Reviews
Dark Matter and the Dinosaurs: The Astounding Interconnectedness of the Universe by Lisa Randall
leasummer's review against another edition
4.0
I really enjoyed this look at science and dark matter and what made the dinosaurs go extinct. It was accessible, not too technical, and I learned a lot!
littleprefect's review
3.0
I had higher hopes for this. I stuck with it because I enjoy science but this felt ... long. A few points in book I lost focus and I think she did too. More than once I heard myself think “Boy, she’s a rambler.”
Pros:
•solid sciencey goodness
•narrator was fab
•learned a few things (but*)
•she’s funny
•mentioned Harry Potter (10 points to Ravenclaw)
•it kept my attention - which says a lot.
•cover is fab. 🤷🏻♀️
Cons:
•too many times the author would say ‘In which I will discuss later’ and in all honesty, I’m not too sure she did.
•the book had very little to do with dinosaurs and that’s a huge 50 points from Ravenclaw!!
•Nor did the book have much to do with dark matter. Another -50 points.
•if the book did have something to do with dark matter... I don’t really know what it was. There was some mention of DDDM, her paper, conferences, a cabbie named Jake, a few thousand segues into something else *but by the end I was more confused than when I started. 🤦🏻♀️
I’m not claiming to be any kind of physicist, scientist or anything ending with an ‘ist’ with regards to science - but I know a well laid out book when I see one and this is not it. Bummin’!
Pros:
•solid sciencey goodness
•narrator was fab
•learned a few things (but*)
•she’s funny
•mentioned Harry Potter (10 points to Ravenclaw)
•it kept my attention - which says a lot.
•cover is fab. 🤷🏻♀️
Cons:
•too many times the author would say ‘In which I will discuss later’ and in all honesty, I’m not too sure she did.
•the book had very little to do with dinosaurs and that’s a huge 50 points from Ravenclaw!!
•Nor did the book have much to do with dark matter. Another -50 points.
•if the book did have something to do with dark matter... I don’t really know what it was. There was some mention of DDDM, her paper, conferences, a cabbie named Jake, a few thousand segues into something else *but by the end I was more confused than when I started. 🤦🏻♀️
I’m not claiming to be any kind of physicist, scientist or anything ending with an ‘ist’ with regards to science - but I know a well laid out book when I see one and this is not it. Bummin’!
tanya_the_spack's review
3.0
I really wanted to love this, but I just could not get into it. I blame myself, not the author.
craigh's review
4.0
This was a fascinating book to read. I come away with more knowledge around astrophysics, dark matter, Oort Cloud, and whole sorts of things I’ve never heard of. I also appreciate the author making this topic readable and not dry. I highly recommend if you want to learn about such topics.
mikiher's review
3.0
TL;DR - the theory is that there is a periodic cycle of large meteor hits on Earth of about 30 million years, and that this cycle is a result of the summer system passing through a disk of dark matter. There's as of now very little hard evidence for this, but it's a nice story, so let's write a book about it...
OK, it was a nice read, and explained concepts pretty clearly for laymen.
OK, it was a nice read, and explained concepts pretty clearly for laymen.