Book Review: "The End of Everything" by Katie Mack

*Spoilers warning!*

4/5 stars

The End of Everything (Astrophysically Speaking) is an engaging and witty book, and dare I say, fun!

Despite the grim subject matter discussed, namely the diverse ways physicists think the universe could end, astrophysicist Katie Mack's enthusiasm for the science involved is contagious. I can tell that she loves the line of work she is in, even when tackling the big existential questions that boil down to: “How and why are we here, and where are we going?”

Optimism and drive are required for those who study the true end times, and besides, people are naturally curious. It is probably the reason that humanity has gotten anywhere, honestly, especially to a point where we can contemplate these questions and figure out how to answer them. 

As I write this, the main story in science news has been the first photo taken of the supermassive black hole at the center of the galaxy, Sag A*. Scientists had inferred from observations of the movements of stars previously that there must be something there, something massive and with the powerful gravitation to match. It seems to be the latest confirmation of the sturdiness of Einstein's theory of general relativity. 

I thought of how far scientists have come in understanding the universe, thinking of the Sag A* photo, and the wonder and awe that comes with such a discovery. The same wonder and awe that The End of Everything exudes and that it inevitably shares with its readers, who may be scientists themselves or not. 

The End of Everything is written with accessibility for a larger general readership who may not be familiar with the overwhelming intricacies involved in the different realms of physics, where there are people who specialize in everything from string theory to quantum mechanics. (I consider myself fairly intelligent, but there are some aspects of physics that are still difficult to comprehend. Admittedly, my brain still trips over the fact that the universe could have started out as a small, infinitely dense singularity.) Thankfully, Mack covers the basics first before gradually throwing in the complications of observed data not necessarily fitting nicely within established theories of understanding the universe in later chapters. It was fascinating!

I know there’s still more progress to be made, and that scientists have various known unknowns and unknown unknowns, but I’m impressed by what we know so far about the universe. I mean, we recently took a photo of a black hole that’s very, very far away. Something that by nature can’t really be seen unless you’re observing in the infrared or radio-wave portions of the electromagnetic spectrum. (It’s crazy how limited we humans are in only being able to see visible light, when there’s so many other ways to observe the cosmos.)

There are a few mainstream scenarios posited for the end of the universe. One involves the universe expanding far into the future, until there is no usable energy left, and stars go dark (Heat Death). The other involves the universe expanding until it stops, rebounds, and collapses back on itself, similar to a reverse Big Bang. (Eloquently termed the “Big Crunch.”) And yet another possibility—the one that honestly frightened me the most—was what the author termed the “Big Rip.” 

Dark energy, probably responsible for why the universe is continuing to expand (because it’s largely theoretical and hasn’t been observed directly) overcomes the other forces holding matter and the fabric of spacetime together and violently tears everything apart. (Smarter people than me have done the math and concluded that there’s more than the regular matter that makes up us and rocks and trees in the universe and that there’s not enough of it to hold everything together as has been observed.) 

You may be asking, “BookOwl, how is all that ‘fun’ to read about?”

I am a curious person, Katie Mack is an incredibly good science communicator, and any of these end-time scenarios are billions upon billions of years in the future. So not an immediate worry. 

Also, it is weirdly comforting that the universe is as mortal as we are, even if it will outlast our short lifetimes. 

Less mainstream theories were also discussed, but they are not very well-developed yet, considered still on the edge of acceptable physics discussions. They range from a theory of a cyclic universe—Big Bang then Big Crunch, then repeat over and over forever—to another universe bumping into our space and setting off such a high-energy event potentially able to create a new universe. Then there’s the whole multiverse thing, which was not discussed in detail, but seems to be the vogue in major superhero franchises as of late. 

There were even weirder fringe theories, but we’d be here a while. 

My point here is that this book is a concise, well-written treatise on the wonders of the universe, even if it does have to end sometime. All good things, am I right?

Happy reading!

--BookOwl