Customer Reviews

Evolving Cosmos

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Govert Schilling (with an excellent translation into English by David Wray) has managed to explain the entire history of the Universe in some 127 pages and in a most beautiful and poetic way (reminiscent of Carl Sagan). The breadth of his coverage is only matched by his eloquent description which is sure to touch the hearts of scientist and layman alike. With such a vast coverage, he, of course, cannot go into the intricate details of each subject but yet he manages to capture the essence of each topic and hardly misses any important topic that relates to the subject at hand. From the first quantum of time after the Big Bang (just 1 x 10^-43 seconds after) to the end of the Universe in a whimper some 10^100 years later, he describes the important milestones of cosmic evolution - the creation of matter, the first atoms, the separation of the four fundamental forces, the cosmic dark ages, the age of recombination, the first stars and subsequent generations of stars, supernovae, black holes, the synthesis of the heavy elements, the first galaxies, the formation of solar systems, the evolution of life, the ultimate end of human life and of the Sun and Earth, and finally the slow death of the universe itself! Not much is left out. An astonishing number of details are presented in a non mathematical way but yet the poetic beauty of his descriptions fills your mind with pictures that unfold with every page. Speaking of pictures, the book is filled with beautiful color astronomical pictures and paintings on almost every page as well but believe me, the words alone are enough to touch your very soul. If every there was an answer to the age old question, "What is the meaning of life?" - this is it!