About the Book

The Book

“A User’s Guide to the Universe: Surviving the Perils of Black Holes, Time Paradoxes, and Quantum Uncertainty” answers the sorts of the questions that we (as physicists) have been drunkenly asked at cocktail parties, but lacked the wherewithal to coherently answer.

• “Can I build a time machine?”

• “What is the universe expanding into?”

• “Won’t the LHC destroy the world?”

Each chapter focuses on a single question, and in the process of answering it, we’ll take you on a roundabout tour of the surrounding countryside, with lots of groan-worthy puns and awesome cartoons to boot.  In the process, we promise not to lie to you.  No false claims about what physicists know; no describing by analogy; most importantly, no equations (save one famous one).

We did a really fun write-up of “why you should buy the book” at John’s Scalzi’s “Big Idea” blog, but if you’re already convinced, by all means, click on over to amazon.

The Authors

Dave Goldberg has a Ph.D. in Astrophysics from Princeton University, and is currently an Associate Professor in the Drexel University Department of Physics and Interim Associate Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences.  He has published more than 20 papers in theoretical and observational cosmology.

Jeff Blomquist earned his Master’s degree in Physics from Drexel University in 2008.  He is also the recipient of 2007 award for TA Excellence.   He has published comics, pictures, and prose in “The Pioneer Review”, “The Dome”, and “The Astrophysical Journal.”