Dark Matter and Dark Energy: The Hidden 95% of the Universe

by Brian Clegg

All the matter and light we can see in the universe makes up a trivial 5 per cent of everything. The rest is hidden. This could be the biggest puzzle that science has ever faced.

Since the 1970s, astronomers have been aware that galaxies have far too little matter in them to account for the way they spin around: they should fly apart, but something concealed holds them together. That ’something' is dark matter – invisible material in five times the quantity of the familiar stuff of stars and planets.

By the 1990s we also knew that the expansion of the universe was accelerating. Something, named dark energy, is pushing it to expand faster and faster. Across the universe, this requires enough energy that the equivalent mass would be nearly fourteen times greater than all the visible material in existence.

Brian Clegg explains this major conundrum in modern science and looks at how scientists are beginning to find solutions to it.

Genres: Science, Nonfiction, Physics, Astronomy, Space, Audiobook, Stem

176 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 8, 2019

About the author

Brian's latest books, Ten Billion Tomorrows and How Many Moons does the Earth Have are now available to pre-order. He has written a range of other science titles, including the bestselling Inflight Science, The God Effect, Before the Big Bang, A Brief History of Infinity, Build Your Own Time Machine and Dice World.

Along with appearances at the Royal Institution in London he has spoken at venues from Oxford and Cambridge Universities to Cheltenham Festival of Science, has contributed to radio and TV programmes, and is a popular speaker at schools. Brian is also editor of the successful www.popularscience.co.uk book review site and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.

Brian has Masters degrees from Cambridge University in Natural Sciences and from Lancaster University in Operational Research, a discipline originally developed during the Second World War to apply the power of mathematics to warfare. It has since been widely applied to problem solving and decision making in business.

Brian has also written regular columns, features and reviews for numerous publications, including Nature, The Guardian, PC Week, Computer Weekly, Personal Computer World, The Observer, Innovative Leader, Professional Manager, BBC History, Good Housekeeping and House Beautiful. His books have been translated into many languages, including German, Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese, Japanese, Polish, Turkish, Norwegian, Thai and even Indonesian.

Reviews

[Bharath · Rating 4 out of 5]

Along with our deep curiosity of the origin of the universe, the other great mysteries of our universe are dark matter and dark energy. I looked forward to this book to learn more of the theories & challenges in explaining dark matter and dark energy.

The measurements we have of our visible universe – galaxies & their behaviours, indicates that we have so far observed a small fraction of matter in our universe. The other observation regarding the accelerating expansion of the universe, indicates the presence of dark energy pulling at the universe. Dark energy and dark matter are estimated to constitute 95% of the total mass-energy content. There has been speculation of particle(s) which potentially constitute dark matter. The problem though is the inability to detect it so far – possibly because dark matter does not interact with the observable matter. The theories around dark energy are very speculative based on the general flat nature of the cosmos. It is possible that with more measurement avenues we will know better sometime soon. I found the possibility offered by a fraction of scientists that dark matter and dark energy do not really exist, and rather our current models need some revisions to be also interesting.

I found the conversational style of the book to be great – it is at just the right level for non-physicists. It has interesting details, while never getting bogged down with tiring details. However, with a book titled ‘Dark Matter and Dark Energy’, I thought these topics would be covered in far more detail in comparison to other books on the universe. That, however, was not the case, and there is an elaborate background of most other concepts including the big bang, the cosmic background radiation, particles, expansion of the universe etc. In that sense, this book is like any other book on cosmology. Just maybe, my expectations were incorrect as understandably everything is linked and there is only so much content that can be specifically devoted to these concepts. That said, it covers well what we can possibly infer from observations regarding both dark matter and dark energy.

I listened to the audiobook and the narration by Mark Cameron was very good.

My rating: 3.5 / 5.

