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A baffling array of science books claim to reveal how the mysteries of the universe have been discovered, but Simon Singh's Big Bang actually delivers on that promise. General readers will find it to be among the very best books dealing with cosmology, because Singh follows the same plan he used in his brilliant Code Book: he puts people--not equations--first in the story. By linking the progression of the Big Bang theory with the scientists who built it up bit by bit, Singh also uncovers an important truth about how such ideas grow.
Death is an essential element in the progress of science, since it takes care of conservative scientists of a previous generation reluctant to let go of an old, fallacious theory and embrace a new and accurate one.
As harsh as this statement seems, even Einstein defended an outmoded idea about the universe when an unknown interloper published equations challenging the great man. Einstein didn't have to die for cosmology to move forward (he reluctantly apologized for being wrong), but stories like this one show how difficult it can sometimes be for new theories to take root. Fred Hoyle, who coined the term "big bang" as a way to ridicule the idea of a universe expanding from some tiny origin point, strongly believed that the cosmos was in a steady state. But Singh shows how Hoyle's research, meant to prove the contrary, added evidence to the expansion model. Big Bang is also a history of astronomical observation, describing the development of new telescopes that were crucial to the development of cosmology. Handwritten summary notes at the end of each long chapter add a charming, classroom feel to this revealing and very readable book. --Therese Littleton
Book Description
A half century ago, a shocking Washington Post headline claimed that the world began in five cataclysmic minutes rather than having existed for all time; a skeptical scientist dubbed the maverick theory the Big Bang. In this amazingly comprehensible history of the universe,
Simon Singh decodes the mystery behind the Big Bang theory, lading us through the development of one of the most extraordinary, important, and awe-inspiring theories in science.
Customer Reviews:
A Great Story. The Most Amazing Tale of Human Ingenuity and Creativity!.......2007-10-11
Yet another hit by Simon Singh, who has officially surpassed Brian Greene as my favorite science writer. Did you ever wonder how we know how far the Sun is, or the size of our galaxy? Singh begins with a surprisingly thorough history of astronomy and cosmology, dating back to Ancient Greece. You will be amazed by how much the Greeks knew about the Earth and the Solar System. Eventually, all our past knowledge of both cosmology and nuclear physics converges to this beautiful theory of the Big Bang, the birth of our Universe.
This book is totally worth it for the catalog of sheer ingenuity of mankind. Singh makes it extremely entertaining by bringing all the historical scientists alive.
My only gripe is that some parts are rather slow, and, similarly to the Code Book, the last 50 or so pages are _really_ slow and rather unpolished -- it's like Mr. Singh doesn't like to finish his books.
But overall, an excellent trip through the Cosmos. Well worth it.
A brilliant and interesting introduction to the Big Bang.......2007-10-11
Simon Singh has written a brilliant book on a very complex subject.
To be able to do so in simple terms is a wonderful gift.
If you have an interest in following the history of mankind's exploration of earth,space,the sun,the stars the nebulae etc and the scientific thought that accompanied this journey this is a fabulous book.
Phenomenally Interesting, Engaging, Stimulating and, Readable.......2007-10-01
For this reader with a lot formal education, but very little of it in the physical sciences, Simon Singh's `Big Bang' was phenomenally interesting, engaging, intellectually stimulating, readable, and educational. Others with more background in cosmology may find it too basic. Singh takes the reader through the history of cosmology as he builds toward an explanation of the Big Bang theory. The opening chapter explains the ancient's earth-centered (and common sensical) view of the universe and its downfall at the hands of Copernicus, Brahe, Kepler and Galileo. Later chapters follow the disproof of ether, Einstein's special and general theories of relativity, and the `great debate' between the supporters of a static universe and Lemaitre and others who supported the idea of an expanding (Big Bang) universe.
A large portion of the book follows the scientific efforts to gather evidence to support one view or the other. The renowned Edwin Hubble and the less so Henrietta Leavitt played key roles in finally providing enough evidence supporting the Big Bang theory to at least make it a credible argument. The remainder of the book follows the debate between the solid state theorists led by Fred Hoyle and the Big Bang backers led first by Gamow and Alpher, but later by others who resolved some of the nagging doubts about the theory, for example, the crucial 1992 proof of tiny variations in cosmic microwave background radiation.
Each chapter (at least in the P.S. version) has handy summary notes. Singh provides a useful glossary as well as recommended further readings for each chapter.
