Awards

• Winner of Book of the Year, Physics World 2010

Overview

A scientific and globetrotting exploration of the physics experiments changing the ways we understand our universe. Why is the universe expanding? What is the nature of dark matter? Do other universes exist? In this timely and original book, science writer Anil Ananthaswamy embarks on a global journey to some of the world's most inhospitable and dramatic research sites to witness first-hand the audacious physics experiments conducted to answer profound questions about the nature of the universe. From the Atacama Desert in the Chilean Andes to the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope on Mount Paranal to deep inside an abandoned iron mine in Minnesota and to the East Antarctic Ice Sheet, Ananthaswamy weaves together stories about the people and places at the heart of this cosmological research. While explaining the immense questions that scientists are trying to answer, Ananthaswamy provides an accessible and unique portrait of the universe and our quest to understand it. An atmospheric, engaging and illuminating read,The Edge of Physicsdepicts science as a human process and brings cosmology with all its rarefied concepts down to earth.

Full Product Details

9780715653913

Table of Contents

Reviews

A travelogue that celebrates the blood, sweat and tears that drive our understanding of the universe * Guardian * An excellent book. The author has a great knack of making difficult subjects comprehensible. I thoroughly enjoyed it -- Sir Patrick Moore A remarkable narrative that combines fundamental physics with high adventure * New Scientist * Ananthaswamy displays a writer's touch for the fascinating detail... whether he is in an abandoned iron mine in Minnesota's Mesabi Range or the frigid Siberian expanse of Lake Baikal, he finds intrepid physicists and explains to us why these weird places are the only locations on the planet where these experiments could be done * Washington Post * ... quite simply, the ultimate physics-adventure travelogue... as an adventure story and a fly-on-the-wall account of remote places that most of us will never visit, 'The Edge of Physics' is brilliant * PhysicsWorld * A grand tour of modern day cosmology's sacred places... evocative... engaging... refreshing... a taste of science in the heroic mode * Sky At Night magazine * Smoothly weaves together the stories of people who help push science forward, from principal investigators to research institute gardeners, with exquisitely clear explanations of the questions they hope to solve - and why some research can be done only at the edge of the world * ScienceNews * Ananthaswamy's investigation of current experiments in physics bypasses the mathematics of the field, making it easier for the average reader to dig in and enjoy the amazing discoveries and research methods that he encounters. The author has a knack for intertwining an overview of the purpose of these experiments with a finely balanced dose of related history and trivia. He also exhibits poetic touches here and there as he shares colorful vignettes from each of his destinations * Curled Up With A Good Book.com * While Ananthaswamy... focuses heavily on the science, 'The Edge of Physics' reads like a travel-adventure story or a work of fiction * Failure Magazine * From the top of Hawaii's Mauna Kea to Switzerland's Large Hadron Collider and more, Ananthaswamy paints a vivid picture of scientific investigations in harsh working conditions... even for readers who don't know a neutrino from Adam, these interesting tales of human endeavor make 'The Edge of Physics' a trip worth taking * The BookPage * Clean, elegant prose, humming with interest -- Robert MacFarlane, author of 'The Wild Places' An accomplished and timely overview of modern cosmology and particle astrophysics * Nature * A stirring, scenic narrative... Ananthaswamy journeys to several geographically and scientifically extreme outposts, and returns not only with engaging portraits of the men and women who work there, but also a vibrant glimpse of how cutting-edge research is actually performed. Part history lesson, part travelogue, part adventure story, 'The Edge of Physics' is a wonder-steeped page-turner * Seed Magazine * Physicists are trying to understand the furthest reaches of space and the furthest extremes of matter and energy. To do it, they have to trek to some of the furthest places on Earth from deep underground, to forbidding mountains, to the cold of Antarctica. Anil Anathaswamy takes us on a thrilling ride around the globe and around the cosmos, to reveal the real work that goes into understanding our universe -- Sean Carroll, Caltech physicist, author of 'From Eternity to Here' Ananthaswamy's juxtaposition of extreme travel and extreme science offers a genuinely novel route into the story of modern cosmology... A well written and genuinely accessible tale of what it takes to push past the edge of human knowledge -- Thomas Levenson, author of 'Newton and the Counterfeiter'

