On the Cosmic Horizon: Ten Great Mysteries for Third Millennium Astronomy (Mysteries for the New Millennium) (Hardcover)

~ Jeffrey Bennett (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Share the wonder of the ten great mysteries of 21st century astronomy -- with an astronomer as your guide!

• Are we alone? What is the fate of the universe?
• Is the inflationary big bang theory true? What is the universe really made of?
• Compelling explanations for any educated reader -- even those with no science or math background!

Outside of religion, no human pursuit deals with deeper questions of existence than astronomy, and few areas of science compare in capturing the public imagination. Today, however, the pace of discovery is so rapid that even professional astronomers have difficulty staying current. In this book, an astronomer and award-winning, highly acclaimed teacher shares the ten deepest mysteries that motivate astronomy today -- from the quest for life outside Earth, to the ultimate fate of the universe. It's an awesome collection of mysteries, and Jeffrey Bennett explains each one with remarkable clarity, enabling any educated citizen to share in the wonder, no matter how little scientific or mathematics background they may have. Is there life elsewhere in our solar system? Where are the Sun's missing neutrinos? What does the universe look like? How do galaxies evolve? Are Earth-like planets common? What makes gamma-ray bursts? Is the inflationary big bang theory true? What is the universe made out of -- and what is its fate? Every mystery is framed with a story that draws upon history or an especially resonant metaphor, then explained in detail, but simply enough for those coming to astronomy for the first time.

Jeffrey O. Bennett is Research Associate at the Center for Astrophysics and Space Astronomy in Boulder, CO, and holds a Ph.D. in Physics from the University of Colorado. As Visiting Senior Scientist at NASA, he guided the creation of NASA's Initiative to Develop Education through Astronomy (IDEA). Later, he led the creation of the Colorado Scale Model Solar System, a 1-to-10 billion scale model of the solar system; he is now co-leader of a project to build a similar scale model on the National Mall in Washington, DC, in a cooperative effort with the Smithsonian Institution, the Challenger Center, and NASA. He is author of two Addison Wesley books for non-scientists: The Cosmic Perspective and Using and Understanding Mathematics.

From the Back Cover

Share the wonder of the ten great mysteries of 21st century astronomy -- with an astronomer as your guide!

* Are we alone? What is the fate of the universe?
* Is the inflationary big bang theory true? What is the universe really made of?
* Compelling explanations for any educated reader -- even those with no science or math background!
Outside of religion, no human pursuit deals with deeper questions of existence than astronomy, and few areas of science compare in capturing the public imagination. Today, however, the pace of discovery is so rapid that even professional astronomers have difficulty staying current. In this book, an astronomer and award-winning, highly acclaimed teacher shares the ten deepest mysteries that motivate astronomy today -- from the quest for life outside Earth, to the ultimate fate of the universe. It's an awesome collection of mysteries, and Jeffrey Bennett explains each one with remarkable clarity, enabling any educated citizen to share in the wonder, no matter how little scientific or mathematics background they may have. Is there life elsewhere in our solar system? Where are the Sun's missing neutrinos? What does the universe look like? How do galaxies evolve? Are Earth-like planets common? What makes gamma-ray bursts? Is the inflationary big bang theory true? What is the universe made out of -- and what is its fate? Every mystery is framed with a story that draws upon history or an especially resonant metaphor, then explained in detail, but simply enough for those coming to astronomy for the first time.

Jeffrey O. Bennett is Research Associate at the Center for Astrophysics and Space Astronomy in Boulder, CO, and holds a Ph.D. in Physics from the University of Colorado. As Visiting Senior Scientist at NASA, he guided the creation of NASA's Initiative to Develop Education through Astronomy (IDEA). Later, he led the creation of the Colorado Scale Model Solar System, a 1-to-10 billion scale model of the solar system; he is now co-leader of a project to build a similar scale model on the National Mall in Washington, DC, in a cooperative effort with the Smithsonian Institution, the Challenger Center, and NASA. He is author of two Addison Wesley books for non-scientists: The Cosmic Perspective and Using and Understanding Mathematics.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 216 pages
• Publisher: Benjamin Cummings; 1 edition (October 7, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0321029712
• ISBN-13: 978-0321029713
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 7.1 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,018,817 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Relative, easy read, yet much info to be had, September 28, 2002

By	R. E. Smith (Sarasota, FL United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)    (VINE VOICE)

This book is easy to read for an educated laymen, even if they do not have prior knowledge of the concepts being discussed. That being said this book contains a lot of information, some of it complex, but Bennett writes it in a very user friendly, almost story like fashion. The 10 mystery format of this book allows the book to dip into such topics as "Are we alone in the universe" and "How will the universe end" as well as more scientific questions dealing with neutrino's and Gamma Ray bursts (a very interesting topic).

Bennett does a great job at relating scientific theories and concepts in and across multiple chapters. He is also very careful to separate fact from theory. He does this while including enough information on the most widely held theory/theories to give the reader a complete picture on each topic. I think I will end up reading this book again, just to cement the wealth of knowledge contained in it. A whole book could be (and I'm sure has been) written about each of Bennet's 10 'mysteries'. I highly recommend this book to anyone with an interest in space or cosmology.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Where we are. Where we're heading, January 15, 2002

By A Customer

This is a very interesting book that discusses where scientists are, and where they're heading, with unraveling some of the most pressing science questions of the day. It's fun to see how past discovers were made and how those discoveries shaped our understanding of the world.