This Way to the Universe: A Journey into Physics

by Michael Dine

When leading theoretical physicist Professor Michael Dine was asked where you could find an accessible book that would teach you about the Big Bang, Dark Matter, the Higgs boson and the cutting edge of physics now, he had nothing he could recommend.

So he wrote it himself.

In This Way to the Universe, Dine takes us on a fascinating tour through the history of modern physics - from Newtonian mechanics to quantum, from particle to nuclear physics - delving into the wonders of our universe at its largest, smallest, and within our daily lives. If you are looking for the one book to help you understand physics, written in language anyone can follow, this is it.

Genres: Science, Nonfiction, Physics, Popular Science, Astronomy, Space, Education

352 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 3, 2022

Reviews

[Yun · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm always excited to learn a little bit more about the universe. And while This Way to the Universe does do that for the parts I understood, I feel like a lot of it went over my head.

The book takes us on a journey through the highlights of all that science has discovered and yet to discover about the universe, from its origin all the way to now and where it might go from here. It's a fairly technical journey, bound in theoretical physics and math, and my understanding of the book definitely reflects that.

For me, where this book works best is that it tries to tie all the information together into a cohesive narrative. It was satisfying to walk through the history of scientific progress and to check in at its pivotal moments. Along the way, Dine pays homage to many scientists, including women and those from non-Western countries whose impact may be lesser known to the world.

However, the book lost me for a big chunk in the middle once it started going into subatomic territory with mesons, pions, gluons, and symmetry, to name a few. There's just not enough depth here. The book tries to tackle these fairly complicated topics without the necessary background or details. So if you don't already know the topics covered, it would be hard for you to glean anything from what's in the pages.

It's not entirely the author's fault. I can see that he didn't want to get mired in the technical details in a 300-page book. Otherwise, it would soon resemble a textbook. But without any technical explanation, it's just impossible for me to make heads or tails out of the whole thing. It almost feels like this should be a companion to a graduate-level course rather than a standalone book for the layman.

Too bad. The topics in here are fascinating and the parts I could understand worthwhile. But I just can't rate it higher than 3 stars when I didn't understand half the book.

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[Nataliya · Rating 4 out of 5]

I always thought physics would be fun if not for the endless math, and this book by UC Santa Cruz professor and a theoretical physicist Michael Dine does just that. He goes on a condensed journey through physics, Newtonian to quantum, with names and theories and quarks and dark matter and the Big Bang all addressed here.

And if you thought that physics divorced from math is easy, think again. This is not a light and easy read although it’s certainly engaging. I would not advise it if you don’t have any even passing knowledge of the subject, but if you wanted a better grasp of the things you may have learned a bit but forgot, it’s a book for you. I got through it slowly, but I do feel that at least for a while I have a slightly better understanding of that fascinating and scarily complex stuff.

Rounded up to 4 stars.

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Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

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Also posted on my blog.

[Barbara · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

Michael Dine is an American theoretical physicist and a physics professor at the University of California, Santa Cruz.


Author Michael Dine

Theoretical physicists invent theories, predict the results of proposed experiments, and compare experimental results with their hypotheses. Experimental physicists, on the other hand, design, build, run, and analyze data from experiments. Dine extolls the value of theoretical and experimental physicists carpooling together, for a valuable exchange of ideas. 🙂


Michio Kaku is an American theoretical physicist, futurist, and popularizer of science.


Luis Alvarez was an American experimental physicist, inventor, and professor.


Carpooling colleagues can profit from discussing their work

As a theoretical physicist, much of Dine's research is devoted to (among other things) thinking about things like: What might account for the mass of the Higgs boson? What might the dark matter [in the universe] consist of and under what circumstances might we hope to find it? Is string theory subject to experimental test?

