Mapping the Heavens, Priyamvada Natarajan
Mapping the Heavens, Priyamvada Natarajan
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Mapping the Heavens
The Radical Scientific Ideas That Reveal the Cosmos

Author: Priyamvada Natarajan

Narrator: Elisabeth Rodgers

Unabridged: 8 hr 27 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 04/26/2016

Synopsis

Mapping the Heavens provides a tour of the “greatest hits” of cosmological discoveries—the ideas that reshaped our universe over the past century. The cosmos, once understood as a stagnant place filled with the ordinary, is now a universe that is expanding at an accelerating pace, propelled by dark energy and structured by dark matter. Priyamvada Natarajan, our guide to these ideas, is at the forefront of the research—an astrophysicist who literally creates maps of invisible matter in the universe. She not only explains for a wide audience the science behind these essential ideas but also provides an understanding of how radical scientific theories gain acceptance.The formation and growth of black holes, dark matter halos, the accelerating expansion of the universe, the echo of the big bang, the discovery of exoplanets, and the possibility of other universes—these are some of the puzzling cosmological topics of the early twenty-first century. Natarajan discusses why the acceptance of new ideas about the universe and our place in it has never been linear and always contested even within the scientific community. And she affirms that, shifting and incomplete as science always must be, it offers the best path we have toward making sense of our wondrous, mysterious universe.

About Priyamvada Natarajan

Priyamvada Natarajan is professor of astronomy and physics at Yale University and holds the Sophie and Tycho Brahe Professorship at the Dark Center, Niels Bohr Institute in Copenhagen. Her research on dark matter, dark energy, and black holes has won her many awards and honors, including Guggenheim and Radcliffe fellowships. Invested in public dissemination of science and numerical literacy, she is a member of the advisory board of NOVA ScienceNow, participates regularly in the World Science Festival, and writes for the New York Review of Books.

About Elisabeth Rodgers

What do you do with a BA in English from Princeton University? You go to New York to pursue an acting career, and end up putting all of your skills together as an audiobook narrator. Elisabeth Rodgers first started recording audiobooks for the National Library Service of the Library of Congress at the American Foundation for the Blind (Talking Book Productions) in New York City. After she had numerous titles under her belt, she branched out, and has since narrated over 100 titles for a variety of publishers. She was the recipient of an Audie Award for the full-cast recording of Sherlock's Secret Life in 2000. Her work on The Last Chinese Chef, Annexed, The Naked Eye, and Mapping the Heavens garnered AudioFile magazine's prized Earphones Awards, and she was lucky enough to join the star-studded cast of Audible, Inc.'s Audie-nominated production of The Collected Stories of Eudora Welty, as well as the Earphones-winning MetaBook audio-drama production of Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. Elisabeth continues to work both onstage and in the studio. She lives in the Lower East Side of New York City.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Jill

There have been a number of books lately on the history of science, but most of them are very detailed - perhaps too much so for the average lay reader. This book includes just enough information to highlight the major players and their main contributions, and most interestingly, perhaps, to explain......more

Goodreads review by James

I tend to read in "projects", and once in a while I actually finish one. I've been reading our library's popular and semi-popular books on cosmology for about two years now, in chronological order starting with Steven Weinberg's 1977 "classic", The First Three Minutes. I finally reached the last boo......more

Goodreads review by Charlene

​There really wasn't much new here. The history of how we came to know our universe has been told many times over. One thing this book did have going for it was that it was new (2016). Yet, the newer advances in mapping the skies were but mere mentions in this book. She included only a scarce little......more

Quotes

“A highly readable, insider’s view of recent discoveries in astronomy.” Alan Lightman, New York Times bestselling author

“Fascinating…shows that our current knowledge of our universe keeps on expanding month to month…A beautiful book.” Deepak Chopra, New York Times bestselling author

“Part history, part science, all illuminating. If you want to understand the greatest ideas that shaped our current cosmic cartography, read this book.” Adam G. Riess, Nobel Laureate in physics, 2011

“Natarajan bring a philosophical and well-informed historical depth to [her topic], consistently tying them in the theme of her passion for mapping…She deals with subjects that are extremely complex but makes them very clear, and the book is packed with well-researched facts.” BBC

“The human view of the universe has changed radically over the last century, and this accessible work from Natarajan, professor of astronomy and physics at Yale, highlights those changes as well as the personalities—and the battles—behind them…By introducing the major players behind each discovery, Natarajan adds a lively human touch to her discussion, reinforcing the dynamism of a field that ‘fans human curiosity and is driven by it as well.’” Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“Listeners will be mesmerized by this audiobook as it unfolds its little-known cosmological booty. Using pacing, expression, and a confident tone, narrator Elisabeth Rodgers gives a flawless performance…It’s a spellbinding listen with a super guide. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award.” AudioFile

“An authoritative guide to the major cosmological breakthroughs of the past century.” Owen Gingerich, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics

“This excellent book describes the boisterous debates and hard slog whereby our current understanding of the cosmos has emerged. It’s especially welcome as a faithful portrayal of how science is actually done.” Martin Rees, author of Just Six Numbers

“[An] insightful overview of the hottest topics in astronomy today.” Marcia Bartusiak, author of Black Hole

Awards

  • AudioFile Earphones Award
  • Voice Arts Award
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