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David Rubenstein
Jul 17, 2011 rated it really liked it
Shelves: audiobook, science
I realized, before starting this book, that some of the topics might be "old hat". I've read about the dark matter/dark energy mystery in a number of books. But I wasn't ready for the other fascinating mysteries, that truly surprised me. For example, I thought that the placebo effect was well understood. But evidently not. For example, the common drug Valium (dizaepam) has a strong effect; but only if the person taking it understands what the effect should be. Tests have shown that the drug is n ...more
Cassandra Kay Silva
Jul 18, 2011 rated it really liked it
Shelves: science
Any book that makes you ponder subjects that are seemingly inherently necessary (find a necessity for sexual reproduction or death) in a new light are going to be getting a thumbs up from me. I enjoy that, it is defiantly on my track of thinking. He took on a number of controversial topics and some of them (homeopathy for example) I don't think I will ever agree with given the current state of affairs but the author doesn't really ask you to agree with anything. He just says there are things tha ...more
Rod
Aug 28, 2008 rated it did not like it
Shelves: science
Disappointing, but maybe I was expecting too much.

The author attempts to summarize some fundamental problems facing science (mainly physics) today. He starts with the problems of missing mass and missing energy. Physicists have only recently discovered that (if current theory is correct) the universe must contain a significant amount of energy that we can't seem to detect in any way. I would have hoped this book would summarize our current knowledge and then review on going attempts to resolve
...more
Charlene
Mar 23, 2013 rated it really liked it
Michael Brooks does the best job of putting all the known facts together is the best possible way. He never fails to give a thorough description while being extremely entertaining. He tackels subjects, like the emergence of life or the evolutionary purpose of death, just as many authors do, but he does not require that you be particularly good at science. He is simply fabulous.
Clay
Jun 21, 2012 rated it really liked it
Shelves: non-fiction
Brooks does a great job at tackling scientific questions that humanity is still trying to wrap their heads around, and he offers us this smattering of intellectually tantalizing subjects.
Ellyn
Nov 19, 2009 rated it it was amazing
Great book- Highly reccommend this to my Honors Physics students
Anna
Jan 03, 2009 marked it as to-read
Ben
Jun 13, 2009 marked it as to-read
Shelley
Jul 06, 2009 marked it as to-read
Leo Horovitz
Jan 09, 2010 marked it as maybe-to-read  ·  review of another edition
Shelves: wishlist
Ben Wittman
Jan 22, 2010 marked it as to-read
Erica
Oct 17, 2010 marked it as to-read
Erica
Oct 24, 2010 marked it as to-read
Shelves: science
Rakan
Apr 18, 2011 marked it as to-read  ·  review of another edition
Leo
May 14, 2011 marked it as to-read  ·  review of another edition
Shelves: science
Shanavas
Jul 28, 2011 marked it as to-read
Eric
May 21, 2012 marked it as to-read
Helen
Aug 21, 2012 marked it as to-read_eventually
Shelves: escapist-fiction
Aloha
Dec 15, 2013 marked it as to-buy  ·  review of another edition
Bruce
Jan 28, 2015 rated it really liked it
Billy Waldie
Apr 03, 2015 marked it as to-read
J
Jan 01, 2016 rated it it was amazing
Shelves: 6
Daphne
Mar 28, 2016 marked it as to-read
Shelves: own-audio, on-deck, goals
Stacy
Jan 17, 2017 marked it as to-read
Barb
Mar 13, 2017 marked it as to-read  ·  review of another edition
Cole
Apr 10, 2017 marked it as to-read
Tatjana Rosandić
Mar 12, 2018 marked it as to-read
Avi Rozen
Aug 24, 2018 marked it as to-read
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