The Runaway Universe : The Race to Discover the Future of the Cosmos (Helix Books)

Rating:
Summary: Gets the adrenaline running
Review: "The Runaway Universe" is the latest news on the cosmological constant, reincarnated (after Einstein called it his worst blunder) because of evidence recently discovered that the rate the universe is expanding is actually increasing. This is a fascinating book that doesn't back away from informing us about just how tentative these latest findings are. The book also is good at describing the almost frightening consequences of these findings, if they are true: the universe will basically evaporate away much faster than we'd ever dreamed of before (but it will still take billions of years, so don't worry about it at the personal level). This is one of many popular books that appear each year on cosmology. Generally I judge them by how many times I feel satisfied that I am understanding for the first time something I've run across many times before in my readings but it never sunk in. The chapter on the various types of supernova struck me this way: absolutely outstanding and clear, and worth the price of the book alone, in my opinion.

Rating:
Summary: Can we know the future of the cosmos in the near future?
Review: From observation of supernovae, i.e., large exploding stars, two rival teams of astronomers recently found that the expansion of the universe was very possibly accelerating. The astronomer and science writer Donald Goldsmith tells laypersons the story centered on this discovery in this book. To explain the accelerating expansion, astronomers have revived Albert Einstein's "cosmological constant," which he called his greatest blunder. It is interesting that the same author published a book entitled "Einstein's Greatest Blunder?" just a little before the announcement of the above discovery.

Before going into the main topic of the finding of the accelerating expansion, Goldsmith gives an introductory chapters on the discovery of galaxies, the expansion of the universe, the inflationary theory of the cosmos, and the existence of dark matter in the universe. These chapters might be somewhat tedious for those who already learned about them. When the story comes to the central theme, however, almost all readers would be fascinated by the author's clear explanation of painstaking research into cosmic riddles. Without using equations but effectively using some photographs and diagrams, Goldsmith succeeds in telling what has happened and is going to happen at the forefront of cosmology. The last chapter deals with pleasant prospects of astronomical observations in the nearest future, which will use new satellites and other powerful instruments to resolve many of the mysterious issues of cosmology including the fate of the universe.

Rating:
Summary: Complete, understandable, but not Goldsmith's best
Review: Goldsmith did an excellent job in this book, as a popularizer of an exceedingly complex subject, but not as a writer. The subject is, of course, the recent discovery of the non-zero "cosmological constant", that accelerates the expansion of our universe exponentially.

In order to guide the reader through the theories, Goldsmith starts with the historical facts, starting with Einstein's view of the Universe, deciphering the results of the "type Ia Supernovae" research groups, and explaining the COBE satellite data and the gravitationnal lensing effect. Each concept is explained, each theory gradually introduced, and, as the reader understands more and more of it, Goldsmith even manages to expand the book with the alternative explanations that might be revealed with the futures set of instruments (MAP and Planck).

So, on the science side, Goldsmith did a great job, complete and objective, similar in quality to his other book "The Hunt for Life on Mars".

However, several paragraphs (and even one or two chapters), that deal more with the scientists involved, are too long, not very well written, breaking the rythm of the book. Also, he sometimes try to explain some formulas without even writing them once, which makes everything more confusing than necessary.

Anyway, this book is worth reading, and is probably the most complete introduction you can get on this topic. And now that MAP is flying, you can expect more results to be published in the next few years, and you will understand what it's all about.

Rating:
Summary: Complete, understandable, but not Goldsmith's best
Review: Goldsmith did an excellent job in this book, as a popularizer of an exceedingly complex subject, but not as a writer. The subject is, of course, the recent discovery of the non-zero "cosmological constant", that accelerates the expansion of our universe exponentially.

In order to guide the reader through the theories, Goldsmith starts with the historical facts, starting with Einstein's view of the Universe, deciphering the results of the "type Ia Supernovae" research groups, and explaining the COBE satellite data and the gravitationnal lensing effect. Each concept is explained, each theory gradually introduced, and, as the reader understands more and more of it, Goldsmith even manages to expand the book with the alternative explanations that might be revealed with the futures set of instruments (MAP and Planck).

So, on the science side, Goldsmith did a great job, complete and objective, similar in quality to his other book "The Hunt for Life on Mars".

However, several paragraphs (and even one or two chapters), that deal more with the scientists involved, are too long, not very well written, breaking the rythm of the book. Also, he sometimes try to explain some formulas without even writing them once, which makes everything more confusing than necessary.

Anyway, this book is worth reading, and is probably the most complete introduction you can get on this topic. And now that MAP is flying, you can expect more results to be published in the next few years, and you will understand what it's all about.