[Mary Soon Lee · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a short, fascinating, and very readable account of two of the major puzzles in science. The first puzzle the book delves into is dark matter. Data on the rotation of galaxies indicates that either there's a lot of matter that we haven't spotted (dark matter), or that our theory of gravitation needs modification, or that there are errors in our modeling of galactic motion. The latter two possibilities were new to me and are clearly described. Indeed, I found this book among the clearest science books I've read. For instance, in chapter three Clegg very briefly but lucidly explains why the universe became transparent around 13.5 billion years ago. I can't remember where I first read about this, but I can remember that my initial introduction to it was distinctly befuddling (one might say opaque).

The second puzzle the book tackles is dark energy, a term which, in chapter five, Clegg says "tells us no more than calling it 'fluffy bunnikins'." In any event, dark energy is the term given to whatever it is that causes the accelerating expansion of the universe. While astronomers are in general agreement that this accelerating expansion is real, there is no consensus about what causes it.

If you have any interest in astronomy or in current open questions in science, I highly recommend this book.

About my reviews: I try to review every book I read, including those that I don't end up enjoying. The reviews are not scholarly, but just indicate my reaction as a reader, reading being my addiction. I am miserly with 5-star reviews; 4 stars means I liked a book very much; 3 stars means I liked it; 2 stars means I didn't like it (though often the 2-star books are very popular with other readers and/or are by authors whose other work I've loved).

[Márcio · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of science's main objectives is to question. In fact, scientific theories require empirical support for it, or else it is just a hypothesis. Sometimes, it happens that some scientific theories are taken as undoubtedly unquestionable truth; then, this is not science anymore, but a dogma.

What is so interesting in this small book by Clegg is that, as some other science authors that I have lately read, he says what things are, and even if shortly, he gives the reader an account of the object he is dealing with, its evolution and state of the art. This is the case for dark matter and dark energy, which might not be the correct term for both of them until there is a more robust explanation of what they actually are, thus they are more like hypothetical forces with unknown properties and we might never know what they actually are and what is speeding the universe acceleration. And as Clegg says in his book, we are dealing with the observable universe and there might be other forces that we are and might forever be unable to control how it works and what might be its fate.

As a final note, this book is an easy read even for those with little knowledge about cosmology. And besides that, Clegg holds what a scientist must have and constantly deal with: he questions.

[Ron Peters · Rating 3 out of 5]

Two decades ago, the publishing world was chock-a-block with books on popular physics and cosmology, featuring multiverses, string theory, and a half-dozen other exotic contenders for explaining the universe. Now you don’t see as many. The main thing that stemmed this flood was the growing conundrum over dark matter and dark energy. I think public interest will continue to wane until these questions are solved.

The quandary arose mainly from two observations: a) the outer edges of galaxies and galaxy clusters spin so fast that they ought to fly apart, yet they don’t, and b) the universe is expanding at an ever-increasing rate. In both cases, physicists discovered that the amount of observable mass and energy in the universe is not even close to enough to explain these effects. We now believe the mass and energy we can see and measure only makes up 5% of the universe. Of the rest, 27% is thought to be made up of dark matter, and the remaining 68% of dark energy.

The terms themselves are meaningless. What we know about dark matter is that something is out there that interacts with gravity and not much else, and there’s lots of it. What we know about dark energy is that there is even more of it, and it is undetectable and unmeasurable. Ramin Skibba calls them “the most ubiquitous things physicists have never found.” https://is.gd/y5HojN So, people lose interest in wild theories of the universe when physicists and astronomers have no idea what makes 95% of the universe tick.

Once again, there is no lack of theories about these things, just no empirical evidence whatsoever. For instance, dark energy has been argued to be: a) not a thing but an intrinsic feature of empty space, b) related somehow to Einstein’s cosmological constant (but the math involved is wildly wrong), c) due to staggering numbers of virtual particles spontaneously appearing from then disappearing into nothingness, creating energy in the process, and/or d) an unknown kind of dynamic energy field that fills the universe but somehow has the opposite effect of normal energy or matter. Some of these, like that last one, just seem to be another way of saying “beats me.”

It used to be that, once or twice a decade, I’d read something in popular physics just to keep up with what is being talked about. I’m not going to do that again until I see news headlines saying that the question of dark matter and dark energy has been dependably solved.

