The Unknown Universe: A New Exploration of Time, Space, and Modern Cosmology

by Stuart Clark

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On 21 March 2013, the European Space Agency released a map of the afterglow of the Big Bang. Taking in 440 sextillion kilometres of space and 13.8 billion years of time, it is physically impossible to make a better map: we will never see the early Universe in more detail. On the one hand, such a view is the apotheosis of modern cosmology, on the other, it threatens to undermine almost everything we hold cosmologically sacrosanct. The map contains anomalies that challenge our understanding of the Universe. It will force us to revisit what is known and what is unknown, to construct a new model of our Universe. This is the first book to address what will be an epoch-defining scientific paradigm shift. Stuart Clark will ask if Newton's famous laws of gravity need to be rewritten, if dark matter and dark energy are just celestial phantoms? Can we ever know what happened before the Big Bang? What's at the bottom of a black hole? Are there Universes beyond our own? Does time exist? Are the once immutable laws of physics changing?… (more)

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A discursive discussion about some of the more difficult issues facing the world of astrophysics today. Looking at such a subjects as black holes, nebula formation, solar dynamics and the heat death of the universe, this isn't a starters guide to the state of astrophysics. Despite a readable style, I didn't find this, that accessible, but I would imagine that the controversies that it explores were well covered. Certainly not for the novice, it does have some good points, it's just that as someone who was looking for an introduction into the mysteries of the universe, this probably wasn't the best choice for that notion. (

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aadyer | Mar 25, 2017 |

A very nicely done survey of astronomy, physics, and cosmology, focusing largely on history and personalities, but with enough science that I'd probably have done better to read with my eyes and not my ears! As usual with the science books I choose to listen to while I walk my goofy dog, the narrator inevitably was explaining some complicated space-time-particle-curve thing at the moment my poor dog spotted a toddler (they're all really golden retriever devouring aliens, in disguise, doncha know?) and bolted in terror, dragging me in his wake, and causing me to lose track of quarks, light years, etc. Still, even allowing for the bits I got lost at, and the author really does present the “big picture” without cluttering things up with math and chemistry, so it truly is my dog's fault (or, possibly, mine) that I got lost at all, this is a very enjoyable look at theories of time, space, the origins and fate of the universe, and everything, from early days up to the present. (

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meandmybooks | Mar 20, 2017 |

Most of this easy-reading book covers the same topics as scads of other cosmology popularizations, albeit in a novel order. By emphasizing doubts about things like inflation, dark matter, dark energy, the exactitude of Einstein's equivalence principle, and whether space and time (and hence spacetime) are sufficiently understood, Clark eventually arrives at the position that a paradigm shift may be in the offing.

fpagan | Jan 20, 2017 |

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On 21 March 2013, the European Space Agency released a map of the afterglow of the Big Bang. Taking in 440 sextillion kilometres of space and 13.8 billion years of time, it is physically impossible to make a better map: we will never see the early Universe in more detail. On the one hand, such a view is the apotheosis of modern cosmology, on the other, it threatens to undermine almost everything we hold cosmologically sacrosanct. The map contains anomalies that challenge our understanding of the Universe. It will force us to revisit what is known and what is unknown, to construct a new model of our Universe. This is the first book to address what will be an epoch-defining scientific paradigm shift. Stuart Clark will ask if Newton's famous laws of gravity need to be rewritten, if dark matter and dark energy are just celestial phantoms? Can we ever know what happened before the Big Bang? What's at the bottom of a black hole? Are there Universes beyond our own? Does time exist? Are the once immutable laws of physics changing?

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