We Have No Idea
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Average rating4.2
Humanity's understanding of the physical world is full of gaps. Not tiny little gaps you can safely ignore--there are huge yawning voids in our basic notions of how the world works. Jorge Cham and Daniel Whiteson team up to explore everything we don't know about the universe, and while introducing the biggest mysteries in physics, they also helpfully demystify many complicated things we do know. And although the universe is full of weird things that don't make any sense, Cham and Whiteson make a compelling case that the questions we can't answer are as interesting as the ones we can, and they invite us to see the universe as a possibly boundless expanse of uncharted territory that's still ours to explore. --
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Some good information and explanation, but rather too cutesy for my taste. The footnotes are not worth reading.
If you like your physics with a side of dad-joke level puns, then this is totally the book for you. It's a fun romp through some of the wilder aspects of physics, though if you've got a fairly high level of understanding to start with then this book might feel like something of a review. For those who don't know physics at all, I'd worry that they might not be able to distinguish some of the punnier jokes, but I think most people should be able to parse it out. Overall a fun read to get you thinking, with lots of interesting concepts. I highly recommend reading it in conjunction with The Three Body Problem by Cixin Liu because a lot of the crazier topics have a fair bit of overlap.
This book is fascinating and very funny. As someone with a STEM background I sometimes wished it would go a little more into detail, but it's written to be accessible to people who don't have STEM backgrounds. And there's a bibliography for anyone who really wants to know more.
