The following version of this book was used to create this study guide: Prescod-Weinstein, Chanda. The Disordered Cosmos: A Journey into Dark Matter, Spacetime, and Dreams Deferred. Public Affairs, 2021.

The Disordered Cosmos starts with an introduction entitled: "In the Beginning: A Bedtime Story," in which Prescod-Weinstein introduces the reader to her scientific interests and her worldview, which will be the main topics of this book. She wants other people to have as much fascination with studying the universe, and with making our little corner of the universe a better place for black people to live, as she does.

In Phase One, Just Physics, Prescod-Weinstein talks mainly about her areas of study, which are particle physics and cosmology, the unimaginably tiny and the unfathomably large. Chapter One, “I Heart Quarks,” talks about the subatomic particles that make up everything. These are the things that first got Prescod-Weinstein to fall in love with physics, and they are still what make up the bulk of her work. In this first chapter, Prescod-Weinstein lays out the ways in why physicists ask and answer questions, and the issues with some of their approaches and naming conventions. Chapter Two, “Dark Matter Isn’t Dark,” talks about even more subatomic particles, how they interact to created forces, and how much we still don’t know. Prescod-Weinstein also talks about how dark matter is not actually dark, but completely invisible, and about the types of associations different groups of people may have with the word dark. Chapter Three, “Spacetime Isn’t Straight,” talks about the cosmos on a much grander scale. Prescod-Weinstein discusses the issue of whether or not space and time are separate entities, both from the perspectives of scientific study and from historic cultural approaches. She talks about issues with the way geometry is taught in schools and some underlying assumptions that can be detrimental to scientific understanding – especially when scientists try to find data to fit their explanations, rather than explanations to fit their data. Chapter Four, “The Biggest Picture There Is,” looks at the history of space time – and of its study. Here, Prescod-Weinstein introduces the idea of the physicist as a story-teller. She also introduces the reader to a couple of competing views on the best model with which to explain the forces of the universe. She gives a brief history of the studies that led to these views, and reminds the reader of who has been left out of this progress.

In Phase Two, Physics and the Chosen Few, Prescod-Weinstein talks more about her personal life, and the challenges she’s face in her career. It covers some social science, as well as physics, as it talks about the factors that shape the worldviews of scientists, and those who don’t get to become scientists. Chapter Five, “The Physics of Melanin,” talks about the science, its potential implications, and how it is reported. Chapter Six, “Black People are Luminous Matter,” explains why Prescod-Weinstein thinks it is dangerous to compare black people to dark matter. She says that dark matter is naturally hard to understand, while black people are intentionally pushed to the side when they should be treated equally by scientists and as scientists. Chapter Seven, “Who Is a Scientist?” talks about people throughout history who have not been given their fair dues. It looks both at people who were excluded from participating in the scientific process, like enslaved people, and those whose contribution to the scientific process have been ignored, like women credited as assistants to male scientists, instead of scientists in their own right, and indigenous people who told European scientists information they would later take credit for putting together.

Phase Three, The Trouble with Physicists, Prescod-Weinstein talks about the discrimination, complex legacies and sexual misconduct she has seen in her field. Chapter Eight, “Let Astro/Physics Be the Dream It Used to Be,” talks about Prescod-Weinstein’s experiences attending, then teaching at, top-tier physics programs. She talks about the discrimination that she experienced while she was there, and the discrimination that prevents many people from ever getting there in the first place. Chapter Nine, “The Anti-Patriarchy Agender,” covers Prescod-Weinstein’s own experience with gender, how definitions of gender are often tied up in cultural imperialism, and how ridiculous she finds it that some of the world’s top physicists can’t wrap their heads around the idea of non-binary people. Chapter Ten, “Wages for Scientific Homework,” talks about all the background work that goes into making scientific endeavor possible. This includes both support staff like administrators, janitors, cafeteria workers and tech support, and the work scientists who face racism, sexism, classism and the like do to support each other and their marginalized students. In Chapter Eleven, “Rape is Part of this Scientific Story,” Prescod-Weinstein talks about the time she was raped by a colleague a conference, and how it has affected her, both as an individual, and as a physicist. She lays out her frustrations with a society that failed to protect her, and with an academic system that expected her to continue operating at maximum output, like a cog in a machine.

Phase Four, All Our Galactic Relations, talks about the future, not in certain terms, but simply in respect to the different ways we have of looking at it right now. Chapter Twelve, “The Point of Science: Lessons from the Mauna,” talks about a job Prescod-Weinstein did not take because native Hawaiians were protesting the construction of an observatory on their sacred land without their permission. Prescod-Weinstein reflects on times she has behaved similarly, times she felt complicit, and how she vows to do better going forward. Chapter Thirteen, “Cosmological Dreams under Totalitarianism,” talks about abuses of science and ways in which Prescod-Weinstein believes scientists have collaborated with oppression and colonialism. It mainly focuses on physics in the US, but includes anecdotes from several disciplines in several countries. Chapter Fourteen, “Black Feminist Physics at the End of the World,” addressed different frameworks that can be used to imagine a more equitable future, and how the path we are currently on falls short. The book’s epilogue, “Dear Mama, This is What My Freedom Dream Looks Like,” is a letter written from Prescod-Weinstein to her mother, organizer and activist Margaret Prescod. Prescod-Weinstein tells how her mother made her the person she is today and influenced her vision of what the future could look like.