I generally read 50-75 books a year and rate The Big Bang as one of my top five books of the year. Five measly stars don't do it justice. I will resist the temptation to rate as a supernova, but this book greatly enhanced my understanding of the world around us and was a joy to read.
Absolutely the highest recommendation.
Big Bang! Good Book!.......2007-09-28
While I am fascinated by the process of science and how science arrives at theories based on observation, I am also leery about reading books written by scientists. Their knowledge of the area is usually so great that they are unable to reduce the complexity of the subject to that suitable for mere mortals. But Simon Singh with a PhD in particle physics is not one of them. I noted that he had been a producer for the BBC so I felt that there was a chance that he could tell an understandable story. And I was right. This was one of the best science non-fiction books I've read in a long time. Singh walks us through the chronology of the development of the theory, starting with the earliest physicist/astronomers. He gives examples of objections to the Big Bang theory and then shows how the data supports the theory. One of the objections to the theory was that if the theory were true, then there should be background microwave radiation. And he proceeds to tell the story of how this radiation was finally found. Singh also discusses some of the personalities involved in the development from or fight against the theory. All-in-all this was a very worthwhile read, far superior in interest and anecdotes than books like The Elegant Universe or the Physics of the Buffyverse.
Reasonably good cosmology.......2007-08-07
Not much here I haven't seen before, but nicely put together. Certainly a good introduction to the subject, written at a reasonably adult level and very understandable.
Customer Reviews:
Outstanding Primer Book.......2000-10-03
This book is a simple (yet not simplistic), well-rounded and very well illustrated primer to Cosmorgaphy / Cosmology. It is definitely recommended to anyone who wants to acquire a basic understanding of the subject.
The best parts of the book in my opinion are a few schematics explaining the different types of galaxies, the processes of star creation and death, the creation of the various chemical elements, etc. and the associated text. Overall this is a well balanced book with a "Documents" section appropriately short and author's opinions kept to a minimum.
The only negative aspect of the book is dwelling more than it was warranted on the spherical aberration of the Hubble space telescope and its consequences. The author was aware of the planned effort to correct the problem and should probably have spent less time mentioning it in anticipation of the pending corrective action.
Book Description
A mesmerizing challenge to orthodox cosmology with powerful implications not only for cosmology itself but also for our notions of time, God, and human nature -- with a new Preface addressing the latest developments in the field.
Far-ranging and provocative, The Big Bang Never Happened is more than a critique of one of the primary theories of astronomy -- that the universe appeared out of nothingness in a single cataclysmic explosion ten to twenty billion years ago. Drawing on new discoveries in particle physics and thermodynamics as well as on readings in history and philosophy, Eric J. Lerner confronts the values behind the Big Bang theory: the belief that mathematical formulae are superior to empirical observation; that the universe is finite and decaying; and that it could only come into being through some outside force. With inspiring boldness and scientific rigor, he offers a brilliantly orchestrated argument that generates explosive intellectual debate.
Customer Reviews:
Enlightening Contrarian View of the Universe.......2007-06-17
Evidence has been accumulating that suggests The Big Bang DID happen. However that in no way diminishes Eric Lerner's insights here. In fact, this book makes recent discoveries all the more comprehensible and puts them in context. Every subject Lerner touches on, he clarifies by contrast with his own more rebel view.
Then again, Lerner might still be correct even in his basic premise that any signs of a "Big Bang" are just local effects in a universe that's much vaster than we yet understand.
In either case, this book poses the right sorts of questions and presents an alternative to prevailing ideas about how the universe was formed. Lerner elaborates on the theories of Hannes Alven and makes the stunning suggestion that electromagnetic effects might have been more instrumental than gravitational effects in shaping the galaxies. I had always taken it for granted that Newton's large-scale laws of mass and force were the key operators at work. But of course! There are other forces that might have played a role, even in the vacuum of interstellar space, which is really not such a vacuum after all. Lerner opened my mind to a whole new realm of possibility.
One section of his explanation of Alven's work on electromagnetic forces was a little opaque to me. But almost all the rest of this book was clearly written, providing lucid, remarkable insights into some of the great debates and theories of physics and astronomy in general.
For example, Lerner gave me one of the best insights into the value of chaos theory that I've run across. All I'd previously been able to garner about chaos theory was the idea that small effects can produce large, unpredictable consequences - something that seemed self-evident. But Lerner makes the significance of chaos theory clear, showing why it doesn't reduce to just household commonsense.