Dine also teaches physics, and in this book he reaches out to a general audience, attempting to explain the universe - its origin, evolution, contents, and ultimate demise. Dine discusses concepts like the Big Bang, formation of stars, formation of galaxies, fundamental particles, particle charge, particle spin, energy, fields, radiation, electricity, magnetism, gravity, dark matter, dark energy, multiple dimensions, Einstein's theory of special relativity, Einstein's theory of general relativity, quantum entanglement, the Standard Model, supersymmetry, string theory, magnetic monopoles, and much more.


The Big Bang


Quantum Entanglement

Most advanced physics relies on mathematical concepts, and Dine tries (with varying degrees of success) to explain things in plain English.



Dine also touches on experimental methods used by physicists, like the particle accelerators that create the tiniest bits of matter and then measure things such as their size, mass, and how they interact, decay, and so on (things that happen in trillionths of a second). CERN's Large Hadron Collider in Geneva, Switzerland contains a 27-kilometer ring in which particles collide at super-speeds.


CERN's Large Hadron Collider

Some interesting concepts in the book:

⦿ On the surface of a neutron star, a teaspoon of water would weigh about 10,000 tons, and time would slow down dramatically. What normally takes an hour might take two hours (or much longer). If a human should approach the surface of the neutron star, the force of gravity would be far greater on the feet than on the head, and the person would be ripped apart.



⦿ A black hole is an even more extreme environment than a neutron star. It distorts space and time in such a way that it disappears forever from view. The center of a black hole is a singularity where Einstein's equations break down.



⦿ The universe is expanding. It started out infinitesimally small 13.5 billion years ago, and has been expanding and cooling since the Big Bang.


The universe is expanding

In the early universe particles like protons, neutrons, and neutrinos formed, but these were unstable, constantly colliding and recombining and gaining and losing charges. Neutral atoms formed about 100,000 years after the Big Bang, resulting in the cosmic microwave background radiation (CMBR).


Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation

⦿ On very large scales of distance, the universe is the same everywhere and in all directions. That is, matter is distributed uniformly and in the same way in all directions.


The universe looks the same in all directions

⦿ Energy is not a continuous scale. Energies can take only particular discrete values like 1.0, 2.0, etc. (not 1.1, 1.2, 1.3.....1.9, 2.0). The lowest energy packet is a 'quantum' of energy. And light comes in discrete quanta called photons.





⦿ Quantum mechanics is the study of the motion and interaction of subatomic particles, which is much different from matter we're accustomed to in everyday life. For instance, we cannot determine both the position and velocity of an electron at the same time. This uncertainty is built into the laws of quantum mechanics and applies to all subatomic particles. Moreover, it applies to almost anything about a quantum mechanics system we might hope to measure. Thus we can only deal with probabilities when it comes to the tiniest particles.


We can't know the exact position of an electron, only that it's somewhere in the electron cloud


Niels Bohr was a Danish physicist.

⦿ There is about five times more dark matter than ordinary matter in the universe. Dark means that, whatever it is, it doesn't emit light....but we don't know what it is. According to Dine, dark matter is almost certainly some new kind of elementary particle that has mass but no electric charge. In fact, dark matter must interact hardly at all with ordinary matter except for its gravitational pull.


The universe is composed largely of dark matter

⦿ Everywhere in space, there should be an infinite amount of dark energy, and this energy would come with a negative pressure, to explain the observed acceleration of the expansion of the universe.



⦿ The future of the universe is bleak (from a human point of view). In a few billion years our sun will burn out as will the stars around us. New stars will form for a time, but eventually - when the universe is 1,000,000,000,000,000 years old - there will be no more stars. Even if other galaxies were blazing with light (which they won't be), we couldn't see them because of the expansion of the universe. So live it up while you can. 🙂


The universe will eventually go dark

Dine gets quite technical about (what I consider) advanced physics, and I had to toggle back and forth between the narrative and Google to understand what Dine was saying......but I enjoyed the learning experience. My general impression is that theoretical physicists try to formulate equations to explain the universe, and when the equations require new particles or concepts to make sense, experimental physicists go out and find them. 🙂 A lot of this is ad hoc for now, but holds the promise of eventually coming together in a real 'Theory of Everything.'