[Aroosha Dehghan · Rating 3 out of 5]

برای من که رشته‌ی تحصیلیم اختر فیزیکه، کتاب بسیار سبک و ابتدایی بود ولی نمی‌تونم بگم برای همه اینجوره. شاید برای فهم بعضی جاهاش، پیش نیازهایی لازم باشه ( مثلا وقتی به مدل کیهان شناختی اشاره میشه، اگر بدونید این مدل چیه احتمالا خیلی بهتر حرف نویسنده رو می‌فهمید.)
.
اما کلیت کتاب،
فصل بندی‌ها خیلی خوب بود. یک سوم ابتدایی قطعا برای هر کسی که به کیهان علاقه داره جالبه (صرف نظر از ترجمه که گاهی گنگ هست). دو سوم بعدی ممکنه کمی خسته کننده باشه چون به آزمایش‌ها و نظریاتی می‌پردازه که برای توجیه و مشاهده‌ی ماده‌ی تاریک طراحی شدند. مشکل این قسمت اینه که سعی کرده نظریات و آزمایش‌ها رو خیلی ساده کنه و این ساده کردن همیشه خوب نیست. وقتی یک چیز خیلی پیچیده رو خیلی ساده کنید، اصل اون مطلب از دست میره و به جای قابل فهم شدن، غیر قابل فهم میشه.
من کلا با ساده کردن بیش از حد مطالب علمی مشکل دارم.
.
نکته‌ی بعدی،
نام کتاب ماده‌ی تاریک و انرژی تاریکه ولی عملا فقط به ماده‌ی تاریک پرداخته شده. درسته که اطلاعات ما از انرژی تاریک به شدت کمه اما باز هم صفر نیست. نویسنده تنها چند پاراگراف درباره‌ی یکی از مهم‌ترین عوامل گسترش کیهان حرف زده و به نظرم با توجه به نام کتاب، این یک ضعف بزرگه.
.
سخن پایانی:
خواندن این کتاب رو پیشنهاد می‌کنم.
و توصیه می‌کنم قبلش درباره‌ی مدل‌های کیهان شناختی، مدل استاندارد ذرات بنیادی و تاریخچه‌ی کشف این ذرات و ویژگی‌هاشون مطالعه کنید.
در نهایت هم اگرچه کتاب خیلی قدیمی نیست ولی حتما بعد از خواندنش سری به جدیدترین مقالات مربوط به ماده و انرژی تاریک بزنید. این زمینه یکی از مباحث باز در فیزیکه و هر روز چندین مقاله درباره‌ش منتشر میشه.

[Lauren Chapelhow · Rating 3 out of 5]

To summarise the point of this book: we don’t know what dark matter is nor dark energy. Nor are we particularly close to finding out.
Probably if you’re interested in this book, you may however already know that. Clegg does offer some interesting insight into where the theory of dark matter has come from, a bit of context and history as to the problem it attempts to solve which as far as I understand is that the figures don’t add up in terms of the how fast stars move around the edges of the galaxy- they go faster than what gravity would indicate they should. To put in context the lesser preferred, but still relatively widespread contestant of dark matter is a theory of altered gravity.
All in all, it’s not that long of a book, worth a read, not the most exciting writing I’ve read but also not the dryest. Very very average.

[John Wegener · Rating 3 out of 5]

Informative read but didn't conclude anything. We still don't know what dark matter or dark energy are or if they even exist. The book gave a general summary of research in the field up to 2018. An adequate general read.

[Burak Kircadag · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kozmolojinin büyük sırlarından karanlık madde ve karanlık enerji konularını akıcı bir üslupla ele alan bu kitap yapılan ve halen yapılmakta olan çalışmaları özet halinde okuyucuya aktarıyor. Çevirinin başarılı olduğu kitabı bilimseverlere tavsiye ediyorum.

