Dark Matter and the Dinosaurs: The Astounding Interconnectedness of the Universe by Lisa Randall (PDF)

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“A cracking read, combining storytelling of the highest order with a trove of information. . . . What’s remarkable is that it all fits together.”—Wall Street Journal“Successful science writing tells a complete story of the ‘how’—the methodical marvel building up to the ‘why’—and Randall does just that.”—New York Times Book Review“[Randall] is a lucid explainer, street-wise and informal. Without jargon or mathematics, she steers us through centuries of sometimes tortuous astronomical history.”—The GuardianIn Dark Matter and the Dinosaurs, Professor Lisa Randall, one of today’s most influential theoretical physicists, takes readers on an intellectual adventure through the history of the cosmos, showing how events in the farthest reaches of the Universe created the conditions for life—and death—on our planet.Sixty-six million years ago, an object the size of a city crashed into Earth, killing off the dinosaurs, along with three-quarters of the planet’s species. Challenging the usual assumptions about the simple makeup of the unseen material that constitutes 85% of the matter in the Universe, Randall explains how a disk of dark matter in the Milky Way plane might have triggered the cataclysm.But Dark Matter and the Dinosaurs does more than present a radical idea. With clarity and wit, it explains the nature of the Universe, dark matter, the Milky Way galaxy, comets, asteroids, and impacts. This breathtaking synthesis, illuminated by pop culture references and social and political viewpoints, reveals the deep relationships among the small and the large, the visible and the hidden, as well as the astonishing beauty of the connections that surround us. It’s impossible to read this book and look at either the Earth or the sky again in the same way.