Dine generously cites the major scientists who contributed to our knowledge of physics and the universe, and sometimes includes a little blurb about their personal lives. For example, Sir Isaac Newton - an English mathematician, physicist, and astronomer who discovered the classical laws of motion and gravity - became Master of the Mint and went after counterfeiters, who were arrested (and often executed);


Sir Isaac Newton

Marie Curie was a Polish-French physicist and chemist whose husband Pierre dropped his own work to help Marie do research on radioactivity;


Marie and Pierre Curie

English theoretical physicist Paul Dirac - one of the most important scientists of the 20th century - was a legendary introvert who was dubbed 'The Strangest Man';


Paul Dirac

Theoretical physicist C.N. Yang, at 98-years-old, is still a force in Chinese Science;


C.N. Yang

American theoretical physicist Richard Feynman played the bongos;

Richard Feynman

American astrophysicist Andrea Ghez (along with German astrophysicist Reinhard Genzel) won the 2020 Nobel prize for their discovery of the black hole at the center of the Milky Way; and more.


Andrea Ghez

Dine has a good sense of humor, and tries to add a light touch to the book. I also have to give Dine a thumbs up for standing up for women physicists who (at least historically) suffered from professional discrimination and the chauvinism of their male colleagues.

For folks interested in physics, the book gives a nice overview of the current state of affairs

Thanks to Netgalley, Michael Dine, and Dutton for a copy of the book.

You can follow my reviews at https://reviewsbybarbsaffer.blogspot.com

[Miya (severe pain struggles, slower at the moment) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mindbogglingly awesome! Honestly, this is not an easy read. There is a lot to understand that is by far hard to understand. BUT, it is gorgeous! If you like to push yourself and learn, this is one to pick up. It is so interesting that you can't stop thinking about all these possibilities, and how much we don't know. It is magical and mysterious and mindblowing. Even though I didn't 100% get every single detail or theory, I am still really glad to have read it. Those who are curious by nature and have interest in physics, quantum physics, energy, dark matter, etc...the good stuff... I would recommend this. Just be prepared to take in some information that isn't just surface level stuff. Good times for sure!

[Dave · Rating 4 out of 5]

Professor Dine's "This Way to the Universe" is a physics textbook for the rest of us who are not science-oriented. Even so, without a modicum of a scientific background, you may still find yourself having to read sections more than once and often flailing about a bit. Nevertheless, this volume contains a wealth of knowledge beginning with Newton and Einstein and wending its way through quarks, neutrinos, black holes, dark matter, and theories about the Big Bang and where things are going from here. This volume has so much fascinating material that it is worth returning to again and again, although it is quite a bit all at once.

[Nicola Michelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

With all the wonders of the universe: the intricate little details of our planet, galaxy and laws that govern our lives, it’s sure to make for an interesting read!

This book sheds light on the fundamentals of physics and what makes up our reality. From the classical Newtonian mechanics, to quantum mechanics and particle physics. Delving into the big questions of dark matter, the quest for a grand unified theory and nuclear physics, this book is fantastic!

It reads and flows so nicely. It’s great for those who haven’t heard of a lot of these concepts before and is also great for those that have. There’s plenty in here to learn and you’re bound to come away knowing something that you hadn’t before. It really is a wealth of knowledge and I found it great to go through.

I really enjoyed reading this and had my mind blown throughout so many pages! The subject of this book is insanely interesting and it’s a great addition to any science lovers bookshelf.

If you’re a physics fan, a lover of cosmology and astrophysics then this book is for you! Or whether you’re interested in science and curious about the details of our existence, you will certainly find this an interesting and compelling read. I definitely did!

Thank you to the publisher and author for this book on NetGalley in return for my honest thoughts and review.

