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Unraveling the Universe's Mysteries
Unraveling the Universe’s Mysteries offers a rare glimpse into scientific mysteries that have baffled scientists over the last century. It bravely takes the reader to the edge of science where proof is scarce, and the line between physics and metaphysics blurs. Explore the latest science theories regarding: What caused the Big Bang? Is there a multiverse? What role does string theory play in modern science? Is time travel possible? Is dark energy/dark matter real? Are there other Earths? Are we alone? What ultimate fate does humankind face? Can science prove God exists?
- GenresScience
312 pages, Kindle Edition
First published October 9, 2012
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
November 14, 2012
Louis Del Monte’s Unraveling the Universe’s Mysteries is an exciting, whistle-stop tour of the Big Questions that have occupied scientists over the course of the 20th century and right up to the present day. The book opens with an examination of the Big Bang since, although it is a phenomenon widely accepted within the scientific community, there is still no consensus as to where the energy required for the actual Bang came from. Del Monte also offers a discussion of multiverse theory, a speculative theory that competes with that of the Big Bang, which is particularly interesting as it offers an alternative to one of the seeming cornerstones of scientific understanding but is far, far less well-known among the general public. Additionally, Del Monte discusses the nature of the Big Bang itself, another issue that divides scientific opinion, and summarises the various explanations that have been offered for its very occasion. He also doesn’t shy away from considering what the universe was actually like prior to the Big Bang.
Of course, the nature and origin of the Big Bang is only one puzzle that exists in science and so Del Monte moves on to consider numerous other areas of current inquiry. He investigates: Where is the Missing Antimatter?; The Mysterious Dark Matter; Is Dark Energy Real or Simply a Scary Ghost Story?; The Mysterious Relationship Between Time, Existence and Energy; Is Time Travel Possible?; Time Travel Paradoxes; The Mysterious Nature of Light; The Energy Enigma; The Quantum Universe; How is the Universe Going to End?; Is There Another Earth?; Are There Advanced Aliens?; and even more. There is definitely something for everyone here.
Clearly all of the topics considered in Unraveling the Universe’s Mysteries are active areas of scientific research and so Del Monte’s explanations allow readers to have as up-to-date an understanding as is possible. Of course, any account based on cutting edge discovery and centred on still very active areas of scientific research will have to rely to some degree or other on speculation and supposition, but Del Monte provides detailed analysis and verifiable authorities throughout his discussion and so his explanations are sound. He uses well established formula and sources to justify all of his reasoning and often uses real world examples in order to make the more complex issues easier to understand. Although having a scientific background would no doubt make grasping the many difficult issues discussed far more straightforward, this is by no means necessary as Del Monte’s clear explanations and reasoning make Unraveling the Universe’s Mysteries accessible to all.
Given the broad scope of its contents, Unraveling the Universe’s Mysteries is a hugely ambitious book. Del Monte clearly has a great love of science and wishes to share this enthusiasm with readers at the same time as informing them. However, no doubt in his enthusiasm to cover as many topics of interest as possible, some sections/ideas seem a little rushed. For example, the idea of M-theory as a potential Theory of Everything is fascinating and could have justified far more discussion. Additionally, the more esoteric chapters considering the nature of extraterrestrial life, the future for mankind and the God v Science debate all felt a little hurried. The information involved was clearly presented and incredibly interesting, it just would have been great if there had been more of it. With such rich subject matter, Unraveling the Universe’s Mysteries could have been a much longer book or even a series of books.
Unraveling the Universe’s Mysteries is an entertaining and informative book that is bound to aid and increase readers’ understanding of science. It will be interesting to see what subject(s) Louis Del Monte tackles next.
Of course, the nature and origin of the Big Bang is only one puzzle that exists in science and so Del Monte moves on to consider numerous other areas of current inquiry. He investigates: Where is the Missing Antimatter?; The Mysterious Dark Matter; Is Dark Energy Real or Simply a Scary Ghost Story?; The Mysterious Relationship Between Time, Existence and Energy; Is Time Travel Possible?; Time Travel Paradoxes; The Mysterious Nature of Light; The Energy Enigma; The Quantum Universe; How is the Universe Going to End?; Is There Another Earth?; Are There Advanced Aliens?; and even more. There is definitely something for everyone here.