User’s Reviews

Editorial Reviews: Review “Successful science writing tells a complete story of the ‘how’-the methodical marvel building up to the ‘why’-and Randall does just that.” — New York Times Book Review“A cracking read, combining storytelling of the highest order with a trove of information on subjects as diverse as astrophysics, evolutionary biology, geology and particle physics. What’s remarkable is that it all fits together.” — Wall Street Journal“The universe, Randall eloquently argues, is an organic thing, a symphonic thing, with all its myriad parts contributing their own notes.” — Time Magazine“Randall succeeds in guiding the reader through the history of the cosmos and the Earth from the Big Bang to the emergence of life as we know it in a fun and captivating way. . . . [This is] a very enjoyable read for both lay readers and scientists.” — Science Magazine“The nature of the impactor remains unknown, but if it was indeed a comet dislodged from the Oort Cloud, then Randall’s book provides an entertaining and radical explanation of the events leading up to their ultimate extinction.” — Philadelphia Inquirer“Through Randall’s brilliant research we see a universe unfold that is far grander than anyone at any time could have imagined… She is a progressive thinker, a visionary capable of bridging the vast gulf between speculation and reality science.” — San Francisco Book Review“Randall, a Harvard professor, is one of the world’s leading experts on particle physics and cosmology. In Dark Matter and the Dinosaurs, she takes readers on an illuminating scientific adventure, beginning 66 million years ago, that connects dinosaurs, comets, DNA, and the future of the planet.” — Huffington Post“Brilliant and thought provoking…The greatest strength of Randall’s book is that it lacks any overly academic jargon and is reasonably easy to understand. Dark Matter and the Dinosaurs illustrates beautifully that there is so much left to be discovered about ourselves and the universe that we call home.” — BUST“The nature of the impactor remains unknown, but if it was indeed a comet dislodged from the Oort Cloud, then Randall’s book provides an entertaining and radical explanation of the events leading up to their ultimate extinction.” — Physics World“The nature of the impactor remains unknown, but if it was indeed a comet dislodged from the Oort Cloud, then Randall’s book provides an entertaining and radical explanation of the events leading up to their ultimate extinction.” — WHYY Radio Times“Mind-blowing. . . . If [Randall is] correct. . . . it would be a revolution in human thought every bit as gargantuan as that precipitated by Copernicus. — House of Speakeasy Blog“The nature of the impactor remains unknown, but if it was indeed a comet dislodged from the Oort Cloud, then Randall’s book provides an entertaining and radical explanation of the events leading up to their ultimate extinction.” — On Being with Krista Tippett“[Randall’s] is a fascinating, tantalizing theory, linking life on Earth-or the extinction thereof-with the very origins of our universe.” — Publishers Weekly, Starred Review“Engrossing in its own right, this theory opens onto an illuminating survey of the cutting-edge science now deployed to test its components, including its daring redefinition of dark matter. As she did in Warped Passages (2005) and Knocking on Heaven’s Door (2011), Randall delivers intellectual exhilaration.” — Booklist, Starred Review“Writing in a deceptively chatty narrative style, Randall provides a fascinating window into the excitement of discovery and the rigor required to test and elaborate new hypotheses. A top-notch science book from a leading researcher.” — Kirkus, Starred ReviewOnly Lisa Randall can take us on such a thrilling scientific journey―from dinosaurs to DNA to comets to dark matter and to past and future of our species. Randall’s research is so thorough, the story so powerful, and her storytelling so compelling that I could not put this book down.” — Siddhartha Mukherjee, author of Emperor of All Maladies“The nature of the impactor remains unknown, but if it was indeed a comet dislodged from the Oort Cloud, then Randall’s book provides an entertaining and radical explanation of the events leading up to their ultimate extinction.” — Walter Kirn, author of Blood Will Out and Up In the Air“The wonder and curiosity Lisa Randall so obviously feels about our world and the universe itself is evident on every page. [Randall] render[s] complex subject matter into a gripping page-turner that is impossible to put down. Dark Matter and the Dinosaurs is a fascinating, mind-expanding experience.” — Augusten Burroughs, author of This is How and Running with Scissors“Lisa Randall has produced an intriguing, insightful book that brilliantly weaves together the disparate subjects of cosmology and biology. . . . A simple, elegant theory that finally makes sense of mass extinctions. A must read for anyone interested in the precariousness of life on earth.” — Jack Horner, MacArthur Fellow and author of How To Build a Dinosaur“Dark Matter and the Dinosaurs is . . . a masterpiece of science writing: a detective story that illuminates the nature of scientific research while explaining how our very existence may be connected to unexpected properties of the dark matter that fills the universe.” — Kip Thorne, Feynman Professor of Theoretical Physics at CalTech“A provocative and revealing account of how scientists like herself are uncovering deep connections between human existence and the wider universe. A terrific read.” — Timothy Ferris, author of Coming of Age in the Milky Way and Seeing in the Dark“World-renowned physicist Lisa Randall brings a fresh twist to one of the world’s oldest murder mysteries, the death of the dinos. With lively writing and wonderfully accessible explanations, she now convincingly implicates a new suspect as ultimately responsible for the hit: a novel kind of dark matter.” — Max Tegmark, physicist and author of Our Mathematical Universe“It’s a tall order to cover everything from the Big Bang to today’s ongoing Sixth Extinction in a consistently engaging way for a general audience. Particle physicist Randall delivers, peppering serious science with anecdotes about Roombas and fortune cookie messages.” — Discover Magazine“By grounding one in the principles of cosmology, particle physics, geology, astrophysics, paleontology and meteoritics, Randall provides the reader with a broad spectrum look at not only the world around them, but the worlds around that world, the galaxies and galactic clusters, filaments, sheets and, eventually, the Universe.” — Paste From the Back Cover The groundbreaking work from bestselling author and renowned particle physicist Lisa Randall—a dazzling adventure into the interconnectedness of our universe.Sixty-six million years ago, an object the size of a city crashed into Earth, killing off the dinosaurs and two-thirds of the planet’s species. Challenging the usual assumptions about the simple makeup of the unseen material that constitutes 85 percent of the matter in the Universe, Randall explains how a disk of dark matter in the Milky Way plane might have triggered the cataclysm.But Dark Matter and the Dinosaurs does more than present a radical new research idea. With clarity and wit, Randall explains the nature of the Universe, dark matter, the Milky Way galaxy, comets, asteroids, and impacts. This breathtaking synthesis, illuminated by pop culture references and social and political viewpoints, reveals the deep relationships among the visible and the hidden, as well as the astonishing beauty of the connections that surround us. It’s impossible to read this book and look at either the Earth or the sky again in the same way. About the Author Lisa Randall studies theoretical particle physics and cosmology at Harvard University, where she is Frank B. Baird, Jr., Professor of Science. A member of the National Academy of Sciences, the American Philosophical Society, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, she is the recipient of many awards and honorary degrees. Professor Randall was included in Time magazine’s “100 Most Influential People” of 2007 and was among Esquire magazine’s “75 Most Influential People of the 21st Century.” Professor Randall’s two books, Warped Passages (2005) and Knocking on Heaven’s Door (2011) were New York Times bestsellers and 100 Notable Books. Her stand-alone e-book, Higgs Discovery: The Power of Empty Space, was published in 2012. Read more

Reviews from Amazon users which were colected at the time this book was published on the website:

