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Eric J. Lerner

The Big Bang Never Happened: A Startling Refutation of the Dominant Theory of the Origin of the Universe Paperback – October 27, 1992

by Eric Lerner (Author)

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A mesmerizing challenge to orthodox cosmology with powerful implications not only for cosmology itself but also for our notions of time, God, and human nature -- with a new Preface addressing the latest developments in the field.

Far-ranging and provocative, The Big Bang Never Happened is more than a critique of one of the primary theories of astronomy -- that the universe appeared out of nothingness in a single cataclysmic explosion ten to twenty billion years ago. Drawing on new discoveries in particle physics and thermodynamics as well as on readings in history and philosophy, Eric J. Lerner confronts the values behind the Big Bang theory: the belief that mathematical formulae are superior to empirical observation; that the universe is finite and decaying; and that it could only come into being through some outside force. With inspiring boldness and scientific rigor, he offers a brilliantly orchestrated argument that generates explosive intellectual debate.

Print length

496 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Vintage
Publication date

October 27, 1992
Dimensions

5.2 x 1.05 x 8 inches
ISBN-10

067974049X
ISBN-13

978-0679740490
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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Plasma physicist Lerner opens one of science's inner rooms to a popular audience in this headline-making history of time, space and the humanistic sociology of science. Illustrated.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

"Lerner does a fine job poking holes in Big Bang thinking and provides a historical perspective as well, linking scientific theories to trends in philosophy, politics, religion and even economics...a most readable book." -- Chicago Tribune

From the Inside Flap

Far-ranging and provocative, The Big Bang Never Happened is more than a critique of one of the primary theories of astronomy -- that the universe appeared out of nothingness in a single cataclysmic explosion ten to twenty billion years ago. Drawing on new discoveries in particle physics and thermodynamics as well as on readings in history and philosophy, Eric J. Lerner confronts the values behind the Big Bang theory: the belief that mathematical formulae are superior to empirical observation; that the universe is finite and decaying; and that it could only come into being through some outside force. With inspiring boldness and scientific rigor, he offers a brilliantly orchestrated argument that generates explosive intellectual debate.

From the Back Cover

A mesmerizing challenge to orthodox cosmology with powerful implications not only for cosmology itself but also for our notions of time, God, and human nature -- with a new Preface addressing the latest developments in the field.
Far-ranging and provocative, The Big Bang Never Happened is more than a critique of one of the primary theories of astronomy -- that the universe appeared out of nothingness in a single cataclysmic explosion ten to twenty billion years ago. Drawing on new discoveries in particle physics and thermodynamics as well as on readings in history and philosophy, Eric J. Lerner confronts the values behind the Big Bang theory: the belief that mathematical formulae are superior to empirical observation; that the universe is finite and decaying; and that it could only come into being through some outside force. With inspiring boldness and scientific rigor, he offers a brilliantly orchestrated argument that generates explosive intellectual debate.

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Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Vintage; Reprint edition (October 27, 1992)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 496 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 067974049X
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0679740490
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.02 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.2 x 1.05 x 8 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #309,517 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #62 in Molecular Physics (Books)
- #410 in Cosmology (Books)
- #666 in Astronomy (Books)

Customer Reviews:
142 ratings

Customer reviews

5 star		63%
4 star		22%
3 star		4%
2 star		8%
1 star		4%

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Top reviews from the United States

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Martin

An Alternative to the Big Bang

Reviewed in the United States on September 26, 2019

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What is incredible to me in reading all of the reviews listed here is how many people selected helpful votes. I've thought of the same problems for some time now with the Big Bang as set forth in this book by Eric Lerner, and I am clearly not alone in this as evidenced by opinions of these reviews. Lerner sets forth his analysis of the many wonderful problems that he has thought through with the Big Bang: Aristotle's prime mover or uncaused cause (something that is pre-eminently unscientific), pulling a rabbit out of a hat to get something out of nothing the way physicists ultimately must if there is a creation date with the Big Bang, the unlikelihood of inflation theory, which is inconsistent with special relativity by requiring exponential expansion at speeds greater than that of light, the results of the cosmic microwave experiments where the background is too uniform to be consistent with the theory, and the linguistic history of the term Big Bang, where a vocabulary of research in atomic power was bound together with theories of cosmology. You can add to this that there are too many metals in white dwarfs and too many heavy elements even on Earth; where's the supernova to create this, and what is the probability for our planet to be in a second generation solar system, right here and right now, and every additional solar system, too, if a supernova is required to create the heavier elements, as all the physicists tell us? The Big Bang does not make sense when you try to think it through logically, and I have to say that I arrived at this conclusion after I was a big believer in it during my youth, and I studied physics at a best university for it.

