A travel book around places where cosmology is done with some well explained cosmology to round it off. Hasn't dated badly. I enjoyed it a lot and it would have got a full four stars if the section on the Large Hadron Colider has been less long. And just after reading that section there was a TV program which included some of the places he had been and up to date video and reports of the LHC and Atlas which gave an extra thrill. ( )

This book is science journalism in its best form. By taking the reader to multiple places, like lake Baikal, Antarctica, Chile, ..., it also becomes a kind of travel journalism. This combination reminded me of The song of the dodo, In Europa and In a sunburned country, all books I really enjoyed reading, just like this one.
Waiting for more books from this author. ( )

The Edge of Physics is a highly enjoyable non-fiction book that explores physics through geography and travel. Ananthaswamy travels to some of the most incredibly extreme places on Earth to visit the experiments and projects that are hoping to provide new insights in the field of particle physics.

The entire book has a nice colloquial tone to it which makes the hard science understandable to lay readers by combining the most scientific explanations with the author's personal experiences and thoughts. Each chapter features a visit to one unusual location, from California's Mt. Wilson to the Franco-Swiss border where CERN's Large Hadron Collider lays miles underground.

I thought this book was easier to read than Leon Lederman's The God Particle: If the Universe Is the Answer, What Is the Question?. The Edge of Physics doesn't provide the same in-depth scientific explanations that Lederman's book offer, but both books are very interesting and informative reads. Ananthaswamy's descriptions and reflections on the places he visits outshine his explanations of the science he witnesses. The explanations of particle physics that Ananthaswamy provides should be understandable to any reader with a bachelor's degree but for readers who are wholly unfamiliar with science and physics the book offers two detailed appendices for reference.

The Edge of Physics is a unique science book as it examines the foundations of modern science, the potential impact on future science due to the current experiments and new scientific theories being developed, how the experiments are being done, and where all this amazing science is taking place both in the US and abroad. Because this book relies heavily on travel and location it also makes mention of climate change and global warming as these changes can adversely effect the experiements and projects he visited.

I would recommend this book to high schoolers thinking about majoring in science once they get to college, readers who enjoyed The God Particle, fans of extreme travel, and people who are curious about the Large Hadron Collider as fears about the LHC have been widely publicized in the media and the information provided in this book may help to allay some of those fears.

I checked this book out from the library and I'm glad I checked it out rather than purchasing it because it doesn't have a high re-read value for me, but I don't work in the scientific field and am not engaged in any scientific research. For researches, science majors and those working in the scientific industries I think this book is well worth purchasing. ( )

The Edge of Physics is an excellent foray in the complex field of cosmology, as it explains the various models of the universe through the experiments that aim to prove them right or wrong. By following the author's journey to the inhospitable places where these experiments are being run, the reader gets to understand the beautiful complexity of the questions being tackled, along with their historical backgrounds. Ananthaswamy is a terrific writer, managing to explain very complex theories in easy-to-understand terms, resulting in a popsci book that reads like a thriller!
There's one big thing missing: pictures. Almost all settings in the book are in fascinating edges of our planet: Antartica, the Andes, Hawaiian volcanoes, the shores of Lake Baikal and so on... and I really missed some pictures to put the experiments in their own context. True, one can always find some on the Internet, but I found myself hugely frustrated by the single black-and-white photo illustrating each chapter. Mr Anathaswamy, if you need a photographer to illustrate the second edition, take me with you! :-) ( )

Visits by the author to high-profile observational/experimental sites: Mt Wilson, Calif (expanding-universe discovery); Soudan Mine, Minn (search for dark matter); Lake Baikal, Siberia (neutrino telescope); Cerro Paranal, Chile (the Very Large Telescope -- dark energy, etc); Mauna Kea, Hawaii (Keck telescopes -- again dark energy, etc); Karoo region, South Africa (proposed Square Kilometer Array radiotelescope); McMurdo Station, Antarctica (balloon-borne searches for cosmic antimatter); the South Pole (IceCube neutrino telescope -- quantum gravity research); Geneva (Large Hadron Collider). Also: the multiverse concept.