Product Description

The bestselling author of Fermat's Last Theorem and The Code Book tells the story of the brilliant minds that deciphered the mysteries of the Big Bang. A fascinating exploration of the ultimate question: how was our universe created? Albert Einstein once said: 'The most incomprehensible thing about the universe is that it is comprehensible.' Simon Singh believes geniuses like Einstein are not the only people able to grasp the physics that govern the universe. We all can. As well as explaining what the Big Bang theory actually is and why cosmologists believe it is an accurate description of the origins of the universe, this book is also the fascinating story of the scientists who fought against the established idea of an eternal and unchanging universe. Simon Singh, renowned for making difficult ideas much less daunting than they first seem, is the perfect guide for this journey. Everybody has heard of the Big Bang Theory. But how many of us can actually claim to understand it? With characteristic clarity and a narrative peppered with anecdotes and personal histories of those who have struggled to understand creation, Simon Singh has written the story of the most important theory ever.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #7100 in Books
• Published on: 2005-07-04
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 544 pages

Review
'Comprehensive yet eminently comprehensible ! Singh explains even the most complicated ideas with subtlety, grace and wit.' Economist '[Singh] is a gifted expositor, ready to venture to places other science popularisers don't even try to reach.' Mail on Sunday 'Singh's unerring eye for picturesque anecdotes and his capacity for simplifying complex scientific ideas is a winning formula' Sunday Telegraph Singh presents a tightly structured history of the key players in humankind's realisation of how much space really is out there. As Singh shows, coming up with a theory of how the universe began is possibly the most creative thing of all.' Guardian 'Singh is a very gifted story teller who never misses a chance to make his subject clearer of more entertaining ! Singh is also fastidious about crediting the true pioneers of science ! a brilliant book.' Independent on Sunday

Daily Telegraph
'Great clarity and a narrative peppered with anecdotes and personal histories'

The Mail on Sunday
‘An excellent introduction to what is arguably science’s most important idea...popular science writing at its best.’

Customer Reviews

A genuinely mind-expanding read!
This book manages to make some of the most complex science in human history accessible and understandable. I haven't studied science for 20 years but with some perseverance I managed to learn an incredible amount from this book. Also it is full of incident, and human drama, and humour, and all kinds of entertaining anecdotes which sweeten the pill when you have to wade through 500 pages of physics! Not only did I learn about the Big Bang theory (which I now realise is no more a "theory" than radio waves or electricity) but I found myself genuinely understanding for the first time lots of physics I had supposedly already "learned". And not just physics: geography, astronomy, history... It's not an easy read, but well within the grasp of most educated people: a book that repays your effort and then some.

Absolutely brilliant
This book by Simon Singh is absolutely brilliant and equally as enthralling as his other books. He has the knack of explaining complex things in simple and understandable language, and the summaries at the end of each chapter are excellent and useful. The book is long but each page is fascinating. You don't need any knowledge of science, physics or astronomy to appreciate it, just an enquiring mind. I can thoroughly recommend this book to everyone.

What a long, strange trip
Who first looked up at the night sky wondering about those specks of light? Whoever and wherever that was, the quest for an answer has endured. Simon Singh traces the results of that search in very human terms. From early creation myths through the orbiting of machines that view the universe in selected frequencies, he explains how our knowledge of the cosmos has built and changed over four long centuries. Using an effective conversational style, he demonstrates how the slow accumulation of knowledge built our picture of the universe. With clarity came distance in our growing perception of the age and scope of the cosmos. After nearly fifteen billion years, the universe has had much time to expand. Whether that will long continue is one of the points of this excellent story.

Arranging his topics carefully, Singh ties concepts to their investigators. Early ideas were based on "common sense" and accepted authorities. Naked eye observation limited our ability to "see" the universe until the telescope was developed. "Decentralising" is an ongoing theme in this book as we learn how Western Europe came to understand the Earth was not the centre of things. Galileo's telescopic observations shifted that centre to the sun. When telescopes improved even the sun's location moved to the edge of the Milky Way. Singh demonstrates how each step was proposed, considered and contested, then accepted with additional data. With hindsight, the conclusions all appear obvious. At the time of each new concept's proposal, "established" views held sway until overwhelming evidence displaced them.

No proposal was so hotly disputed as the notion that the cosmos began as a tiny region which rapidly expanded - the Big Bang. Although first proposed in different terms by a Belgian priest, Georges Lemaitre, the idea of explosive beginnings of the universe were generally dismissed. The supporting evidence was lacking and other considerations impaired its acceptance. Not the least of these was the religious connotations arising from the idea of a "creation point". In fact, the term "Big Bang" was a derisive term applied to the concept by one of its greatest critics, Fred Hoyle. Hoyle, with a shifting squad of supporters, proposed a "Steady State" universe in which matter was continuously being created and annihilated. Singh uses a handy set of comparison charts to show how evidence and the issues are balanced in the two theories. Bound to both theses was the question of the universe's age.

In the years following World War II, however, technology generated by that conflict provided researchers with a fresh, if previously used, tool kit. Radio telescopy, a true product of "war surplus" equipment, led to new discoveries. Of the many findings, the one most damaging to Hoyle's Steady State universe came from two scientists trying to reduce static in transcontinental telephone calls. Singh's description of Penzias and Wilson combatting the homing, nesting and excretory habits of a pair of pigeons is typical of his conversational style. It's also a paean to the dedicated researchers who persevered to complete their task. Coupled with radio telescopy was the improvement in spectroscopy - the chemistry of stars. Contributing new information on stellar age had the bizarre impact of clarifying and obscuring the duration of the universe's existence.

Understanding the history of our learning the structure of the universe is one thing - grasping the physics and chemistry is quite another. Singh's great talent is being able to convey both with equal facility and clarity. He knows how to summarize without losing meaning. The "sketches" concluding each chapter are visual summaries that might have been his composing notes. The bibliography is useful, but with the number of books on the topics, it reflects necessarily limited choices. There are countless books on the history and physics of cosmology. Is this one preferable to most? Is it more important than the others? The answer to both questions is a vehement, if qualified, "Yes!". To someone new to the topic, Singh has provided an informative welcome. Does he justify his subtitle? That remains questionable, but it's clear he's correct in asserting "you need to know about it".