[Nicola Michelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

The fact that there’s so much about the universe we still don’t know, and the intriguing concepts and research going into Dark Matter & Dark Energy is enough to pique anyone’s interest into the speculation of what these unknown elements and forces really are. It’s always been an interest to me so coming across this book about the 95% of the hidden universe was an instant intrigue.

It’s written extremely well, encompassing a whole manor of information and research on this topic as well as reeling back to foundations to help you further understand what’s explained. Of course no one really know what’s dark matter and dark energy really is but this book did an amazing job explaining all sorts of aspects and current thinking’s within the field.

Touching on quantum mechanics, the history of discovery and the future as well as current research on the subject, this book is definitely a must read for all who is interested in the titled subject matter.

[Eve · Rating 3 out of 5]

Minus 1 star for being confusing minus another for not crediting Rosalind Franklind

[Naveen Zutshi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Easy fast paced read

For a change, rather than getting into the abstruse theories Brian quickly covers dark matter and dark energy including the competing theories and observations. He explained MOND an alternative theory to dark matter which is often not covered by dark matter zealots. It is also interesting to learn how much we call induction is built on edifices of assumptions that may turn out to be wrong. Very interesting fields of learning though and hopefully new discoveries over the coming years will shed more light on what really is dark energy and whether dark matter exists.

[Safa]

informative and fascinating.

[Domhnall · Rating 5 out of 5]

The hidden 95% of the universe may not exist, a result of calculation errors, false assumptions or insufficient data; dark matter may never be found, dark energy never demonstrated, but at this moment they remain viable explanations for what scientists have observed about the universe. Given the complexity of the matter we do know, possibly making up 5% of the total, there is no strong reason to assume that dark matter - whatever that turns out to be - would not also be differentiated and complex rather than one, simple material. Brian Clegg reviews a wide range of efforts to settle the question and identifies the main ways by which scientists are pursuing the elusive answers. His account is succinct, crisp and readable, and along the way he provides some insights about the scientific method.

Some Quotes

As American biologist Stuart Firestein pointed out in his book Ignorance, it’s not what we know that’s important in science. ‘Working scientists don’t get bogged down in the factual swamp because they don’t care all that much for facts. It’s not that they discount or ignore them but rather that they don’t see them as an end in themselves. They don’t stop at the facts, they begin there, right beyond the facts, where the facts run out.’ [p3]

Michael Turner terms the phenomenon dark energy. The name tells us nothing about what is involved. It might as well have been called factor X or unizap. [p10]

Cosmology.. is the science of the universe as a unified object, combined with the study of the laws that govern that whole. … It encompasses all that physically exists, taking ijn everything from the smallest particle all the way up to the biggest galaxy. It encompasses all matter, all energy, collected together as a whole as if this assemblage were an entity in its own right. That’s an impressive concept and it is natural to ask questions about it. [p16]

Aristotle’s model of the universe, put together in the fourth century BC at Plato’s Academy, became so rigidly accepted that, with some tweaks. It remained in use for around 2,000 years… It might have been wrong but it had a kind of magnificent logic. [p18]

For example, the big bang model has had to be modified several times to match observation. In principle, practically any theory can be patched up until it appears to work this way. It’s rather like the way Aristotle’s model of the universe had been patched up with epicycles. As the patching is based on matching what is observed it inevitably works but that doesn’t make it right. [p114]

[Alex Shrugged · Rating 4 out of 5]

The only reason that this didn't get 5 stars was because it went through some fundamental background science history. It did it well, but I've heard this history so many times before that I am pretty well done with it. For someone who hasn't heard it though, it is good information.

Given that there isn't a whole lot of information on Dark Matter and Dark Energy I certainly learned more about how they determined what they are looking at it, and especially what the alternative theories for what they think they are measuring and how their measuring might not be measuring anything at all.

Scientists tend to get into fads. For example, String Theory was a fad. It is less so now... a lot less so. That doesn't make it wrong but for a while everything else was being ignored. Something similar may be happening with Dark Matter and Dark Energy.

I will probably listen to this audiobook again.

