How Old Is the Universe?
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Narrated by:
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Brad Smith
About this listen
Astronomers have determined that our universe is 13.7 billion years old. How exactly did they come to this precise conclusion? How Old Is the Universe? tells the incredible story of how astronomers solved one of the most compelling mysteries in science and, along the way, introduces listeners to fundamental concepts and cutting-edge advances in modern astronomy.
The age of our universe poses a deceptively simple question, and its answer carries profound implications for science, religion, and philosophy. David Weintraub traces the centuries-old quest by astronomers to fathom the secrets of the nighttime sky. Describing the achievements of the visionaries whose discoveries collectively unveiled a fundamental mystery, he shows how many independent lines of inquiry and much painstakingly gathered evidence, when fitted together like pieces in a cosmic puzzle, led to the long-sought answer. Astronomers don't believe the universe is 13.7 billion years old - they know it. You will too after listening to this book.
By focusing on one of the most crucial questions about the universe and challenging readers to understand the answer, Weintraub familiarizes listeners with the ideas and phenomena at the heart of modern astronomy, including red giants and white dwarfs, cepheid variable stars and supernovae, clusters of galaxies, gravitational lensing, dark matter, dark energy and the accelerating universe - and much more.
Offering a unique historical approach to astronomy, How Old Is the Universe? sheds light on the inner workings of scientific inquiry and reveals how astronomers grapple with deep questions about the physical nature of our universe.
Download the accompanying reference guide.©2011 Princeton University Press (P)2012 Audible, Inc.Listeners also enjoyed...
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Interesting book, but WOW, the narrator ...
- By UH on 01-10-17
By: Jim Baggott
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Exoplanets
- Diamond Worlds, Super Earths, Pulsar Planets, and the New Search for Life Beyond Our Solar System
- By: Michael Summers
- Narrated by: Jon Bennett
- Length: 5 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
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Since its 2009 launch, the Kepler satellite has discovered more than 2,000 exoplanets, or planets outside our solar system. More exoplanets are being discovered all the time, remarkable in their variety. Astronomer Michael Summers and physicist James Trefil explore these remarkable recent discoveries: planets revolving around pulsars, planets made of diamond, planets that are mostly water, and numerous rogue planets wandering through the emptiness of space.
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FINALLY, an Attention-Grabbing Planet Book!
- By aaron on 05-11-17
By: Michael Summers
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Genesis
- The Story of How Everything Began
- By: Guido Tonelli, Erica Segre - translator, Simon Carnell - translator
- Narrated by: Damian Lynch
- Length: 6 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
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A breakout best seller in Italy, now available for American listeners for the first time, Genesis: The Story of How Everything Began is a short, humanistic tour of the origins of the universe, earth, and life - drawing on the latest discoveries in physics to explain the seven most significant moments in the creation of the cosmos.
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This is soooo boring to listen to
- By A. Galer on 02-27-23
By: Guido Tonelli, and others
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The Universe in the Rearview Mirror
- How Hidden Symmetries Shape Reality
- By: Dave Goldberg
- Narrated by: Chris Sorensen
- Length: 10 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
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A physicist speeds across space, time, and everything in between showing that our elegant universe from the Higgs boson to antimatter to the most massive group of galaxies is shaped by hidden symmetries that have driven all our recent discoveries about the universe and all the ones to come. Why is the sky dark at night? Is it possible to build a shrink-ray gun? If there is antimatter, can there be antipeople? Why are past, present, and future our only options? Are time and space like a butterfly's wings? No one but Dave Goldberg, the coolest nerd physicist on the planet, could give a hyper-drive tour of the universe like this one.
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Good, but for whom?
- By Michael on 08-31-13
By: Dave Goldberg
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Warped Passages
- Unraveling the Mysteries of the Universe's Hidden Dimensions
- By: Lisa Randall
- Narrated by: Donna Postel
- Length: 17 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
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Warped Passages is an altogether exhilarating journey that tracks the arc of discovery from early 20th-century physics to the razor's edge of modern scientific theory. One of the world's leading theoretical physicists, Lisa Randall provides astonishing scientific possibilities that, until recently, were restricted to the realm of science fiction. Unraveling the twisted threads of the most current debates on relativity, quantum mechanics, and gravity, she explores some of the most fundamental questions posed by Nature.