Then he provides some overall insight into how much of modern physics has become a matter of adjusting "the facts" to conform to the requirements of a priori equations. He demonstrates with specifics how physics has become a matter of building pyramids of mathematical abstraction, then positing reality to be what the highest point of mathematical construction concludes it must be. He suggests this process should be reversed to conform to the original practice of the scientific method. In this traditional method, observation informs the inputs to equations - not the other-way-around. So for example, he criticizes the way in which "dark matter" was considered to be a reality simply because its existence was demanded in order to make the latest round of equations balance.
Along the course of all these discussions, Lerner provides clear historical accounts of discoveries made from Archimedes to Einstein. So right or wrong about The Big Bang, he offers the reader an intelligent, highly accessible grounding in some of the fundamentals of physics and astronomy.
If you like informed, but controversial and contrarian scientific views - you might want to go on to read Elaine Morgan's work on evolution, starting with "The Descent of Woman." She believes that many of the traits that distinguish humans from other apes came about, not as adaptations to a masculine hunting lifestyle, but more as mother-child adaptations to a semi-aquatic habitat.
Three books in one.......2007-04-27
The Big Bang Never Happened is really three books in one: (1) A criticism of the Big Bang (2) A description of the "Plasma Universe", an alternative to the Big Bang (3) A summary of the history of science.
Some of the criticisms of the Big Bang are perhaps a little out of date now, but in general they still stand. One of the earlier reviews is quite wrong: black holes have not been "seen", cannot be seen, and will never be seen. They are inferred. Likewise, dark matter has not been "seen", etc etc. The argument is that the theory fails because hypothetical esoteric physics is required to bolster the theory.
Of course recent observations continue to be consistent with the Big Bang, but hardly a month goes by when astronomers are not surprised by new observations that require yet another ad hoc explanation.
Since The Big Bang Never Happened was first published in 1992, the Plasma Universe theory has continued to receive support among certain plasma physicists. Special issues of the IEEE Transactions on Plasma Science have published articles on the subject in Dec 1992, 2000 (on space weather), 2004, with a forthcoming issue in Aug 2007.
As Lerner points out in his book, the Plasma Universe is based on accepted tried and tested laboratory physics, in contrast to the esoteric theoretical physics of the Big Bang.
While the book is a little dated, recent books such as Don Scott's The Electric Sky bring the subject right up to date, and show that the criticisms still hold, and they Plasma Universe is as valid as ever.
Note that Lerner's criticism of the Big Bang does not automatically mean the the Plasma Universe is correct, but equally, recent observation claimed to support the Big Bang does not automatically mean that the Plasma Universe is incorrect. Sites such [...] is useful for more information.
I can thoroughly recommend this book to all, it will certainly make you think about the subject, rather than relying on the words of others.
A must-read for anyone interested in philosophy of science and its evolution.......2005-08-26
It is not just a most readable book, but the thesis that confronts two ancient hypothesis -according to Lerner- that one of creation ex nihilo and evolution, or, Big Bang and plasma cosmology is really most appealing... to effect such a paradigm shift, to accept plasma cosmology, does not have to do with religion, or philosophy, even less with science, but with money and power... there is too much effort and money inverted in the old paradigm, to expect a change, in spite that all observations have demostrated that the big bang is dead.
My congratulations to the author!
Edgar
This title says the truth.......2005-01-23
I am a theoretical physicist and I can tell you that there is much more truth in the name of title The Big Bang Never Happened, than can be found in the numerous books about the big bang created universe. One may search the Internet for the Cosmology Statement Open Letter to the scientific community, published in New Scientist, May 22-28 issue, 2004, p. 20. This letter was written by a number of scientists from different countries. It has been signed so far by more than 200 researchers from around the world. I can only greatly appreciate Eric Lerner, the author of The Big Bang Never Happened, for showing the fundamental flaws of the current theory. There were no computers, no spacecraft observations, no chaos theory and no fractals by the time the foundations of the big bang theory, i.e. the relativity and quantum mechanics, were made.
One must have this book together with books from Benoit Mandelbrot, Steven Strogatz, Eugene Savov, Tom Van Flandern, Halton Arp and William C Mitchell if one will not like to live in a new dark age, created from a helpless, based on obsolete paradigms, self-serving science.
