Editorial Review

Stephen Hawking, one of the most brilliant theoretical physicists in history, wrote the modern classic Read more

Reviews (310)

A Masterpiece for the Patient
Stephen Hawking has crafted a masterpiece that requires only two qualities of the reader: patience and an open mind.For those willing to take the (often substantial) time required to digest the material and accept (or even challenge) it, a awe inspiring world awaits.This book is rightfully one of the best selling books of all time, and a must read for anyone who has any interest in the world around them.

I'm impressed
I must say my first reaction was to be surprised at how much better Hawking is at explaining modern physics than my college instructors were.Heisenberg's uncertainty principle was just an equation I learned.Hawking made it seem like common sense.
History of time
This book is a good history of time. My first real book on cosmology. Since then, there have many other discoveries in the field that make our understanding of things slightly difference. Still this is a really good first book at understanding cosmology. They're just a little too worried that readers won't understand it if they add something a little technical. It becomes a book good only for those who will never grasp anything more, or a first book for those who will graduate to more descriptive, technical books. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Astronomy - Universe    2. Cosmology    3. History    4. Science    5. Science/Mathematics    6. PHYSICS    7. Science / General    8. Science: General Issues   

Editorial Review

There is an ill-concealed skeleton in the closet of physics: "As they are currently formulated, general relativity and quantum mechanics Read more

Reviews (466)

Brilliant.
I absolutely loved this book. Greene explains the basic ideas of Einstein's General Theory of Relativity, of Quantum Mechanics, of particle physics, ect., and most importantly, String Theory to the layman. He does this in the most interesting and expressive way possible. It was easy to understand and a blast to read. I read this book falling asleep at night and dreamed of other dimensions....I even took it to the laundromat! This book is wonderful; I couldn't put it down.

An adventure in physics

Discover the 11 dimensions of our reality...
Although I am no particle physicist, Brian Green succeeds to give us a truly passionate account of how close Science is to resolve the problem of matter and what is all the fuss about string theory. Without any equation besides the now-popular E=mc2 but with a good deal of common sense and easy-to-understand examples, the author not only reviews the upmost important results found by Einstein's scientific family but also succeeds to give the reader an excellent feeling of what is a string, how come scientists dare to think there may be more than three spatial dimensions and even maybe more than one universe! On top of it, the author tries to keep a critical mind, noticing us that string theory is up to now "only" a beautiful mathematical object which, for the first time in history of Science, can almost explain everything but is still way, way ahead of experimentation. Thus, like any abstract thing not strongly tight to reality, string theory can still be toppled even by a light breeze... ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Astronomy - Universe    2. Cosmology    3. General    4. Physics    5. Science    6. Science/Mathematics    7. Superstring theories    8. Science / Physics    9. String Theory   

Reviews (24)

Briefer improves on brief
It is not as amazing as time being relative, but the authors did manage to explain things still more clearly, in an even smaller book. I spent much less time reading this second book but this time more light bulbs seemed to come on.

Welcome to our universe
A phenomenal description of the basics in physics and science. Hawkings new version is a tell all for Science beginners such as myself. After years of not understanding or not putting effort into understanding science I now have an excellent overview of why and how we exist. Definitely a great read!

Too Brief
"A Briefer History of Time" is a graceful summary of spacetime physics, written entirely for non-scientific readers; it contains no formulas, and can be understood by any bright teenager. Before you run out and buy a copy, though, you should know that - due to the book's very short length and intended readership for a general audience - it is very elementary and covers its field in only the briefest of ways. If the reader has read any other popular treatment of this subject in the last few years, there will not be anything new in the "Briefer History."
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Subjects:  1. Astronomy - Universe    2. Cosmology    3. Physics    4. Science    5. Science/Mathematics    6. Science / Cosmology   

Reviews (5)

