ASTRONOMY and ASTROPHYSICS -- "THE UNIVERSE OF MOTION" by Physicist DEWEY B. LARSON ( Book Review ) "THE UNIVERSE OF MOTION", by Dewey B. Larson, 1984, North Pacific Publishers, Portland, Oregon, 456 pages, indexed, hardcover. "THE UNIVERSE OF MOTION" contains FINAL SOLUTIONS to most ALL astrophysical and cosmological mysteries. This book is Volume III of a revised and enlarged edition of "THE STRUCTURE OF THE PHYSICAL UNIVERSE", 1959. Volume I is "NOTHING BUT MOTION" (1979), and Volume II is "THE BASIC PROPERTIES OF MATTER" (1988). Most books and journal articles on the subject of astrophysics are bristling with integrals, partial differentials, and other FANCY MATHEMATICS. In this book, by contrast, mathematics is conspicuous by its absence, except for some relatively simple formulas imbedded in the text. Larson emphasizes CONCEPTS and declares that mathematical agreement with a theory does NOT guarantee its conceptual validity. Dewey B. Larson was a retired engineer with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Engineering Science from Oregon State University. He developed the Theory described in his books while trying to find a way to MATHEMATICALLY CALCULATE the properties of chemical compounds based ONLY on the elements they contain. "THE UNIVERSE OF MOTION" describes the astrophysical portions of Larson's CONSISTENT, INTEGRATED, COMPREHENSIVE, GENERAL UNIFIED Theory of the Physical Universe, a kind of "grand unified field theory" that orthodox physicists and astrophysicists CLAIM to be looking for. It is built on two postulates about the physical and mathematical nature of space and time: (1) The Physical Universe is composed ENTIRELY of ONE component, MOTION, existing in THREE dimensions, in DISCRETE units, and with two RECIPROCAL aspects, SPACE and TIME. (2) The Physical Universe conforms to the relations of ORDINARY COMMUTATIVE mathematics, its primary magnitudes are ABSOLUTE, and its geometry is EUCLIDEAN. From these two postulates, Larson was able to build a COMPLETE theoretical universe, from photons and subatomic particles to the giant elliptical galaxies, by combining the concept of INWARD and OUTWARD SCALAR MOTIONS with translational, vibrational, rotational, and rotational- vibrational motions. At each step in the development, he was able to match parts of his theoretical universe with corresponding parts in the real Physical Universe, including EVEN THINGS NOT YET DISCOVERED. For example, in his 1959 book, he first predicted the existence of EXPLODING GALAXIES, several years BEFORE astronomers started finding them. They are a NECESSARY CONSEQUENCE of his comprehensive Theory. And when quasars were discovered, he had a related explanation ready for those also. As a result of his theory, which he called "THE RECIPROCAL SYSTEM", Larson TOTALLY REJECTED many of the sacred doctrines of orthodox physicists and astrophysicists, including black holes, neutron stars, degenerate matter, "nuclear" physics, general relativity, relativistic mass increases, relativistic Doppler shifts, nuclear fusion in stars, and the big bang, all of which he considered to be nothing more than MATHEMATICAL FANTASIES. He was very critical of the AD HOC assumptions, uncertainty principles, solutions in principle, "no other way" declarations, etc., used to maintain them. "THE UNIVERSE OF MOTION" is divided into 31 chapters. It begins with a description of how galaxies are built from the gravitational attraction between globular star clusters, which are formed from intergalactic gas and dust clouds that accumulate from the decay products of cosmic rays coming in from the ANTI-MATTER HALF of the Physical Universe. (Galaxy formation from the MYTHICAL "big bang" is a big mystery to orthodox astronomers.) He then goes on to describe the life cycles of stars and how binary and multiple star systems and solar systems result from Type I supernova explosions of SINGLE stars. Several chapters are devoted to quasars which, according to Larson, are densely-packed clusters of stars that have been ejected from the central bulges of exploding galaxies and are actually traveling FASTER THAN THE SPEED OF LIGHT (although most of that speed is AWAY FROM US IN TIME). Astronomers and astrophysicists who run up against observations that contradict their theories would find Larson's explanations quite valuable if considered with an OPEN MIND. For example, they used to believe that GAMMA RAY BURSTS originated from pulsars, which exist primarily in the plane or central bulge of our galaxy. But the new Gamma Ray Telescope in earth orbit observed that the bursts come from ALL DIRECTIONS UNIFORMLY and do NOT correspond with any visible objects, (except for a few cases of directional coincidence). Larson's explanation is that the gamma ray bursts originate from SUPERNOVA EXPLOSIONS in the ANTI-MATTER HALF of the Physical Universe, which Larson calls the "cosmic sector". Because the anti-matter universe exists in a RECIPROCAL RELATION to our material universe, with the SPEED OF LIGHT as the BOUNDARY between them, and has THREE dimensions of TIME, and ONLY ONE dimension of space, the bursts can pop into our material universe ANYWHERE seemingly at random. Larson heavily quotes or paraphrases statements from books, journal articles, and leading physicists and astronomers. In this book, 351 of them are superscripted with numbers identifying entries in the reference list at the end of the book. For example, a quote from the book "Astronomy: The Cosmic Journey", by William K. Hartmann, says, "Our hopes of understanding all stars would brighten if we could explain exactly how binary and multiple stars form.... Unfortunately we cannot." Larson's book contains LOGICAL CONSISTENT EXPLANATIONS of such mysteries that are WORTHY OF SERIOUS CONSIDERATION by ALL physicists, astronomers, and astrophysicists. A WEALTH of Information about the GENERAL UNIFIED Theory of the Physical Universe developed by the late Physicist Dewey B. Larson can be found at the web site http://www.rstheory.com . MOST of the TEXT of the book "THE UNIVERSE OF MOTION" can be found at the web site http://library.rstheory.com/books/uom/index.html . Robert E. McElwaine B.S., Physics and Astronomy, UW-EC P.S.: PASS IT ON !