The Invisible Universe
Matthew Bothwell
★★★★★ 4/5
Non Fiction: Science; Cosmology
Matthew Bothwell takes you on a grand tour of the universe (and its unknown mysteries)
Note: This is a no obligation honest review of an ARC of the book sent to me by the book’s publicist. The final published edition (hardcover out Dec 7th, 2021) may differ from the copy I am reviewing.
The sense of wonder that a starry rural night sky evokes in us—esp. with the Milky Way up—is one of those things we share going all the way back to perhaps the very ‘earliest humans’. This wonderment is closely related to the natural curiosity we have about the universe and our place in it. Which explains the general popularity in the press of cosmic phenomena and objects such as black holes and neutron star mergers, even though few of us understand the science—or the math—to truly comprehend them.
Dr. Matthew Bothwell joins a growing group of scientists turned science communicators, writing excellent non fiction science for the general public making modern science interesting and accessible. In The Invisible Universe, his first book, he takes us through the main tourist attractions of our cosmos: a highly recommended and enjoyable read, especially if this is your first guidebook for this armchair trip. If, like me though, you are an avid space enthusiast (e.g. own and use a telescope, have a subscription to Sky and Telescope, watch Cosmos for fun, etc.) you’re less likely to see/learn anything new but will still enjoy the refresher and a new anecdote or two.
A Familiar cast
The book title and premise/promise is a revelation of things in the sky that we cannot see with our eyes—the visible part of the electromagnetic spectrum being but a thin sliver of its entire span. As Dr. Bothwell helpfully explains, that is akin to hearing music from only one octave of a giant piano that actually contains sixty five octaves—a novel and memorable analogy that is based on current commonly detected photon wavelength spans (from Gamma to Radio waves). But this by itself should not be news to most: medical diagnosis uses every variety of signal from X-rays to ultrasound to study ourselves. So it should be no surprise that our understanding of our universe comes from using every possible means available to study it—signals we can perceive with our senses and those we cannot.
Dr. Bothwell uses this ‘all the light we cannot see but our instruments can’ construct to illuminate (pun intended) various exotic cosmic objects and phenomena. These include the usual cosmological celebrities and superstars (see what I did there?) —black holes, neutron stars, pulsars, magnetars, galactic dust, nascent planetary systems, CMB etc. He also goes on to describe discoveries made through the use of non electromagnetic signals such as gravitational waves. And of course, no cosmological tour would be complete without the mention of the two big mysteries: dark matter and dark energy, which are also covered expertly.
Dr. Bothwell examines each topic with the right mix of history, anecdote, analogy, science and implications, making for engaging and non strenuous reading. I particularly enjoyed his coverage of dark matter, a subject whose gravitational reach draws in almost all modern popular astronomy writing. The analogy with “is this a sign of an as yet undiscovered Uranus or the non existent planet Vulcan”, is novel and perfectly captures the razor’s edge that the question of dark matter rested on for a long time: there is unseen matter vs. we need to rethink gravity; until more recent discoveries (the bullet cluster) seem to have tipped it to the side of “there must be some unseen matter out there”.
He has clearly taken the Stephen Hawking maxim to heart: “every equation reduces book sales by half”, as he himself confesses, and in keeping with the trend in this genre, has omitted all math, but not at the expense of substance.
How Good are the pictures?
You can’t have a cosmology book without astro eye candy, right? But in this case, I can’t tell how good the pics are since the ARC references them but doesn’t actually include them ☹️. But it would be a pity if the final pics in the book aren’t stunning color plates, given the capabilities of modern professional astronomy imaging and book printing. It is saying something then, that the book, even without the pictures, is captivating.
Overall:
A great first book for adults and perhaps even teenagers/young adults on the wonders of our cosmos. The book more than meets that basic bar for popular science books: will make you feel smarter at the end of it. If you’re a more seasoned astro enthusiast though, I’d recommend something more detailed such as More Things in the Heavens, chronicling the Spitzer InfraRed space telescope’s findings. You might also like Dr. Emily Levesque’s The Last Stargazers which covers quite a bit of the same content but narrated through her own and other astronomer’s adventures and reminiscences.
Oh and the book has one of the most adorable dedications I’ve seen, which I will leave you with here:
For my grandfather, David, who joined my science club when I was eight. He was—and still remains—the only other member.
2 thoughts on “The Invisible Universe”
Very interesting! Thanks for rekindling my interest
Thanks. I’m sure you will enjoy the book. It’s out in Dec.