The best book on graduate cosmology.
I am currently teaching graduate cosmology. Modern cosmology is an extraordinarily beautiful piece of physics that has allowed cosmologists to learn from observations fundamental facts about our universe. Graduate students want to understand this beautiful subject themselves.Dodelson's book is the one that delivers that understanding. Of the several graduate cosmology texts out there, this one is unquestionably the best.
Great text
I haven't used another cosmology text for comparison, but have been very pleased with this one.The text is everywhere clear, reasonably concise, and the author uses good judgment in determining which calculations to present as examples and which to reserve for practice, all of which make this a very easy text to read.My only reservations are that necessary assumptions and approximations do not always seem fully justified, and the reader is often asked to wait until later in the text for certain approximations to be justified, which at times disrupts the logical flow of the text.The text is also somewhat incomplete in the sense that Dodelson does not always start from first principles.In my case I considered this an advantage as it allowed for quicker reading and less overhead before important results are presented.The discussion of inflation was less complete than I had hoped, but sufficient to prepare me for the literature.

the BEST book on cosmology for the advanced student
Without question, Dodelson's book beats out a herd of books at the present redshift for the de rigeur text to be bandied about by grad students. I haven't looked back at Padmanabhan's Structure formation in awhile, but it was written before the COBE discoveries, and so it's a bit "old fashioned" now; there are a number of other books worth looking at, of course.
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Subjects:  1. Astronomy - Universe    2. Cosmology    3. Physics    4. Science    5. Science/Mathematics    6. Astrophysics    7. Cosmology & the universe    8. Science / Astronomy   

Reviews (20)

Universe Review
What an excellent book ! Full of up todate information (this is pre-Pluto's demotion), graphics and pictures.The book is divided up in to easy to read sections, not overly technical and covers everything from the history of astronomy, the solar system, deep space, NASA expeditions,a section on night sky charts and lots more.
The fundamental knowledge and more....
Universe gives you a fundamental knowledge on the subject of astronomy, this book gives you more than just a repedative walkthrough about the inner and the outer heavenly bodies. This book goes all the way, by making the vast astronomical sciences accesible for everyone intersested on the subject.
UNIVERSE
The binding is typical DK which is less substantial than other books in the price range, but the content is incredible.No need for any other book on the subject. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Astronomy (General)    2. Astronomy - General    3. Astronomy - Universe    4. Astrophysics & Space Science    5. Children's 9-12 - Science    6. Cosmology    7. Planets    8. Popular works    9. Reference    10. Science    11. Science/Mathematics    12. Science / Astrophysics & Space Science   

Editorial Review

As a boy, Brian Greene read Albert Camus' Read more

Reviews (166)

Amazed Every Time I Pick Up the Book
Greene's easy-to-comprehend summary of physics up to now (2005) is a great read for everyone who is interested in what goes on behind the scenes of our everyday world. It's also a must-read for people who liked to be in awe of the knowledge that modern physicists are uncovering and how much more there is to know. If you thought you had a pretty good understanding of how the world and universe works (outside of physics), this book will boggle your mind.
get out your calculator and triginomitry book..
I bought this book after watching the show on the discovery channel. I think the author did a great job of explaining something highly complex in the world of physics, how ever; the mathmatical fomulas in this book are out of my grasp, unless you have a solid college background in mathmatics the formulas will read more like gooble-de-gook..which is unfortunate becuase the concepts of the string theory are based on the formulas. If you are math savy this will be a great read. If you aren't than you may quickly become dissatisfied with the book . It refers to ther formulas through out the book.. good luck, best of reading. Mercy W.

