50 Ideas You Really Need to Know: Universe

A really well-written introduction to some interesting ideas.If, like me, you haven't been following the goings on in the world of astronomy for the last 15 years, you'll be shocked to discover how much our view of the universe has changed in just a few years. This book is a perfect way to get back up to date.Each of the 50 chapters has one idea, explained simply and clearly with some interesting historical facts on the side.It got me excited about astronomy again and on the trail to finding out much much more.

As a non scientist, I had almost no clue about any of these ideas. It was entertaining and enlightening to learn. Well written, mostly in simple enough terms, and convenient chunks.

I am always interested in what men are thinking about regarding realty. It seams that a lot of money has been waisted looking skyword for answers when the bible has all the answershHowever this research should show us to look at scripture for the real story it has all the answers.

you wont fall for 'global' anything after you have read this- excellent review of science especially if it has been a while since your last science class

Clear and concise discussion of the major laws and research findings in astronomy. The author also provides brief biographies of major individuals such as Kepler, Newton and Hubble.

Despite being only a hobbyist or layperson concerning this topic, I have taken time to read works like Six Easy Pieces, The Cosmic Code, The Inflationary Universe, Death by Blackhole and a translation of Einstein's Relativity papers.I do not claim to understand everything about those works. I am not an expert or professional in this area at all. I simply mention that I've read these works for context as I now present the following book review.And to that point: I really enjoyed "50 Ideas You Really Need to Know: Universe" because Joanne Baker gives an excellent overview of many important topics concerning our understanding of the universe. This book has made it easier to soak in other works that are more comprehensive (like the ones just listed above). It's a good book for the average person with a growing interest in cosmology. I wish I had this book years ago-- before I ever attempted to read the a fore mentioned titles.The ideas in this book are presented succinctly and are also accompanied with brief quotes from important people both famous and obscure. Background information of key people and subtopics are also touched on as side notes for both brevity and enrichment. Each topic also ends with a short phrase to help the reader remember the gist of each idea presented.The ideas build on each other in a loose chronological fashion and really show how one great discovery paves the way for the next. This continuity of ideas informs us that understanding simply for the sake of it is virtuous and essential; we should never underestimate this fact.I also noticed this book seemed quite current (at the time I'm writing this review), as the edition I have was published in 2013.I also love this title because revisiting sections from more in depth cosmology books (like the examples above) became far more fruitful after reading "50 Ideas".This book has even enriched my understanding of cosmology topics that I thought I already knew a lot about. If this book is a good representation of the rest of the "50 Ideas" series, then I really need to get my hands on some of the other titles.If you're wanting to get more acquainted with cosmology, I believe this book is a great place to start. I also believe that the fifty ideas presented in this book really do need to be know by as many people as possible. I believe if everyone were exposed to these ideas, our world might become a better place. People would realize how expansive our universe truly is and how we are totally engulfed by it. Our galaxy is but a grain of salt and we are so small. Bu to me, that's all the more reason to take better care in how we live out our lives.

50 Ideas you really need to know Universe by Joanne Baker I have always had a deep interest in astronomy and own many books on related topics within this science. Nonetheless I am a rank amateur and am always on the look out for a helpful book to update and refresh my knowledge of this fascinating but confusing topic. I have found one that I can recommend without reservation to adults and curious teens who require a brief, concise and easy to understand guide. The author and publisher refrained from stuffing the book with generic photographs of astronomical topics. Not that I don't admire a Hubble color image or a striking Martian landscape but the intent of this book is to enlighten not dazzle. What we have are 50 astronomical topics discussed in 4 pages each with, simple charts, timelines and many quirky but pertinent quotes from notables. The author covers a wide range of topics from the routine: Sun, Moon, Planets, to the "far out": Fermi paradox, Hubble's law, God particle. I don't believe the author "dumbed down" the text for us laypeople but detailed math concepts are, for the most part avoided. For the price and quality this publication would make a great gift for the aspiring student or the interested adult.

I hadn't stayed up on science or astrophysics during the past couple of decades, and this was a great refresher course - I learned a lot. Not only about the nature of the universe, but also about how we know the things that we do know, and how much we don't know. I thought that the knowledge imparted and the perspective given from this book, (in a such an unassuming little package - and presented in easy-to-read bits) were fantastic. Again, I was surprised how much insight i got not only into what the universe is (so far as we can tell), but how we've gone about learning what we do know over the centuries. Pound for pound as good a science book as I've ever encountered. Suitable for adults (particularly lapsed nerds like me), or children interested in science I think.

I have read many so called "popular science books" and this must be one of the poorest. I am referring to the Kindle version. The book is not well thought out with no logical progression between the 50 points. It is endlessly repetitive to the point of annoyance. It reads like someone has copied and pasted sections from inaccurate pages of Wikipedia.I think it must have been ghost written by a non scientist because there are so many historical and factual errors it is embarrassing.I give you just two; one from near the beginning and one from near the end. We are told that "objects become infinitely large as the approach the speed of light". Later "light from the Sun takes eight seconds to reach the Earth.As any other, more robust, science book would state. Mass increases to near infinite size with the onset of near light speed and Sunlight takes approximately eight MINUTES to reach the Earth.I can only surmise that these errors and others throughout the book meant it wasn't proof read, if read at all by the author. It was written by someone who didn't know a) the basics of relativity b) the speed of light and distance to the Sun. There are many other errors throughout the book.The book might be fine for a teenager who has a GCSE grade 3 single science but for anyone else it is appalling. I am at a loss why so many other readers have given it 4 or 5 stars? Even for a teenager it would be near useless as the explanations are poor with no analogies used or the ones chosen being inappropriate. It has a style that takes theory as fact and that fact is correct, well because it is (often it isn't stated correctly anyway)!The editing is non existent hence the endless repetition. It may well be that the author thought the book would be "dipped into" so felt the need to repeat previously made facts and points ad nauseum?I fear this is merely a pseudo scientist cashing in on her TV fame and getting someone else to write it!

I love astronomy and have a very weak understanding of astrophysics. So it's great to have a clear, simple book which just picks 50 (almost) random topics in the subject, going into a small amount of detail about what the topics are, and who the major players are who advocate them.The book won't turn you into a rocket scientist. You'll not be able to calculate orbital dynamics, or solve the three-body problem, but that's not what this book is for. This is a coffee table book for people with a few minutes to kill to pick up, read an interesting little two or three page article on a subject, and put it down, learning a little bit more, which might give them something to look into further, or talk about.The book's really nicely laid out, and the articles are well paced, well written and nicely illustrated (in places). Explaining the history of some of the theories is nice too, although a lot of this is covered in school, so won't be new to many people (copernican theory etc etc).

A good read for those interested in the more important things in life. Like many such books, one or two items claimed to be fact are based upon supposition but the author's intent to enlighten is very admirable!

To me I found this book very interesting and gripping to read, as every time I finished a chapter the topic of the next one always was intriguing so I read allot longer than I was supposed too.

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