Today we continue our discussion of The End of Everything: (Astrophysically Speaking) by Katie Mack! There’s still time to grab it if you haven’t already, this week we’re only up to chapter six. Here’s the schedule:
So to kick us off:
How are you liking the book? Have you got a favorite apocalypse yet?
The book gets into some heady descriptions of things like the observable universe and how we can understand what we see. What was the most brain-twisty thing you’ve read so far?
Got a favorite line or idea? It’s a really quotable book.
I'm enjoying this book so far! Some of the stuff feels like it's flying way over my head but Mack's acknowledgement that this stuff is hard to fully grasp is helpful. The most brain-twisty part of this is attempting to understand the scale and scope of the universe and time. Maybe there is some relief that by the time most of these universe ending scenarios occur, our planet would already be uninhabitable.
Heat Death! Mapping the Violent Sky! Black Holes! When just saving the Universe isn't enough! Cosmic Doomsday! Pending doom and destruction shouldn't be this exciting and fascinating!! Also, shifting gears a bit, how is that I'm just hearing about Henrietta Swan Leavitt and her revolutionary one of the most important discoveries in the history of Astronomy?! Finally, I highly recommend Discover Magazine (the author mentions their 1995 cover story "Crisis in the Cosmos") and the Science Fiction novel Doomsday Book ( the author quoted from it "None of the things one frets about ever happen. Some-thing one's never thought does") , especially for fans of Time-Travel and such.
Heat Death feels like the most…logical? natural? It’s the one that probably SHOULD occur based on what we know right now.
But Vacuum Decay also seems like the most…poetic? That it would be occur so randomly does feel kinda appropriate, given how random the evolution of life/humanity has been in the grand scheme of things.
My favorite brain twister and quote are probably together: the unscrambling egg machine. I absolutely do NOT want to be near that thing while it’s at work.
My favorite apocalypse was probably the bounce because the idea of there being this cyclic creation and destruction happening over and over seemed really... beautiful? Satisfying?
That was also the chapter that posed the theory that gravity is so weak because it's leaking into another dimension which I thought was an awesome idea even if ultimately it turned out to be unlikely. This may become my new headcanon for physics.
I was curious how this book would end since it's such a weird almost sad topic, but I thought the author left us with a hopeful message that seemed really fitting. I struggled with a lot of the physics mumbo jumbo, but I really enjoyed the book and I'm really glad I read it.
I'm enjoying this book so far! Some of the stuff feels like it's flying way over my head but Mack's acknowledgement that this stuff is hard to fully grasp is helpful. The most brain-twisty part of this is attempting to understand the scale and scope of the universe and time. Maybe there is some relief that by the time most of these universe ending scenarios occur, our planet would already be uninhabitable.
Heat Death! Mapping the Violent Sky! Black Holes! When just saving the Universe isn't enough! Cosmic Doomsday! Pending doom and destruction shouldn't be this exciting and fascinating!! Also, shifting gears a bit, how is that I'm just hearing about Henrietta Swan Leavitt and her revolutionary one of the most important discoveries in the history of Astronomy?! Finally, I highly recommend Discover Magazine (the author mentions their 1995 cover story "Crisis in the Cosmos") and the Science Fiction novel Doomsday Book ( the author quoted from it "None of the things one frets about ever happen. Some-thing one's never thought does") , especially for fans of Time-Travel and such.
I’m torn as to which is my “favorite”.
Heat Death feels like the most…logical? natural? It’s the one that probably SHOULD occur based on what we know right now.
But Vacuum Decay also seems like the most…poetic? That it would be occur so randomly does feel kinda appropriate, given how random the evolution of life/humanity has been in the grand scheme of things.
My favorite brain twister and quote are probably together: the unscrambling egg machine. I absolutely do NOT want to be near that thing while it’s at work.
My favorite apocalypse was probably the bounce because the idea of there being this cyclic creation and destruction happening over and over seemed really... beautiful? Satisfying?
That was also the chapter that posed the theory that gravity is so weak because it's leaking into another dimension which I thought was an awesome idea even if ultimately it turned out to be unlikely. This may become my new headcanon for physics.
I was curious how this book would end since it's such a weird almost sad topic, but I thought the author left us with a hopeful message that seemed really fitting. I struggled with a lot of the physics mumbo jumbo, but I really enjoyed the book and I'm really glad I read it.