[Cindy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a modern physics sample platter. There's a lot of variety, and it's not meant to fill you up.
For full comprehension, you'll probably need to supplement with:

At the Edge of Time by Dan Hooper
The End of Everything Astrophysically Speaking by Katie Mack
A book on String Theory, probably something by Michio Kaku
A book on stars


I did enjoy how humble the author seemed, even though he is an established theoretical physicist who has collaborated with the brightest and the best (he's probably one of the brightest and best himself, but I'm not bright enough to make that determination). His coverage of scientists in the book ventures outside of the usual North America, and the history he recounts is the most recent I have encountered in works of this nature. He mentions almost every physics concept you can come across in a popular physics setting, but the concepts do seem to sometimes appear out of a vacuum and disappear as quickly as they appeared without too much elaboration. I'd recommend this book as more of a study guide if you've done all of your assignments, which I clearly haven't.

[Mac · Rating 1 out of 5]

I was drawn to Michael Dine’s This Way to the Universe by the fascinating chapter headings such as “What Do We Mean by Universe?” “Can Quantum Mechanics Predict the Future?’ And “Why Is There Something Rather Than Nothing?” However, I soon stopped reading because I found that the text wasn’t delivering on the promise of the fascinating chapter headings. Perhaps the following two observations can help others decide if they want to read Dine’s book. (Here, I’m breaking a personal “rule” and commenting on a book I did not finish.)

Observation #1: In addition to the science (which I was interested in), Dine provides lots of history and biography (which I was not). It’s difficult enough to understand the complicated science but much more difficult when the scientific explanations are interrupted with explanations of scientific principles that are no longer valid and with irrelevant biographical details.

For example, these biographical examples interrupt the intriguing chapter entitled “Can Quantum Mechanics Predict the Future?” Regarding Marie Curie: “Born in Poland (her name at birth was Maria Sklodowska), she first helped support her older sister to come to Paris to study medicine. Her sister, Bronislawa, returned the favor, helping to support Marie as she studied physics at the Sorbonne, beginning in 1891. The research I’ve described was part of her work toward her PhD.”

After much more Curie biography, Dine says of Ernest Rutherford “Originally from New Zealand, he spent time as a professor at McGill University in Montreal and then at the University of Manchester, before taking a position at Cambridge University. Rutherford was a devoted son, and later a devoted husband and father.”

Observation #2: The science in this book is complicated and difficult to understand. That’s on me. I don’t have enough scientific knowledge or mathematical aptitude to understand Dine’s explanations. That said, he might take some of the responsibility for the complexity of his book.

Two examples of challenging scientific language: “The first thing to resolve is: Does the Standard Model itself, along with the big bang, realize Sakharov’s three conditions—violations of CP conservation, violation of baryon conservation, and time’s arrow?” And “For grand unified baryogenesis, it could come from the discovery of proton decay. For leptogenesis, from further studies of neutrinos and their properties. For Affleck-Dine baryogenesis, from the discovery of supersymmetry. Time, hopefully, will tell precisely why there is something rather than nothing.”

You decide if you want to read This Way to the Universe. If you want history and biography interpolated into your science and if have prior knowledge of the scientific principles addressed, then proceed. I’d prefer to have my science straight up and clearer (if possible), and so I stopped reading.

[Diane Hernandez · Rating 4 out of 5]

Curious about physics but hate all the math? Same here. This Way to the Universe provides a dense and diverse look into the subject written in plain English, mostly.

From quantum physics to astrophysics, most questions are answered here. However, don’t expect an easy read. I would describe it as a mountain read—the opposite of a light beach read. But, if you take your time, you can learn a lot.

If you are already interested in physics, or just how the world around you works, give This Way to the Universe a try. 3.5 stars rounded up to 4 stars!

Thanks to Dutton and NetGalley for a copy in exchange for my honest review.

