This Way to the Universe

A Theoretical Physicist's Journey to the Edge of Reality

By: Michael Dine

Narrated by: Michael Dine

For readers of Sean Carroll, Brian Greene, Katie Mack, and anyone who wants to know what theoretical physicists actually do.

This Way to the Universe is a celebration of the astounding, ongoing scientific investigations that have revealed the nature of reality at its smallest, at its largest, and at the scale of our daily lives. The enigmas that Professor Michael Dine discusses are like landmarks on a fantastic journey to the edge of the universe.

Asked where to find out about the Big Bang, Dark Matter, the Higgs boson particle—the long cutting edge of physics right now—Dine had no single book he could recommend. This is his accessible, authoritative, and up-to-date answer. Comprehensible to anyone with a high-school level education, with almost no equations, there is no better author to take you on this amazing odyssey.

Dine is widely recognized as having made profound contributions to our understanding of matter, time, the Big Bang, and even what might have come before it. This Way to the Universe touches on many emotional, critical points in his extraordinary carreer while presenting mind-bending physics like his answer to the Dark Matter and Dark Energy mysteries as well as the ideas that explain why our universe consists of something rather than nothing. People assume String Theory can never be tested, but Dine intrepidly explores exactly how the theory might be tested experimentally, as well as the pitfalls of falling in love with math. This book reflects a lifetime pursuing the deepest mysteries of reality, by one of the most humble and warmly engaging voices you will ever read.

Thorough

A great history and exposition of modern physics. Appropriate for all levels of science and math background.

Fantastic

Great book. Did a great job of covering basics and not so basic ideas. 10/10

Well Done

A good summary of the state of our knowledge about the biggest and smallest parts of our world. Excellent stories on how the scientists figured it all out. Well narrated by the author.

I Want More!

The ideas I’m this book are very well explained, easier to understand when it’s read by the actual author. I enjoyed the dark matter and dark energy sections the most with updated information on gravity waves. Although it gets exhausting listening to the same Einstein and Newton recaps that every theoretical physics book drowns so much time on, but I’m sure that stuff is more helpful for beginner level readers. This is a great book I would recommend it to anyone interested in astrophysics and wish it was longer. Great job Michael Dine

I Lost My Way

The general tone of this book was good and it was a good overview of the Universe. However, I thought it was little repetitive of many of the same explanatios I have heard in several other similar books. I would say this is good and shows I have learned a fair amount of the Cosmos. However I did feel the use of quarts and anti this and that was beyond my understanding. Many explanations of the size or time with 10 to the 100 power, with plus or minus factors,etc. eventually made these uses meaningless except to mean these items were so small or big to be irrelevant or unprovable. If I knew more about some of these below atom sizes I would have understood more of the book. Still I would have I listened to this extremely intelligent scientist.