| Edition |
First edition. |
| Description |
384 pages ; 22 cm |
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references (pages [343]-368) and indexes. |
| Contents |
Preface -- Acknowledgments -- Prologue : The beginning of science -- Section 1 : The nature of knowledge : the challenges of knowing what is knowable in the universe -- 1. Coming to our senses -- 2. On Earth as in the heavens -- 3. Seeing isn't believing -- 4. The information trap -- 5. Stick-in-the-mud science -- Section 2 : The knowledge of nature : the challenges of discovering the contents of the cosmos -- 6. Journeys from the center of the Sun -- 7. Planet parade -- 8. Vagabonds of the solar system -- 9. The five points of Lagrange -- 10. Antimatter matters -- Section 3 : Ways and means of nature : how nature presents herself to the inquiring mind -- 11. The importance of being constant -- 12. Speed limits -- 13. Going ballistic -- 14. On being dense -- 15. Over the rainbow -- 16. cosmic windows -- 17. Colors of the cosmos -- 18. Cosmic plasma -- 19. Fire and ice -- Section 4 : The meaning of life : the challenges and triumphs of knowing how we got here -- 20. Dust to dust -- 21. Forged in the stars -- 22. Send in the clouds -- 23. Goldilocks and the three planets -- 24. Water, water -- 25. Living space -- 26. Life in the universe -- 27. Our radio bubble -- |
|
Section 5 : When the universe turns bad : all the ways the cosmos wants to kill us -- 28. Chaos in the solar system -- 29. Coming attractions -- 30. ends of the world -- 31. Galactic engines -- 32. Knock 'em dead -- 33. Death by black hole -- Section 6 : Science and culture : the ruffled interface between cosmic discovery and the public's reaction to it -- 34. Things people say -- 35. Fear of numbers -- 36. On being baffled -- 37. Footprints in the sands of science -- 38. Let there be dark -- 39. Hollywood nights -- Section 7 : Science and God : when ways of knowing collide -- 40. In the beginning -- 42. Holy wars -- 42. The perimeter of ignorance -- References -- Name index -- Subject index. |
| Subject |
Cosmology -- Popular works.
|
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Exobiology -- Popular works.
|
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Solar system -- Popular works.
|
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Religion and science -- Popular works.
|
| ISBN |
9780393062243 |
|
0393062244 |
|
9780393330168 paperback |
|
0393330168 paperback |
|
