The Biggest Bangs is one of a pair of books released at similar times (Flash! was the other) that tells the story of the discovery and attempt to understand gamma-ray bursts. Gamma-ray bursts are devastating explosions that occur quite frequently in the Universe (at least once a day) but are strange in that they emit nearly all of their energy in the difficult to observe gamma-ray region of the spectrum. For this reason, they were unknown until the late 1960s and that the ones we observe occur in the most distant galaxies wasn't proven to most people's satisfaction until the 1990s. There is still much that is not known about these events and it remains a very active field of study.
The Biggest Bangs is an insider's view of the science of gamma-ray bursts and the sociology of the scientists who study these events. The thing I like about this book is that the author (Jonathan Katz) spends the time to explain why it is difficult both to observe these events and to interpret what we do see. This helps the reader understand why it took so long for scientists to figure out where bursts came from and why so many had problems believing the data for some time. This leads naturally into discussions of the various rivalries and turf wars that happen in all human endeavors. While Katz does have his biases (as do all people) and I do not believe his characterizations of the individuals and events are always objective, his version of events are interesting. More important, he does a very good job in covering the general physical aspects of bursts for his anticipated audience, not the professional astrophysicist, but general readers who are curious about astronomy.
-Lyle Ford
[UWEC Home]
[Physics and Astronomy]
Lyle Ford
fordla@uwec.edu
Department of Physics and Astronomy
(715)836-5046
Last Updated: December 23, 2003