[Mary (literary_bear) · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5, rounded up. This book does an excellent job of providing context for prominent figures and theories in theoretical physics (and a few related fields). A lot of notable discoveries are rooted in decades of little epiphanies and Dine does a good job of weaving through various landmarks, from Newton to dark matter and quarks. Dine’s own relation to the field comes through often in the text, sometimes less helpfully than other times. Although the author does try to make complex information more palatable, this would still likely be quite dense for the average reader. I would recommend a physical copy so one could go back and reference the concepts and details of each idea as needed. Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Group Dutton for the e-ARC.

[Frank · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a habitual reader of popular physics/astronomy, I always look forward to see what each author has to say, what twist they bring to the subject. Dine, a physicist in the thick of it, brings a very welcome balance to this exploration of fundamental physics. A theorist interested in experiment; a string theorist who sees and acknowledges its flaws; these are welcome approaches to a genre in which wild claims and pure abstraction can sometimes get away from grounded reality. Dine is also what cannot be termed other than "amiable," good-naturedly describing some of the actual reality of being a working physicist, which I found charming and interesting.

I would caution the total physics novice from starting with this book. It can be a bit dense and very occasionally technical. But overall, I heartily welcome it to the literature and recommend it to those curious about the cutting edge of physics.

[Hunter Blackthorne-Tousignant · Rating 4 out of 5]

A light, supportive guide to basic physics for the layman. This book makes the joy of physics accessible to all. It was a nice reminder of the wonder I felt as a child when I first became interested in STEM.

DISCLAIMER: I have a B.S and an M.S. in interdisciplinary and theoretical physics (go blue!), so maybe take my opinion of the comprehension level of this book with a grain of salt. Thanks to Netgalley for the advance copy!

[Laura · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don't doubt that Michael Dine is knowledgeable and competent in his field. This book, however, leaves a lot to be desired. Dine organizes the chapters topically, but within the chapters there is little organization and no focus. He jumps around from theories to experimental data to brief biographies of various scientists to apologies for the sexism and racism embedded in scientific history, all within the same chapter (sometimes within a single paragraph). The language with which he writes lacks sophistication and is simplified to the point of reading like a fifth grade textbook. I've read many books that endeavor to make the hard sciences accessible to the lay reader, and this was one of the worst.

[Kara Babcock · Rating 3 out of 5]

There is a story going around about Stephen Hawking’s A Brief History of Time wherein his publisher told him that each equation included in his book would halve the book’s sales. Consequently, Hawking chose to include only Einstein’s equation from special relativity, E=mc^2. The book was beyond successful for any book about theoretical physics in its day (and I quite liked it when I read it, especially the special illustrated edition). Michael Dine has gone a similar route. This Way to the Universe bills itself as “comprehensible to anyone with a high-school level education, with almost no equations.” It mostly lives up to this expectation, though there are a few moments in the weeds. It’s not so much that this book really got me thinking about physics knowledge, but as a teacher I really started thinking about physics education, as well as physics as a discipline.

Thanks to NetGalley and Dutton Books for the eARC.

Dine eschews the chronological development of physics that is par for the course in these types of books. Though his treatment of the subject is loosely chronological, as it should be, he has chosen to focus more topically—he starts off, for example, talking about relativity before jumping back to provide some context with Newton. But as he dives into the world of quantum mechanics, he is never afraid to bring us forward a little bit to talk about new developments before taking us back to an earlier time as we move along to the next mystery. That might sound confusing, the way I explained it, but I assure you that it helps the reader understand connections between ideas that were developed decades apart and, when presented chronologically, feel disconnected.

As Dine explains how our thinking about the universe has changed, I pondered the audience for this book. This Way to the Universe is not a textbook per se—it’s not teaching physics. But it is also not quite a popular science book in the way I am used to; as the title aptly captures, Dine is taking us on a tour, as if he has invited us into a physics department for the day and we’re meeting all the principal players. It made me think about the fact that (from my limited recollection of high school physics at least—I never took it in university) it would be nice if we made physics students (perhaps all science students) read more narrative accounts of their discipline. Fewer textbooks and more contexts.