Rating:
Summary: The future of the universe according to Goldsmith
Review: In the second half of the 20th century, the working hypothesis of cosmologists was that we live in a universe that is expanding, but that the expansion is slowing. The expansion would eventually stop, and the universe might even begin to contract. Better observations, expected to be produced by the marvelous instruments being introduced, would allow measurement of the characteristics of the expansion, and thus a prediction of the future evolution of the universe. However, as writer Goldsmith describes, the observations may be taking us in a completely different direction. In a lucid exposition of the data and the theory, Goldsmith presents the possibility that the universe is expanding at an accelerating rate, and that a famous constant of general relativity, once thought to be identically zero, may have a value nearer to one. The subject is difficult and the arguments subtle, yet the book is so well written that the lay reader will be able to achieve an understanding of the issues and of the profound philosophical implications arising from them. It is early in the revolution, as Goldsmith points out, and astronomers continue to weigh the evidence, but the book is a thoughtful and balanced introduction to these fascinating ideas. General readers; lower-division undergraduates.

Rating:
Summary: Back in Time and Space
Review: Looking at Supernovas which exploded so long ago is a way of looking back into time, analagous to archaelogy. Challenging as it is to grasp these theories and the data which supports them, the effort is rewarded. Thanks to the Hubble telescope, we are the recipients of data which previous astronomers could only dream of...if they could even dream of it. Chapter nine, The race to find the future of the universe', is particularly fascinating. The author Donald Goldsmith has included personal accounts of the astrophysicists who have interpreted the data and made these astonishing discoveries, adding a human element to these cosmic concepts. We are looking back in time in order to learn more about our origins as as well as to predict our future.

Other books I recommend in this area of interest are:

Galileo's Daughter God and the Big Bang

Rating:
Summary: Back in Time and Space
Review: Looking at Supernovas which exploded so long ago is a way of looking back into time, analagous to archaelogy. Challenging as it is to grasp these theories and the data which supports them, the effort is rewarded. Thanks to the Hubble telescope, we are the recipients of data which previous astronomers could only dream of...if they could even dream of it. Chapter nine, The race to find the future of the universe', is particularly fascinating. The author Donald Goldsmith has included personal accounts of the astrophysicists who have interpreted the data and made these astonishing discoveries, adding a human element to these cosmic concepts. We are looking back in time in order to learn more about our origins as as well as to predict our future.

Other books I recommend in this area of interest are:

Galileo's Daughter God and the Big Bang

Rating:
Summary: The key cosmic parameters - what we see is what we know.
Review: Supernova stars observations in the end of 1990s suggest a nonzero Constant capable of accelerating universal expansion and validate inflationary model.
How true are determinations indicating the fifth significant break through in modern cosmology?

This work is a pure scientific report revolving essentially around two equations containing only two unknown parameters.
First equation is a sum: Density (of all types of matter in the Universe) + Constant (called Einstein's cosmological constant).
Second equation is just a difference between these two.
Density and Constant provide us with the view of our Universe and its current behavior. I enjoyed this book. It describes all-important practical ways used by scientists and astronomers to look into depth of our sky. Then it shows how the valuable information is extracted from observations. Knowing sum and a difference of Density and Constant allow us to calculate value of each single parameter separately. Simple isn't it?

But how accurate are the observations and what obstacles have to be overcome?
Read about it and you will know about history of modern observational cosmology and mysteries of our cosmos.

Certain sections of this book are more difficult and require extra focusing power to get by (for example: dependence of peak luminosity on light curve- for supernova observation or: how the curvature of space determines the angular size on which we now see the largest "surfaces of last scattering"-for cosmic background radiation study).
Do not get discouraged however, just glide through these parts and author will eventually clarify most of it later, leaving you with the good idea what has been tried to accomplish.

I am, and I have always been impressed by careers of top world-class astronomers, their knowledge, ability to design observational methods and skills for processing obtained spectra. Goldsmith gives many stories of dedication and determination, stories about geniuses contributing to total understanding of what Universe was and what will become.
You will find very little in this book about extra dimensions, falling into black holes, traveling in time, strings, TOE and other mumbo-jumbo theories existing only on paper. What we learn here is only about what we perceive and deduce from it.
"The Runaway Universe" is a great update on astronomy and astrophysics, compact and easy to read. Do not miss it if you like to be in space from time to time.

Rating:
Summary: A lively, enjoyable book!
Review: The universe isn't just expanding - it's doing so at an accelerated pace. This details the scientific probe of the universe's origins and expansion process, the struggles to date events, and the various theories surrounding the future of the cosmos. Lay readers who enjoy physics and astronomy titles will relish this lively account.