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Start giftingThe 4 Percent Universe
This audiobook uses AI narration.
We’re taking steps to make sure AI narration is transparent.
Learn moreOver the past few decades, a handful of scientists have been racing to explain a disturbing aspect of our universe: only four percent of it consists of the matter that makes up you, me, our books, and every star and planet. The rest is completely unknown.
Richard Panek tells the dramatic story of the quest to find this “dark” matter and an even more bizarre substance called “dark energy.” This is perhaps the greatest mystery in all of science, and solving it will bring fame, funding, and certainly a Nobel Prize. Based on in-depth reporting and interviews with the major players—from Berkeley’s feisty, excitable Saul Perlmutter and Harvard’s witty but exacting Robert Kirshner to the doyenne of astronomy, Vera Rubin—the book offers an intimate portrait of the bitter rivalries and fruitful collaborations, the eureka moments and blind alleys, that have fueled their search, redefined science, and reinvented the universe.
The stakes couldn’t be higher. Our view of the cosmos is profoundly wrong, and Copernicus was only the beginning: not just Earth, but all common matter is a marginal part of existence. Panek’s fast-paced narrative, filled with original reporting and behind-the-scenes details, brings this epic story to life for the very first time.
Richard Panek is the recipient of a Guggenheim fellowship and the author of The Invisible Century and Seeing and Believing. He has frequently written for the New York Times as well as Discover, Smithsonian, Esquire, and Outside, among other publications. He lives with his wife, Meg Wolitzer, and their two sons.
Ray Porter is an AudioFile Earphones Award–winning narrator and fifteen-year veteran of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. He has appeared in numerous films and television shows, including Almost Famous, ER, and Frasier.
Reviews
“Science journalist Panek offers an insider’s view of the quest for what could be the ultimate revelation…This lively story of big personalities, intellectual competitiveness, and ravenous curiosity is as entertaining as it is illuminating.”
“Somebody needed to tell this story—of all that is dark and mysterious in the cosmos. Science writer Richard Panek has risen to that task. In his journalistic yet artful style, Panek guides you through the quirky discoveries that established the existence of dark matter and dark energy. But along the way, you also get to meet the quirky cosmologists who got us there.”
“It’s the biggest mystery of all: why is the universe expanding at an accelerated rate? At its heart is a search for what forces and particles make up reality. It baffled Einstein, and it now obsesses a cadre of fascinating cosmologists. By brilliantly capturing their passions and pursuits, Richard Panek has made this cosmic quest exciting and understandable.”
“The 4 Percent Universe is a reliable and readable account of how scientists discovered—and are struggling to come to grips with—the astounding fact that most of the observable universe has not yet even been observed, much less understood. It has the further merit of relating how scientists arrive at their findings, rather than simply presenting their theories as objects of admiration or adoration. Highly recommended.”
“Modern cosmology tackles some of the biggest questions we have about the nature of the cosmos. In The 4 Percent Universe, Richard Panek brings this quest down to a human scale. The rivalries, the surprises, and the excitement are brought vividly to life. People are a very tiny percentage of the universe, but we remain the most interesting part.”
“A contemporary adventure story of modern-day explorers who venture forth into the universe not by ships, but by telescopes and satellites…Riveting.”
“A superior account of how astronomers discovered that they knew almost nothing about ninety-six percent of the universe…Panek delivers vivid sketches of scientists, lucid explanations of their work, and revealing descriptions of the often stormy rivalry that led to this scientific revolution, usually a media cliché, but not in this case.”
“In an age when our telescopes can peer billions of years into the past, it’s humbling to learn that we don’t even know what ninety-six percent of the universe is made from. In this accessible audiobook, journalist Richard Panek explains the efforts of astronomers and physicists to unlock the twin mysteries of dark matter and dark energy. Ray Porter’s narration is perfectly paced, and his sonorous voice moves the story along with confidence, despite the sometimes technical nature of the text. But this is no dry physics lecture: Panek explains the quest for understanding through the colorful personalities who led the way, and Porter adds another layer of warmth with his characterizations.”
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