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The Pioneer Detectives: Did a distant spacecraft prove Einstein and Newton wrong? (Kindle Single) Kindle Edition

by Konstantin Kakaes (Author)

92 customer reviews

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Explore one of the greatest scientific mysteries of our time, the Pioneer Anomaly: in the 1980s, NASA scientists detected an unknown force acting on the spacecraft Pioneer 10, the first man-made object to journey through the asteroid belt and study Jupiter, eventually leaving the solar system. No one seemed able to agree on a cause. (Dark matter? Tensor–vector–scalar gravity? Collisions with gravitons?) What did seem clear to those who became obsessed with it was that the Pioneer Anomaly had the potential to upend Einstein and Newton—to change everything we know about the universe.

With riveting prose and the precision of an expert, Konstantin Kakaes gives us a scientific police procedural, tracking the steps of those who sought to unravel this high-stakes enigma. His thrilling account draws on extensive interviews and archival research, following the story from the Anomaly’s initial discovery, through decades of tireless investigation, to its ultimate conclusion. “The Pioneer Detectives” is a definitive account not just of the Pioneer Anomaly but of how scientific knowledge gets made and unmade, with scientists sometimes putting their livelihoods on the line in pursuit of cosmic truth. Perfect for fans of John McPhee, Thomas Kuhn, and Ed McBain, this is also an immensely enjoyable story accessible to anyone who loves brilliant, fascinating long-form journalism.

* * *

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Konstantin Kakaes is a Bernard L. Schwartz fellow at the New America Foundation, writing about science and technology, and is the former Mexico City bureau chief for The Economist. His work has been published in The Wall Street Journal, Foreign Policy, and The Washington Post and appears frequently in Slate. Before becoming a journalist, he studied physics at Harvard University.

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Product Details

File Size: 299 KB
Print Length: 65 pages
Publisher: The Millions (July 15, 2013)
Publication Date: July 15, 2013
Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
Language: English
ASIN: B00DV5SERW
Text-to-Speech: Enabled

X-Ray:

Enabled

Word Wise: Enabled
Lending: Not Enabled
Enhanced Typesetting: Not Enabled
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #203,632 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
- #16 in Kindle Store > Kindle Singles > The Sciences
- #45 in Kindle Store > Kindle Nonfiction Singles > Reporting
- #64 in Kindle Store > Kindle Nonfiction Singles > Page-turning Narratives

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Customer Reviews

4.3 out of 5 stars

5 star		53%
4 star		31%
3 star		10%
2 star		5%
1 star		1%

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful

A Smart, Enticing Science Mystery Delivered By A Great Storyteller

By Alexander H on July 18, 2013

Format: Kindle Edition Verified Purchase

The heroes of science are those who follow the evidence wherever it leads them. Scientists may be motivated by glory and fame, they are human after all, but the good ones are also motivated by a fundamental desire to understand. Those men working on the Pioneer Anomaly, which, if true, would upend Einstein's theory of gravity, were motivated by understanding. What force could be acting on a spacecraft that made its actual distance so much different than the distance it should be at under Einstein's theory?

"Detectives" was a great word to choose for the title. This short book reads like an unfolding mystery, and Kakaes holds the answer until the end. In doing so, you learn to appreciate the incredible amount of honest work done by the team at Jet Propulsion Laboratory (also known as the coolest place on earth) in the face of bureaucratic intransigence along with lost and fading data.

The pacing of the book is excellent, and while Kakaes expects a lot from the reader (he doesn't skip over the science, since it's the integral to understanding the issue), he's a more than capable guide and you need not have a previously strong understanding of general relativity before diving in. Still, I admire for Kakaes for trusting his audience's intelligence, which allows him to tell a story without reverting to gimmicky metaphors. For those dismayed by the current canon of science writing for general readers as too dumbed down and extrapolative, this is the book for you.

Kakaes ends with some big thoughts, ones that leave the reader thinking long after finishing.

One of the biggest is the how fine the line is between being right versus drastically wrong when the data you need to disprove a theory only need be slightly different than the proposed model.Read more ›

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11 of 11 people found the following review helpful

Engrossing, lucidly-written scientific detective story

By Alex Stone on July 15, 2013

Format: Kindle Edition

Anyone interested in astronomy, space travel, or physics will love this fascinating account of a long-standing mystery surrounding the Pioneer spacecraft. Kakaes is a brilliant reporter and a gifted storyteller. This punchy, elegant book has all the excitement of a detective story and all the juicy brain-candy of the best popular science books. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful

A first-rate science mystery story

By BrooklynSFDad on July 15, 2013

Format: Kindle Edition

One of the most-engaging physics stories ever written. It certainly doesnt hurt that it was about a space mystery that threw our understanding of the entire fabric of the cosmos into doubt.

