The 4 Percent Universe: Dark Matter, Dark Energy, and the Race to Discover the Rest of Reality by Richard Panek; Unabridged MP3 Audio Book; Narrator Ray Porter

2012 Audie Award Finalist

Over the past few decades, a handful of scientists have been racing to explain a disturbing aspect of our universe: only four percent of it consists of the matter that makes up you, me, our books, and every star and planet. The rest is completely unknown.

Richard Panek tells the dramatic story of the quest to find this “dark” matter and an even more bizarre substance called “dark energy.” This is perhaps the greatest mystery in all of science, and solving it will bring fame, funding, and certainly a Nobel Prize. Based on in-depth reporting and interviews with the major players—from Berkeley’s feisty, excitable Saul Perlmutter and Harvard’s witty but exacting Robert Kirshner to the doyenne of astronomy, Vera Rubin—the book offers an intimate portrait of the bitter rivalries and fruitful collaborations, the eureka moments and blind alleys, that have fueled their search, redefined science, and reinvented the universe.

The stakes couldn’t be higher. Our view of the cosmos is profoundly wrong, and Copernicus was only the beginning: not just Earth, but all common matter is a marginal part of existence. Panek’s fast-paced narrative, filled with original reporting and behind-the-scenes details, brings this epic story to life for the very first time.

“In his journalistic yet artful style, Panek guides you through the quirky discoveries that established the existence of dark matter and dark energy. But along the way, you also get to meet the quirky cosmologists who got us there.”—Neil deGrasse Tyson, author of Death by Black Hole

“Science journalist Panek offers an insider’s view of the quest for what could be the ultimate revelation…This lively story of big personalities, intellectual competitiveness, and ravenous curiosity is as entertaining as it is illuminating.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“A superior account of how astronomers discovered that they knew almost nothing about 96 percent of the universe…Panek delivers vivid sketches of scientists, lucid explanations of their work, and revealing descriptions of the often stormy rivalry that led to this scientific revolution, usually a media cliché, but not in this case.”—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

“In this accessible audiobook, journalist Richard Panek explains the efforts of astronomers and physicists to unlock the twin mysteries of dark matter and dark energy. Ray Porter’s narration is perfectly paced, and his sonorous voice moves the story along with confidence, despite the sometimes technical nature of the text. But this is no dry physics lecture: Panek explains the quest for understanding through the colorful personalities who led the way, and Porter adds another layer of warmth with his characterizations.”—AudioFile

RICHARD PANEK is the recipient of a Guggenheim fellowship and the author of The Invisible Century and Seeing and Believing. He has frequently written for the New York Times as well as Discover, Smithsonian, Esquire, and Outside, among other publications. He lives with his wife, Meg Wolitzer, and their two sons.