Thorough treatment of physics for non-physicists
This is certainly the best book I've read on physics.It's highly readable and IMO far more comprehensive and comprehensible than A Briefer History of Time (which is in its own right a good book, but this was more enjoyable to read, and contained a lot more information and instruction).
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Subjects:  1. Astronomy - Universe    2. Cosmology    3. Cosmology (Astronomy)    4. Physics    5. Popular works    6. Science    7. Science/Mathematics    8. Cosmology & the universe    9. Science / Physics   

Reviews (15)

bad at any price
I bought this used for 50 cents and didn't
History of Discovering Cosmic History
"Einstein, who was devoted to a rational explanation of the world, once said: `I want to know how god created the world. I want to know his thoughts.' He meant it metaphorically, as a measure profundity of his quest." - George Smoot Feels like an eternity
The book covers the last 14 billion years or so, and sometimes it feels like it. It is a bit long-winded and certainly contains a lot of info that I doubt people really want to know. There are some compelling sections - like the U2 flights and the creating of COBE - but all in all Smoot repeats himself too much, and spends too much time on trivialities.Read more

Subjects:  1. Astronomy - Universe    2. Cosmology    3. Science    4. Science/Mathematics    5. Science / General   

Reviews (10)

FANTASTIC reading - simply ONE of a kind!
ABSOLUTELY GREAT book - no doubts, no reservations! I would strongly recommend it to ANYBODY, regardless of the background - it's a wonderful, fascinating reading. This book is VERY DIFFERENT from all other pop-physics books I ever read because it is simply INTERESTING to READ, like a good detective story. Vilenkin is an excellent writer, he writes in a literary language which is normally reserved for fiction. He does not give you all the answers immediately, so you are wondering what is coming next. He is also witty and illustrates his text with great cartoons.
Fasinating, if somewhat flawed....
If you can get past the fact that no one has ever found any real evidence for string theory, then the book's viewpoint on multi-universe ideas goes no where.If you go more by the Big Bang Theory (where there is plenty of evidence for), then the idea (which many belive is the case) is that we live in a closed universe where there is no direct connection between our universe and other universes (if they exist).Einstein's Theory of General Realivety does not disprove the idea of other universes, in fact it's likely other universes outside of our own do exist, but because we live in a closed universe, we may never find evidence to support the Multi-universes theory.Just like it is likely we will never know for sure, if the fourth dimension exists, we can speculate about it, and there may be a fourth dimension, which makes the other three dimensions of left/right, forward/backward, and up/down exist.But we can never experience it.

A very witty and clear book from a leading cosmologist
Alex Vilenkin is one of the popular authors who is also a real leader in his field. He is one of the main authors of eternal inflation and a co-author of a mathematical formula according to which the Universe spontaneously appears from "nothing". He has also worked on topics such as cosmic strings that are not covered in the book.
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Subjects:  1. Astronomy - Universe    2. Astrophysics    3. Astrophysics & Space Science    4. Cosmogony    5. Cosmography    6. Cosmology    7. Science    8. Science/Mathematics    9. Cosmology & the universe    10. Science / Astrophysics & Space Science   

Reviews (30)

The Best Book since Carl Sagan 'sAge
This is a book that follows the style of Carl Sagan, but it is not Carl Sagan ! Dr. Michio Kaku provide a path of light into the M theory. This is not a simple scientific book it is the main stone in the foundation of new knowledge.

Good Overview for the Layman
This is the first book I have read in this field and I was encouraged to read it when I overheard an NPR discussion with Kaku while washing the kitchen floor one day. For me the power of this book (and of the man himself) is its ability to excite the interest of the layman.As a wannabe teacher, I find Kaku's presentation to be brilliant in terms of his ability to excite his audience and give them 'wow' moments.Sure, maybe he doesn't present a totally complete and unbiased opinion of the subject matter (although I am not one to judge this), but he may spur the interest of a few of the next generation of comologists and to for me that is what is important - keeping people informed and turned-on to science so that they will pursue the subject and generate the next round of discoveries.I recommend this to all who love to learn.I only wish I could attend Kaku's lectures...

