In fall 2009, the theoretical physicist Lawrence M. Krauss gave a talk about recent discoveries in cosmology that he engagingly titled, "A Universe From Nothing: Why There Is Something Rather Than Nothing."
The popularity of the video, viewed nearly a million times on YouTube, prompted Krauss to develop the ideas in the talk into this short, elegant account of the origins of the universe and its likely demise trillions of years from now.
The best-selling author of "The Physics of Star Trek," Krauss possesses a rare talent for making the hardest ideas in astrophysics accessible to the layman, due in part to his sly humor. In another universe, Krauss could have been a standup comedian.
Indeed, the evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins, who contributes an afterword to the book, refers to his friend as the "Woody Allen of cosmology." One favorite joke involves Edwin Hubble, whose life story, Krauss deadpans, bolsters his faith in humanity "because he started out as a lawyer and then became an astronomer."
In just under 200 pages, Krauss walks the reader through a hundred years of mind-bending breakthroughs in astrophysics, which have led scientists to the inescapable conclusion that the universe sprang out of nothing _ "without design, intent or purpose" _ and is destined to return to that bleak, cold, dark space.