Clearly all of the topics considered in Unraveling the Universe’s Mysteries are active areas of scientific research and so Del Monte’s explanations allow readers to have as up-to-date an understanding as is possible. Of course, any account based on cutting edge discovery and centred on still very active areas of scientific research will have to rely to some degree or other on speculation and supposition, but Del Monte provides detailed analysis and verifiable authorities throughout his discussion and so his explanations are sound. He uses well established formula and sources to justify all of his reasoning and often uses real world examples in order to make the more complex issues easier to understand. Although having a scientific background would no doubt make grasping the many difficult issues discussed far more straightforward, this is by no means necessary as Del Monte’s clear explanations and reasoning make Unraveling the Universe’s Mysteries accessible to all.
Given the broad scope of its contents, Unraveling the Universe’s Mysteries is a hugely ambitious book. Del Monte clearly has a great love of science and wishes to share this enthusiasm with readers at the same time as informing them. However, no doubt in his enthusiasm to cover as many topics of interest as possible, some sections/ideas seem a little rushed. For example, the idea of M-theory as a potential Theory of Everything is fascinating and could have justified far more discussion. Additionally, the more esoteric chapters considering the nature of extraterrestrial life, the future for mankind and the God v Science debate all felt a little hurried. The information involved was clearly presented and incredibly interesting, it just would have been great if there had been more of it. With such rich subject matter, Unraveling the Universe’s Mysteries could have been a much longer book or even a series of books.
Unraveling the Universe’s Mysteries is an entertaining and informative book that is bound to aid and increase readers’ understanding of science. It will be interesting to see what subject(s) Louis Del Monte tackles next.
March 16, 2013
As I have mentioned before, we are distinctly fussy about taking on self-published books, but made an exception in this case. ‘Unraveling’ combines an exploration of the currently accepted cosmology with some speculative alternative physics ideas and even a quick discussion of the existence of God.
Although I was prepared to set aside an aversion to self-publication, it does show through quite strongly in this book, and I ought in all fairness to mention the bad side of this first. Like almost all self-published books, the print layout on the page looks wrong – more like a Word document than a book. This isn’t insuperable, but mildly irritating. What’s worse is that it is very clear that the book hasn’t been professionally edited (or if it has, the author should get his money back). There are far too many errors. So, for instance, when talking about string theory, at one point it is sting theory, and at another spring theory. Professor Ronald Mallett, who is discussed at some length, quite often only had one ‘t’ in his name. And so it goes on.
Putting that aside, what we get here is a combination of a quite reasonable introduction to the big bang and string/M theory with some personal speculation from Mr Del Monte and an interesting exploration of some ‘mysteries that still baffle modern science.’ I ought to divide this into three: how well Del Monte does at explaining the basic science, how readable the book is, and what to think of Del Monte’s original theories.
Most of the basic science is good and some is reasonably well explained. The author is a lot better on cosmology than he is on quantum theory and relativity, which can be rather confusing in the way they are covered, but overall it’s a workmanlike job. What is slightly worrying is that the author doesn’t seem to understand special relativity, as he suggests that the ‘twins paradox’ is presented as only being an illusion, because the effect is symmetrical. This runs counter to even undergraduate level physics – in any special relativity textbook it is clearly explained why the twins paradox is real and not an illusion because the symmetry is broken – one twin is accelerated and the other isn’t. That’s worrying.
As for the readability, the book starts off pretty well in an approachable, quite chatty fashion, but it suffers from not having any clear structure, jumping episodically from chapter to chapter, and there is no evidence that the author has any great expertise in science communication. There’s nothing particularly new in the basic science here, and there are plenty of other books on cosmology and string/M-theory that do the job of getting them across better.
We are left with the author’s own theories. I have a problem here. I have no issue with a working scientist with academic standing presenting their own, speculative theories. However when someone without appropriate credentials does so, it is worrying. Del Monte has a masters in physics and then spent his working life as an engineer. Nothing wrong with this, but it does not make him a ‘physicist’ as he is described, and it does not give a great deal of weight to his theories. To be fair I am not saying that they are in the typical ‘Einstein was wrong, my new theory shows why’ fruit-loopery class. There is some interesting reasoning here – but I am not qualified to say if there is anything of interest, and neither, really is Del Monte.
