate of the universe is one of the great scientific stories of the twentieth century. In the twenty-first, the story is expanding to enfold many universes. Michio Kaku’s dazzling book tells that new story. Using the latest astronomical data, he explores the Big Bang, theories of everything, and our cosmic future. His wonderfully clear scientific account leads to some mind-boggling speculations about the human implications of this story. Are we condemned to watch a single universe slowly run down, becoming a dark, cold wasteland?
The Universe: A Historical Survey Of Beliefs, Theories, And LawsOn the cover: Theories and beliefs about the cosmos have been nearly as vast as the universe itself, covering everything from the birth of a single star to the discovery of objects such as the Galaxy Triplet ARP 274 (pictured).
Whether you believe that space aliens are coming to Earth to solve all our problems so we don't have to do any work to fix them ourselves, or you believe that going to a faith healer or New Age huckster rather than relying on medical science to heal you is the right course of medical care, believing in things uncritically can be bad for you and bad for society. Carl Sagan felt that it was the right thing — the morally conscientious thing — to work against those trends. And he wrote his essays…
Cosmological Enigmas: Pulsars, Quasars, and Other Deep-Space QuestionsThe universe is big. Really big. And it gets bigger every day. In Cosmological Enigmas, Mark Kidger weaves together history, science, and science fiction to consider questions about the bigness of space and the strange objects that lie trembling at the edge of infinity.
