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13 Things That Don't Make Sense: The Most Baffling Scientific Mysteries of Our Time | 
| Author: Michael Brooks
Publisher: Doubleday
List Price: $23.95
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Rating:  11 reviews
Sales Rank: 5632
Media: Hardcover
Pages: 256
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.1
Dimensions (in): 9.2 x 6.1 x 1.1
ISBN: 0385520689
Dewey Decimal Number: 500
EAN: 9780385520683
ASIN: 0385520689
Publication Date: August 12, 2008
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Amazon.com Review
Product Description
When we look to the "anomalies" that science can t explain, we often discover where science is about to go. Here are a few of the anomalies that Michael Brooks investigates in 13 Things That Don t Make Sense:
Homeopathic remedies seem to have biological effects that cannot be explained by chemistry
Gases have been detected on Mars that could only have come from carbon-based life forms
Cold fusion, theoretically impossible and discredited in the 1980s, seems to work in some modern laboratory experiments
It s quite likely we have nothing close to free will
Life and non-life may exist along a continuum, which may pave the way for us to create life in the near future
Sexual reproduction doesn t line up with evolutionary theory and, moreover, there s no good scientific explanation for why we must die
Science starts to get interesting when things don t make sense.
Science s best-kept secret is this: even today, there are experimental results and reliable data that the most brilliant scientists can neither explain nor dismiss. In the past, similar "anomalies" have revolutionized our world, like in the sixteenth century, when a set of celestial anomalies led Copernicus to realize that the Earth goes around the sun and not the reverse, and in the 1770s, when two chemists discovered oxygen because of experimental results that defied all the theories of the day. And so, if history is any precedent, we should look to today s inexplicable results to forecast the future of science. In 13 Things That Don t Make Sense, Michael Brooks heads to the scientific frontier to meet thirteen modern-day anomalies and discover tomorrow s breakthroughs.
13 Things opens at the twenty-third Solvay physics conference, where the scientists present are ready to throw up their hands over an anomaly: is it possible that the universe, rather than slowly drifting apart as the physics of the big bang had once predicted, is actually expanding at an ever-faster speed? From Solvay and the mysteries of the universe, Brooks travels to a basement in Turin to subject himself to repeated shocks in a test of the placebo response. No study has ever been able to definitively show how the placebo effect works, so why has it become a pillar of medical science? Moreover, is 96 percent of the universe missing? Is a 1977 signal from outer space a transmission from an alien civilization? Might giant viruses explain how life began? Why are some NASA satellites speeding up as they get farther from the sun and what does that mean for the laws of physics?
Spanning disciplines from biology to cosmology, chemistry to psychology to physics, Brooks thrillingly captures the excitement, messiness, and controversy of the battle over where science is headed. "In science," he writes, "being stuck can be a sign that you are about to make a great leap forward. The things that don t make sense are, in some ways, the only things that matter."
Amazon.com Exclusive: Anahad O'Connor Reviews 13 Things That Don't Make Sense
Anahad O'Connor, The New York Times' Science Times "Really?" columnist and author of Never Shower in a Thunderstorm, reviews 13 Things That Don't Make Sense exclusively for Amazon:
 Michael Brooks opens 13 Things That Don't Make Sense with an anecdote about watching three Nobel laureates struggle to figure out a hotel elevator. It's an amusing story that illustrates at least two things. One, three heads are not always better than one. And two, as every science and health reporter learns their first day on the job, even the world's greatest minds cannot always sort through the problems we expect them to conquer.
It is this latter theme that is at the core of Mr. Brooks' fascinating new book except in this case, the problems are 13 stubborn mysteries that have stumped top scientists for decades and, in some cases, centuries. Spun out of a popular article that appeared in New Scientist an article that quickly became one of the most forwarded articles in the magazine's online history Mr. Brooks' book takes its readers on a lively journey through the cosmos, physics, biology and human nature. Along the way he explores questions such as why scientists cannot account for 90 percent of the universe (hint: dark matter has something to do with it), whether we have already been contacted by alien life but paid little mind, why humans rely on a form of sexual reproduction that, from an evolutionary perspective, is extremely inefficient, and why we are routinely deceived by the placebo effect.
Mr. Brooks expertly works his way through these and other hotly debated quandaries in a smooth, engaging writing style reminiscent of Carl Sagan or Stephen Jay Gould. At times, as I was deeply engrossed in parts of this book, I found myself as captivated and wide-eyed as I was decades ago when I picked up my first science books and found my calling. Mr. Brooks has the ability to make his readers forget their surroundings in my case a hectic newsroom and train their minds' eyes on images as foreign as a vast Martian landscape or as distant as a roiling, infant universe. Every mystery is brought to life in vivid detail, and wit and humor are sprinkled throughout.