Taking all this into account, this isn’t a bad book, but the combination of self published, poorly edited, not brilliantly written, and combining nothing that isn’t done better elsewhere on standard cosmology with some pet personal theories does not make it one I can recommend either.
Review first published in www.popularscience.co.uk and reproduced with permission
Although I was prepared to set aside an aversion to self-publication, it does show through quite strongly in this book, and I ought in all fairness to mention the bad side of this first. Like almost all self-published books, the print layout on the page looks wrong – more like a Word document than a book. This isn’t insuperable, but mildly irritating. What’s worse is that it is very clear that the book hasn’t been professionally edited (or if it has, the author should get his money back). There are far too many errors. So, for instance, when talking about string theory, at one point it is sting theory, and at another spring theory. Professor Ronald Mallett, who is discussed at some length, quite often only had one ‘t’ in his name. And so it goes on.
Putting that aside, what we get here is a combination of a quite reasonable introduction to the big bang and string/M theory with some personal speculation from Mr Del Monte and an interesting exploration of some ‘mysteries that still baffle modern science.’ I ought to divide this into three: how well Del Monte does at explaining the basic science, how readable the book is, and what to think of Del Monte’s original theories.
Most of the basic science is good and some is reasonably well explained. The author is a lot better on cosmology than he is on quantum theory and relativity, which can be rather confusing in the way they are covered, but overall it’s a workmanlike job. What is slightly worrying is that the author doesn’t seem to understand special relativity, as he suggests that the ‘twins paradox’ is presented as only being an illusion, because the effect is symmetrical. This runs counter to even undergraduate level physics – in any special relativity textbook it is clearly explained why the twins paradox is real and not an illusion because the symmetry is broken – one twin is accelerated and the other isn’t. That’s worrying.
As for the readability, the book starts off pretty well in an approachable, quite chatty fashion, but it suffers from not having any clear structure, jumping episodically from chapter to chapter, and there is no evidence that the author has any great expertise in science communication. There’s nothing particularly new in the basic science here, and there are plenty of other books on cosmology and string/M-theory that do the job of getting them across better.
We are left with the author’s own theories. I have a problem here. I have no issue with a working scientist with academic standing presenting their own, speculative theories. However when someone without appropriate credentials does so, it is worrying. Del Monte has a masters in physics and then spent his working life as an engineer. Nothing wrong with this, but it does not make him a ‘physicist’ as he is described, and it does not give a great deal of weight to his theories. To be fair I am not saying that they are in the typical ‘Einstein was wrong, my new theory shows why’ fruit-loopery class. There is some interesting reasoning here – but I am not qualified to say if there is anything of interest, and neither, really is Del Monte.
Taking all this into account, this isn’t a bad book, but the combination of self published, poorly edited, not brilliantly written, and combining nothing that isn’t done better elsewhere on standard cosmology with some pet personal theories does not make it one I can recommend either.
Review first published in www.popularscience.co.uk and reproduced with permission
July 22, 2019
A valuable addition to the literature with some striking ideas
This is a book about cosmology and particle physics in which the emphasis is on speculative ideas. Del Monte, who has a master’s degree in physics, enthusiastically entertains such ideas as time travel, a “duality” instead of a singularity at the genesis of the Big Bang, multiverses, negative energy, and most interestingly (or most peculiarly) the idea that existence itself requires negative energy.
Del Monte’s purpose in writing this book is evidently two fold. One, like Richard Feynman he has the teacher’s instinct: he wants to help the educated layperson better understand what is happening in physics and cosmology today; and two, he has a few ideas that he would like to make the larger scientific community aware of. Here are four of them:
Del Monte Paradox
Big Bang Duality Theory
Minimum Energy Principle
Existence Equation Conjecture
The first is one I understand fairly well: “Each significant scientific discovery results in at least one profound scientific mystery.” (p. 6) Another way of saying this is that as scientific knowledge grows so do the mysteries. Scientific knowledge is an ever growing sphere whose surface contacts a greater and greater area of mystery.
The second, the “Big Bang Duality Theory” postulates “that the quantum fluctuation in the Bulk [pre Big Bang universe] resulted in an infinitely energy-dense particle-antiparticle pair, not a single energy-dense particle.” (p. 30) This is an absolutely fascinating idea. On page 86 he writes, “One particle would be matter, the other antimatter. The collision between the two particles results in the Big Bang.” This stopped me cold because I always thought that matter meeting antimatter resulted in the annihilation of both particles.
