Product Description

A concise, accessible introduction to this exciting and dynamic subject.
∗ Adopts an approach grounded in physics rather than mathematics.
∗ Includes worked examples and student problems, along with hints for solving them and the numerical answers.
∗ Many reviewers have commented that this is one of the best ′introductory undergraduate level′ texts on the subject and they would all welcome a Second Edition.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #62020 in Books
• Published on: 2003-03-27
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 200 pages

Review
"...complete and up–to–date...an excellent introduction of cosmology, and at this level it is hard to beat...highly recommended." (Choice, Vol. 41, No. 6, February 2004)

Review
"...complete and up–to–date...an excellent introduction of cosmology, and at this level it is hard to beat...highly recommended." (Choice, Vol. 41, No. 6, February 2004)

From the Back Cover
An Introduction to Modern Cosmology Second Edition is an accessible account of modern cosmological ideas.  The Big Bang Cosmology is explored, looking at its observational successes in explaining the expansion and age of the universe, the existence and properties of the cosmic microwave background, and the origin of the light elements in the universe.  Properties of the very early universe are also covered, including the motivation for the theory known as cosmological inflation.  The Second Edition includes additiional material on observational cosmology and structure formation.

• Approach grounded in physics rather than mathematics.
• Worked examples, student problems, hints for solving them and numerical answers.
• Latest observational results including WMAP satellite.
• New website with updates, full colour images and links to further information.

Published reviews of the First Edition:

"..a clear, concise and accessible book" New Scientist

"...one of the clearest introductions to cosmology on the market"  Contemporary Physics

Customer Reviews

It does exactly what is says on the tin!
I just read this book cover to cover about three times for my Physics course, and its a great little book.

Its one of the few text books i would recommend to a non Physicist (Though you do need a decent level of mathematical knowledge.)

It covers all of cosmology and the bigbang theory without resorting to Relativity and as such allows you to get to grasps with the concepts behind the universe with ease.

It allows the reader to understand the nature of the universe quite deeply for it size, and keeps you entertained throughout.

Very Instructive!!!!!!!!!
The text gives a good technical overview of the main aspects of the hot big band model. It goes significantly beyond what's covered in the numerous popular science books in the same domain. Overall you get to realize the logic/rationale behind the theory of the big bang. Liddle's main good idea is to give a starting technical outlook to the description of the Universe as a whole. Liddle describes the core ideas and then requires his/her reader to carry out some relatively simple mathematical demonstrations (requiring calculus). Thanks to this approach, you get a good qualitative and some quantitative feel about the main aspects of cosmology.
I only give 4 stars because the book has (for clarity's sake) avoided explaining some important key physical points. Instead there are briefly introduced at the start of the book and they are used later when developing cosmological ideas. This is obviously a conscious choice from Liddle.
The author however mentions that there is a significant gap between his book and other more serious undergrad/postgrad textbooks. In my view, it would be nice if a later edition could attempt to bridge this gap by adding some more experimental evidence and fundamental physics.
All in all a good addition to my personal library.

It does exactly what it says on the tin.
I just read this book cover to cover about three times for my Physics course, and its a great little book.

Its one of the few text books i would recommend to a non Physicist (Though you do need a decent level of mathematical knowledge.)

It covers all of cosmology and the bigbang theory without resorting to Relativity and as such allows you to get to grasps with the concepts behind the universe with ease.

It allows the reader to understand the nature of the universe quite deeply for it size, and keeps you entertained throughout. It would be a great addition to anybody studying the subject as it wont overload you with hugh reams of text. The ideas are presently quickly and explained well.

The best recommendation i can give it, is that after a years studying its the only one i'll read again for entertainment.