⭐This is another very interesting book by Lisa Randall, theoretical physicist at Harvard University. The book is divided into three main parts: The Development of the Universe, An Active Solar System, and Deciphering Dark Matters Identity.In the first part, we are introduced to this thing called dark energy – something that remains constant over time as the universe expands. That’s why this type of energy can be called a cosmological constant. We can determine the existence of this stuff via gravitational lensing, the characteristics of the Bullet Cluster, supernovae measurements, and the study of the microwave background radiation.- all explained by Randall. This is important stuff, because dark matter makes up 69 percent of the energy in the universe. We are also given here a history lesson on the universe starting with the Big Bang, for which the author provides us with ample evidence of the event’s occurrence. Later, we see the development of stars and galaxies, and how the competition of radiation and matter brought this about. Dark matter also played an important role here.In the second section, we get an introduction to meteors, asteroids, comets, and the planets. Associated with these objects are the Kuiper belt and the Oort cloud. There is an excellent primer on how to determine the edge of the Solar System, and an introduction to near-Earth objects. The discussion continues into the five major extinctions that have occurred starting with the Ordovician-Silurian period about 440 million years ago. There were others before this, but these had a major impact on life on Earth. It is the last one, called the K-Pg extinction, that is responsible for the final blow to the dinosaurs, and the author elaborates on this in her book. Actually, it all began with Walter and Luis Alvarez back in 1980 when they discovered a layer of iridium dating back to about 65 million years ago. Over the years, other evidence solidified the findings, such as the discovery of other rare metals, rock droplets called microkrystites, tektites, and other evidence. Eventually the crater at Chicxulub was found clinching the case.By part three, we are now deciphering the mystery of dark matter. There are a number of possible paradigms for what dark matter is composed of. One prominent candidate are WIMPS. Some others are axions, neutrinos, machos, and asymmetrical dark matter models. Finding the right candidate is the difficult part since “today’s searches rely on a leap of faith that dark matter, despite its near invisibility, has interactions that are sufficiently substantial for detectors built from ordinary matter to register.” We have direct detection method, such as cryogenic detectors, and those that employ noble liquids. Then there are the indirect detections methods that involve looking for the signal that would arise if dark matter particles annihilate with dark matter antiparticles transforming the energy produced into something visible. The author discusses some discrepancies uncovered in the search for dark matter, such as the core-cusp problem, the missing satellite problem, and the too big to fail problem. Further chapters discuss an interesting hypothesis of the author called “double-disk dark matter,” (DDDM) and also something called “partially interacting dark matter,” where you have a small component of the dark matter that interacts through nongravitational forces.So how is all this related to the dinosaurs? Well, according to the DDDM theory, our galaxy would contain two types of disks, the dark matter disk and the visible matter disk. As the Solar System oscillated through the dark matter disk as we moved through the galaxy, gravitational forces could have slung “comets out of the Oort cloud so that they periodically catapulted into Earth, possible even precipitating a mass extinction.” The Oort cloud is a cloud of icy bodies found beyond Pluto. Who would have known?

⭐I was surprised at the strange title, and had doubt until I saw the abstract on Amazon. The Part 1, about 20% of the whole book, was found to outline the history of the universe. The Part 2, 50%, dealt with the relationships between fall of meteorites and extinction/regeneration of the creatures. The Part 3 consisted of introduction of the dark matter, which stood for 10%, and the author’s new theory, which was 20%. Personnaly, I wanted to read more about her new theory, even if the Part 2 might have been shortened. In the concluding chapter, however, the author said she wanted to show how to proceed with research by organizing known knowledges and exploring into unknown worlds. So pages may have been alloted according to this intention of hers. I understand that the Part 3, 30%, is within the subjects of author’s long-time research, and the Parts 1 and 2, 70%, are what she has explored and organized relatively recently. I was quite impressed by the fact that the latter was also much detailed and very easy to understand. Aside from cooperation of co-researchers, it is very much impressive that a genius can cexplore into a new field to organize it so beautifully. The author’s new theory is very interesting. She says that the dark matter may not be only one kind but may consist of various kinds like ordinary matter. Just as the electromagnetic force acts only on several kinds of ordinary matter, there might exist some kinds of dark matter responding to a force like “dark electromagnetic force”. If such a force is hypothesized, responding dark matter should form a thin disk within the disk of the Milky Way Galaxy, and its gravity might cause up and down oscillation of the solar system. Once in 32 million years, the solar system should cross the dark matter disk, and huge comets should be pulled out of the outer range of the solar system to cause great impacts on the earth, among others, to extinguish the creatures like dinosaurs. If this hypothesis should be verified in the future, I think, it will probably deserve a Nobel prize. Apart from the main theme of this book, the author expresses her concern that the human being is now destroying the ecosystem of the creatures in a rate much higher than in the crisis of extinction in the past. Most of the readers interested in the Parts 1 and 2 may be different from those interested in the Part 3. But this book is great for those who happen to be interested in both.。

⭐Good read – I learned a lot about dark matter. The dinosaur add a bit of excitement but sometimes the author is emphasising a bit too much how speculative all this is. Although I am left confused to wether there is evidence for periodicity or not. Some of the later chapters are not as good as the initial ones.