Del Monte anticipates my question and writes, “However, the laws of physics require the conservation of energy. Therefore, we end up with something, rather than nothing. The something can be photons, matter, or antimatter.” He adds that “we do not get annihilation (nothing)” since that would violate the law of the conservation of energy. (p.87) If the particles are “infinitely dense” as Del Monte has it, the resulting energy would seem to be more than enough to create the Big Bang universe.
Not being a physicist myself I really can’t critique this idea; however I find it agreeable. Naturally anything and everything that transpired or existed before the Big Bang is speculative and probably impossible to prove one way or the other. It would be interesting to know what the larger cosmological community will think of this idea as time goes by.
The “Minimum Energy Principle” appears to be another, perhaps more instructive, way of referring to entropy.
As for the “Existence Equation Conjecture” I haven’t a clue, but I hope that some world-renown physicists do indeed take notice of Del Monte’s idea and address it.
The book begins appropriately enough with “Something from Nothing!” (Chapter 1 of Section I “What Caused the Big Bang”), that is BEFORE the Big Bang which theoretical physicist and cosmologist Alan Guth called the “ultimate free lunch.” Del Monte then writes about the Big Bang, and explores ideas about the multiverse along with a discussion about brane and M theory and those pesky extra dimensions. I have to compliment him on his attempt at visualizes those extra dimensions! (See especially page 22.)
Section II “What Mysteries Still Baffle Modern Science?” brings the reader up to date on the latest ideas about dark matter, dark energy, quantum mechanics, relativity, and the nature of time.
“In Section III: Are We Alone?” Del Monte addresses this familiar but most interesting question. I’ve read a number of books devoted to extraterrestrial life and the likelihood of its existence and can say that Del Monte does an excellent job of summarizing what we know and what we don’t and how likely it is that aliens exist. At the end of Section III is Chapter 23: “How Does God Fit into the Equation?” Del Monte seems to dodge the question nicely but actually makes the point that science cannot prove or disprove the existence of God.
The main strength of the book, at least for me, was the lucid and instructive way that Del Monte explained some of the ideas of physics that have developed over the last hundred and fifty years or so. His explanations of the nature of light in Chapter 15 and of energy in Chapter 16 are examples. Especially good is Chapter 17 on “The Quantum Universe.” His explanation of symmetry on page 85 is the clearest I’ve ever read. A talented teacher, Del Monte presents his illuminations in historical context so that we can follow the developments over time and get an idea of how the theories and discoveries occurred.
There is more than a bit of repetition in the book, most of it avoidable, although some of the repetition might well serve as emphasis. And there are some typos and other minor errors, such as the statement on page 143 that “we are about 40-50 million light years away from the center” of the galaxy. (The word “million” should have been deleted.) Or on page 16 where “the conservation energy” should be “the conservation of energy principle,” as can be seen from the context.
One of the sheer pleasures of reading this book is learning what someone who knows a lot more about the subject than I do has to say. I also much enjoyed reading the well-chosen quotes from scientists, poets and others that adorn the beginnings of each chapter. I was especially delighted with “Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one” from Einstein (Chapter 17).
--Dennis Littrell, author of “The World Is Not as We Think It Is”
This is a book about cosmology and particle physics in which the emphasis is on speculative ideas. Del Monte, who has a master’s degree in physics, enthusiastically entertains such ideas as time travel, a “duality” instead of a singularity at the genesis of the Big Bang, multiverses, negative energy, and most interestingly (or most peculiarly) the idea that existence itself requires negative energy.
Del Monte’s purpose in writing this book is evidently two fold. One, like Richard Feynman he has the teacher’s instinct: he wants to help the educated layperson better understand what is happening in physics and cosmology today; and two, he has a few ideas that he would like to make the larger scientific community aware of. Here are four of them:
Del Monte Paradox
Big Bang Duality Theory
Minimum Energy Principle
Existence Equation Conjecture
The first is one I understand fairly well: “Each significant scientific discovery results in at least one profound scientific mystery.” (p. 6) Another way of saying this is that as scientific knowledge grows so do the mysteries. Scientific knowledge is an ever growing sphere whose surface contacts a greater and greater area of mystery.