Seriously outdated.......2004-09-09
As others have mentioned, the alleged discrepancies between standard BB cosmology's predictions and astronomical observation are rather out of date. For exampled, since this book's publication, high resolution CMB data has revealed the predicted fluctuations.
Other reviewers complain that BB cosmology is no longer conceptually simple, and hold this as a great flaw. One even appealed to Occam's Razor! Perhaps an analogy will clarify this: the Copernican, heliocentric model was quite conceptually simple. It's only failing was a lack of predictive power -- in other words, it's predictions failed to match observation. Kepler and Newton came along later and made more accurate predictions about the orbits of the planets -- with a more complicated model. In the 20th century, Einstein's general theory of relativity (a *very* complicated way of looking at the world, compared to Newtonian mechanics) provided even more precise predictions that correctly accounted for the previously unexplainable "anomaly" of Mercury's orbit.
William of Occam laid forth the idea that when choosing between two theories *that give equally accurate predictions*, one generally prefers the simplest. The choice between Copernicus' theory and Kepler's Laws is not such a case -- Kepler's Laws made better predictions. The choice between Newtonian and Relativistic mechanics is not such a case -- Einstein's theory is more precise.
Just because a theory is complicated, doesn't mean it's wrong!
Book Description
Our Cosmic Origins tells the story of our remarkable adventure on this planet, beginning with a single event in the depths of space. It traces the rich and wonderful history of the Universe, from the Big Bang to the creation of atoms and molecules, from the formation of stars and planets to the emergence of life on Earth. Delsemme brings together cosmology, astronomy, geology, biochemistry, and biology to create a unique look at the complex story of the Universe. He chronicles how the first light atoms were made and formed stars and how heavier atoms were cooked in stars and scattered in space, creating dust mrains and organic molecules. He examines the growing eomplexity of plant and animal life, including the emergence and extinction of dinosaurs. Our Cosmic Origins shows how the coupling of eye and brain led to self-awareness and intelligence. It explores the cosmic coincidences that might explain our existence and concludes with the tantalizing suggestion that intelligent alien life is likely. This provocative book will appeal to anyone who has ever looked at the sky and wondered how we got here. Originally published in French, this edition has been revised to include the most recent research in astronomy and cosmology. Armand Delsemme has published four books and over 230 scientific papers. He received a Sigma Xi award for outstanding research and has had, by order of the International Astronomical Union, an asteroid named after him.
Customer Reviews:
The BIG picture!.......2003-07-20
Skirting metaphysics, this book assembles current science from many disciplines to create an integrated framework for understanding ourselves and the universe we live in. "Life, the universe, and everything," would work as a subtitle for this book that covers all the basics, building a launch pad for further explorations in any direction from biology to theology.
Without getting bogged down in details, Our Cosmic Origins sketches the basic story of reality as it is understood by science today, leaving open the questions that science cannot (and may never be able to) answer. It does get a little technical at times (there are even a few chemical equations) but it reads more like a detective novel than a textbook. The science is necessary to gain the confidence of readers who already have some knowledge of physics, chemistry, and biology. Others can skim these explanations and take the conclusions on faith without losing the bigger truths revealed in this book.
Every thinking person should read this book; it provides a solid foundation relating all empirical knowledge. I can't wait for it to be revised when the unified field theory is discovered!
Mind-expanding!.......2001-08-04
The book's subtitle reveals an uncommonly wide scope. We get a reconstructed history of our universe from the Big Bang, some 15 billion years ago. The history of the physical universe -- galaxies, stars, planets and the rest -- continues smoothly in the chemical one, and eventually in the evolution of life, on to the gradual emergence of intelligence and consciousness in some branches of the animal kingdom.
Delsemme, after a career in French-speaking Europ, is now Professor of Astrophysics at the University of Toledo, Ohio. His book was first published in French, in 1994. The American edition has been revised, updated and expanded. The author's background in a French, European cultural tradition is a special attraction for the English-speaking reader.
The author has succeeded well in his efforts to reach the non-specialised reader. As Nobel laureate Christian de Duve writes in his brief foreword: "This is an eminently readable and informative account, consistently written in a language that tries to eschew technical difficulties, while remaining solidly anchored to the realities of scientific concepts. Readers could not wish for a better introduction to the history of the universe."
