This is a book review of The Known Unknowns: The Unsolved Mysteries of the Cosmos by Lawrence M. Krauss.
The Known Unknowns: The Unsolved Mysteries of the Cosmos, by Lawrence M. Krauss (Head of Zeus), 2024 (originally published 2023). Pp. 373, 20 × 13 cm. Price 9.99 (paperback, 978 1 80110 065 6).
Space, time, matter, life, and consciousness. Those are the topics explored in the corresponding five chapters. While the known unknowns are mentioned, most of the text is a presentation of what we do know. Of course, 36–60 pages per topic is not anywhere near enough to give a complete overview; rather, there is a very broad-brush summary and a few topics are discussed in somewhat more detail. There are some good discussions, such as the relationship between the geometry and destiny of the Universe and how that is affected by the presence of a cosmological constant or some more bizarre form of dark energy, a topic often presented wrongly. The book is well written and a good mixture of the current consensus on various topics and the author's own opinions. I learned a few things, such as the puzzle of conflicting measurements (depending on the method) of the half-life of the neutron. However, I'm struggling to find the target readership. Those familiar with the topics will already know the known unknowns. Those who aren't can't get an impression of how they relate to the rest of the corresponding field from the information provided here. This is not a bad book by any means, but one of those which the potential reader should browse personally first before reading.