The Universe in Your Hand

A Journey Through Space, Time, and Beyond

By: Christophe Galfard

Narrated by: Ray Chase

Stephen Hawking's protégé and cowriter lifts the veil on the mysteries of our universe in a style that is wonderfully direct. Quantum physics, black holes, string theory, the big bang, dark matter, dark energy, parallel universes: Even if we are interested in these fundamental concepts of our world, their language is the language of math. Which means that despite our best intentions of finally grasping, say, Einstein's theory of general relativity, most of us are quickly brought up short by a snarl of nasty equations or an incomprehensible graph.

Christophe Galfard's mission in life is to spread modern scientific ideas to the general public in entertaining ways. Using his considerable skills as a brilliant theoretical physicist and successful young-adult author, The Universe in Your Hand employs the immediacy of simple, direct language to show us, not explain to us, the theories that underpin everything we know about our universe. To understand what happens to a dying star, we are asked to picture ourselves floating in space in front of it. To get acquainted with the quantum world, we are shrunk to the size of an atom and then taken on a journey. Employing everyday similes and metaphors, addressing the listener directly, and writing stories rather than equations renders these astoundingly complex ideas in an immediate and visceral way.

Utterly captivating and entirely unique, The Universe in Your Hand will find its place among other classics in the field.

©2015, 2016 Christophe Galfard (P)2016 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

shweeet

way cool super awesome wild ride into the deepest depths of your imagination. well worth the read

Yes, mind-stretching—but also cutesy and annoying

Galfard is beyond doubt brilliant (Ph.D. in theoretical physics from Cambridge, worked with Stephen Hawking), but this book could have been shorter and far less annoying if he’d trimmed the cutesy, rather condescending filler material that demands we imagine ourselves on a tropical beach looking up at the stars, or floating in spirit around the galaxy, or dozing on a time-traveling jet plane complete with airport and stewardesses, or conversing with a little yellow particle-throwing robot, or corresponding by postcard with a great aunt in Australia who likes crystalware, etc. etc. — all embellished with far too much detail that tries too hard to be amusing. This sort of thing makes me impatient. I don’t pretend that the concepts themselves are easy to understand — far from it; they are, as you’d expect, mind-stretching, certainly beyond the limits of my understanding — but Galfard has apparently written children’s books, and something of the hand-holding tone, the sense that he’s talking down to us, remains from those books.

Constantly, as I listened, I kept thinking that the concepts described would be considerably easier to follow in an animated movie.

In one of the later chapters, the narrator assures us: “So far you have been traveling through the best theories mankind has ever built to describe the world that surrounds us. In practice, it means you now know as much about our universe as a good graduate student from any of the best universities on earth. Not in technical terms, obviously, but certainly in terms of ideas. It should already be enough for you to shine at any dinner party.” What an absurdly self-serving claim! Utter horse manure!

For better or worse, Ray Chase’s narration, while clearly enthusiastic, only tends to magnify the condescending tone. (But I don’t think it’s his fault.)

Excellent, comprehensible review of challenging concepts

Well written, frequently funny and exceptionally educational. The author takes you on a journey through the cosmos from wherever you are to explore the depths and Beginnings of the universe and space-time itself.

Amazingly clear. Riveting

Puts complex ideas in graspable terms. I want an updated edition! I can't wait to learn what scientists discover next.

What a Story, Big and Small

Seriously, what a trip, from the edge of the universe to quarks. The writing is far more understandable than many of the principles, so it’s a good read. Another example of how science has changed and continues to change.