The universe literally encompasses everything we were, are and will be, everything we knew, know and can know. When we decide to understand the universe as a whole, new truths come to light, and unexpected perspectives illuminate our take on life. 30-Second Universe explains all the tantalising concepts, principles and theories that make up our knowledge – the Higgs particle, gluons, quarks, the multiverse, how certainty itself can be uncertain, and of course, where our world came from, and where we're going and what will happen in the end – and it explains these astrophysical answers succinctly, each entry taking only 30 seconds to read, with further exploration flagged, and key scientists noted. This one small book sheds light on the biggest ideas, concepts and discoveries in life, in the universe, in everything.
Charles Liu is a Professor of Astrophysics at the City University of New York's College of Staten Island, an associate with the Hayden Planetarium, and of the department of astrophysics at the American Museum of Natural History in New York. He received the 2001 American Institute of Physics Science Writing Award for his book One Universe: At Home in the Cosmos. He lives in Montclair, New Jersey.