I particularly enjoyed that Dine was carefully aware of the legacy of sexism and colonialism in physics. He lauds Marie Curie and Emmy Noether while also pointing out how structural misogyny made their lives and careers more difficult, and he doesn’t hesitate to mention ongoing experiences of sexism with more recent women who have contributed to the field.

On a broader note, Dine does an excellent job of emphasizing the collaborative nature of science. This goes back to the topical approach he takes, which allows him to show how future theorists and experimenters built upon the theories and experiments of previous scientists. Though the usual suspects show up, Dine mentions more obscure people who nonetheless made significant contributions to the field. He helps paint the picture of physics as a discipline that advances more often through small contributions from a large number of people rather than brilliant theories spun by a couple of geniuses—those exist, but they are not the heartbeat of the field.

Finally, I respect that while Dine has certain biases and favourites when it comes to the frontrunners for a grand unified theory, he does his best to present an unbiased take on those candidates. Too often I read books where a physicist’s opinion is basically “my theory is the best and the other theories suck,” and I understand the need to be confident in one’s horse to get grant funding, but that’s not what I need as a layperson reading your book. I don’t want you to tell me that string theory is “almost there” and we just need another decade. Dine is honest about the limitations of our current theories and experiments, describes what is happening right now at the bleeding edge of physics, and makes it clear that there is still a lot we don’t know—but, excitingly, we have some inklings of how we might find out.

I come to this book steeped in general knowledge of physics from countless such books before this one. The more I learn, the more I am convinced I do not understand modern physics and possible cannot, not because I am not smart enough, but because I am too lazy to devote the time. Nevertheless, I appreciate Dine and others who take the time to try to explain their work as simply as possible to interested people like me, because it is valuable and important, and I might never understand it, but I am glad there are people out there who do. Or, as Dine puts it, understand parts of it.

I don’t think this is the best book to start your modern physics journey with. It is comprehensible to someone with a high-school education, yes, but if it has been a while since you learned about electromagnetism and atoms, you might want a more basic refresher before you dive into this book. Make it your second or third popular physics book, and you might be on the right track. But this is definitely a contender worth considering for its even writing, great treatment of the discipline as a whole, and careful explanations of what we know and what we don’t.

Originally posted on Kara.Reviews, where you can easily browse all my reviews and subscribe to my newsletter.

[Viktoriiah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you so much to NetGalley and the publisher for the advance copy of This Way to The Universe.

Overall this is written wonderfully. Michael Dine did a wonderful job, this will be very accessible even for those who know very little about physics. It was engaging and fun to read.

The background of how physics got to where it is now was very well done, I took physics and chemistry in university years ago and was happy for not only a review but to also learn something new outside of the theories all these men and women worked on. And that’s nothing on all the new theories and names I learned from this book. I got a better grasp on a number of theories I was always curious about, and I would easily recommend this to someone who wants to learn about physics.

[Jacob Stelling · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was too complicated for me to understand fully as a layman, but that is perhaps not the fault of the author but the fault of mine! How people can understand this science malarkey is beyond me…

[Andrea Wenger · Rating 5 out of 5]

This entertaining and accessible book is like having a conversation with a beloved professor. Providing an overview of the topics at the cutting edge of modern physics—such as the Big Bang, dark matter, and the Higgs boson—it's full of gentle humor and personal anecdotes that contextualize the research, theories, and discoveries. A must-read for anyone interested in the topic.

Thanks, NetGalley, for the ARC I received. This is my honest and voluntary review.

[Rhiannon Johnson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.



This Way to the Universe is an absolutely fascinating look at all aspects of our universe. From the smallest of particles to the largest of concepts, Michael Dine's excitement about each subtopic really shines in what a fellow reviewer labeled "a physics textbook for the rest of us." Readers will need at least a basic knowledge of science and physics but don't necessarily need to be an expert to enjoy this book.

