An acclaimed theoretical astrophysicist explores the end of the Universe. When will it take place? How is it likely to happen? How do scientists know?
Katie Mack is a theoretical astrophysicist and one of the most popular scientists on Twitter, with more than 350,000 followers. Throughout her career as a researcher at Caltech, Princeton, Cambridge, Melbourne and now North Carolina State University, she has studied dark matter, black holes, cosmic strings and the formation of the first galaxies. As a science writer, she has been published by Slate, Time, and Scientific American, as well as having a regular column in Cosmos magazine.
Katie Mack is a great scientist, a passionate inquirer of nature, a
great companion in this exploration, full of wit and lightness. I
have learned from her plenty of things I did not know. And I have
found myself staring out of the window, meditating about the end of
it all
*Observer Books of the Year*
Witty, clear and upbeat
*Guardian*
An engrossing and often funny tour of all the ways our cosmos might
come to a close. Mack's enjoyment of physics stands out - and is
contagious. She describes primordial black holes as "awfully cute
in a terrifying theoretical kind of way", antimatter as "matter's
annihilation-happy evil twin" and the universe as "frickin' weird".
All true, and Mack's explanations are entertaining and
informative
*New Scientist Books of the Year*
Mack's humour and eclectic references (from Shakespeare to
'Battlestar Galactica') carry the book along. Even through
discussions of cutting-edge science, the general reader is never
bewildered
*The Economist Books of the Year*
An enthusiastic celebration of the fact that we exist at all, here,
right now, and are able to wonder about such stuff. . . By
introducing concepts such as entropy and heat death with metaphors
of unscrambling eggs or your coffee going cold, she takes the
reader from the cosmos to the kitchen, and Mack's true skill is to
do all this without a whiff of condescension or self-importance. .
. while dealing with many of the same mind-bending cosmic
conundrums, she succeeds brilliantly where Hawking failed
*Sydney Morning Herald*
Tremendous... makes me laugh the kind of laugh that puts doom in
perspective. How useful! I feel weirdly lulled when I read about
all the many ravishing ways the universe might, and will, end
*White Review*
In which everything ends, or doesn't, with bangs and whimpers. Like
many good serious books, it's also funny
*Sarah Bakewell*
A rollicking tour of the wildest physics. . . Like an animated
discussion with your favourite quirky and brilliant professor. What
stands out most is Mack's pure enjoyment of physics, and it is
contagious. . . If you need a moment to be distracted from everyday
life and journey to the deep cosmic future, I highly recommend
it
*New Scientist*
Mack is brilliant, and my neighbour's six-year-old daughter loves
her. I love her. . . The cosiest way to read The End of Everything,
her fast-paced book about universal death, is as a murder mystery.
In the middle of the carpet is our butchered universe. How did it
die? Squashed ('The Big Crunch')? Boiled ('Heat Death')?
Eviscerated ('The Big Rip')? Burst apart from every pore ('Vacuum
Decay')? To one side, almost dancing with excitement, is Inspector
Mack. . .
*The Spectator*
One of the most popular voices on science. . . Katie Mack achieves
two improbable feats. First, she writes about the end of the
universe with a jauntiness that makes it not actually that
depressing. And second, she takes concepts in cosmology, string
theory and quantum mechanics and makes them accessible
*Observer*
 |
Ask a Question About this Product More... |
|