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Physics textbook without the math
- By Victor on 05-13-18
By: Lisa Randall
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Coming of Age in the Milky Way
- By: Timothy Ferris
- Narrated by: Timothy Ferris
- Length: 2 hrs and 44 mins
- Abridged
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Humans have long sought to comprehend the enormities of cosmic space and time. Here, best selling science writer Timothy Ferris tells the story of that quest. He interweaves the majestic themes of astronomy, physics, religion, and philosophy with fresh and lasting portraits of the men and women who created what has been called our society's most precious treasure - its conception of the universe at large.
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Brief survey of discovery from Columbus to now
- By serine on 01-23-16
By: Timothy Ferris
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The Island of Knowledge
- The Limits of Science and the Search for Meaning
- By: Marcelo Gleiser
- Narrated by: William Neenan
- Length: 10 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
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How much can we know about the world? In this audiobook physicist Marcelo Gleiser traces our search for answers to the most fundamental questions of existence, the origin of the universe, the nature of reality, and the limits of knowledge. In so doing he reaches a provocative conclusion: Science, like religion, is fundamentally limited as a tool for understanding the world. As science and its philosophical interpretations advance, we face the unsettling recognition of how much we don't know.
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Island of knowledge
- By Joshua Kring on 07-26-15
By: Marcelo Gleiser
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Knocking on Heaven's Door
- How Physics and Scientific Thinking Illuminate the Universe and the Modern World
- By: Lisa Randall
- Narrated by: Carrington MacDuffie
- Length: 14 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
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The latest developments in physics have the potential to radically revise our understanding of the world: its makeup, its evolution, and the fundamental forces that drive its operation. Knocking on Heaven's Door is an exhilarating and accessible overview of these developments and an impassioned argument for the significance of science. There could be no better guide than Lisa Randall.
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Too Political
- By Allan on 12-14-11
By: Lisa Randall
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Our Mathematical Universe
- My Quest for the Ultimate Nature of Reality
- By: Max Tegmark
- Narrated by: Rob Shapiro
- Length: 15 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
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Max Tegmark leads us on an astonishing journey through past, present and future, and through the physics, astronomy, and mathematics that are the foundation of his work, most particularly his hypothesis that our physical reality is a mathematical structure and his theory of the ultimate multiverse. In a dazzling combination of both popular and groundbreaking science, he not only helps us grasp his often mind-boggling theories, but he also shares with us some of the often surprising triumphs and disappointments that have shaped his life as a scientist.
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Wow!
- By Michael on 02-02-14
By: Max Tegmark
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The World According to Physics
- By: Jim Al-Khalili
- Narrated by: Jim Al-Khalili
- Length: 6 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
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Shining a light on the most profound insights revealed by modern physics, Jim Al-Khalili invites us all to understand what this crucially important science tells us about the universe and the nature of reality itself. Al-Khalili begins by introducing the fundamental concepts of space, time, energy, and matter, and then describes the three pillars of modern physics - quantum theory, relativity, and thermodynamics - showing how all three must come together if we are ever to have a full understanding of reality.
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excellent book
- By Anonymous User on 05-10-21
By: Jim Al-Khalili
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Paradox
- The Nine Greatest Enigmas in Physics
- By: Jim Al-Khalili
- Narrated by: Matthew Waterson
- Length: 6 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
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Throughout history, scientists have come up with theories and ideas that just don't seem to make sense. These we call paradoxes. The paradoxes Al-Khalili offers are drawn chiefly from physics and astronomy and represent those that have stumped some of the finest minds. With elegant explanations that bring the listener inside the mind of those who've developed them, Al-Khalili helps us to see that, in fact, paradoxes can be solved if seen from the right angle.
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Almost Useless
- By Michael on 06-19-19
By: Jim Al-Khalili
What listeners say about How Old Is the Universe?