Ananthaswamy's juxtaposition of extreme travel and extreme science offers a genuinely novel route into the story of modern cosmology... A well written and genuinely accessible tale of what it takes to push past the edge of human knowledge -- Thomas Levenson, author of 'Newton and the Counterfeiter' Physicists are trying to understand the furthest reaches of space and the furthest extremes of matter and energy. To do it, they have to trek to some of the furthest places on Earth from deep underground, to forbidding mountains, to the cold of Antarctica. Anil Anathaswamy takes us on a thrilling ride around the globe and around the cosmos, to reveal the real work that goes into understanding our universe -- Sean Carroll, Caltech physicist, author of 'From Eternity to Here' A stirring, scenic narrative... Ananthaswamy journeys to several geographically and scientifically extreme outposts, and returns not only with engaging portraits of the men and women who work there, but also a vibrant glimpse of how cutting-edge research is actually performed. Part history lesson, part travelogue, part adventure story, 'The Edge of Physics' is a wonder-steeped page-turner * Seed Magazine * An accomplished and timely overview of modern cosmology and particle astrophysics * Nature * Clean, elegant prose, humming with interest -- Robert MacFarlane, author of 'The Wild Places' From the top of Hawaii's Mauna Kea to Switzerland's Large Hadron Collider and more, Ananthaswamy paints a vivid picture of scientific investigations in harsh working conditions... even for readers who don't know a neutrino from Adam, these interesting tales of human endeavor make 'The Edge of Physics' a trip worth taking * The BookPage * While Ananthaswamy... focuses heavily on the science, 'The Edge of Physics' reads like a travel-adventure story or a work of fiction * Failure Magazine * Ananthaswamy's investigation of current experiments in physics bypasses the mathematics of the field, making it easier for the average reader to dig in and enjoy the amazing discoveries and research methods that he encounters. The author has a knack for intertwining an overview of the purpose of these experiments with a finely balanced dose of related history and trivia. He also exhibits poetic touches here and there as he shares colorful vignettes from each of his destinations * Curled Up With A Good Book.com * Smoothly weaves together the stories of people who help push science forward, from principal investigators to research institute gardeners, with exquisitely clear explanations of the questions they hope to solve - and why some research can be done only at the edge of the world * ScienceNews * A grand tour of modern day cosmology's sacred places... evocative... engaging... refreshing... a taste of science in the heroic mode * Sky At Night magazine * ... quite simply, the ultimate physics-adventure travelogue... as an adventure story and a fly-on-the-wall account of remote places that most of us will never visit, 'The Edge of Physics' is brilliant * PhysicsWorld * Ananthaswamy displays a writer's touch for the fascinating detail... whether he is in an abandoned iron mine in Minnesota's Mesabi Range or the frigid Siberian expanse of Lake Baikal, he finds intrepid physicists and explains to us why these weird places are the only locations on the planet where these experiments could be done * Washington Post * A remarkable narrative that combines fundamental physics with high adventure * New Scientist * An excellent book. The author has a great knack of making difficult subjects comprehensible. I thoroughly enjoyed it -- Sir Patrick Moore A travelogue that celebrates the blood, sweat and tears that drive our understanding of the universe * Guardian *

Author Information

Anil Ananthaswamy is an award-winning journalist and former deputy news editor and staff writer at New Scientist. He has also written for Nature, Scientific American, Discover, Quanta and the Literary Review. He won the Book of the Year award from Physics World (2010), the best investigative journalism award from the Association of British Science Writers (2013) and was longlisted for the Pen/E. O. Wilson Literary Science Writing Award (2016). He is currently a Knight Science Journalism Fellow at MIT.

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