The second, the “Big Bang Duality Theory” postulates “that the quantum fluctuation in the Bulk [pre Big Bang universe] resulted in an infinitely energy-dense particle-antiparticle pair, not a single energy-dense particle.” (p. 30) This is an absolutely fascinating idea. On page 86 he writes, “One particle would be matter, the other antimatter. The collision between the two particles results in the Big Bang.” This stopped me cold because I always thought that matter meeting antimatter resulted in the annihilation of both particles.
Del Monte anticipates my question and writes, “However, the laws of physics require the conservation of energy. Therefore, we end up with something, rather than nothing. The something can be photons, matter, or antimatter.” He adds that “we do not get annihilation (nothing)” since that would violate the law of the conservation of energy. (p.87) If the particles are “infinitely dense” as Del Monte has it, the resulting energy would seem to be more than enough to create the Big Bang universe.
Not being a physicist myself I really can’t critique this idea; however I find it agreeable. Naturally anything and everything that transpired or existed before the Big Bang is speculative and probably impossible to prove one way or the other. It would be interesting to know what the larger cosmological community will think of this idea as time goes by.
The “Minimum Energy Principle” appears to be another, perhaps more instructive, way of referring to entropy.
As for the “Existence Equation Conjecture” I haven’t a clue, but I hope that some world-renown physicists do indeed take notice of Del Monte’s idea and address it.
The book begins appropriately enough with “Something from Nothing!” (Chapter 1 of Section I “What Caused the Big Bang”), that is BEFORE the Big Bang which theoretical physicist and cosmologist Alan Guth called the “ultimate free lunch.” Del Monte then writes about the Big Bang, and explores ideas about the multiverse along with a discussion about brane and M theory and those pesky extra dimensions. I have to compliment him on his attempt at visualizes those extra dimensions! (See especially page 22.)
Section II “What Mysteries Still Baffle Modern Science?” brings the reader up to date on the latest ideas about dark matter, dark energy, quantum mechanics, relativity, and the nature of time.
“In Section III: Are We Alone?” Del Monte addresses this familiar but most interesting question. I’ve read a number of books devoted to extraterrestrial life and the likelihood of its existence and can say that Del Monte does an excellent job of summarizing what we know and what we don’t and how likely it is that aliens exist. At the end of Section III is Chapter 23: “How Does God Fit into the Equation?” Del Monte seems to dodge the question nicely but actually makes the point that science cannot prove or disprove the existence of God.
The main strength of the book, at least for me, was the lucid and instructive way that Del Monte explained some of the ideas of physics that have developed over the last hundred and fifty years or so. His explanations of the nature of light in Chapter 15 and of energy in Chapter 16 are examples. Especially good is Chapter 17 on “The Quantum Universe.” His explanation of symmetry on page 85 is the clearest I’ve ever read. A talented teacher, Del Monte presents his illuminations in historical context so that we can follow the developments over time and get an idea of how the theories and discoveries occurred.
There is more than a bit of repetition in the book, most of it avoidable, although some of the repetition might well serve as emphasis. And there are some typos and other minor errors, such as the statement on page 143 that “we are about 40-50 million light years away from the center” of the galaxy. (The word “million” should have been deleted.) Or on page 16 where “the conservation energy” should be “the conservation of energy principle,” as can be seen from the context.
One of the sheer pleasures of reading this book is learning what someone who knows a lot more about the subject than I do has to say. I also much enjoyed reading the well-chosen quotes from scientists, poets and others that adorn the beginnings of each chapter. I was especially delighted with “Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one” from Einstein (Chapter 17).
--Dennis Littrell, author of “The World Is Not as We Think It Is”
August 18, 2013
Unraveling the Universe's Mysteries by Louis A. Del Monte
“Unraveling the Universe's Mysteries” is a fascinating investigation of some of science's greatest mysteries. Physicist, Louis A. Del Monte takes the readers on a journey that reveal currently held scientific theories and proposes original explanations of his own. The author does a wonderful job of making the book not only accessible but a lot of fun to read. This insightful 312-page book is broken out into the following three sections: Section I. What caused the Big Bang?, II. What Mysteries Still Baffle Modern Science?, and III. Are We Alone?
