Customer Reviews
A Good Starting Point!!! - By: C. Bate, 04 Nov 2008 
This book is a must-read for anyone who wishes not only to broaden their knowledge on this subject but to start from complete scratch.
It reads easy, but as some of the other reviews have stated, an understanding of fundamental Physics is certainly going to help. The well ordered, well written text, with a few bits of humor dotted around explain the subjectin a manner as easy to understand as could possibly be!
You can download a lecture by Simon Singh, promoting the book. It's on itunes under "Perimeter Institute Lecture Series". It only covers a small amount of the books content - but it's worth a listen.
The Great Odyssey through Time and Space - By: Jean Michel, 10 Sep 2008 This book is an odyssey. It starts from our early human mythologies about the place of our worldin the cosmos & takes us through some of the great momentsin history when men & women have broken or shattered established beliefs regarding our placein the cosmos. For me, part of the joy of this book was the wayin which Simon Singh engages the reader with the characters of the past & highlights the personal struggles that many overcame to bring the world true original new scientific knowledge. Singh's scientific training allows him to translate the more complex scientific issues into meaningful & interesting prose for the lay reader. Singh manages to deftly weave the various strands of personalities & ideas which make up the path of scientific development into a rich tapestry. At the same time, he is at pains to emphasise that such discoveries come at a price for many involvedin the process & that scientific progress is not an incremental linear path, but rather as a journey punctuated with great moments of serendipidy & paradigm shifts. This is a veritable 'tour de force' & a really enjoyable read.
The best Science book ever! - By: 6.9 Atheist, 21 Jul 2008 This is by far the best book on science I have ever read.
Singh weaves a character led history of the most important aspects of modern science & the many different characters that went into telling this beautiful story.
My particular favorite is the way Singh decribes the characters personality - such as the humour of the scientist George Gamow. He, along with two other scientists Ralph Alpher & Hans Bethe produced an article so, you may have guessed it, it could have the authors titled as Alpher, Bethe & Gamow!
It is the way that Singh brings the human side to it - so refreshing especiallyin the light of scientists being criticized for being too 'materialistic' by certain vested interests recently!
Big Bang - By: Spider Monkey, 14 Jun 2008 I LOVE this book! Never have I started a review like this, but boy do I love this book. I read a LOT of books & this one had me gripped from the first page & kept me engrossed & stimulated the whole way through. Singh manages to explain complex ideas & theoriesin such a way that they are rendered clear & coherent & allow you to understand the difficult themes surrounding cosmology & the big bang theory. This book starts by looking at Copernicus, Galileo, Newton etc & showing how their ideas lead to modern cosmology research & development, it explores the development of telescopes & other measuring apparatus (more interesting than it sounds!) & how discoveries were made about galaxies millions of km's away from earth. It looks at opposing theories & the controversies surrounding them & how each theory gained ground & was either disproved or confirmed. This book is littered with anecdotes & humorous asides that add to the enjoyment of reading, as well as increasing your understanding. You also get a real feel for the excitement of discovery & of the various protagonists of the various theories & debates. At the end of each chapter you get a wonderfully illustrated & condensed summary that allows you to solidify the knowledge gained before going on to the next chapter, as well as allowing you to go back to this book & refreshing your memory. It has loads of clear tables & illustrations to explain particular points & various photos to compliment the text. Rarely have I enjoyed a book as much as thisin the past few years & i've loved the sense of wonder & trains of thought it has lead me on. I could gush about this book for ages (as you may be able to tell!) but needless to say it comes HIGHLY recommended indeed.
Great pop Science book. - By: Alex Ireland, 02 May 2008 Simon Singh details the Scientific journey which produced the discovery & acceptance of the Big Bang.
The book is a chronological story. Singh begins with the foundations. He gives a clear overview of the early Aristotelian view of celestial bodies, followed by Copernicus' & Gallieo's Sun centered view & then Einstein's relativity. After this Le Maitre comes along, who showed the universe was expanding. This really is a critical stage as once its understood the universe is expanding, its more intuitive it had small beginnings. One senses the imminent Eureka!
But there's more! Hubble's discovery of other galaxys, the increased atomic understanding & the manifestation of reliable nuclear fusion theories. Singh ties them all together & explains how the Gaman, Alpher
and Herman came upon their Big Bang Hypotheisis.
However, things are never simplein such a ground breaking Scientific discovery. The theory wasn't complete & competiting with it was the Steady State Model. The cosmological community was divided.
Piece by the piece, step by step the Big Bang clawed it's way ahead of the Steady State model & eventually became widely accepted.
Some key moments:
1. The age of the universe was recalibrated - Baade & Sandage
2. Hoyle explained how heavier elements were formed upon the death of stars.
3. Radio Astromoney showed far galaxies & an uneven nature to the universe.
4. Penzias & Wilson discovered the CMB radiation predicted by Gaman, Alpher & Herman.
5. In 1992, the Cobe Satellite indicated variationsin CMB radiation which indicated variationsin densitiyin the early universe which would have created the early galaxiesin the Big Bang Model.
The writing style is clear, concise & passionate. Got an interestin pop Science books? Put this on your shelf.
