
The Mystery of Quasars: Review of the Most Enigmatic Objects in the Universe
Table of Contents
What comes to mind when you think of quasars? For me, it's ☆11.
I was thinking that I've only been reading books related to programming, investment, and lifestyle lately, when I happened to find this book on sale on Amazon. I didn't know what quasars were at all, but I bought it with the casual thought that a book about space would be interesting.
Overall rating: +1 (Recommended)
The explanations are thorough, and even without prior knowledge, I could understand its appeal.
While explanations of phenomena can tend to be boring, the occasional "The universe is huge, right?" kind of boasting helps alleviate the tedium.
I think this book is suitable for people who "kind of like space stories" and "don't know about quasars".
Overview
The main theme is an explanation of the mysterious celestial objects, quasars. It explains the current research findings in a story-like manner, starting from the history of astronomy.
Overall, it gives the impression of a work written by someone who really loves space (Of course, as an astronomer, but the degree of love seems to ooze from the text). The occasional digressions are also part of its charm.
Good Points
Naturally, you can learn what quasars are. I guarantee you'll become a being that stands out from the numerous rhythm game players who know the name but not the content.
Also, there are many stories that make you feel the vastness of the universe's scale anew, allowing you to feel excitement. For example, there are no meaningless conversations like "The speed of super-fast gas is 10,000 km, you know" "Wow, that's super fast. It's like 100 cars going at 100 km/h!" "Right? Well, it's per second though" "(faints)". Instead, it's casually written as "Gas moving at high speeds of 10,000 km per second...", truly a book where astronomical figures fly around.
Furthermore, it's interesting as a read, with a structure that sometimes digresses and sometimes delves deep into unraveling the mysteries of quasars. As you can gain peripheral knowledge while reading, it's an ideal book for satisfying curiosity.
Not-so-good Points
Although it seems to be explained in a very easy-to-understand and broken-down manner, there are still many difficult parts in the content. As a beginner in astronomy who just read through it casually, I could only understand the gist of it. It's definitely better than being explained with half-baked incorrect content, but there's a feeling of somewhat incomplete digestion. It's a mystery whether it's a book about the general idea or a serious book, making it difficult to understand the target audience. I can only hope that people won't give up when they encounter the few equations that appear at the beginning.
Summary
While it's a mysterious book that's unclear whether it's easy to understand or difficult to understand, it can be said that it's a space book with high-quality content that arouses curiosity, and high-quality writing and structure. Probably, casual space fans will learn the most from reading it. I'd like to hear the impressions of hardcore space fans.
Still, the universe is huge, isn't it? Numbers like 1 million times the mass of the sun casually appear, and it's unreal but real. It's overflowing with romance, so I'd like to read it again when I'm tired of reality.