Positives:
1. An entertaining and accessible book on modern physics and cosmology.
2. A fascinating topic in the hands of an author who succeeds in making complex topics accessible to the masses. Del Monte is kind to the layperson, he explains popular scientific concepts and provides glossary to boot. His approach is conducive to learning scientific concepts.
3. A great way to learn about cosmology and particle physics. I's a book of science mysteries.
4. The book provides many great quotes, "As Stephen Hawking said, “We are just an advanced breed of monkeys on a minor planet of a very average star. But we can understand the Universe. That makes us something very special.”
5. Del Monte does a wonderful job of keeping the reader informed on how strong or weak each scientific theory is. He makes it very clear where he speculates and how he came to his own original explanations. "The Big Bang is widely documented in numerous scientific works, and is widely held as scientific fact by the majority of the scientific community."
6. An excellent introduction that whets the readers appetite. It starts off with three solid theories that were held as universal truths at the beginning of the twentieth century that are now proven to be false.
7. What sets this book apart from most accessible science books of this ilk is the author's own compelling scientific explanations. "I have termed this irony of scientific discovery the Del Monte Paradox, namely: Each significant scientific discovery results in at least one profound scientific mystery."
8. Throughout the book the author makes it clear what is understood in science versus to a layperson. "Do virtual particles come from nothing? Apparently, but to a physicist, empty space is not nothing. Said more positively, physicists consider empty space something."
9. Even if you are an avid reader of science as I am, you are going to gain some knowledge. I found myself a number of times having aha moments...some scientific concepts that eluded me before are clearer now.
10. Multiverse for the layperson. "Cosmologists call the super-universe the 'Bulk.' The Bulk is 'empty' space, which gives existence to infinitely energy-dense matter-antimatter virtual particles. These collide and initiate the Big Bang. If this view of reality is true, it makes the multiverse concept more plausible."
11. The three significant problems with multiverses...find out what they are.
12. Not afraid to ask big questions and better yet, not afraid to speculate based on the best of our current knowledge. "What happened before the Big Bang?"
13. The second section of the book highlights those mysteries that still baffle modern science. Dark Matter, Dark Energy...come on down.
14. The author introduces three highly speculative theories of his own to explain the accelerated expansion of the universe.
15. The nature of time. "The empirical evidence demonstrates that time dilates, slows down, by adding kinetic energy or gravitational energy."
16. The several methods science proposes in order to time travel.
17. The mysteries of light. "The first thing that makes light mysterious is that it can exhibit both the properties of a wave and a particle."
18. Understanding energy. The four fundamental properties of energy.
19. The quantum universe...does space consists of quantized energy?
20. Are there aliens? The search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence. "My main point is that the search for extraterrestrial life is difficult." The facts.
21. And how does God fit into the equation? Always a fascinating topic.
22. In the closing thoughts the author posits his six scientific explanations worthy of consideration.
Negatives:
1. A professional editor would have served this book well. Lacks the production value that a book of such substance deserved.
2. The book suffers a bit from being repetitive. As an example, Einstein's "greatest blunder" is mentioned five times, six if you include the glossary.
3. Graphs/illustrations would have added value.
4. Some scientific concepts are very hard to understand even when given the simplified version.
5. With regards to "God", we can conduct scientific investigations into claims attributed to "God" that affect the natural world. As an example, claims such as prayers, souls..can in fact and have been investigated
6. No notes or sources.
7. No formal bibliography.
In summary, I enjoyed this book. Del Monte takes very complex topics and makes it accessible and fun to read. The author does a wonderful job of taking the reader through scientific mysteries and explaining what is currently well known and not known. I'm merely an engineer with a curious mind so I am in no position to question the strength or weakness of the author's theories but I can say that they are well presented and appears to follow sound science. The only major complaint I have about the book is the poor editing, a professional editor would have done the book wonders. That being said, this is an excellent Kindle value and a worthwhile read.
Further suggestions: "Wonders of the Universe" and "The Quantum Universe" by Brian Cox, "A Universe from Nothing" by Lawrence M. Krauss, "Radiation" by Robert Peter Gale and Eric Lax, "The Physics of the Future" by Michio Kaku, "The Grand Design" by Stephen Hawking, "Higgs Discovery" by Lisa Higgs, "God and the Atom" and "God the Failed Hypothesis" by Victor J. Stenger, "About Time" by Adam Frank, "The Elegant Universe" by Brain Greene, "The Laws of Thermodynamics: A Very Short Introduction" by Peter Atkins, and "Spectrums" by David Blatner.
