A Universe from Nothing: Why There Is Something Rather Than Nothing

Readers interested in the evolution of the universe will find Krauss’s account lively and humorous as well as informative. In 1925, Edwin Hubble (“who continues to give me great faith in humanity, because he started out as a lawyer, and then became an astronomer”) showed that the universe was expanding. But what was it expanding from? Virtually nothing, an “infinitesimal point,” said George LeMaître, who in 1929 proposed the idea of the Big Bang. His theory was later supported by the discovery of remnants of energy called cosmic microwave background radiation—“the afterglow of the Big Bang,” as Krauss calls it. Researchers also discovered that the universe is expanding not at a steady rate but accelerating, driving matter farther apart faster and faster. Krauss, a professor and director of the Origins Project at Arizona State University, explores the consequences of a universe dominated by the “seemingly empty space” left by expansion, urging focused study before expansion pushes everything beyond our reach. Readers will find the result of Krauss’s “[celebration of our] absolutely surprising and fascinating universe” as compelling as it is intriguing.(Jan.)