I am myself neither an astronomer, nor a biologist. But I have a long-standing interest in both disciplines. I have read this book with increasing admiration both for the author's wide-ranging knowledge, and his ability to present it in a very palatable form. He also gives the general reader insight into the basics of scientific research. In particular, he exhibits the scientific attitude, which implies hypotheses, which start as creative guesses, but do not emerge as full-fledged theories until tested by carefully designed observations or experiments.
Like most modern astronomers, Delsemme adheres to the Big-Bang theory, emphasizing the increasing evidence in its favour. His own special field is the comets, a subject that has received much attention in the last decade, leading to the daring, but not implausible conclusion that the oceans of the earth have arisen from a massive bombardment of the planet by comets in the first billion years of its existence. Darwin's Natural Selection concept, the scientific basis of his evolution theory, is nowadays accepted as a foundation for biological science as a whole. Delsemme extends Darwin's creative insight not only to the creation of the physical world, but also, at the other end, to the world of the mind. Man also , like the physical universe he inhabits, is a product, literally, of star dust.
This is popular science at its best. A fascinating, mind-expanding book. For further reading I suggest Edelman & Tononi: A Universe of consciousness.
Emergence of the biosphere.......2000-11-26
This reference is easy to read, and condenses a vast knowledge ranging from the Big Bang to the emergence of human intelligence, into a moderately compact volume. This reference tends to emphasize the topics related to the author's astrophysical background and interest in the emergence of our biosphere.
Good if you already know quite a bit about the subject.......1999-06-11
Despite being promoted as an introduction to cosmology and the origin of life for the general reader, this book assumes that you already know quite a bit about these things. For example, the Big Bang theory is described only in a one-page appendix and such fundamental concepts as Hubble's Law or the structure of matter are not explained, presumably because the author considers that too elementary--things everyone already knows about. But my non-science-major students certainly don't. When the first thing they encounter in the chapter on the origin of the universe is a cryptic argument that the vacuum genesis theory is superior to the singularity theory, they are lost, and it doesn't get better from there. The material on the origin on life, for example, assumes at least a basic familiarity with organic chemistry and molecular biology.
Throughout the text, the author promotes his own views, often sparring with opponents, usually unnamed. Chief among these views is the hypothesis that both water and the organic building blocks for life were delivered to the earth by comets. Alternative hypotheses, such as that the source of water is degassing of the earth's interior, are dismissed in such an offhand way that the uninitiated reader is unlikely to even realize what is happening. The only instance where Professor Delsemme is explicit in identifying an opposing position is the case of Fred Hoyle and his view that life itself, not just organic molecules, arose in outer space.
There is not much geology in this book, but what there is contains some errors, including an incorrect explanation of the origin of marine magnetic anomalies, confusion of "era" and "epoch," various creative spellings of Cretaceous (which may be the translator's doing), and, in a brief desciption of dinosaurs, use of the terms "sauropod" and "ornithopod" as though they were synonyms for "sauriscian" and "ornithiscian."
Nevertheless, there is much that is interesting and worthwhile in this volume for the reader who already knows the basics, and is aware of the uncertainties, controversies, and alternatives that swirl around many of these subjects. The chapter I enjoyed reading most is the one on the possibilities of life beyond our solar system. So, read this book if you are already into cosmology and the question of the origin of life and want to get a provocative slant on these topics, but not if you are looking for a ground-floor introduction.
A thought-provoking voyage through space and time.......1998-09-22
This book is the only one that I am aware of that covers a wide variety of topics ranging from the creation of the universe to the evolution of life on earth and the possible existence of life elsewhere. It is an up to date account of the current knowledge in the field of cosmology. The author is very objective and does an excellent analysis of current theories and explains them in a fashion that does not require you to have a PhD in physics. The book is a must for astronomy, cosmology enthusiasts and anyone in general who ponders when looking at the sky at night and asks themselves fundamental questions such as where do we come from ? how did it all start ? and where are we going ?
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Origin of the Universe (ICR technical monograph ; no. 8)
Harold S. Slusher
Manufacturer: Inst for Creation Research
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ASIN: 0932766005 |
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- Wasting Time and Money
- A terrible ratatouille
- intriguing
- Astonishing! What elegance and beauty!
- This guy is quite possibly a pioneer of astrophysics
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Before the Big Bang: The Origins of the Universe
Ernest J. Sternglass
Manufacturer: Four Walls Eight Windows
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Big Bang: The Origin Of The Universe
ASIN: 1568581890 |
Book Description
Here is a radical approach to the Holy Grail of physics, the “theory of everything,” and a new theory that the universe was formed from two particles.