This is the one
I've read most, if not all, of the recent series of published books on this particularly interesting and complicated subject, and this is the one. The most understandable of them all. Clearly written with the non professional in mind. Michio Kaku presents all the information of what isn't the most easily understood of subjects in a fashion which allows for an enjoyable reading experience of the ever changing and sometimes reinvented theory that comes tantalizing close to the much sought after Holy Grail Theory of Everything. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Astronomy - Universe    2. Cosmology    3. Physics    4. Science    5. Science/Mathematics    6. Science / Physics   

Reviews (7)

A Real Gem!
Andrew Liddle's little book is a real gem,and, apart from cosmology students, it should appeal to anyone seriously interested in understanding modern cosmology. Of course, there is an important prerequisite: the reader should have a college-level knowledge of maths and physics. Therefore, this is not a book for the general public, such as, e.g "A Brief History of Time" by S.W. HAWKING, or "The First Three Minutes" by S.WEINBERG.
An Introduction to Modern Cosmology
I sent this book back and got my mony back.
Terrific introduction to cosmology
That is a very good introduction book to cosmology at an undergraduate level. Although there are not many complicated equations, the physics ideas are very clear. It covers a lot of materials with easy-to-understand languages. The big bang model is the main part, with concise introduction to dark matter/energy, neuclosynthesis, cosmic microwave background, inflation etc. After reading this book, you will have a general idea about most of the concepts in cosmology and about what is going on in modern cosmology. Each chapter is accompanied by some problems, which are good exercise to understand the context. But I think it is a little outdated now, so maybe you should buy the 2nd edition. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Astronomy - Universe    2. Cosmology    3. Molecular Physics    4. Physics    5. Science    6. Science/Mathematics    7. Cosmology & the universe    8. Science / Molecular Physics   

Reviews (4)

Great intro
An introductory book on cosmology, I find this enjoyable book to be easy to read and comprehend.A background in General Relativity (GR) is not required, but it helps--I suggest an equally accessible book on GR (A short course in General Relativity" by Foster Nightingale.This is a great book to show you deep connections between particle physics and cosmology.Each field constrains the theoretical study of the other and provides guidance to active researchers.This book will grow your maturity as physicists.
Ease your way into cosmology
As an undergraduate studying particle physics, I have found Ryden to be an excellent first-book in cosmology for self-study. The text requires no previous knowledge of general relativity (though this certainly helps, perhaps at the level of Carroll's text) or astrophysics, which is refreshing for those who would rather not wade through the astrophysics part of an astrophysics-cosmology course.
Very well written
It seems lately people have been writing very good textbooks, for example "Gravity: from the ground up", "String theory: First Course" and "Spacetime and Geometry" etc, and this is among the best. As has been mentioned, there are no tensors in this book. General relativity is introduced with equivalence principle and the metric and by investigating different kind of curvatures and corresponding metrics. Clarity is outstanding in almost every chapter.
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Subjects:  1. Astronomy - Universe    2. Cosmology    3. Physics    4. Science    5. Science/Mathematics    6. Cosmology & the universe    7. Science / Physics   

Reviews (2)

Very good introduction to cosmology
The Early Universe provides an excellent introduction to the topics it covers, including the standard big bang cosmology, baryogenesis and inflation.I read Dodelson's Modern Cosmology before this text, and the two compliment each other.The Early Universe provides a more complete and physically intuitive description of the standard big bang cosmology, including the role of thermodynamics, nucleosynthesis and out-of-equilibrium dynamics.Because of the attention to the "background" dynamics, and also to baryogenesis, phase transitions, inflation, and other applications of high energy physics, one gets a better sense of the "bigger picture" with Kolb and Turner's text.On the other hand, The Early Universe lacks any technical discussion of metric perturbations and CMB analysis, which are important components of much current research.These are highly emphasized in Dodelson's text.For appropriate topics, I have found The Early Universe to be a very good reference.

Please create an audio adaptation ...
To the publisher I would appreciate it if the publisher could produce an audio adaptation of this book. I would love to listen to this while I drive to work and to let my 16 month old son listen to it as a bedtime story.Arnold D Veness ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Astronomy - Universe    2. Science    3. Science/Mathematics    4. Weather    5. Cosmology & the universe    6. Theoretical & mathematical astronomy   

Reviews (12)

Universe
We have purchased several of these books - one for ourselves and the others as gifts.It is awesome.