[Dani Lee · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book is very on point, even though it's very textbook and introductory. There is still much to know about Dark Matter and Dark Energy in our time. We have a little history about space and how we used to measure and observe the things we couldn't reach with our hands, especially with supernovas.

And there is much debate whether dark matter and energy exist or not (or if the space is flat, or if the big bang is nothing but a theory, or how it fits with the cosmological constant if it does at all, etcetera).

Brief, informative, and friendly to the casual reader.

[Cav · Rating 4 out of 5]

"And as the universe contains many billions of galaxies, the majority of which hold billions of stars, there is a whole lot of stuff out there. Yet in the twentieth century, two challenges to our understanding of the nature of the universe have meant that what we once thought was everything appears to be only around 5 per cent of reality..."

Dark Matter and Dark Energy was an interesting and readable short book that I enjoyed. The author drops the above quote in the book's introduction.

Author Brian Clegg is an English science writer. He is the author of popular science books on topics including light, infinity, quantum entanglement and surviving the impact of climate change, and biographies of Roger Bacon and Eadweard Muybridge.

Brian Clegg:


Clegg writes with an easy and engaging style here. He scores extra points for the clear and concise way he relates this technical information to the reader; making this book largely accessible even to the layperson.
I always appreciate when books can convey complex technical details and concepts to their readers in an easily digestible manner. The ability to do just that is a hallmark of effective communication, IMHO.

The narration of the audiobook version I have was also very well-done; the narrator delivered this writing in an enthusiastic and engaging manner.

The book has a great intro, that set a positive tone for the writing to come in the rest of the book. Clegg opens by giving the reader a brief history of our scientific understanding of what the universe is, and what it is comprised of, and how big it is. Clegg takes the reader through this field of inquiry; mentioning the theories of Aristotle, Archimedes, Galileo, and Tycho Brahe. He then moves on to Isaac Newton and Albert Einstein.

The author mentions that the German scientist Fritz Zwicky first coined the term "Dunkle Materie" in German, which translated as "dark matter." Zwicky's work is mentioned in brief detail here.

Unfortunately, despite much speculation covered here by Clegg, the concepts of dark matter and dark energy remain elusive. We still can't define what either of these is with certainty - or even if they exist at all... Clegg appears to be an optimist, however, and closes the book with this quote:

"It might seem that as this book draws to a close it has been a study of epic failure. We still don’t know what dark matter is or even if it exists. We still don’t know what dark energy is, and the cosmological constant is a factor of 10120 away from prediction. We are, appropriately, still in the dark.‡
However, I see the current state of our understanding of dark matter and dark energy as a positive. Towards the end of the nineteenth century, physics student Max Planck, who was also a concert-level pianist, was told by his physics professor Philipp von Jolly that he ought to pursue music rather than physics, as all that was left for the physicist was to refine detail and add decimal places to observations. There was nothing original left to discover. Within a couple of decades, what are now the central tenets of physics – quantum theory (begun by Planck himself) and relativity – would be introduced and would totally transform what was previously known.
Some have been tempted to say that science really has achieved Jolly’s ‘near completion’ now. Yet I would suggest that dark matter and dark energy demonstrate very effectively that there is far more yet to do. They are not alone in this. For example, we are still to unite quantum physics and the general theory of relativity. Although the Higgs boson has been found, its mass doesn’t fit well with our standard model of particle physics, suggesting that either other new particles should exist (which stubbornly refuse to turn up) or that the standard model is fundamentally flawed. We have no idea how consciousness works or how either simple life or complex life can begin. Plenty of questions remain to be answered.
For me, the current level of ignorance is not a matter for depression, but delight. We have learned vast amounts in science in the last two hundred years, yet there is so much more still to discover. The universe would be boring if we knew everything – if there were no new intellectual frontiers to challenge us. The great, dark holes in our understanding of the universe, dark matter and dark energy, remain as stimulating as ever. Just as Sherlock Holmes was energised by taking on a new client, so scientists around the world can look to dark matter and dark energy as challenging mysteries worthy of their efforts.
We live in an age of science. Remarkably, around 90 per cent of the scientists who have ever lived are alive today. It’s only right that there should be major challenges for them to face.
The dark game is afoot..."

