FREE delivery: Dec 1 - 7

In stock.
Usually ships within 3 to 4 days.

$$19.68 () Includes selected options. Includes initial monthly payment and selected options. Details

Secure transaction

Ships from

Book Depository US

Sold by

Book Depository US

Details

Ships from

Book Depository US

Sold by

Book Depository US

Return policy: Returnable until Jan 31, 2022

$3.99 delivery: Nov 23 - 30

Used: Acceptable | Details

Sold by OPALICK

Flip to back Flip to front

Listen Playing... Paused You're listening to a sample of the Audible audio edition.
Learn more

See all 2 images

Follow the Author

Tom Siegfried

Strange Matters: Undiscovered Ideas at the Frontiers of Space and Time Paperback – March 2, 2004

by Tom Siegfried (Author)

10 ratings

See all formats and editions

Price

New from

Used from

Hardcover, International Edition

"Please retry"

$12.99

—

$1.90

Paperback

"Please retry"

$19.68

$14.99

$1.89

Enhance your purchase

Twentieth-century physics was a long, strange trip indeed. Stranger still is what might lie ahead. In this startling book, science writer Tom Siegfried takes us into a weird world of quark nuggets, selectrons, quintessence, and quantum cosmology and introduces us to some of the most imaginative ideas being batted about by scientists today, from funny energy to mirror matter to two-timing universes. In addition, he reviews theories of the past both proven and unproven-offering us a grounding in our scientific history as well as an informed and intriguing look at the possibilities of tomorrow.

Print length

368 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Berkley
Publication date

March 2, 2004
Dimensions

4.8 x 1 x 8 inches
ISBN-10

0425194175
ISBN-13

978-0425194171
See all details

Special offers and product promotions

Create your FREE Amazon Business account to save up to 10% with Business-only prices and free shipping.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Very readable."—Library Journal

"One of the most stimulating popular science works published in the last few years."
—Salon.com

"An intellectual summer read...an extraordinary journey." —Newsday

About the Author

Tom Siegfried is the science editor for the Dallas Morning News.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Berkley (March 2, 2004)

Language ‏ : ‎ English

Paperback ‏ : ‎ 368 pages

ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0425194175

ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0425194171

Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 9.6 ounces

Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 4.8 x 1 x 8 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #3,425,904 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

#3,105 in Cosmology (Books)

#6,847 in Astronomy (Books)

#144,418 in Science Fiction (Books)

Customer Reviews:
10 ratings

Tell the Publisher!
I'd like to read this book on Kindle

Don't have a Kindle? Get your Kindle here, or download a FREE Kindle Reading App.

Limited time offer

Join Audible Premium Plus for 60% off and get a bonus $20 credit for Audible. Get this deal

About the author
Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.
Tom Siegfried
Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.
Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.
Discover more of the author’s books, see similar authors, read author blogs and more
Read moreRead less

Customer reviews
4.4 out of 5
10 global ratings

5 star
70%

4 star
13%

3 star
8%

2 star
8%

1 star 0% (0%) 0%

How are ratings calculated?
To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. Instead, our system considers things like how recent a review is and if the reviewer bought the item on Amazon. It also analyzes reviews to verify trustworthiness.

Top reviews from the United States

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.
lantanalimited
Still worth the read
Reviewed in the United States on April 21, 2016
Verified Purchase
Excellent book, written in a way anyone can enjoy. Requires little scientific background to understand, and plays out more as a philosophical discussion than a scientific one. (In a good way! It's still plenty science-y. I'm a chemist and enjoy the book just fine.)

It is a little out of date, but still worth the read.

The book arrived in fantastic condition, practically brand new with only "shelf wear." Great seller.
Read more

Helpful

Report abuse
Ryan L. Wilson
Scientific Wonders Revealed!
Reviewed in the United States on January 18, 2016
Verified Purchase
This book is well written and yet easy to read. It really opened my eyes to the coming revolutions in the scientific world that will radically affect all of humanity. Everyone should read this book, its an inspiring look at the incredible things that are just ahead for us all without being biased or judgmental. A fantastic read from cover to cover!
Read more

Helpful

Report abuse
JohnnyCapsTop Contributor: Photography
Amazing....
Reviewed in the United States on January 25, 2017
Verified Purchase
Great book.
Read more

Helpful

Report abuse
Edoardo Angeloni
An easy way for entrying in the physics secrets.
Reviewed in the United States on February 11, 2012
Verified Purchase
The author analyzes the physics of the last Century ith a strong intellectual way, considering particular aspects with an ease of writing, with competence and capacity. Therefore, his major ability is to interest the lector.
In fact the cultural context is very hard, but we are grateful to the author for allowing us to understand those secrets of the nature.
Read more

One person found this helpful

Helpful

Report abuse
Michael J. Miller
The strange and the stranger
Reviewed in the United States on December 12, 2002
Verified Purchase
Siegfried not only manages to make some very strange theories (like dark matter, superstrings, etc.) reasonably intelligible but also gives us an understanding of the kind of people who develop them. He also tackles some interesting questions, e.g. how can a set of equations (such as Maxwell's) turn out to yield more information than the writer put into them? How do pre-discoveries occur?
The book can be tough going at times but always interesting.
A personal note: many times when researchers are contending about esoterica, I found myself asking: so what? What difference do any of these issues make to people outside the field? Why should we care whether there are superstrings or not?
Read more

12 people found this helpful

Helpful

Report abuse
Metallurgist
A strange and difficult book to review.
Reviewed in the United States on December 29, 2008
Tom Siegfried is a science journalist. At the time he wrote this book he was the Science Feature Editor of the Dallas Morning News (I do not know if he still holds this position) and the book reads like a very well written series of long feature articles. They are written in a breezy colloquial style, but without a detailed or systematic approach to any of the topics covered. This may be fine for someone who desires light science reading, but for someone desiring a systematic and in-depth approach this book is "cotton candy" physics. It is light, sweet, but full of empty calories. But then again, there are those who like cotton candy and consume it whenever they can.

I personally was expecting a book with more substance and one that was much better organized, using a much more detailed and systematic approach. Rather, each chapter focuses on a different type of strange matter, i.e., dark matter, super matter, mirror matter, superstrings, etc., but the treatment of each topic is not systematic and is covered only superficially. The book is mostly "gee wiz" physics, with much of the book devoted to technical meetings that the author attended and the people he knows and what they have taught him. All this being said, the reader would be justified in expecting this to be a one star, completely negative, review. Instead I have given it three stars because I found nuggets of superb explanation scattered throughout the book. For instance, there is a nice discussion of Emily Noether's work relating symmetry and conservation laws. This led to an interesting discussion of supersymmetry.

The book cleared up several things for me. For instance, I knew that the idea of a black hole was first broached in the 1700's and that Newton's laws predicted that light would be bent by gravity (although by not as much as predicted by Einstein), but these facts did not make much sense to me. Siegfried explained this, albeit in a very generally way, by reminding me that Newton viewed light as a particle and that this particle could be influenced by gravity. There is also a nice discussion that cleared up (at least for me) the distinction between Einstein's cosmological constant, dark energy and quintessence.

In summary - this book is OK if you want a well written, but superficial, discussion of "Strange Matters", but I think that it falls short if you are looking for a more in-depth treatment. If that is what you are looking for, I recommend Brian Greene's "Fabric of the Cosmos".
Read more

One person found this helpful

Helpful

Report abuse
See all reviews

Top reviews from other countries

Rico99
Excellent
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 2, 2016
Verified Purchase
Excellent read for those who are interested
Read more
Report abuse
See all reviews