The universe is a mess. Or rather, our understanding of it is. That’s the message of this lively introduction to the conundrums shaking up the field of cosmology. Pedro G. Ferreira, a noted lecturer in astrophysics at Oxford, explains how a universe once ruled by Einstein’s simple equations has given way to a more complex and confusing one, where mysterious “dark matter” outweighs visible matter a hundred to one, and “dark energy” seems to be hurling the galaxies apart. Ferreira takes readers on a fascinating journey through the history of astronomy to show how we arrived here, clarifying today’s many contending theories.

Industry Reviews

'Deeply interesting' THE GUARDIAN 'Authoritative, accurate, clear and up to date' THE INDEPENDENT 'Ferreira does a good job of balancing the likely with the improbable.' FINANCIAL TIMES 'a short, clear and logical introduction which assumes no background knowledge and uses simple analogies to explain unfamiliar ideas.' OXFORD TODAY