AWESOME!
This is a truly awesome and inspiring book. The gorgeous photographs and the informative text will challenge your imagination to the breaking point! Best of all, this book will strengthen your faith in our awesome Creator God, and in the Bible - His word of truth to all mankind.
Disappointing to say the least
I wanted to buy this book for a long time and waited until the price was right. When I bought it, I couldn't check inside because it was wrapped in plastic. So when I brought it home and opened it, I was very disappointed with the photos. I was expecting super high quality photos and instead found tons of OLD photos of galaxies and stars that have been available in other books (which I have or have read) since the 1960s and 1970s. Or worse, photos seemingly taken directly from websites, with web quality, ie: not very good.
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Subjects:  1. Astronomy    2. Astronomy - General    3. Astronomy - Universe    4. Photoessays & Documentaries    5. Photography    6. Pictorial works    7. Science    8. Science/Mathematics    9. Photography / Color   

Editorial Review

Plenty of books try to explain the origin of the universe, but despite the ascendance of the Big Bang theory, numerous details of that theory remain in flux as new observations are made and new hypotheses formed (and then confirmed or rejected). Timothy Ferris's Read more

Reviews (58)

good overview
A very good overview of the current state of cosmology (even if now almost a decade old).The author though puts his philosphy into a number of parts of the book - which can be quite frustrating at times (hence 4 stars and not 5).If you can walk through these or are of similar mindset this book is a very good place to start your education into cosmolgy. Ithas a very good index, glossary of terms and references at the back of the book, it is just a shame did not also include a list of books to read in short section at the end - rather than having to go through the references.But on the whole recommended.

one of the best cosmology books I've ever read
Every year I read about 5 books about cosmology and physics. So I know what I'm saying: this book really is great.
The Book of the UNIVERSE
Now there is a plenty of the books of the authors of every possible calibers from various schools and predecessors. All of them are good in own way.Read more

Subjects:  1. Astronomy - Universe    2. Cosmology    3. Cosmology (Astronomy)    4. History    5. Science    6. Science/Mathematics    7. Universe    8. Cosmology & the universe    9. Science / Astronomy   

Editorial Review

A baffling array of science books claim to reveal how the mysteries of the universe have been discovered, but Simon Singh's Read more

Reviews (50)

From Myth and Wonder to Confirmed Fact
Simon Singh's retelling of how the Big Bang theory came about and was confirmed, is an epic tale of how good science is supposed to be done and is supposed to work. It gives a detailed, yet a panoramic view of how we emerged from an era of myth, superstition, and intellectual darkness to the frontiers of the science of Cosmology, Astronomy, Astro and Nuclear physics.
Accomplishes Its Goals
As I thumbed through this book in the bookstore prior to purchasing it, I got the impression it would be about how science discovered the Big Bang and how the Big Bang came to be canonized in cosmology.That is exactly what Simon Singh did with this book.Some of us have science backgrounds, and so much of the first half of the book is seen as unnecessary or at least too long.Those with no science background may have enjoyed the stories of Copernicus, Kepler, etc. more than Hoyle's hurt feelings later in the saga.
The Big Bang
Science shouldn't be dull, it should be stimulating. Singh is even better than the late Isaac Asimov at making it stimulating.
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Subjects:  1. Astronomy - Universe    2. Astrophysics & Space Science    3. Big bang theory    4. Cosmology    5. Cosmology (Astronomy)    6. General relativity (Physics)    7. Relativity    8. Relativity Theory    9. Science    10. Science/Mathematics    11. Science / General   

Reviews (22)

Good Book, but more to do with other Various Scientists
Stephen Hawking's Universe is a book that attempts to explain Stephen Hawking's theories of how the universe was created. Under Stephen's theories he supports the Big Bang. In the Big Bang theory it states that the universe was created by a big explosion. Aside from explaining the Big Bang theory, the book also talks a little about Hawking's personal life before he developed Lou Gehrig’s syndrome which has paralyzed him for life.
A basic primer, well pres