To be sure, some of the chapters are more entertaining than others. A section on cold fusion, for example, while understandably necessary in a book on scientific mysteries, may not turn out to be quite as captivating for some readers as the chapters that precede and follow it. That may have something to do with the notion that cold fusion has been unfairly maligned and ridiculed by scientists despite its continuing promise, an argument Mr. Brooks lays out well. But it is ultimately in his chapters on the Big Bang, dark matter, and other issues that relate to the cosmos where Mr. Brooks, who holds a Ph.D. in quantum physics, really works his magic. No surprise then that Mr. Brooks is also co-writing a TV series for the Discovery Channel that explores the universe through the eyes of none other than Stephen Hawking. If 13 Things That Don't Make Sense is any indication, the series will find an enraptured audience.
(Photo A Lars Klove)
Product Description
Ninety-six per cent of the universe is missing. The effects of homeopathy don’t go away under rigorous scientific conditions. The laws of nature aren’t what they used to be. Thirty years on, no one has an explanation for a seemingly intelligent signal received from outer space. The US Department of Energy is re-examining cold fusion because the experimental evidence seems too solid to ignore. The placebo effect is put to work in medicine while doctors can’t agree whether it even exists.
In an age when science is supposed to be king, scientists are beset by experimental results they simply can’t explain. But, if the past is anything to go by, these anomalies contain the seeds of future revolutions. While taking readers on an entertaining tour d’horizon of the strangest of scientific findings – involving everything from our lack of free will to Martian methane that offers new evidence of life on the planet – Michael Brooks argues that the things we don’t understand are the key to what we are about to discover.
This mind-boggling but entirely accessible survey of the outer limits of human knowledge is based on a short article by Michael Brooks for New Scientist magazine. It became the sixth most circulated story on the internet in 2005, and provoked widespread comment and compliments (Google “13 things that do not make sense” to see).
Michael Brooks has now dug deeply into those mysteries, with extraordinary results.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 6 more reviews...
 Fascinating and Thought-Provoking September 2, 2008
C. Bernard (Philadelphia, PA United States)
11 out of 11 found this review helpful
While this book is not for people who want to find answers to the thirteen things, I found it quite intriguing. The author takes you through a journey of each of the so-called scientific mysteries from the beginning of its historical footprint to present time. The topics can get a bit challenging to comprehend at times, but if you have an open mind and are willing to look up a few topics, you should enjoy it as well. Nonetheless, the author does give you a great deal of detail in most areas. If you have a scientific background, you will enjoy it even more. Might it have been written to make it easier for average readers to fully comprehend, I would have awarded five stars. Otherwise, do not miss this one. It is definitely a conversation piece.
 Quantifying Ignorance...the fractal nature of knowledge September 21, 2008
Steve Reina (Troy Michigan)
11 out of 11 found this review helpful
"I believe that knowledge is fractal in nature. No matter how much we learn, what remains how seemingly small is infinitely complex."
Isaac Asimov
In detailing 13 mysteries at the edge of modern science Michael Brooks expertly lays bare fertile domains for scientific progress. But much more than that, referencing history and historical shifts in perspective that accompanied scientific advance (as for example, when the church attempted to suppress the writings of Galileo and was ultimately unsuccessful in doing so) Brooks also suggests that shifts in perspective may be necessary for us to gain the advance we seek.
But enough about generalities...let's take glimpse at the mysteries surveyed by Brooks:
1) The search for the missing mass in the universe: Today's physicists believe they can only fully explain four percent of what constitutes the universe. The remaining 96 percent has been supposedly divided into dark matter and dark energy owing to qualities about some of it that seem to behave more like matter and others that seem to behave more like energy. However, another proposal is that our understanding of gravity itself is at fault and just as Einstein had to tweek Isaac Newton's concepts of gravity in relation to light we may also have to tweek them in relation to supposedly empty space...which relates to the next mystery:
2) The Pioneer anomaly: In the early 1970s the US sent out two Pioneer probes that are now both past Pluto. Yet amazingly both of them are off course and by the same degree than would be predicted under traditional notions of gravitational pull. Have our probes journeyed far enough to make contact with that missing universe aluded to in the first mystery? The answer to that question is related to our next mystery:
3) Varying Constants: The set strength of the various fundamental forces of nature may not be constant. For those whose appetite is whetted by this chapter, please read Oxford University Prof. John Barrow's book entitled simply "Constants of the Universe." In a rough way, this mystery relates to the next one:
4) Whether cold fusion is possible: Thanks to Einstein's famous E = MC2 huge amounts of energy can be produced by either nuclear fission (the division of nuclear particles) or alternatively fusion (the unification of certain nuclear particles). For those familiar with US A bomb and H bomb testing videos and Godzilla movies, this process is usually a very dramatic one. If cold fusion were possible it would bode significantly against global energy concerns. And while we still don't know for sure if it can be done, we do know that the US Navy is convinced enough to massively fund research in this area. From this mystery, we leap to our next one:
5) How did life originate: Wisely Brooks peppers this part of his book heavily with quotations from both Erwin Schroedinger whose 1944 essay of the same name is still in print and also Adelaide U prof Paul Davies fantastic book The Fifth Miracle. While personally, I believe life will ultimately be found to a fairly common emergent property on certain types of planets and moons, it's still interesting reading to see just how far current research has NOT come. This brings us to our next mystery:
6) Did Viking find evidence of life on Mars: On July 20 1976 the Viking lander did just that on Mars. In four then cutting edge tests (the fifth one failed to work properly) Viking's magic eight ball said: Probably not. But was that the final word? Itself probably not. Which brings us to the next mystery: did we alredy recieve an extra terrestrial signal?
