Cosmic Dispatches: The New York Times Reports on Astronomy and Cosmology

By: John Noble Wilford

Book Overview

This collection is a guide to the history of the universe for ordinary mortals, concerning such subjects as the birth and death of stars, black holes, the nature of the solar system and big bang theory. Notes at the beginning of each chapter put each report in context.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0393322777
• ISBN13: 9780393322774
• Release Date: January 2002
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
• Length: 346 Pages
• Weight: 1.30 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 7.0" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

Embark on the ultimate voyage of cosmic discovery!

Cosmic Dispatches: Reports On Astronomy And Cosmology by Pulitzer Prize winning journalist John Noble Wilford is a guide to the very latest findings of astronomy and cosmology. The paperback edition contains six new essays on the discovery of new multiplanet systems and the question of time before the Big Bang. Among the vast compendium of other scientific issues covered in assorted essays are the future of exploration on Mars, the possibility of life on other planets, and the true age of the Universe. Cosmic Dispatches is a wondrous, informative, and mind-expanding book, highly recommended for students of astronomy and the non-specialist general reader ready to embark on the ultimate voyage of cosmic discovery!

Recent scientific discoveries as seen by the Times

This is something of a history of recent astronomy as related in the Times. The oldest story is Walter Sullivan's report on the discovery of the cosmic background radiation in 1965. Most of the others, though, are from the eighties and nineties. The coverage is divided into sections: new telescopes and new technology, planetary exploration, potential life on Mars, extrasolar planets, the life of stars, black holes, missing mass, the new cosmology, the age of the universe, the fate of the universe, looking for ET, and theories of everything. Each section has a half-dozen or so breaking stories on related topics, which gives the text a greater sense of immediacy than the usual explanatory text. Not only are these good stories in their own right, but they're also excellent examples of good science writing. (One of the physicists involved with the discovery of the CMBR even told Sullivan that he didn't understand the significance of his finding until he read his article.) The only weaknesses are the diagrams, which sometimes verge on being too small to read, and the episodic nature of the text, with each article being relatively self-contained, rather than being one chapter in an explanatory book. But these are minor complaints about an overall excellent book.