Customer Reviews:
Wasting Time and Money.......2006-03-02
This guy is a priest. And that's all
Don't buy it
A terrible ratatouille.......2003-12-25
Prof. Sternglass's theory is based on priest Lemaitre's primeval atom, that should have been composed by an electron and a positron. This primeval atom should have existed before the Big Bang. More, it should have created it by its division. And further divisions should have formed the whole universe!
As this is not enough, the author returns to Einstein's universal fluid (the ether) and pretends that the physical origin of 'space curvature' is provoked by an internal circulation of the ether in a vortex ring.
Needless to say that the author doesn't believe in the Standard Model, and surely not in the Copenhagen interpretation of quantum mechanics.
The only interesting pages in this book are reports of the author's meetings with Einstein (who defends determinism), Bohr (who defends freedom) and Feynman (who crushes him).
The rest of the book is a terrible waste of time.
intriguing.......2002-01-30
It's certainly weird that recent discoveries seem to bear out the theories put forth in this book -- for example, Sternglass outlandishly posits that EVERY star has to have its own orbiting planet...thus far, every star scientists have been able to see DOES seem to have its own "companion"...and scientists still haven't been able to firmly account for the mysterious "dark matter" that supposedly fills space -- Sternglass argues that it's nothing more than the centrifugal force of a rotating universe. Yes, "mindblowing" as another reviewer wrote -- but possibly correct. Cleanly written, too!
Astonishing! What elegance and beauty!.......2001-10-02
My praise is unqualified for _Before the Big Bang_. It answers so many previously unanswered questions about the universe, unifies all the physical forces, and unifies all forms of matter and energy, with jaw-dropping elegance and beauty. A few of its many highlights:
Matter is revealed to be made up of pairs of rotating electrons and positrons. Electrons, positrons, and photons are revealed to be forms of vortexs in the ether, so that matter and energy are visually comprehensible as two forms of the same thing, as required by Einstein's E=mc2. The properties of the vortexs also account for the properties of theoretical superstrings. In this way, the gulf between classical and quantum physics evaporates.
Protons are revealed to be made up of four electron-positron pairs and a positron, interacting in such a way (illustrated on p. 250) as to account for the properties of theoretical quarks (which have never been observed individually), the strong force, and the unequaled stability of protons. Neutrons and the weak force are similarly explained.
Electron-positron pairs allow for more massive and yet longer-lived particles than any other known form of matter. This, astonishingly, allows a single electron-positron pair to encompass the mass/energy of the entire universe. This in turn makes it unnecessary to stipulate a problematic infinitely dense singularity and a beginning of time at the big bang.
All cosmologicals structures, from the universe down to planets, are revealed to be rotating systems equally spaced on logarithmic scales of both mass and size. This structure, unaccountable by any previous model, is revealed to have been preexistent in the extraordinarily but finitely dense seed of matter at the big bang. This seed divided by two in a series of stages, until reaching the level of ordinary matter, at which point it ejected outward in the big bang as we know it while retaining many seeds of cosmological structures to come.
This model explains in a beautiful, elegant way many previously unaccountable cosmological structures. Quasars, previously unaccountably brighter and denser than any known cosmological object, and found in the most distant and hence oldest parts of the universe, are revealed to be galaxies in the process of ejecting their matter from their central seed. Galaxies from the earliest stages of the universe, before they could possibly have had time to condense under the force of gravity, are revealed to have had a preexistent structure in their central seed. Dwarf galaxies, previously unaccountable, are revealed to be ejected from their parent galaxy along its axis of rotation. Rotating spiral structures of multiple galaxies, previously unaccountable, are revealed to have been ejected from a central seed.
This book is truly revolutionary. It can only be a matter of time before Sternglass is hailed as a Galileo, who was similarly attacked. Notice how all the negative reviews have been quick to judge and slow to actually read the book, e.g. "It's trash, can't you tell by its cover?"
Finally, the book is filled with dense physics language. Sternglass rightly says that the subject is difficult, but that the lay-reader should be able to follow the main ideas.
