LibraryThing's Member Giveaway program is really quite a nice offshoot of the Early Reviewers program. I've participated by both giving away books and receiving others to read and review, which is how I snagged a copy of Everyone's Guide to Atoms, Einstein, and the Universe: Real Science for Real People by Robert L. Piccioni, Ph.D. Dr. Piccioni earned his bachelor degree at Caltech in physics and his doctorate at Standford University in high-energy physics. For a time, he was a researcher at Harvard University. He is also the son of Oreste Piccioni (an important high-energy physicist) and personally knows many other top scientists, both past and present. Plus, he's a member of LibraryThing. He's currently retired, but continues to lecture on Einstein and Einstein's theories and on cosmology.

The purpose of Everyone's Guide to Atoms, Einstein, and the Universe is to introduce modern scientific principles, discoveries, and theories in such a way that is accessible to most people--without dumbing it down. As Piccioni states right off the bat, "You don't need to be a great musician to appreciate great music. Nor do you need great math or physics expertise to appreciate the exciting discovers and intriguing mysteries of our universe." The book is divided into three main parts. "Part 1: The Micro-World" covers atoms, particles, forces, energy , relativity, and quantum mechanics. "Part 2: Stars" looks at, well, stars, but also at a bit more than just that, including the life of stars, general relativity, white dwarfs, neutron stars, black holes, and space telescopes. Finally, "Part 3: The Universe" investigates our universe, redshift, expansion, the dark side, the Big Bang, and what came before, among other topics.

Piccioni has written the book in such a way that each chapter is more or less discrete. This means a reader can jump around and pick and choose which subjects most interest them and skip over those that don't. The minor drawback to this is that the book doesn't really build upon itself and at times seems more like a listing of facts rather than explaining them in depth. The chapters are relatively short which is nice beaus it allows concepts to be introduced methodically and gives the reader ample opportunity to stop, process, and mull over the information without becoming too overwhelmed.

Everyone's Guide to Atoms, Einstein, and the Universe succeeds, for the most part, in making complex scientific ideas understandable for people who aren't well versed in math or science or, in particular, physics. Piccioni includes several bibliographies compiled according to readers' experience and interests: collections of celestial photographs, for a general audience, for those who enjoy math and physics, for those with strong physics skills, and for graduate physicists. And I mustn't forget to mention the inclusion of gorgeous full color image plates from NASA. One thing that did annoy me was the use of bolding in the text. Usually, this indicated that the term could be found defined in the glossary, but frequently it seemed words were bolded even if they weren't. Some of the asides, examples, and jokes made in the text probably would be more effective in a lecture setting than they were in the book, but overall weren't problematic. Piccioni has done a marvelous job with Everyone's Guide to Atoms, Einstein, and the Universe and his website and blog aren't to be missed either.

Experiments in Reading ( )

This book attempts to cover everything imaginable, from sub atomic particles to the entire galaxy, including space and time.

I believe the author has done a good job of explaining all of the above. My previous knowledge of such things was very little. Now I feel that I can at least converse with someone about these subjects. In fact, I think I will try that tomorrow, and see if I have graduated from n00b :)

In all seriousness, I did enjoy this book. I've often wondered about some of the concepts that are covered here. I've also been curious about Einstein and his accomplishments.
e=mc2, how many times have we all heard this? I never knew exactly what it meant, but I always had this picture in my mind of Einstein in front of a blackboard with that on the board.

The author does a great job of going through apparent high points in Einsteins career.

This is important because the guy had so many ideas that are still feeding the flames of apparent thousands of physics scientists.

There are also discussions of many predecessors, such as Galileo and Newton. The author adds in quite a bit of humorous stories and comments regarding the people behind the ideas. It keeps it entertaining, as well as digestible to someone like me (a non-scientist).

It's almost as you are taken on a historical tour of science itself.

There are some spectacular graphics in this book, and you will be amazed at some of the things going on in the universe. Black holes, neutron stars, white dwarfs, Einstein rings, galactic collisions, solar winds, light waves bending around planets, dark matter, anti matter, this is fantastic stuff.

I don't fully grasp all of the formulas, but they are generally kept in footnotes. You can gloss over them, and return to them later if you want to attempt to tackle them further.

This will sit on my shelf as an often referred to primer on any of these subjects. ( )

Dr. Robert Piccioni has accomplished at least two things with his new book Everyone’s Guide to Atoms, Einstein, and the Universe. One, he has conveyed something of the genius and the enormous contributions of Albert Einstein, whose work was instrumental to our knowledge of how the universe has changed over time and how it currently operates. And two, he’s revealed in everyday language the basic laws and theories that explain our modern understanding of matter and space. How he managed to cover so much ground without getting overly swamped in the heavy-duty physics and math that lurks behind the scenes is itself a bit of genius. Throw in some entertaining science history, a bit of humor, and some amazing color images, and Piccioni has created a comprehensive yet easy-to-digest primer to the Universe we all call home. Well, easily digested as long as the bites are small and thoroughly chewed on. Quantum mechanics does of course make an appearance, and there are a few mathematical equations. But the math is far from center stage here. Let’s face it, for most of us average-brained people, trying to keep up with Einstein’s thinking is a pretty daunting prospect. But a general knowledge of, and definitely a profound appreciation for, the cosmos is within our reach. One of the many Einstein quotes included in the book was the statement, “It should be possible to explain the laws of physics to a barmaid.” I’m not exactly a barmaid, but I’m not a theoretical physicist either. Yet armed with Everyone’s Guide, the barmaid and I will now be sitting at the table competently discussing the latest cosmological discoveries. And, we’ll be looking up at the skies with more awe than ever before. ( )

"Everyone's Guide to Atoms, Einstein, and the Universe" is truly what it says it is. Regardless of one's prior knowledge of higher level physics, anyone can understand this book and will immediately have a better concept of physics and cosmology. Not only that, but despite this ability, it does not come off as being for children or uninteresting for those who already have some knowledge on the subject. Also, just as Lucretius makes his "De Rerum Natura" more entertaining for the layman by writing in verse, Dr. Piccioni keeps the technical jargon to a minimum, often times saving it for explanatory notes at the end of chapters, and also peppers the text with little jokes, anecdotes, and other humorous remarks.

This book also has a great structure to it. One can read it from cover to cover, for the chapters do build upon one another, but that same time, one can pick up the book and simply read the chapter of interest without needing to read preceding chapters. ( )

This book was an entertaining read. The thing I liked the most about it was the way you don't have to read it cover to cover. If you're interested in Einstein, you can read the chapters about him. If you're curious about dark matter, then skip to the end. Each of the chapters is cross referenced so that if there is a concept you may have missed by skipping around, you can go to that. I mostly read it cover to cover, but since I have a nonfiction ADD, I didn't finish the whole thing. I will go back at some point soon and read the chapters I didn't finish, though. I also loved the pictures in the middle (I'm a simple man). The language is very common man, but it doesn't treat you like you're an idiot, which is good. If you already have an interest in science (and if you don't why would you even be looking at this review, or even contemplating this book?) this is a good book to read. ( )