Just Six Numbers

This is a book about science. It's about how the universe is the way it is, and why you and I are alive. In my opinion, that's pretty sweet. It does use some big words, but nothing superfluously esoteric (see what I did there?). If this frightens you, you should probably consider coming back when you're older.
Martin Rees' Just Six Numbers is about six numbers in physics and cosmology that don't need to be what they are. In other words, the universe would go on perfectly well with other values for these numbers. These numbers are, in order of appearance:




N: 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000: The force of electromagnetism divided by the force of gravity.
ɛ (epsilon): 0.007: The amount of its energy hydrogen loses when converted into helium divided by the amount of energy in hydrogen.
Ω (omega): 0.3: The amount of matter in the universe divided by the amount of matter needed to stop expansion.
λ (lambda): 0.7: The amount of energy in empty space divided by the amount of energy needed to stop expansion.
Q: 0.00001: The energy needed to destroy a supercluster of galaxies divided by the energy of the matter in that supercluster.
D: 3: The number of large (probably infinite) spatial dimensions.

Tada! If that confused you, don't worry, it confused me too. In the book, Martin Rees goes into a lot more detail about the numbers, how we figured them out, and what it would mean if they were different. Really, this is a nerd book for nerds. Unlike Things to Make and Do in the Fourth Dimension, it's written for people who know at least a little science (for example: exponents, powers of ten, and the fact that matter is just condensed energy), instead of anyone who can count and has an open mind.
Still, if you know nothing about cosmology, this is a great book to start out with. I only knew about these things in the context of ordinary physics, and Just Six Numbers basically introduced me to the concept of cosmology.
Anyways, I have school tomorrow, so I'll wrap it up: Science. Numbers. The multiverse. Physics. Life. Thermonuclear explosion. Space. If any of these phrases interested you, you'll probably like this book.
I am out. Peace!