Overview

Experience the drama of the explosive cosmos and the astonishing discoveries being made about the universe's wildest phenomena. The violent birth of the universe was only the first bang of a very bumpy ride. This unfathomably cacophonous beginning has spawned blasts, implosions, cosmic cannibalism, collisions, and countless other fleeting energetic events punctuating the cosmos. Although often brief, these transient phenomena pack a powerful punch. Armed with decades of theoretical progress, unrivaled computing power, and cutting-edge technology, astronomers find themselves at the cusp of understanding not just the events themselves, but also how those events reveal the story of the entire cosmos. In Things That Go Bump in the Universe, astronomer and science writer C. Renée James introduces us to her colleagues around the world, who are using pioneering research techniques to explore everything from the very first explosions in the universe to the dark energy that could destroy it all. Along the way, James describes the history of transient astronomy, how the universe presents itself through various astronomical messengers, and the unexpected connections between different phenomena. Capturing the drama of a wild, violent cosmos for the curious reader, James explains a different category of transient event in each chapter, using easy-to-understand metaphors and stories to explain the science behind these awe-inspiring, cosmological encounters. Things That Go Bump in the Universe explores the incredible discoveries being made in this revolutionary field, the tools used to detect cosmic events, and the astronomical mysteries that continue to puzzle observers and theorists. James weaves together the stories of our turbulent universe—informative, entertaining, frequently perplexing, and occasionally philosophical—and the people who are trying to make sense of it.

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9781421446936

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Reviews

Like a pulsar, the book is at times dense, but it also dazzles. It recasts modern astronomy as the search for transient, explosive events, and the messages they contain if only we can decode them. —New York Times Book Review The characters we meet along the way—from binary stars to black holes—are painted with rich and lively prose, with James detailing the range of clues astronomers use to study these strange objects, including neutrinos, gamma-ray bursts and even tree rings. —Physics World

Like a pulsar, the book is at times dense, but it also dazzles. It recasts modern astronomy as the search for transient, explosive events, and the messages they contain if only we can decode them. —New York Times Book Review The characters we meet along the way—from binary stars to black holes—are painted with rich and lively prose, with James detailing the range of clues astronomers use to study these strange objects, including neutrinos, gamma-ray bursts and even tree rings. —Physics World A fascinating guide to the Universe's most violent events, but also an intriguing look under the bonnet of modern science. —BBC Sky at Night Magazine

Like a pulsar, the book is at times dense, but it also dazzles. It recasts modern astronomy as the search for transient, explosive events, and the messages they contain if only we can decode them. —New York Times Book Review

Author Information

C. Renee James (SPRING, TX) is a professor of physics and astronomy at Sam Houston State University. She is the author of Science Unshackled: How Obscure, Abstract, Seemingly Useless Scientific Research Turned Out to Be the Basis for Modern Life and Seven Wonders of the Universe That You Probably Took for Granted.

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