“Unraveling the Universe's Mysteries” is a fascinating investigation of some of science's greatest mysteries. Physicist, Louis A. Del Monte takes the readers on a journey that reveal currently held scientific theories and proposes original explanations of his own. The author does a wonderful job of making the book not only accessible but a lot of fun to read. This insightful 312-page book is broken out into the following three sections: Section I. What caused the Big Bang?, II. What Mysteries Still Baffle Modern Science?, and III. Are We Alone?
Positives:
1. An entertaining and accessible book on modern physics and cosmology.
2. A fascinating topic in the hands of an author who succeeds in making complex topics accessible to the masses. Del Monte is kind to the layperson, he explains popular scientific concepts and provides glossary to boot. His approach is conducive to learning scientific concepts.
3. A great way to learn about cosmology and particle physics. I's a book of science mysteries.
4. The book provides many great quotes, "As Stephen Hawking said, “We are just an advanced breed of monkeys on a minor planet of a very average star. But we can understand the Universe. That makes us something very special.”
5. Del Monte does a wonderful job of keeping the reader informed on how strong or weak each scientific theory is. He makes it very clear where he speculates and how he came to his own original explanations. "The Big Bang is widely documented in numerous scientific works, and is widely held as scientific fact by the majority of the scientific community."
6. An excellent introduction that whets the readers appetite. It starts off with three solid theories that were held as universal truths at the beginning of the twentieth century that are now proven to be false.
7. What sets this book apart from most accessible science books of this ilk is the author's own compelling scientific explanations. "I have termed this irony of scientific discovery the Del Monte Paradox, namely: Each significant scientific discovery results in at least one profound scientific mystery."
8. Throughout the book the author makes it clear what is understood in science versus to a layperson. "Do virtual particles come from nothing? Apparently, but to a physicist, empty space is not nothing. Said more positively, physicists consider empty space something."
9. Even if you are an avid reader of science as I am, you are going to gain some knowledge. I found myself a number of times having aha moments...some scientific concepts that eluded me before are clearer now.
10. Multiverse for the layperson. "Cosmologists call the super-universe the 'Bulk.' The Bulk is 'empty' space, which gives existence to infinitely energy-dense matter-antimatter virtual particles. These collide and initiate the Big Bang. If this view of reality is true, it makes the multiverse concept more plausible."
11. The three significant problems with multiverses...find out what they are.
12. Not afraid to ask big questions and better yet, not afraid to speculate based on the best of our current knowledge. "What happened before the Big Bang?"
13. The second section of the book highlights those mysteries that still baffle modern science. Dark Matter, Dark Energy...come on down.
14. The author introduces three highly speculative theories of his own to explain the accelerated expansion of the universe.
15. The nature of time. "The empirical evidence demonstrates that time dilates, slows down, by adding kinetic energy or gravitational energy."
16. The several methods science proposes in order to time travel.
17. The mysteries of light. "The first thing that makes light mysterious is that it can exhibit both the properties of a wave and a particle."
18. Understanding energy. The four fundamental properties of energy.
19. The quantum universe...does space consists of quantized energy?
20. Are there aliens? The search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence. "My main point is that the search for extraterrestrial life is difficult." The facts.
21. And how does God fit into the equation? Always a fascinating topic.
22. In the closing thoughts the author posits his six scientific explanations worthy of consideration.
Negatives:
1. A professional editor would have served this book well. Lacks the production value that a book of such substance deserved.
2. The book suffers a bit from being repetitive. As an example, Einstein's "greatest blunder" is mentioned five times, six if you include the glossary.
3. Graphs/illustrations would have added value.
4. Some scientific concepts are very hard to understand even when given the simplified version.
5. With regards to "God", we can conduct scientific investigations into claims attributed to "God" that affect the natural world. As an example, claims such as prayers, souls..can in fact and have been investigated
6. No notes or sources.
7. No formal bibliography.
In summary, I enjoyed this book. Del Monte takes very complex topics and makes it accessible and fun to read. The author does a wonderful job of taking the reader through scientific mysteries and explaining what is currently well known and not known. I'm merely an engineer with a curious mind so I am in no position to question the strength or weakness of the author's theories but I can say that they are well presented and appears to follow sound science. The only major complaint I have about the book is the poor editing, a professional editor would have done the book wonders. That being said, this is an excellent Kindle value and a worthwhile read.
