Ripples in Spacetime cover art

Ripples in Spacetime

Einstein, Gravitational Waves, and the Future of Astronomy

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Ripples in Spacetime

By: Govert Schilling, Martin Rees
Narrated by: Joel Richards
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About this listen

Ripples in Spacetime is an engaging account of the international effort to complete Einstein's project, capture his elusive ripples, and launch an era of gravitational-wave astronomy that promises to explain, more vividly than ever before, our universe's structure and origin.

The quest for gravitational waves involved years of risky research and many personal and professional struggles that threatened to derail one of the world's largest scientific endeavors. Govert Schilling takes listeners to sites where these stories unfolded - including Japan's KAGRA detector, Chile's Atacama Cosmology Telescope, the South Pole's BICEP detectors, and the United States' LIGO labs. He explains the seeming impossibility of developing technologies sensitive enough to detect waves from two colliding black holes in the very distant universe, and describes the astounding precision of the LIGO detectors. Along the way, Schilling clarifies concepts such as general relativity, neutron stars, and the big bang using language that listeners with little scientific background can grasp.

©2017 Govert Schilling (P)2017 Tantor Astronomy Astronomy & Space Science Engineering History History & Philosophy Physics Science Cosmology Black Hole Mathematics Solar System Interstellar Space Theory

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Critic reviews

"An exciting history of the second great breakthrough of 21st-century physics." ( Kirkus, starred review)
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Really enjoyed this book. Some amazing content. Pitched just right for a moderately knowledgeable amateur to be able to follow the main thrust of the arguments.

Outstanding

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If you have even a passing interest in understanding the nature of reality, this is the book for you. The explanation of the practical side of how LIGO and the other gravitational wave detectors work off the back of the theory is excellent.

Well balanced theoretical and practical physics

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This is NOT a SCIENCE BOOK! Yes there are scientific concepts and yes there are some technical descriptions but Govert Schilling writes in a beautifully paired back style. the story of how Gravitational Waves (GW) were finally proved to be real is both a detective story and a story of Human endeavor. Its expansive and engaging. Schilling writes with obvious passion for the subject and it is also great to be able to look up the references he mentions in the text of meetings and announcements to do with the discovery.

A genuinely wonderful book that deserves the time spent to listen. Do not be afraid of the science content. It is handled with easy to understand metaphors and where that is not possible the concepts are broken down and there is enough contextual repetition of concepts to ensure by the end you understand the subject. A real gem this one and worth every penny...

Superbly Writtem

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Very good description on the subject matter and an explanation on the planning, agreement and necessary co joining of large scientific bodies in developing such imaginative projects and research into the fundamentals of space and gravity.

The project planning and size.

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Great stuff and learnt lots of new things instead of the usual history lessons that are regularly told in these kind of books.

New information instead of another history lesson

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One of the post popular science books I’ve listened to. Interesting story very told and even the science you’ve heard before is told with new and interesting analogies that keep it fresh, Full Marks

Outstanding

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Still a working progress, looking forward to the future of the elaboration of this universe of ours. We hunting so many things that we not aware of. Hopefully technology evolves to give the inside view.

great

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Written as popular science book, bit of history, facts and lots of Interesting info but on some point I started to drift away. Good performance.

good book but could be shorter

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exciting history and contemporary research of gravitational waves and the universe. highly recommended. told as a thriller

great book

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It's not a subject that is easy to understand but Shilling does a great job. Very clear and easy to understand.

Very clear and easy to understand

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