I learned some mind-blowing facts about the relation of space and time, like gravitational redshift, which is when "in a gravitational field, near a massive star, for example, time runs more slowly." Full of statistics and equations, I really loved how much this book made me just sit and ponder. For example, astronomers have discovered almost 4000 planets in our observable universe, which is about 13 billion light-years across. The nearest of these planets to our sun is Proxima Centauri, *just* 4.2 light-years away (1 light year = about 6 trillion miles.)

Dine exemplifies the infiniteness of space with scientific statements that sound metaphorical, like "We are not merely an unimaginably small speck in a gigantic universe, but what we think of as the universe is itself just a tiny speck in a universe of universes." To further give readers an idea of what to expect from This Way to the Universe, I've included the table of contents below.


Table of Contents

STEP ONE
1. Surveying the Universe
2. Can We Take Space and Time for Granted?
3. What Do We Mean by Universe?

STEP TWO
4. Can Quantum Mechanics Predict the Future?
5. Fruits of the Nuclear Age
6. The Weight of the Smallest Things
7. Stardom

THE NEXT STEPS
8. Why Is There Something Rather than Nothing?
9. “The Large Number Problem”
10. What Is the Universe Made Of?
11. The Dark Energy

AND STEPPING INTO THE UNSTABLE
12. At the Beginning of Everything
13. Can We Get to a Final Theory without Getting Up from Our Chairs?
14. The Landscape of Reality
15. Rolling the Dice of Theoretical Physics



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[Dawn · Rating 5 out of 5]

"This Way to the Universe" makes for pretty mind-blowing reading. Yes, it's slightly complex, meaning some sections have to be read again, and I (not scientifically minded) did make some notes on things I needed a simpler explanation for, but that just makes this book even better. It doesn't just feed you information; it makes you think. Top marks to Professor Michael Dine for producing a book that doesn't talk down to you, but isn't so far over your head that you're completely lost!

My thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley. This review was written voluntarily and is entirely my own, unbiased, opinion.

[B.S. Casey · Rating 4 out of 5]

This Way To The Universe is an accessible exploration into the world of physics and the mind-blowing mysteries of the universe.

I love physics and read a lot about it, but even so I'm not fully literate in scientific language so this was wonderful for me and readers like me - explaining complex, astounding scientific theories from the Big Bang itself to elusive Higgs Boson particle in uncomplex, comprehensive and engaging language.

There is a sense of humour and wonder throughout, a playful excitement which I found a pleasure to read - Dine conveyed how simply amazing and interesting physics can be and this is clearly demonstrated in his writing.

[Kid Ferrous · Rating 4 out of 5]

“This Way To The Universe” is physicist Michael Dine’s answer to a question about where to find a guide to cutting-edge science as it currently stands; finding no definitive book, he decided to write it.
Like all the best books on the subject, Dine’s work manages to explain complex ideas and concepts in a very accessible way, making “This Way To The Universe” ab invaluable resource for everyone.

[Aaron Brown · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am generally not a huge fan of the big science books for the lay person, but this one was really well done. Dine did a great job and this was a fascinating read. No reason to be intimidated by what, admittedly, is a very difficult subject thanks to the work of the author.

[Chase Rendall · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quite a bit of rambling in this book, but Dine is a first-class physicist, so it is always interesting to hear his take on current research topics in high-energy physics.

[Peter Tillman]

Here's a nice excerpt: https://lithub.com/how-einstein-arriv...
And a teaser bit:
"When I was a student, Einstein’s theory of general relativity was a subject of fascination—something any self-described theoretical physicist should know something about. At the same time, actually saying that you might work on it would lead to rolling of eyes. There was, in those days, only very limited evidence that the theory was correct—beyond the perihelion and the bending of light, only a phenomenon called the redshift—and it seemed that only dreamers imagined there would be new tests.

