The Universe in Your Hand
A Journey Through Space, Time, and Beyond
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Narrated by:
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Ray Chase
About this listen
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.Listeners also enjoyed...
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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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Calculating the Cosmos
- How Mathematics Unveils the Universe
- By: Ian Stewart
- Narrated by: Dana Hickox
- Length: 12 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
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In Calculating the Cosmos, Ian Stewart presents an exhilarating guide to the cosmos, from our solar system to the entire universe. He describes the architecture of space and time, dark matter and dark energy, how galaxies form, why stars implode, how everything began, and how it's all going to end. He considers parallel universes, the fine-tuning of the cosmos for life, what forms extraterrestrial life might take, and the likelihood of life on Earth being snuffed out by an asteroid.
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Crank alert: rejects modern cosmology
- By James Weisner on 03-20-17
By: Ian Stewart
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The Physics of Star Trek
- By: Lawrence M. Krauss
- Narrated by: Larry McKeever
- Length: 6 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
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What actually happens when the words, "beam me up, Scottie" are uttered? What "warps" when something travels at warp speed? Internationally renowned theoretical physicist and educator Lawrence M. Krauss provides matter-of-fact scientific explanations of the physics of Star Trek in this highly creative and informative guide for both the devoted Trekkie and the physics novice.
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Interesting Book. Quite Technical
- By Christopher B. on 12-07-04
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Beyond Biocentrism
- Rethinking Time, Space, Consciousness, and the Illusion of Death
- By: Robert Lanza, Bob Berman
- Narrated by: Peter Ganim
- Length: 7 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
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In Beyond Biocentrism, acclaimed biologist Robert Lanza and astronomer Bob Berman take the listener on an intellectual thrill ride as they reexamine everything we thought we knew about life, death, the universe, and the nature of reality itself. The first step is acknowledging that our existing model of reality is looking increasingly creaky in the face of recent scientific discoveries.
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Here's the thing
- By Mikal on 11-09-18
By: Robert Lanza, and others
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A Brief Welcome to the Universe
- A Pocket-Sized Tour
- By: Neil deGrasse Tyson, Michael A. Strauss, J. Richard Gott
- Narrated by: Neil Hellegers
- Length: 4 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
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A Brief Welcome to the Universe offers a breathtaking tour of the cosmos, from planets, stars, and galaxies to black holes and time loops. Best-selling authors and acclaimed astrophysicists Neil deGrasse Tyson, Michael A. Strauss, and J. Richard Gott take listeners on an unforgettable journey of exploration to reveal how our universe actually works. Propelling you from our home solar system to the outermost frontiers of space, this book builds your cosmic insight and perspective through a marvelously entertaining narrative.
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A brief welcome for everyone
- By Ashley F on 08-24-24
By: Neil deGrasse Tyson, and others
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Spooky Action at a Distance
- The Phenomenon That Reimagines Space and Time-and What It Means for Black Holes, the Big Bang, and Theories of Everything
- By: George Musser
- Narrated by: William Hughes
- Length: 8 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
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What is space? It isn't a question that most of us normally stop to ask. Space is the venue of physics; it's where things exist, where they move and take shape. Yet over the past few decades, physicists have discovered a phenomenon that operates outside the confines of space and time. The phenomenon - the ability of one particle to affect another instantly across the vastness of space - appears to be almost magical.
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Rambling but Asks Good Questions
- By Michael on 12-19-15
By: George Musser
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Einstein's Cosmos
- How Albert Einstein's Vision Transformed Our Understanding of Space and Time: Great Discoveries
- By: Michio Kaku
- Narrated by: Ray Porter
- Length: 6 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
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A dazzling tour of the universe as Einstein saw it. How did Albert Einstein come up with the theories that changed the way we look at the world? By thinking in pictures. Michio Kaku, leading theoretical physicist (a cofounder of string theory) and best-selling science storyteller, shows how Einstein used seemingly simple images to lead a revolution in science. With originality and expertise, Kaku uncovers the surprising beauty that lies at the heart of Einstein's cosmos
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Mix of science and the man
- By B. Ruple on 11-03-13
By: Michio Kaku
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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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About Time
- Cosmology, Time and Culture at the Twilight of the Big Bang
- By: Adam Frank
- Narrated by: David Drummond
- Length: 13 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
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The Big Bang is all but dead, and we do not yet know what will replace it. Our universe's "beginning" is at an end. What does this have to do with us here on Earth? Our lives are about to be dramatically shaken again - as altered as they were with the invention of the clock, the steam engine, the railroad, the radio and the Internet.
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More fluff than science
- By Ivan the Reviewer on 04-15-13
By: Adam Frank
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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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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
What listeners say about The Universe in Your Hand
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Dremeljunkie
- 12-06-17
Great Audiobook!
Fantastic presentation of material, different then any other cosmology or quantum theory book I've ever read. Performance was great! Highly recommended!
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1 person found this helpful
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- Underporch
- 05-16-21
Math free and utterly charming
If you find math to be the stumbling block that prevents your full appreciation of cutting edge cosmology, look no further. Enter Galfard's universe (or multiverse) and be charmed. In a series of dream-like sequences you find yourself transported, shrunk, and given a ringside seat to everything from gravity fields, to quantum phenomena to, yup--those hard-to-imagine strings from string theory. Some of it is still inconceivable (and utterly counterintuitive) but you won't find another book about modern physics that accomplishes so much, with so little math--and ALL in the second person.
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- Karamelfun
- 03-13-22
Fun and illuminating
lots of interesting perspective on a wild ride from macro to subatomic unification of sorts!
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- cmyk
- 11-16-21
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.
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- J Barber
- 03-20-21
Amazingly clear. Riveting
Puts complex ideas in graspable terms. I want an updated edition! I can't wait to learn what scientists discover next.
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- KellysHero718
- 08-23-22
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.
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- nik herndon
- 10-11-16
shweeet
way cool super awesome wild ride into the deepest depths of your imagination. well worth the read
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2 people found this helpful
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- Ted
- 10-28-24
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.)
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- Kirby0270
- 07-28-17
Great Read/Listen
If you are looking for a book that has the right mix of science and delivery this is the book for you! As an audible book, I knew I couldn't follow many formulas, and this fit the bill. Interestingly delivered and masterfully explained are the superficial-surface concepts of our universe. The author summarizes and explains the most basic concepts by taking the reader through the universe. This book is a MUST read for anyone interested in space.
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3 people found this helpful
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- Anna S.
- 01-31-17
Non-Scientists CAN Understand our World
Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?
I love, love, love this book and review chapters when I think I might be forgetting a subject area. Its funny, smart and just plain awesome as far as making the cool things we think we know about our universe available to your average non-scientist.
What did you like best about this story?
Galfard's use of second person narrative is a highly effective teaching strategy!!!! And makes the lessons memorable.
What three words best describe Ray Chase’s voice?
Too Fast.
Any additional comments?
I love science, but haven't ever been able to retain it. I think Galfard has broken through the barrier- if you want to know what happens around us I think this book is it !!!!
That said, the narration, given the complexity of the subject matter, is WAY TOO FAST. One can switch the speed of audible to a slower one, but this is very difficult to understand because the cadence of the voice becomes unnatural.
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1 person found this helpful