Cosmology: The Science of the Universe (Hardcover)

~ Edward Harrison (Author) "From the outset we must decide whether to use Universe or universe..." (more)
Key Phrases: cosmic box, lookback limit, lookout limit, New York, Cambridge University Press, Milky Way (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Scientific American

Don't say we didn't warn you: this book may well blow your mind. Of course, boggled brains are an occupational hazard in cosmology, the branch of astrophysics that studies the universe on its very largest scales. Practitioners of the field talk about the origin of time and the possibility of parallel universes in the way most people make shopping lists. But why should they have all the fun? This long-awaited update to Harrison's classic textbook is ideal for those who have exhausted the beginners' accounts and want to dig deep into the science and philosophy. Harrison offers fresh ways to think about basic principles, and he strolls down long-forgotten byways that give such richness to the subject. Unfortunately, the book does not keep up with the fast-paced changes of the past several years, including the mounting evidence for cosmic acceleration and a cosmological constant. But then, there are Scientific American articles for that.

EDITORS OF SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN

Review

"Unusual, discursive, nonmathematical, full of reflective comments and disturbing questions, packed with unexpected citations....A beginning serious interest in cosmology can find no better satisfaction than in this helpful overview...this book may well blow your mind." Scientific American

"This very well written book belongs on the shelf of all physicists and in all libraries." Choice

"Harrison's text owes its appeal to its literate presentation of a wide variety of cosmological topics, from the creation myths of ancient Babylon to the relativistic models of Alexander Friedman...so much of Harrison's book is timeless, and so much of it is unique, that it deserves to stay in print for a long time. Like the subject of cosmology itself, Harrison's Cosmology is simultaneously uplifiting and exasperating. Perhaps that is why I admire it so much and will be recommending it to students for many years to come." American Journal of Physics

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 578 pages
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press; 2 edition (March 28, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 052166148X
• ISBN-13: 978-0521661485
• Product Dimensions: 9.8 x 7 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #313,875 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

38 of 39 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A serious but very accessible introduction to the field, April 21, 2001

By	Martian Bachelor (Feminacentric America) - See all my reviews

Even though "Cosmology" is technically a textbook, it takes a rather different sort of approach from the usual such offering. This book makes the subject come alive with excitement by employing a unique style. Even though the book was designed for intro ivy-league students, there's more than enough here to challenge (and intrique) someone who's fully science/physics-literate. The book emphasizes basic principles and intelligently avoids the various fads which seem to plague cosmology at any given time (inflation, dark matter, excessive veneration of the latest observations made with the newest & sexiest technology, etc). It makes clear the important distinction between astronomy and cosmology.

Harrison is both an expert in, and an aficionado of, the grand ideas about creation, so the hard science here is interspersed with relevant pieces of history, philosophy, and literature (i.e., the humanities) -- but not too much, rather just enough to give an appreciation for how great minds of all sorts have wrestled with these problems in one form or another for as long as we know. And Harrison has a way of boiling down the difficult concepts to their essentials, making an opaque subject transparent.

Even though the scientific level is moderately high for a book aimed ostensibly at novices, there are no lengthy mathematical derivations or formulas of the sort that one might think would be necessary to convey, say, Einstein's general relativity or the intricacies of sub-atomic physics. Often taking an order-of-magnitude and geometrical approach, the book avoids long confusing digressions into trivialities and summarizes many of its important points in excellent diagrams. Harrison is great at bringing in just enough from some other branch of physics to help you grasp the topic at hand, so the development as you progress through the book is nearly perfect. He's also excellent at conveying the important conundrums, uncertainties, and many pitfalls in the field. The coverage is very balanced and complete, yet anything but shallow.

Even though I was a grad student in astrophysics at Berkeley, I didn't learn cosmology from Joseph Silk there. Instead, I learned it after I left -- from this book (the 1st edition). Harrison is that good at making what can be a perplexing subject both interesting and understandable. I came away from it feeling I finally "got" cosmology, the grandest of all subjects.

The only better book for the less serious lay person or someone who finds scientific material difficult would be his "Masks of the Universe" -- unfortunately now out-of-print, but well worth tracking down.

25 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Cosmology for everyone: a great, beautiful book, July 20, 1998

By	henrique fleming (Sao Paulo, SP Brazil) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Cosmology: The Science of the Universe (Hardcover)

This is one of the few science vulgarization books which gives more than just a journalistic cover of its subject. It gives you the history, the meanders, the highlights , the beauty and the greatness of the whole enterprise. More, it gives you effective tools to reach your own conclusions. In this case it is the model which describes the expansion of the homogeneous, isotropic cosmological space by means of studying light propagation in a chamber with mirrored walls which recede from one another. There is little that the author cannot explain with this simple model. Harrison is a distinguished cosmologist who happens to be also a very good writer.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Superb explanations of ideas in cosmology, December 26, 2004

By	Jill Malter ([e-mail]) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

This cosmology book contains relatively little mathematics, so it can be read by almost any motivated person who is genuinely curious about the subject. And it has an enormous amount of interesting information that ought to intrigue even highly informed scientists.

Harrison traces the history of cosmology and reviews some elementary astronomy. Then we get to the question of a cosmological center and the Copernican Principle. Next is a stimulating discussion of whether the universe has an edge or boundary in space or time. After that, we're ready to read about curved space, relativity, and black holes (including "cosmic censorship," Hawking radiation, and black hole thermodynamics, entropy, and information content).

There is a wonderful chapter on the expansion of the universe, and an explanation of the Hubble sphere and its relation to the observable universe.

After a description of several models of the universe, we get to some observational cosmology: use of redshifts and supernovae to establish distance scales, ages of the universe, galaxies, and stars, amount of helium produced by a hot big bang, and questions about "dark matter." Harrison then discusses what happened not in the "first three minutes," but in the first second, including how inflationary theory can solve the horizon problem, the flatness problem, and the monopole problem.

Near the end of the book, there is a fine explanation of why the sky is dark at night (resolving "Olbers' paradox"). The book concludes with a short discussion of life in the universe.

This is an excellent and fascinating book.