Origins

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1. arc_of_descentMar 2016
   I'm currently reading - Origins: Fourteen Billion Years of Cosmic Evolution by Neil deGrasse Tyson, so I immediately recommend it.
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2. cynus_aApr 2015
   I didn't find The Elegant Universe all that mind blowing, but it was interesting enough since it included some modern physics (though some of it was speculative).

   On the other hand, Origins by Donald Goldsmith and Neil deGrasse Tyson was excellent, in case you're interested in hearing about the formation of the universe after the big bang.

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3. AnimalMuppetMay 2019
   I've been reading Origins, by Neil deGrasse Tyson, and I have questions. He says that general relativity says that the universe as a whole cannot be stable - it has to be either expanding or contracting. (Note that we're not talking about the matter in the universe - the universe itself has to be expanding or contracting.

   Can someone ELI20 why this is so?

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4. arc_of_descentDec 2016
   I started Jan 2016 jobless, I still am. hence the long reading list! Apart from these I've read lots on AngularJS, React, Redux, Python.

   * The Short Drop (The Gibson Vaughn Series) - Matthew FitzSimmons

   * The Girl on the Train - Paula Hawkins

   * Origins: Fourteen Billion Years of Cosmic Evolution - Neil deGrasse Tyson

   * Elon Musk: How the Billionaire CEO of SpaceX and Tesla is Shaping our Future - Ashlee Vance

   * Death by Black Hole: And Other Cosmic Quandaries - Neil deGrasse Tyson

   * The Future of the Mind: The Scientific Quest To Understand, Enhance and Empower the Mind - Michio Kaku

   * An Innocent Client (Joe Dillard Series Book 1) - Scott Pratt

   * WIRED - Douglas E. Richards

   * Phantoms - Dean Koontz

   * Breakthrough - Michael C. Grumley

   * Knots And Crosses (Inspector Rebus) - Ian Rankin

   * Founders at Work - Jessica Livingston

   * The Tumor: A Non-Legal Thriller - John Grisham

   * Kick the Drink... Easily! - Jason Vale

   * Hide And Seek (Inspector Rebus) - Ian Rankin

   * Tooth And Nail - Ian Rankin

   * Nexus (The Nexus Trilogy Book 1) - Ramez Naam

   * Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow - Yuval Noah Harari

   * Biocentrism - Bob Berman

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5. k3nNov 2012
   I'm most of the way through reading Neil deGrasse Tyson's book "Origins", and I just finished chapter 24 last night, which deals with this exact subject.

   By the way, it looks like the entire book is available online; this[1] is a link to the section of ch. 24 that talks about these star-less planets and the possibility that they contain life.

   First, he points out the "extremophiles" that exist on earth -- for example, organisms that live on the sea floor, where the heat from the sun is fully nullified. Despite the great atmospheric pressure and the lack of light and heat, life still thrives in these environments. One of the factors that facilitate life at these extremes are the geothermal processes (vents in the sea floor) which are purely disconnected from the events of the sun, and completely powered by our magma core.

   As we know, many planets are suspected to have molten cores, which are the result of their formation and which will continue to remain such for billions of years (we will probably be wiped out by our Sol turning into a red giant before our the Earth's core will lose it's energy). As such, though it'd be near-impossible for life to survive on the surface of a planet that is not a part of any solar system, under the surface life could be bountiful.

   1. http://books.google.com/books?id=o6OmdAFDTVQC&lpg=PA233&...

   That's page 244, and from there until the end of the chapter (p.250) is all relevant to your comment.

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