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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful

A short book about knowledge

By Nicholas F. Stang on July 23, 2013

Format: Kindle Edition Verified Purchase

About 20 years ago, some scientists working at JPL showed that the Pioneer 10 spacecraft is moving away from the solar system more slowly than all of our best theories would predict. Either our measurements are wrong, or our physics is wrong, and, after extensive study of the measurement data, these scientists could not find anything wrong with it. Explanations of the so-called Pioneer Anomaly abounded for years: gravity waves, dark matter, etc.

Kakaes' book is a short history of the discovery of the Pioneer Anomaly and its resolution (I want spoil the ending!). But he is really after something much bigger: what happens when recalcitrant data does not fit our best theories, and (more broadly) how scientific knowledge is produced. Kakaes points out that in earlier cases (e.g. various experimental tests of relativity), when the data did not fit the theory it was the data that were questioned: scientists were so convinced the theory was correct (in particular, Einstein himself), that they "rejected" that data rather than the theory. The concluded that something must be wrong with the data, and, years later, they were proven right. But, most interestingly, whether you reject the data or the theory is not determined by the data or the theory. It depends upon all kinds of contingent features: the psychology of the scientists involved, how good the scientists think the data is, how much they want the theory to be false, how they balance the desire for well-confirmed theories (on which much other theories are based) to turn out to be true versus their desire for 'new physics' (after all, if the old theory is false, then there is more theory to be constructed). What Kakaes is really interested in is what happens at these "choice points" in science.Read more ›

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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful

good detective story: how science is really done!

By William H. Moore on July 25, 2013

Format: Kindle Edition Verified Purchase

This is a quick read and a fast paced story on how a dispersed group of scientists and engineers first uncovered and then solved the "Pioneer Anomaly" namely that the Pioneer 10 and 11 spacecraft had a very small but mysterious force acting on them that challenged Classical predictions. The sleuths have to wade through old data found on mag tapes under stairs and in garages of retired Pioneer program members to reconstruct what had been happening to these deep space probes launched in the early 1970s. And it's says a lot about theories are pursued proven and disproven. Highly recommend to anybody curious as to how science really is done.

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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful

Gripping true story for the star-science nerd in all is us

By @smoffatshepard on August 4, 2013

Format: Kindle Edition Verified Purchase

This is an unputdownable read for anyone who's ever wondered what's out there past Pluto, or why the "laws" of physics are as they are. It's an account of a motley crew of mostly self-appointed "detectives" who, over the course of more than three decades, try to figure out why the probes Pioneer 10 and Pioneer 11 appear to be slowing down as they leave the solar system. The author--a former science writer for The Economist--effortlessly explains the complex science and math that these men--and they were all men--used to decipher and interpret the increasingly faint signals sent back by these, the first objects touched by man's hand to escape the Sun's pull. Well worth reading--it will stay with you.

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See all 92 customer reviews (newest first)

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

Very interesting and well written book on a mystery that most people won't have heard of. A short read but one I had to finish. Read more

Published 3 months ago by Mr Philip C Veale

Interesting read

Most interesting, and leaves you with unanswered questions. Just what is the force or forces acting on the spacecraft? Food for thought!

Published 3 months ago by Wels Musgrave

Wonderful

What a wonderful story this is. Surprise ending and all. Told with an economy of words and a deep understanding of the science. And scientists.

Published 4 months ago by Jerry Adams

An interesting read.

An interesting read, but the conclusion fell flat. It built up like there was going to be a huge discovery and instead the conclusion was anti-climatic.

Published 5 months ago by Timothy J. Burton

will reread it later

Fun book to read

Published 6 months ago by Carson and Brian Kitson

Five Stars

An eminently clear and succinct description of a fascinating scientific puzzle.

Published 6 months ago by Randolph Barton, Jr.

Five Stars

If you like technical books, this one is great.

Published 8 months ago by Amazon Customer

Four Stars

Very nice review of a search for a bit of knowledge.

Published 8 months ago by Steven J. Green

Three Stars

Interesting reading but it's not a space thriller.

Published 8 months ago by cajunnurse

Four Stars

fun & interesting read.

Published 9 months ago by Oshuna Oma

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