⭐Bought for a friend obsessed with this kind of thing. His mind was reasonably pickled after so I’m guessing it’s good.

⭐I use to read lot of this kind of science related books and really this one is one of the most disappointing ones, is full of irrelevant analogies (comparing dark matter distribution to how cities arrange between urban and suburban), anecdotes that really dont give any further insight on the topics (like her own appearance on the big bang theory show) None of the suggestions or theories on her books (like dark matter) are proven, everything is just speculation and very few discoveries or fruitful ideas.

⭐I think everyone by now knows of the general scientific consensus that the mass extinction of the dinosaurs was triggered by a asteroid slamming into the Yucutan Peninsula. While Lisa Randall does review the history and science of this discovery, this book is not a retelling of that story, rather she uses the mass extinction of the dinosaurs as a jumping off point to discuss much more ambitious questions, like why do asteroids and meteors collide with Earth in the first place? Are these random events or is there some discernable, predictable pattern to large impact events? And how did such events shape the development of life on Earth?Raising these questions leads to a discussion of the formation of the Universe itself, our galaxy and solar system, and the intriguing role of Dark Matter. Her theory is that the Dark Matter may have helped nudged an asteroid out of its usual orbit, putting it on a direct path to Earth.She is clearly a very knowledgeable scientist and passionate about her field of study and to her credit, she doesn’t oversell her theory. Her passion and enthusiasm comes through in her writing. She also does her best to breakdown very complex concepts of physics and cosmology for the ordinary layperson. Nevertheless, Dark Matter, for me at least, was a very elusive and difficult concept to grasp. There were many times I felt like the character of Penny in the episode of the Big Bang Theory where Penny asks Sheldon to explain to her “what does Leonard do?”. I think in the end, as much as I applaud her for trying to grapple with these big questions of “why” and “what”, I felt overwhelmed.

⭐…jedenfalls dann nicht, wenn man, wie ich, den diesbezüglichen wissenschaftlichen Fortschritt der letzten 50 Jahre nur noch sporadisch zur Kenntnis genommen hat. In meiner Jugend war das Sonnensystem noch eine ziemlich aufgeräumte Angelegenheit, mit neun Planeten, ein paar Monden und einem Haufen Asteroiden. Aber von der Oortschen Wolke, aus der alle vergangenen, gegenwärtigen und zukünftigen Kometen stammen, hatte ich zum Beispiel nichts geahnt.Und von Dunkler Materie natürlich auch nichts, diesem so ebenso elusiven wie ambivalenten Stoff, der einerseits die Welt im Innersten zusammenhält, andererseits dazu beizutragen scheint, dass das Leben auf der Erde in regelmäßigen, wenn auch langen Abständen brutal zurechtgestutzt wird, und bei dem es auch unter Wissenschaftlern immer noch ein paar Zweifler gibt, ob er überhaupt existiert. Lisa Randall, weltweit anerkannte elementarteilchenphysikalische Frontfrau und 2007 einer der 100 einflussreichsten Timesmenschen, ist fest davon überzeugt, dass sich ohne die Schwerkraft einer gigantischen Scheibe Dunkler Materie (nicht zu verwechseln mit Schwarzen Löchern!) Aufbau und Dynamik der Milchstraße nicht erklären ließe, und das periodisch wiederkehrende Aufschlagen zerstörerischer Kometen auf der Erde auch nicht (das aber manchmal auch sein Gutes hatte, jedenfalls aus anthropozentrischer Sicht, denn solange Dinosaurier die Nahrungskette anführten, war an die Entwicklung größerer Säugetiere nicht zu denken).Es begeistert mich immer wieder, wie es englischsprachigen Wissenschaftlern gelingt, ihre Leser behutsam an komplexeste Sachverhalte heranzuführen und Unerklärbares so zu erklären, sodass sie schließlich auch von etwas so Rätselhaftem wie der unsichtbaren und unberührbaren Dunklen Materie eine gewisse Vorstellung entwickeln. Lisa Randall zeichnet dabei ein höchst anschauliches Bild, wie Wissenschaftler denken und arbeiten und wie dramatisch sich unser Verständnis für den Aufbau des Universums in den letzten Jahrzehnten weiterentwickelt hat, durch enge Zusammenarbeit zwischen Astrophysikern, Teilchenphysikern und Geologen. Ein spannendes, lehrreiches und mitreißend geschriebenes Buch, auch und gerade für Leser von außerhalb der drei genannten Fakultäten.

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