Dark Matter and Dark Energy was a well-written, edited, and presented work, that I would recommend to anyone interested.
4 stars.

[Andy Schwartz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dark Matter and Dark Energy is a light and breezy read which nevertheless is also a comprehensive overview of the pivotal experiments and paradigm shifts which led to not only the conclusion of the existences of dark matter and dark energy but also the determinations of size of the universe and distant galaxies and the reasoning behind the Big Bang theory. Shoutout Lafayette peeps, I didn’t even know we had an observatory - lol.

[Don Long · Rating 4 out of 5]

Top level history of the development of the theories of dark matter and dark energy. He presents the information at an approachable level and presents information about competing theories. Good book to get a 30 thousand foot view of the subject.

[Allison · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very enjoyable and interesting read. The book provided a great overview of the current theories on dark matter and dark energy. The author also includes some historical information in certain sections to provide the background leading up to current theories. This is a reasonably easy read for this detailed astrophysical topic. The author also explains the current issues surrounding the cosmological constant and the queries surrounding this subject. The book references the multitude of methods and tools employed to investigate the subject areas but presents the findings in a way that does lose the reader. As with many theories, there are those experts in the field that either agree or dispute them and since they are just theories there is still a lot of unanswered questions required to come to any concrete conclusions.

[Amira]

I missed thinking about these things

[Tino · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very good primer on dark matter and dark energy that is written in a way that us mortals can also understand and enjoy. 4 stars.

[Jasmine · Rating 5 out of 5]

The first non-fiction book I actually enjoyed, maybe because it was about scientific fact as opposed to supposed "self-help" books.

[Arman · Rating 4 out of 5]

مدتی پیش جمز وب عکس واضحی از تصویر قبلی فرا ژرف هابل ارسال کرد و دانشمندان و علاقه مندان از شوق اشک ریختند. بر مبنای نظریه استاندارد این عظمت و تمام آنچه در این دنیا به صورت مرئی قابل مشاهده باشد فقط پنج درصد از واقعیت است مابقی را درک نمی‌کنیم نمی‌دانیم چیست. برای همین دانشمندان بر آن نام تاریک نهاده اند.
این کتاب با زبانی ساده و ترجمه ای مناسب مفهوم انرژی و ماده تاریک را شرح داده است.
https://taaghche.com/book/69190/

[Jonathan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Easy to follow and understand, very enjoyable. The narrator was great too!

[Ray Penn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting, easy to read, and up to date. This brief overview of the history of the science surrounding the issue of dark matter and dark energy has a fascinating subtext: the way science works. The author presents the problems of dark matter and dark energy in their historical context and then gives a description and analysis of the various responses scientists and cosmologists have given as attempts to explain phenomena and fit them into existing theory. We are left with a feeling of how precarious the process is, and while not detracting from the scientific method as such, it hints at the human aspects in the development of scientific thought. Maybe there is no dark matter/energy and we just got our measurements wrong, or there is a flaw in our assumptions, or we are creating realities in theory that don't correspond to reality. And how are we to test these possibilities? Much to think about here.

[Steve Mitchell · Rating 4 out of 5]

I kind of gave up on physics at school, selecting biology, chemistry and geology as my science subjects. Although I’ve always loved science and continue to read science books for fun, physics was neglected until around 15 years ago. As a result of this, the idea of dark matter and dark energy we’re ideas that I was aware of but had no understanding of the details. This is an ideal book to use as a starting point to learn about the missing 95% of the Universe.