Perhaps even worse, the theory, when combined with quantum mechanics, the subject of the next chapter, did not seem to make sense. Attacking that problem put you even more on the fringe. Still, most of the great theorists of the era had taken a stab at these issues, including Richard Feynman and Lev Landau (one of the greatest of 20th century Russian theoretical physicists). In the 1980s, perhaps more famously, Stephen Hawking raised issues that challenged the notion that general relativity and quantum mechanics could be reconciled and argued that a reformulation of quantum mechanics would be necessary.

Over the course of my career, all that has changed dramatically. Einstein’s theory is now a well-tested theory. Our understanding of general relativity is an important tool in our explorations of the universe. Observation of black holes is almost routine. General relativity is a crucial tool in determining the composition of the present universe, and essential, as we’ll see, to our understanding of the big bang. Recently, the discovery of the gravitational waves predicted by the theory over a century ago has opened up a new window on astrophysical phenomena. General relativity even plays a role in our navigation apps (through the Global Positioning System, or GPS). On the quantum mechanical side, we have learned a great deal as well, although experimental verification of what we do understand (and clues as to what we don’t) is probably not around the corner."

[Philip Gipson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book provides an excellent, thorough, and non-technical survey of the developments in particle physics from Einstein to today. It describes both theoretical and experimental breakthroughs in layman's terms and outlines current controversies in the field with an even hand.

Unfortunately, an annoying academic credentialism pervades the writing. Any character (read: physicist or spouse thereof) is introduced first by noting the prestigious institution they were affiliated with at the time and then the prestigious institution they're at now. This happens with such frequency that the author begins to abbreviate these introductions, e.g. "John Smith (University of X, then Institute of Y)". Some of these are germane to the story being told (for example, that many of the people met at the the IAS) but the vast majority are not.

[Rory · Rating 2 out of 5]

Sorry, but I found this book incredibly boring. It rolled along like a freight train, dishing out the same evolution of physics, described more interestingly by other writers. I know it was probably aimed at the layperson, but it gave no explanations that would provide enough depth for that group of readers. I read these books occasionally to find fillers for the gaps in my understanding. This book provided me with nothing!

[Vinson · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have many similar books by various authors and can say with little hesitation, that this book is really difficult to follow. The information is there but the author does not seem to have “storytelling” skills to keep the reader interested. I am surprised to see other ratings as high so maybe it’s just me…

[Mark Steciuk · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was not my favorite. Not enough science, too much history.

[Alan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a wonderful up-to-date book about physics, written for the lay reader. I have read a lot of these kinds of books. This book is unique by its focus on academic research among theoretical physics. Dine is a distinguished theoretical physicist at San Cruz Institute for Particle Physics, where he studies supersymmetry, string theory, and physics beyond the standard model.

The book begins with a clearly written history of physics. Newton and Einstein get a lot of attention, then the book addresses the key questions facing physics today, such as what is a quantum theory of gravity, how can we reconcile relativity with quantum theory, and will we ever have a unified theory of everything?

The best chapter explored why is there something rather than nothing, which helped me understand the concept of broken symmetry. While Dine's explanations often went over my head, I was able to understand the questions and the current studies attempting to answer them better than I have before. Dine gives a good explanation of the research at the Large Hadron Collider and the discovery of the Higgs Boson. A chapter about dark matter and WIMPS explains where physics meets astronomy. Chapters about string theory and super symmetry were "way out there." A final chapter on the cosmological constant, the anthropic principle, and the likely fate of the universe was very interesting and clearly written for the lay reader like me.

Overall, I think the most significant accomplishment of this book is that Dine helps the reader understand the interests and research of today's theoretical physicists.

[Matthew Lynch · Rating 4 out of 5]

PHew! I need a dumbed-down version of this book (and to think this is probably for a popular audience). I still gleaned a number of fascinating insights along the way, but mostly in an anecdotal way. E.g., When the universe was only 3 million years old, it was doubling in size roughly every 15 minutes! It was said in the context of explaining how, actually, that's quite slow from the POV of proton collisions.