Dark Matter and Dark Energy

Dark Matter and Dark Energy: The Hidden 95% of the Universe
Brian Clegg
Icon Books Ltd (August 8, 2019), 143 pages
Kindle edition $6.99, Amazon paperback $12.23

This is a slim volume, part of the Hot Science series from Icon Books, a publisher in the United Kingdom. Brian Clegg is a veteran science writer whose language is clear and concise but sprinkled with some enjoyable wit.

Scientists calculate that the matter in the universe that we can see is only a small portion of what should actually be there. We don’t yet know where the rest of it is. Clegg says that it would be better to call it transparent matter. The most recent science tells us that the universe continues to expand and will do so indefinitely. However the amount of energy we can measure is far less than what would be needed for this to happen. Hence dark energy.

Clegg thinks that there are alternative explanations to the existence of dark matter. He is more convinced that dark energy exists.

There are no definitive answers for either phenomenon. The research continues. But Clegg’s book offers a readable snapshot on the state of the research.