We Have No Idea: A Guide to the Unknown Universe

We Have No Idea: A Guide to the Unknown Universe, by Jorge Cham and Daniel Whiteson

Written by a UC Irvine Physics Professor and illustrated by the creator of the online comic Piled Higher And Deeper, this is a entry level account of the frontiers of modern physics that is easy to understand (very few formulas) and yet richly fulfilling for the non-initiated. With chapters on Dark Matter, Dark Energy, the Basic Elements of Matter, Mass, Gravity, Space, Time, the Number of Dimensions, Faster Than Light Travel, Antimatter, the Big Bang, the Size of the Universe, the Theory of Everything, and Life on Other Planets, this book covers most, if not all, of the puzzling questions modern physicists are working on. Cham's illustrations bring the topics to life in a light-hearted way that entertains as well as enlightens. I have not read other physics books written for the masses, but I surely did enjoy the approach this book takes and learned a lot in the process.