[Atena Sanaei · Rating 4 out of 5]

متأسفانه نتونستم کتاب رو تا آخر بخونم. اوایل کتاب خیلی خوب بود و کاملاً متوجه می‌شدم ولی هر چی جلوتر رفت فهمش سخت‌تر شد. و احساس کردم که سطح کتاب از چیزی که فکرش رو می‌کردم بالاتره. اما برای افرادی که از قبل اطلاعات دارن یا فیزیک خونده‌ن فکر کنم مفیدتر باشه. احتمالاً یه‌بار دیگه بعداً بخونمش. از اون کتاب‌هایی نیست که با یه‌بار خوندن بشه کامل فهمیدش.
‌https://taaghche.com/book/69190

[Matt Mansfield · Rating 5 out of 5]

Chasing the Heart of Darkness

Something, or things, are confounding our carefully crafted assumptions about how the universe works. And despite theoretical and technological advances these elusive mysteries remain shrouded in darkness.

Like the early Buddhist parable (500 BCE) of the blind men and the elephant, we have names for parts of the experience but are still trying to understand why and how they exist as a whole.

British author, editor and Fellow of the Royal Society of the Arts Brian Clegg’s 2019 “Dark Matter & Dark Energy: The Hidden 95% of the Universe” makes for a solid introduction to what cosmologists and physicists have been chasing with increasing determination during recent times: the elusive 95% of the universe divided between dark energy (68%) and dark matter (27%) – these percentage vary depending on the source.

And from our base of 5% visible matter and experience using our tool-making skills to confirm or discount our theories.

Through six chapters with sly titles the author recounts human experience, then, the growing awareness despite the success of early theories with predictable results such as Newtonian physics, missing explanations for deviations, however slight, from measured results remain:

1. “Things ain’t what they seem to be”
2. “Exploring the universe”
3. “The matter of missing matter”
4. “How much bigger is the universe?
5. “Getting bigger faster”
6. “A continuing story”

As Clegg writes early on about the separation of myth from reality: “A myth is a story with a point. It is a mechanism to give information about a deep question, like ‘Why are we here? or Where did everything come from?’ A myth is not history – it is a way to help understand today’s reality, through a story linking us to the past.”

Through the journey the author treats us to earlier and current theories about the universe and its properties, as well as the efforts to create tools for measuring the unknown based on the competing theories available. As a basic prime, it is a good introduction for those, like myself, less familiar with the subject and probably not capable of getting into the weeds.

Clegg does a good job of presenting the contradictory views of physicists, cosmologists and even outside skepticism of the entire process from Donald Saari, a professor of mathematics at Northwestern University and University of California, Irvine. And the latest technological developments to improve investigations under consideration at the time of the writing

Seems like a good place to start with the never-ending story of things that go bump in the dark.



(Here are my Amazon-posted reviews of recent works by other notable authors in this field:

Carlo Rovelli’s 2021 work, “Helgoland; Making Sense of the Quantum Revolution”: https://www.amazon.com/review/R2493M0...

Neil deGrasse Tyson and James Trefil 2021 collaboration, “Cosmic Queries: Star Talk’s Guide to Who We Are, How We Got Here, and Where We’re Going”:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-re...

Brian Greene’s 2020 “Until the End of Time: Mind, Matter and the Search for Meaning in the Evolving Universe”: https://www.amazon.com/review/R2C8O7I...

Sean Carroll’s 2019 “Something Deeply Hidden: Quantum Worlds and the Emergence of Spacetime”:
https://www.amazon.com/review/R1ARTO8...)

[Steve · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Dark Matter & Dark Energy" by Brian Clegg is a fascinating exploration of the mysterious forces that shape our universe. Clegg provides a comprehensive overview of the current scientific understanding of dark matter and dark energy, two of the most significant and puzzling phenomena in modern astrophysics.

The book starts by laying out the historical and theoretical context that led to the discovery of dark matter and dark energy. Clegg explains how astronomers first detected evidence of dark matter in the 1930s, through observations of the rotation curves of galaxies. He then goes on to describe the subsequent efforts to understand the nature of this elusive substance, including the search for possible candidates such as weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs) and axions.

The discussion of dark energy is similarly informative, with Clegg tracing its discovery back to the late 1990s when observations of distant supernovae revealed that the universe was expanding at an accelerating rate. He explores the various proposed explanations for this phenomenon, including the possibility of a cosmological constant and the existence of alternative theories of gravity.

