The 4 Percent Universe

Dark Matter, Dark Energy, and the Race to Discover the Rest of Reality

By: Richard Panek

Narrated by: Ray Porter

Length: 10 hrs and 7 mins

Publisher's summary

Over 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.

©2011 Richard Panek (P)2011 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Critic reviews

“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.” (Walter Isaacson, New York Times best-selling author of Einstein: His Life and Universe)

“A superior account of how astronomers discovered that they knew almost nothing about 96 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.” ( Kirkus 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.” ( Publishers Weekly)

Interesting History

I didn't realize this book was about the history of the discoveries leading to the theories involving the 4% universe, I was expecting more of the theories themselves. Still, it was very interesting learning about the people involved in the discoveries, especially when Saul Perlmutter recently won the Nobel Prize in Physics for the work described in this book. However, it did tend to drag a little at some points.

Entertaining and interesting.

I enjoyed how the author did not take himself or the subject too seriously. It is a field of study that is exciting because there is so much that is unknown. That may be the one drawback to the book. If you are looking for a difinitive answer about dark matter and dark energy, you will be disappointed with the honest (and well explained) uncertainty on the subject.

Boring soap opera drama, not enough science

I actually only got four chapters in, so this might have eventually picked up and gotten interesting, I just couldn’t stand any more. The narrator was quite good, but the story itself just isn’t my cup of tea. It’s basically a human interest story with the discovery of the existence of dark matter as the background plot, not what I was looking for at all.

Very Interesting

Maybe as we have broken down the 4% into components in the future some may be able to breakdown dark matter and dark energy into it components. It is never simple like so many want to infer.

After the Big Bang, then what?

This was very good, but not GREAT. A worthwhile listen if you like to know about the people and the research and debate in physics/cosmology.

I enjoyed it, loved the narration and learn quite a bit in the process. Is this the best science that I have listened to? - No but only because this book is about the details of discovery, the people, places and papers that are a part of the history of scientific discover that tries to answer the essential questions of the universe. How did it begin, and what is happening now, and what will happen in the future? This book discusses what we currently can observe and explain about energy and matter in the context of the whole universe. It gives a little bit of insight how and where these scientists work.

Interesting but sold under false advertisement

Interesting book for the non-cientific community but sold under false advertisement.

The book itself is easy to follow and has an enthrilling narrative of the fight the cosmologists have held for a while to become the first to discover the ultimate explanation behind the universe. It has a lot of interesting data and milestones, though.

What i did not like at all is that the whole book is more about the "race" with just a tiny portion towards the end actually talking about dark matter and energy themselves.

COSMOLOGY

“The 4% Universe” is an exploration of dark matter and dark energy by creative writing academic Richard Panek. Panek has won science and non-fiction writing awards from the Guggenheim Foundation and the New York Foundation for the Arts.

Perhaps because Panek is not a scientist, it seems “The 4% Universe” is more about Sciences' human drama than scientific understanding. For example, Panek’s explanation of candle power to determine the distance of Supernovas from earth lacks clarity because his focus is more about competition among scientists than definition and understanding of candle power and its cosmological significance; Panek writes more about names and actions of people than about 96% of the universe that awaits discovery.

Panek suggests science has not reached cosmology’s destination; because it is Science it never will, but it is on a road that leads to a better understanding of where life came from, how it exists, and maybe, how it ends.

Panek shows cosmology has evolved from astrology to physics. The study of the cosmos reveals a convergence of the miniscule with the unfathomably large.

Panek’s book is interesting but using the World Wide Web for additional information is needed to make the book worth its purchase price.

Wonderful listen, can get long in parts

Overall a wonderful, brilliant coverage of a vast range of topics. At times the story jumps around so much one gets impatient to just get on with the progression. Brilliant narration.

the completeness and detail of the discovery of the accelerating univers. also

The completeness and detail of the discovery of the accelerating univers. Also, the total humanness of astronomers and researchers.

Detailed explanation of the subjects

I love the chapter on the detection of the CMB…the author shares with us how the CMB was detected at some point minute by minute…where does he get this information? It seems he does his research…GREAT narrator…I think I will listen to this many times just in case I missed something. This is the kind of information you want to know to pull out at some dull party and make you look like you actually know what you are talking about…