The Stuff of the Universe Book Review - Research Paper Example

In that context, the book tends to discuss not only the visible aspects of the geography of the universe like the stars and the planets, but also delves exhaustively on the elusive ingredients of the universe like the dark matter which is predominant and all pervasive. The book under consideration furnishes a lucid understanding as to whether this universe is expanding or rather contracting. The overall objective of the book appears to be to give to the readers the necessary information that will go into achieving a relative perspective of the universe and the humanity’s place in it.

The essential theme of The Stuff of the Universe tends to delve on the predominant query as to what features of the universe as the humanity knows it were pivotal to the emergence of life on earth and whether it was merely a coincidence or some deeper reasons that led to such a propitious alignment of the cosmic elements and constituent. The humanity has always been curious about the fundamental questions surrounding the origins of the universe and life and this book caters to this curious and academic aspect of human interest.

However, the lacuna rampant in this sphere of human interest has been that the science of cosmology has been to a great extent kept remote and away from the everyday concerns that engross the mankind. In that context, The Stuff of the Universe tends to bridge the gap between the mundane concerns of life and death engaging the humanity and how the cosmic elements tend to play a pivotal role in these concerns. In the book, Gribbin and Ress have tried to make the queries surrounding the origins of the universe an integral part of the mainstream life.

They talk about varied stages of the origins of the universe as when it was just a second old, or its earlier stages. The book intends to bring the science of cosmology, out from the privileged scope of the cosmologists and astrophysicists to the realm of general public. The book comprises of three parts. The Part I, ‘Cosmic Coincidences: How special is the Universe?’ discusses the geography of the universe and two kinds of dark matter. However, in this part, the main forte of the authors lies in their ability to establish links between the cartography and constitution of the universe to the everyday human existence.

For instance, it gets really enticing to learn that, “We live in a galaxy. Galaxies contain stars, and stars are made of baryons- the same sort of stuff, to a physicist, as our own bodies are made of.”1 Part II, ‘The Stuff of the Universe: The Particle Zoo’ is primarily about the essential constitution of the universe and the constituents affiliated to it. This part elaborates on the cosmic constituents and phenomenon like halo stuff, gravity’s telescopes, cosmic string, core stuff, etc.

in as lucid and simple a language as could be possible for a Cosmologist to interpret the cosmic facts to a layman. Part III, ‘The Bespoke Universe: Tailor-Made for Man; or off the Peg? ‘touches on the perpetually stimulating and ever poking questions as to whether the existence of life on earth was part of a great and ever unraveling plan or merely a prosaic coincidence. The book both ponders on the individual constituents of the universe like galaxies, stars, quasars and their constitution and evolution as well as links this knowledge to the philosophical and theological queries grappling the mankind since times immemorial, in as simple and precise language as