Further suggestions: "Wonders of the Universe" and "The Quantum Universe" by Brian Cox, "A Universe from Nothing" by Lawrence M. Krauss, "Radiation" by Robert Peter Gale and Eric Lax, "The Physics of the Future" by Michio Kaku, "The Grand Design" by Stephen Hawking, "Higgs Discovery" by Lisa Higgs, "God and the Atom" and "God the Failed Hypothesis" by Victor J. Stenger, "About Time" by Adam Frank, "The Elegant Universe" by Brain Greene, "The Laws of Thermodynamics: A Very Short Introduction" by Peter Atkins, and "Spectrums" by David Blatner.
March 30, 2013
Armchair musings with one excellent guide!
Most everyone has at least an aural familiarity with the terms associated with the beginning of the universe - from creationism to the Big Bang Theory - but few really can explain to others the history of the thought processes that are behind the many ideas both old and very new about how everything started. Then along comes Louis A Del Monte who is a born educator (and engineer and physicist) and the marvels of the unknown begin to register into knowledge. One of the reasons that this book, unlike so many others, is accessible is the matter of fact (yet still imbued with wonder and awe) that he presents all of the theories that are on the table.
Typical of the flavor to this book is a summation toward the end in which he states, `I believe the universe is wondrous. I do not think we will ever know all there is to be known. As I stated early on, important scientific discoveries typically lead to profound scientific mysteries (Del Monte Paradox). Yet, we humans are a curious species and, in the long term, I sense our curiosity will work in our favor.' Down to earth, no nonsense writing of this sort makes his book user friendly.
In this rather short book Del Monte divides his investigations into three sections: 1. What caused the Big Bang? (in which he discusses the singularity or duality of the Big Bang, the Multiverse Theories, the String Theories, Quantum Mechanics, etc), 2. What mysteries still baffle modern science? (the missing Antimatter, the Dark Matter, Time Travel, the mysterious nature of Light, the Energy Enigma, the Quantum Universe), and 3. Are we alone (is there another earth, advanced aliens or extraterrestrial intelligence, etc). Each of these fascinating avenues of thought Del Monte explains and yet questions at the same time - and that is so refreshing a technique of teaching.
No matter the level of education this book will find readers glued to the pages as these once thought impossible avenues of thought are explored with such genteel dignity and compassion. Highly Recommended.
Grady Harp
Most everyone has at least an aural familiarity with the terms associated with the beginning of the universe - from creationism to the Big Bang Theory - but few really can explain to others the history of the thought processes that are behind the many ideas both old and very new about how everything started. Then along comes Louis A Del Monte who is a born educator (and engineer and physicist) and the marvels of the unknown begin to register into knowledge. One of the reasons that this book, unlike so many others, is accessible is the matter of fact (yet still imbued with wonder and awe) that he presents all of the theories that are on the table.
Typical of the flavor to this book is a summation toward the end in which he states, `I believe the universe is wondrous. I do not think we will ever know all there is to be known. As I stated early on, important scientific discoveries typically lead to profound scientific mysteries (Del Monte Paradox). Yet, we humans are a curious species and, in the long term, I sense our curiosity will work in our favor.' Down to earth, no nonsense writing of this sort makes his book user friendly.
In this rather short book Del Monte divides his investigations into three sections: 1. What caused the Big Bang? (in which he discusses the singularity or duality of the Big Bang, the Multiverse Theories, the String Theories, Quantum Mechanics, etc), 2. What mysteries still baffle modern science? (the missing Antimatter, the Dark Matter, Time Travel, the mysterious nature of Light, the Energy Enigma, the Quantum Universe), and 3. Are we alone (is there another earth, advanced aliens or extraterrestrial intelligence, etc). Each of these fascinating avenues of thought Del Monte explains and yet questions at the same time - and that is so refreshing a technique of teaching.
No matter the level of education this book will find readers glued to the pages as these once thought impossible avenues of thought are explored with such genteel dignity and compassion. Highly Recommended.
Grady Harp
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