Where do we come from? How did the universe of stars, planets and people come into existence? Now revised and expanded, this second edition takes into account developments in cosmology and quantum physics since its first publication in 1986, and traces the historical path which has led physicists to an understanding of the big bang, the fireball in which our universe was born.
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'Witty, entertaining and learned, his book is the work of an expert raconteur' Economist
About the Author
John Gribbin trained as an astrophysicist at the University of Cambridge before becoming a full-time science writer. His many books include a number of titles in the In Search of . . . series, and his most recent books are The Search for Superstrings, Symmetry, and the Theory of Everything; The Case of the Missing Neutrinos: And Other Curious Phenomena of the Universe; and Richard Feynman: A Life in Science (with Mary Gribbin). He is currently a visiting Fellow in Astronomy at the University of Sussex, England.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
From quantum to cosmic with John Gribbin,
By Matt Greenberger (Chicago, IL) - See all my reviews
This review is from: In Search of the Big Bang: Quantum Physics and Cosmology (Paperback)
Despite the Amazon listing, this book is about the "Big Bang," not "Big Bands." Far more comprehensive and understandable than "A Brief History of Time," Gribbin's effort trys to show how the Big Bang theory could result in today's universe. On the way he gives you an overview of astronomy, physics -- including particle physics -- cosmology, chemestry and history. The sections that tell how man has perceived and measured the universe are wonderful, as are his explanation of how the heavy elements resulted from the Big Bang. He manages to leave out the math, and I can truly say that as I'm reading it, I understand particle physics, though I forget most of it within a couple of days. The new version does not look nearly as ambitious. I've given all of my copies away, so hang on to yours.
10 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Superficial coverage of important concepts,
This review is from: In Search of the Big Bang: The Life and Death of the Universe (Paperback)
I would recommend any avid reader of cosmology not to buy this book. Since I think there are lots of other better books on this topic. The first problem with the book is that it virtually wastes three chapters (chapters 2,3 and 4) with issues like how to measure distances to stars and galaxies, which any avid reader on cosmology is always conversant with. The author's coverage of the Big Bang Standard Model is quite good. It gives a reasonable idea about the two rival theories about the origin of the universe as well as concepts like neucleosynthesis of matter. The major blunder of this book is its coverage of the Inflation Theory, which I found to be very very superficial. The number of lines used to describe how the Inflation Theory explains the Horizon Problem and the Flatness problem, are less than the number of lines in the problem statements themselves. Any modern book that deals with the creation of the universe must emphasize a lot on the latest theory about it and the Inflation theory did not get its due in this book. The author gives a good idea about the significance of the dark matter in the universe and what it could constitute of. But once again his explanation of concepts like the CPT symmetry is very very superficial.
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Inside This Book
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First Sentence:
The most important feature of our world is that night follows day. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
terrestrial mediocrity, superdense state, neutrino flavours, more remote galaxies, cent helium, bright matter, baryonic material, primeval atom, oldest stars, ooo kilometres, cent hydrogen, universe today, bright galaxies, baryonic matter, stellar nucleosynthesis, false vacuum, cosmic string, dark matter, round terms, falling elevator Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Big Bang, Milky Way, General Relativity, Solar System, Virgo Cluster, Mount Wilson, Local Group, Magellanic Clouds, Bell Labs, Crawford Hill, Fred Hoyle, United States, Arthur Eddington, Copenhagen Interpretation, Stephen Hawking, Astronomer Royal, Coma Cluster, Einstein-de Sitter, George Gamow, Professor of Astronomy, University of Cambridge, Albert Einstein, Columbia University, New Jersey, Oxford University New!
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Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
The most important feature of our world is that night follows day. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
terrestrial mediocrity, superdense state, neutrino flavours, more remote galaxies, cent helium, bright matter, baryonic material, primeval atom, oldest stars, ooo kilometres, cent hydrogen, universe today, bright galaxies, baryonic matter, stellar nucleosynthesis, false vacuum, cosmic string, dark matter, round terms, falling elevator Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Big Bang, Milky Way, General Relativity, Solar System, Virgo Cluster, Mount Wilson, Local Group, Magellanic Clouds, Bell Labs, Crawford Hill, Fred Hoyle, United States, Arthur Eddington, Copenhagen Interpretation, Stephen Hawking, Astronomer Royal, Coma Cluster, Einstein-de Sitter, George Gamow, Professor of Astronomy, University of Cambridge, Albert Einstein, Columbia University, New Jersey, Oxford University New!
Books on Related Topics | Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Citations (learn more)
This book cites 58
books:
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54
books
cite this book:
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- The Theory of Relativity: & Other Essays by Albert Einstein on 10 pages
- Big Bang by Gribbin on 6 pages
- Stephen Hawking A Life in Science by Michael White on 4 pages
- Three Degrees Above Zero by Peter L. Bernstein on page 162, page 163, and Back Matter
- Richard Feynman: A Life in Science by John Gribbin in Front Matter, Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)
See all 58 books this book cites
- The Search for Superstrings, Symmetry, and the Theory of Everything by John Gribbin on 4 pages
- The Search for Superstrings, Symmetry, and the Theory of Everything by John Gribbin in Front Matter (1), Front Matter (2), and Back Matter
- The Day Without Yesterday: Lemaitre, Einstein, and the Birth of Modern Cosmology by John Farrell on page 13, Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)
- Bubbles, Voids and Bumps in Time: The New Cosmology by James Cornell on page 72, and page 146
- The Birth of Time: How Astronomers Measured the Age of the Universe by Dr. John Gribbin in Front Matter, and Back Matter
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