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13 Things That Don't Make Sense: The Most Intriguing Scientific Mysteries

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About this listen

Science starts to get interesting when things don't make sense. Even today, there are experimental results that the most brilliant scientists can neither explain nor dismiss. In the past, similar anomalies have revolutionised our world: in the 16th century, a set of celestial irregularities led Copernicus to realise that the Earth goes around the sun and not the reverse.

In 13 Things That Don't Make Sense, Michael Brooks meets 13 modern-day anomalies that may become tomorrow's breakthroughs.

Is 96%of the universe missing? If no study has ever been able to definitively show that the placebo effect works, why has it become a pillar of medical science? Was the 1977 signal from outer space a transmission from an alien civilization? Spanning fields from chemistry to cosmology, psychology to physics, Michael Brooks thrillingly captures the excitement and controversy of the scientific unknown.

©2010 Michael Brooks (P)2011 Audible Ltd Physics Science Thought-Provoking Astronomy Cosmology Mathematics
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I highly recommend Michael Brooke's book about the patently absurd within our midst. The things in life that really don't make sense in science yet still elude clear explanation.
This books strength is making often complex postulation into complete sense to me as a reader. Brooks makes his statements in an entertaining & above all accessible fashion.
The biggest compliment that I can give is that Brooks writes in a fashion akin to a hero of mine Carl Sagan. Whilst using his own style he challenges the scientific status quo with great aplomb & I dare say with a little glee too! From telling us one moment that the medical industry are pulling the wool over our eyes to telling us that were short changed on human reproduction! As professional & as solid as his claims are you cannot help to read between the lines to see the enthusiasm in his arguments. Which besides being deeply thought provoking is thoroughly entertaining.
Matt Addis's narration is enjoyable & an appropriate choice for this audiobook. It is a weighty tomb coming in at a running time of over 8hrs but highly recommended & it will forever challenge your concept of the universe.

13 Things Made Into Complete Sense!

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While this book is interesting, quite a lot of it is just "filler" to make the book larger - the constant wandering off subject, the fact that some of them don't NEED to make sense (Quantum Physics for one), and the amount of background unrelated information that's given just gets boring at times



The book should have been done as an abridged version to trim out the fat, because the book itself just has a lot of wasted stuff that you just don't need to know, or is interesting but overall unrelated to the main topic



If you have a spare credit and want something that is full of information, but you'll probably only ever listen to once, this is the book for you - I found myself listening while doing other things, so it was like background noise rather than something I'd concentrate on

A good listen, but not brilliant

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This book is much less satisfying than many modern pop-science books. It has some interesting parts (life, sex, death, cold fusion) but is has boring parts (cosmology and tons of unexplained dark matter, dark energy, and, yawn, nebulae and neutrinos), it also has far fetched and whimsical parts - particularly the end section on homeopathy, which don't get anywhere (well, he warned us that not everything makes sense).

Well deserving of three stars

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I discovered SCIENCE when I was 11 and this book has reminded me why I love it.

The narration is great, so a pat on the back for Matt Addis.

The author is a scientist and a writer. He has written about 13 scientific mysteries that have no answer putting all sides of the stories from the horses mouths. It is make up your own mind time.

I picked up a couple of mistakes but they were not important. You will see how the science establishment works, the ego's. I worked in research for about 10 years and boy is he on target. Some will think that the last section on homeopathic medicine should not be there but I think he put both sides well with a large dose of scepticism. Lets face it a lot of people believe in it so it should be talked about.

To be honest this is not a book to try and take in in one dose. I recommend take each section separately with a few days in between or you will get mental indigestion.

This is a book to make you think

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A well read narrative with some intriguing mysteries (at least to science) but some of the anomalies have now been answered in 2015. Hence, a revised edition would be welcomed.

Enjoyable book but needs updating

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