As can be seen, the issues (and the ones listed were just a sampling are fascinating reading for both the questions they answer and the others they beckon us...their inheritors...to answer.
 An average book September 7, 2008
K. Arbuckle
9 out of 13 found this review helpful
This is a quirky little book about 13 issues chosen by the author. These are dark matter/energy, trajectory anomalies in deep space probes, universal constants, cold fusion, life, extraterrestrial life, intelligent extraterrestrial life, an unusual virus, death, sex, free will, the placebo effect, and homeopathy. He maintains a more or less neutral position on the issues he discusses, except that he indirectly reveals his favorite theory about sex, and overtly chooses sides on the free will question.
The title is a bit misleading; it is not that these issues don't make sense, but rather they are issues that have not been resolved to the author's satisfaction (with the exception of free will - see below).
If you read popularized science books, you may have already read about many of the issues presented in this book. You will not find anything new about dark matter/energy or universal constants here. However, the book does provide a nice and fairly entertaining overview of the issues it discusses. Any overall theme is at best a loose progression from hard physics to biology to cognitive science.
The author's point of view is distinctly scientists-know-best. By that I mean that he just assumes that the only valuable input on any of these issues is to come from science. This gets him into trouble, especially in the chapter on free will. Mind you, I do not even necessarily disagree with his position, it is just that his position is shallow and imprecise. It is difficult to say more without spoilers, but he would have done better to stick to describing the issue and let others come to their own conclusion. Instead he takes a stand, and the other side never gets thoroughly presented.
At the same time, he does raise challenges to current mainstream science, but even then everything is cast as a Kuhnian moment.
The author's choice of sources was sometimes odd; there were much better sources to draw from in discussing life for example. The author seems to have a particular affection for Carl Sagan, who, while popular, never impressed me with his insight (or lack of insight).
A baker's dozen of baffling scientific mysteries September 16, 2008
Stephen Pletko (London, Ontario, Canada)
8 out of 11 found this review helpful
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"I have investigated just thirteen of today's scientific anomalies [or mysteries]. Some are more anomalous than others but all cry out for explanations and further study. Some have yet to be taken seriously; others are perhaps taken too seriously...Occasionally, the anomalies point us toward acutely uncomfortable facts that no one wants to face...For all their diversity, their thrilling or disturbing natures, each and every case presents a wonderful opportunity for exploration and discovery. They will also...lead us to uncover anomalies as yet unseen; as [a late, great dramatist and critic] once pointed out, science never solves a problem without creating ten more."
The above is found in the epilogue of this fascinating book by Michael Brooks, Ph.D., formerly senior editor at, and now a consultant, for the publication "New Scientist." This book is based on his article that originally appeared in a March 2005 issue of that publication.
Each mystery that is examined has one chapter devoted to it. Below I will give the general category or discipline that these mysteries are associated with and indicate the number of chapters devoted to each discipline:
Cosmology (the scientific study of the universe): 2 chapters
Physics: 1
Chemistry: 1
Biology: 4
Extraterrestrial Life: 2
Psychology: 1
Medicine: 1
Alternative Medicine: 1
Brooks presents in impressive detail the history of each anomaly and the science behind each anomaly. He defines technical terms in his well-written narrative so the reader is never lost. (However, some readers may want to have a basic science dictionary handy for basic terms that are undefined.) Brooks also presents possible solutions for each anomaly.
The cover of this book (displayed above by Amazon) is interesting. It is an optical illusion.
Finally, it is my opinion that this book would be the perfect gift for your favourite "know it all."
In conclusion, this book guides the reader through a magical, scientific mystery tour. I leave you with the final words in the book's prologue:
"In science, being stuck [by an anomaly or mystery] can be a sign that you are about to make a great leap forward. The things that don't make sense are, in some ways, the only things that matter."
(first published 2008; prologue; 13 chapters; epilogue; main narrative 210 pages; acknowledgements; notes and sources; index)
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Fascinating Mysteries in Modern Science September 17, 2008
G. Poirier (Orleans, ON, Canada)
8 out of 9 found this review helpful
This book bursts with enthusiasm - that with which the author wrote it. And that enthusiasm can be very contagious for any of its readers. In 13 spellbinding chapters the author presents concise overviews of 13 topics in modern-day science that seem to defy scientific explanation. These topics include dark matter/energy in the universe, varying constants, cold fusion (still alive in some laboratories), the placebo effect and homeopathy to name just a few. In each case, scientists specializing in the field in question have been interviewed and their work discussed in sufficient detail for the reader to get a good grasp of what is involved. This book contains very good examples of the scientific method at work. The writing style is animated, clear, friendly and quite engaging. Although the book is also quite accessible to anyone, it will likely appeal the most to science buffs.
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