ISBN:0425186202Book Description
In a handful of observatories around the world, scientists are waiting, and listening. Their quest: to be the first to detect gravitational waves, infinitesimal quakes that stretch and compress space-time and could add a brand-new dimension to our universal knowledge-allowing us to hear a sun going supernova, black holes colliding, and perhaps one day, the remnant rumble of the Big Bang itself.../p>
Reviews From AMAZON.COM
An important preview of things to come
This book provides a rare opportunity for non-scientists to understand an important scientific advance before it happens.
Bartusiak provides readers with a thorough history of the decades of theorizing, organizing, and development that have led to the current generation of gravitational-wave observatories eagerly awaiting the first detection of the space-distorting pulses predicted by Einstein's theory of relativity nearly a century ago.
From my point of view, the book presents a bit more of the history and politics of gravitational-wave research, and a bit less of the science, than I might like. Still, Bartusiak tells a very important story in great detail. She clearly did her homework; the book is full of the kind of details that come only from visiting sites and interviewing key players face-to-face.
I thought that the most important point Bartusiak made did not come until at least two-thirds of the way through the book. She finally made it clear that the key problem in detecting gravitational waves rippling through spacetime is isolating the detector from every other influence, insulating and quieting it to the point that a change in length no larger than a fraction of the diameter of an atom can be detected. That's why, when gravitational waves are finally detected, it will be a great technical triumph as well as a vindication of Einstein's theory and a powerful new window on the universe.
On the whole I'd describe Bartusiak's writing as clear and well organized, but not inspiring. However, she did come up with one delightful metaphor. In describing the impending collision of two black holes, one of the predicted sources of detectable ripples in spacetime, she wrote, "Picture two black holes slowly circling each other, like a pair of sumo wrestlers warily checking each other out in the ring." I would have liked the book even more if Bartusiak had provided more imaginative writing like that, and more science as well.
Still, if you want to know what the first detection of gravitational waves will mean, and the enormous amount of effort that has gone into this impending discovery, _Einstein's Unfinished Symphony_ is well worth reading.
Robert Adler, author of _Science Firsts: From the Creation of Science to the Science of Creation_ (Wiley & Sons, 2002); and _Medical Firsts: From Hippocrates to the Human Genome_ (Wiley & Sons, 2004).
An Absolutely Wonderful Book
This is an amazing book for both its historical and scientific content. The prose is clear and engaging; the subject matter, i.e., the attempts at detecting of gravity waves, is fascinating. Although gravity waves have never been knowingly and officially detected as yet, projects to build expensive apparatus to detect them are actually getting funded. This is clearly tribute to the confidence that the scientific community has on Albert Einstein and the General Theory of Relativity. This is a great book that deserves to be read by all!