This guy is quite possibly a pioneer of astrophysics.......2001-03-26
...because I think BEFORE THE BIG BANG is seriously intriguing, definitely worth a read. If it turns out to be wrong, it will not be because of any obvious errors, only because much of what we "know" about cosmology is merely elegant speculation, and Sternglass MAY be proven wrong in the fullness of time. (Interesting he gets attacked so vehemently. I read he also was surrounded by controversy at the San Francisco Book Fair, where he spoke -- apparently one physicist at U.Cal. didn't even want to let him on the stage at all, never mind disagreeing with him! Reminds me of other famous pioneering astronomers/astrophysicists of recent and ancient history...) I can't resist answering reviewer Frank Paris's technical comments, because I don't like to see a hardworking scientist slammed:
1. Paris questions how the primordial particle can revolve --"relative to what?" This question is answered on pages 204 and 208-9, where Sternglass describes the ideas of Gödel, Ozsvath and Schücking, according to which rotation relative to the space-time continuum of Einstein, or his version of Newton's and Descartes' ether, is described. These scientists showed that a rotating universe is theoretically possible, so that there can in fact be a rotating primeval atom.
2. Paris says that Sternglass imagines "the primitive particles making up a proton to be a rotating electron/positron pair. So it should be chargeless." But if you actually read the discussion of the proton model on pages 249-251 and see the diagram showing its structure on page 250, you understand that the proton not only contains four electron-positron pairs but also a positron, so that it is positively charged.
Sternglass has guts and is not crazy. He's met with controversy before (I first heard of him because of his anti-nuke writing -- and he was once in the thick of nuclear research.). He's daringly, and carefully, posited a mind-blowing, revolutionary reconfiguration of how we see the universe. He just may be the Galileo of our times. And like it or not, the many consequences of what Sternglass calls "the electron-positron model" seem to be in quantitative agreement with observations in particle physics and the sizes, masses and motions of all astronomical objects, strongly supporting his theories.
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Cosmology: The Origin and Evolution of Cosmic Structures
Peter Coles , and
Francesco Lucchin
Manufacturer: John Wiley & Sons Ltd (Import)
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ASIN: 047195473X |
Product Description
In the beginning... It began with a "big bang." Here, for the first time, is what is now believed to have taken place during the explosive first three minutes of the universe. A leading Prize-winning physicist from Harvard and the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory clearly, memorably describes how it all happened.
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God's Ancestors; The Story
Wayne & Carolyn Thornton
Manufacturer: BookSurge Publishing
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ASIN: 1419648241
Release Date: 2006-09-20 |
Book Description
Is it fiction? Is it science? Is it religion? Or, is it simply a story that combines them to find the truth; the truth that Little George Bush will never tell you, the truth that you witness on a daily basis, when not being distracted by political, scientific, or religious empires.******* Yes, the real self-explaining story of the origin of life on Earth; evolution, technology, and God. If this book does not change your life (attitude), the authors will return your purchase price. *****Please go to LuLu or BookSurge for(sample) pages.
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Gravity, Black Holes, and the Very Early Universe: An Introduction to General Relativity and Cosmology
Tai L. Chow
Manufacturer: Springer
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
Astronomy
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Astrophysics & Space Science
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Cosmology
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General
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General
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Mathematical Physics
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Mechanics
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Relativity
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Astrophysics & Space Science
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General
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Mathematical Physics
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Mechanics
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Relativity
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ASIN: 0387736298 |
Book Description
Chow introduces the mathematical methods essential to understanding and applying general relativity--tensor calculus, some differential geometry, etc.--but leaves to more advanced references derivations that a beginning student would likely find overly long and tedious. The book employs standard tensor analysis--which requires only basic calculus for its understanding--and resists the temptation to adopt more powerful mathematical formalisms (like exterior calculus and differential forms) used by researchers in the field. In this way, the student can concentrate on learning physics--and not be distracted by the complexities of unfamiliar mathematical methods.
The book also offers comprehensive discussion of the physics of black holes. The author hits just the right level of presentation: sufficient mathematical detail to demonstrate or make plausible the physical attributes of black holes - in contrast to "hand-waving" discussions found in popularizations of the subject - yet not so much mathematics as to lose track of the physics in an impenetrable forest of equations. An equally strong point is the author's discussion of the most exciting contemporary issues in astrophysics apart from black holes: recent measurements of the cosmic microwave background, the existence of the cosmological constant, dark matter, dark energy and the accelerated expansion of the universe. The final chapters on unification and inflation are also very well done and not generally found in other introductory treatments of general relativity.
In sum, the book is highly informative and has a user-friendly style, which should make it an attractive choice for teachers and students.
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