Throughout the book, Clegg does an excellent job of making complex concepts accessible to a general audience. He employs a variety of analogies and metaphors to explain difficult ideas, and his writing is engaging and clear. However, this does not mean that the book is lacking in scientific rigor. Clegg provides plenty of technical detail for readers who are interested, and he is careful to explain the limitations and uncertainties of current scientific knowledge.

One of the strengths of "Dark Matter & Dark Energy" is its exploration of the philosophical and conceptual implications of these mysterious phenomena. Clegg discusses how the existence of dark matter and dark energy challenges our understanding of the nature of the universe and our place in it. He touches on topics such as the anthropic principle and the multiverse hypothesis, which add depth and richness to the discussion.

Overall, "Dark Matter & Dark Energy" is an excellent introduction to these fundamental but enigmatic forces that shape our universe. Clegg's writing is accessible and engaging, and he provides a thorough and thoughtful exploration of the scientific, philosophical, and conceptual implications of these phenomena. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who is interested in astronomy, astrophysics, or the nature of the universe.

[Kamila · Rating 4 out of 5]

W nauce często bywa tak, że odkrywamy pewne rzeczy stopniowo. Wiedząc więcej, korygujemy wcześniejsze założenia, poprawiamy błędy, dopisujemy przypisy do przypisów. Ale co, jeśli powiem Wam, że istnieje dziedzina, w której mimo całych wieków badań jesteśmy w stanie opisać… zaledwie 5% wszechświata.

Clegg zabiera nas na wycieczkę po ciemnej stronie wszechświata - dosłownie. Ciemna materia i ciemna energia to hipotezy próbujące wyjaśnić, dlaczego galaktyki poruszają się tak, jak się poruszają, skąd bierze się przyspieszona ekspansja kosmosu i… gdzie podziała się cała reszta rzeczywistości, której nie widzimy, nie mierzymy, ale której efekty da się zaobserwować.

To prawdziwe popscience, i to w bardzo solidnym, przystępnym wydaniu. Książka składa się z sześciu rozdziałów, które prowadzą czytelnika krok po kroku przez największe kosmiczne niewiadome. Mamy tu trochę historii nauki - od filozofów antycznej Grecji przez Newtona, aż po współczesnych fizyków i ich bolączki z Modelami Standardowymi. Ale najważniejsze: nie trzeba mieć doktoratu z astrofizyki, by za tym nadążyć. Jest sporo przypisów (i są naprawdę sensownie wyjaśnione), a język jest klarowny i nieprzytłaczający.

Dla mnie to książka idealna dla każdego, kto choć raz zadał sobie pytanie: a co jeśli to wszystko działa inaczej, niż myślimy? Albo: czy naprawdę jesteśmy w stanie pojąć skalę tego, co nas otacza?

Clegg nie daje prostych odpowiedzi. I bardzo dobrze - bo tu nie o odpowiedzi chodzi, a o świadomość skali niewiedzy, która napędza największe naukowe przełomy. Zresztą, autor uczciwie przedstawia nie tylko dominujące teorie, ale też alternatywy (jak choćby MOND, czyli zmodyfikowaną dynamikę newtonowską), nie popadając w zachwyty ani nad jednym, ani drugim.

To książka, którą można przeczytać jednym tchem albo na spokojnie, rozdział po rozdziale, robiąc notatki na marginesach i wyszukując potem nazwiska z bibliografii. I choć oryginał ma już kilka lat, tematyka nadal jest aktualna, bo, umówmy się, naukowcy wciąż nie ogarniają, czym dokładnie jest ciemna materia i ciemna energia.

Polecam, szczególnie jeśli interesuje Was kosmos, granice ludzkiej wiedzy i to poczucie… no wiecie, że jesteśmy całkiem malutcy wobec ogromu rzeczy, których nie rozumiemy. Ale to właśnie sprawia, że nauka jest taka fascynująca.