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Tom
- 03-04-13
Unlistenable Reader
What did you like best about How Old Is the Universe?? What did you like least?
This is an excellent book summarizing the history of cosmology, particularly the age of the universe. Unfortunately, the reader is terrible. He reads as if he is late for an appointment and just wants to get to the end. Also, he clearly spent no time learning how to pronounce names and words that are well known amongst astronomers.
What other book might you compare How Old Is the Universe? to and why?
I recommend an interested reader try Cosmology: A Very Short History. It's a bit dense, but it is at least listenable.
What didn’t you like about Brad Smith’s performance?
I didn't like any aspect of Brad Smith's performance. His reading was rushed and was like listening to a jack-hammer. I have listened to hundreds of audiobooks, and I think he rates as one of the worst readers I have ever come across.
Did How Old Is the Universe? inspire you to do anything?
Listen to other relevant audiobooks with a better reader.
Any additional comments?
It would be great if this book could be re-recorded with a different reader. It is simply unlistenable right now.
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3 people found this helpful
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- Lifesavr
- 11-17-13
It starts with the basics & then the fantastic
Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?
Surely sometimes it is all beyond my comprehension but I still find it all so fascinating. That us humans have the mind and the curiosity to sit down and figure all this out. Thousands of people with their different skills in imagination, mathematics, logic and more have been drawn to try to make sense of what it is we see when we look up into the sky, day or night. I look up and I am in awe mostly. Though now after reading this book the awe is both what I see and now what I know. The story is very well told and so much information is packed into this one book. It is all so amazing. This is also a book I will and have already listen to over and over again. Each time I seem to understand more.
What other book might you compare How Old Is the Universe? to and why?
Einstein's Cosmos: How Albert Einstein's Vision Transformed Our Understanding of Space and Time: Great Discoveries
This is another great book which to me brings Einstein's genius to light so much so you are amazed that the human race was able to bring into existence such a brilliant thinker. What a special gift he was to all of us. (Though this is a personal comment and is not in the book, to think that the ignorance and hate of Nazi Germany would have killed a man such as Einstein is to me a terrible thought.)
What does Brad Smith bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?
He is amazing with his narration. His tone is fairly neutral and he is able to present some very complicated ideas in a voice that makes you almost see it. It is somewhat of a long book over 10 hours and if his reading wasn't just perfect it would have ruined the experience, but of course just the opposite happens. Though not everyone agrees with me, and maybe it is my laziness, but I so enjoy lying on my bed in comfort and be able to just listen to such wonderful writings as done by the author and read by Brad Smith. Truly a joy of our modern day society. I find this so with audio. I believe it allows for my "self" to relax and take in what it being said in a way reading the book or watching a video doesn't allow to happen. I can just float in my imagination and enjoy!
Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?
In a sense surely one has a certain feeling of joy when you hear of someone's success after so great an effort and then of course the opposite happens when you see a great effort and focus on finding a solution and failure is the end result. Even worse is finding a solution and have your fellow humans punish you for being brilliant. Surely science history is man at his best trying to understand and make sense of what he/she is experiencing. Another good reason to listen to the book for it not only helps you learn it also helps you experience the greatness of humans at trying to satisfy our curiosity.
Any additional comments?
I strongly suggest you download the PDF that comes with the book. It has many drawings that make what the point that the author is trying to make easier to comprehend. There are also many interesting pictures that I found helpful and inspiring.
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- J. D. Stevens
- 12-16-12
The worst-read audiobook I've ever listened to.
What would have made How Old Is the Universe? better?
A different reader
Has How Old Is the Universe? turned you off from other books in this genre?
No, but I will think twice about buying anything else published by Audible
How did the narrator detract from the book?
This has been an extremely frustrating book to listen to. The narrator's cadence is EXTREMELY unnatural. He sounds like he has to pause to flip a page in the middle of a sentence — EVERY sentence. I truly believe a computer would have done a better job of narrating this book.
Any additional comments?
I've listened to dozens of audiobooks over the past 12 years, and this was the worst performance I've ever endured.
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6 people found this helpful