However, Lerner's alternative theory of a plasma universe does not make sense either, and that's the only problem with this book. Everything is wonderful here about the criticism of the Big Bang, but not his alternative. And there is a real need now to determine an alternative to the Big Bang, as expressed by many of these reviews. My own thought is to accept a different set of observations, and to see that it would not be unlikely that the universe starts earlier in time with dark matter, and ordinary quantized matter then evolves out of unquantized dark matter in a quasi-steady-state sort of way, and that it has existed longer than thirteen or fourteen billion years ago. One doesn't have to prove that the age of the universe is infinite, only that it is significantly older than the Big Bang, to further our knowledge and make progress in cosmology. The way the galaxies are arranged in strands and appear in the middle of clouds of dark matter suggests that ordinary matter might be described as erupting, or perhaps flowering out of, dark matter in the same way that life evolves from non-life or volcanic islands arise out of the ocean, to increase entropy. The evolution of unquantized dark matter into ordinary quantized matter could be happening everywhere by some replication of quantized particles, or could be centered in each galaxy at a spinning black hole. If you think this through, then the universe is still expanding, but is already bigger (and older) than the Hubble Radius, it's just that we can't see what has already passed beyond it where the speed of expansion becomes the speed of light. Pushing back the boundary this way then makes the mystery into how the dark matter got here, but could resolve the problem of the origin of ordinary matter.

15 people found this helpful

Helpful

Tam Hunt

This is a beautiful, profound and empowering alternative cosmology: a universe without beginning and without end.

Reviewed in the United States on July 17, 2016

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This is a beautiful, profound, and empowering alternative cosmology, based on the simple idea that electromagnetism has an influence at cosmological scales as it does at the human, stellar and galactic scales. As above, so below. So while gravity is still important cosmologically, the large-scale dynamics are, in plasma cosmology (the school of thought that Lerner adheres to and describes in detail in this book, along with Nobelist Hannes Alfven, the originator of plasma cosmology) driven more by very large-scale electromagnetic fluxes. Lerner writes a very broad-ranging book, explaining his views on why the Big Bang Cosmology has taken such deep hold on our collective psyche in the last 50 years, based largely on its superficial agreement with the creation story of Christianity and other Abrahamic religions, and the possibility of some eventual end to our universe. Lerner's universe, to the contrary, has no beginning and no end. It is an eternal flux and flex of galaxies without end, evolving constantly and creatively. This is indeed a warm home for humanity to spread to the stars and never find an end to curiosity and creativity.

23 people found this helpful

Helpful

Richard M.

Double Dribble

Reviewed in the United States on September 22, 2017

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Extremely disappointed with rambling content. Expected to find some logical development of alternate theories but instead nothing but intentional misstatement of those that were to be refuted. Should have known when the author wrote his own forward as no one else would wish to be associated with this book. The author never offers any better support for his theories than those he criticizes. At least there is a scientific foundation supporting the big bang theory from reputable cosmologists and physicists based on years of study rather than the questionable arguments presented in this book. Incredible that the author then further broadens his expert claim to include his opinions on social issues. Save your money.

16 people found this helpful

Helpful

Top reviews from other countries

Erik Peterson

How social structure affects what we think about the origins of the universe.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 7, 2020

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The title should read 'how social history affects our conception of the origins of the universe'. Most of the book is really a thesis on how socieities based on strong hierarchical systems produce origin stories in which physical and spiritual are separated and contend that the universe sprang from nothing. I do feel this holds some weight and there is a beautifully structured and engaging description of how philosophy and origin theories interacted throughout history (focusing on western philosophical traditions). Given the author is a physicist, I was impressed with his ability to summarise and contrast philosophical views. I felt that I learned alot about the history of science that I didn't know (as a scientist and philosopher myself, and even having given talks on the philosophy of science).

A the start was also an excellent argument regarding the flaws of the big bang. Although simply worded and digestible, indeed gripping, I think those with an Alevel in physics will gain the most out of it because he covers alot of ground and it could be overwhelming for people that don't know what is, for example, red-shift.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, but I can imagine it may be disappointing to those who are not interested in philosophy (bit which scientist isn't?) and simply want a rigorous physical description of why plasma theory is better. However, he clearly spent alot of time editing it and targeting the level of difficulty to allow a broad section of the market to enjoy and understand what he is saying. Why not 5 stars then? Simply because, whilst he beautifully and methodically explains why the big bang is unlikely to have happened, a large part of the book relates to the philosophical battles between origin from nothing and no fixed origin theories.

I also felt it beautifully illustrated the problem in pretty much all sciences.. once an attractive theory takes hold, it can be difficult to displace even when there is significant evidence against it. (One note also: this area of science is currently evolving so there are some refutations of plasma theory he doesn't address, but probably because these refutations weren't around at the time of writing).

Did it change my mind? Well, I didn't believe in dark matter before reading it, and I was not convinced about the big bang. I guess I feel more assured to doubt the big bang, but I'm not that convinced about plasma theory either. Safe to say, I think physics is running down a dead end as far as current big bang theory goes, and though we have not yet found a satisfying alternative, maybe we should still be recognising that we don't really know.

Jethro J

How Philosophy influences Cosmology

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 31, 2017

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This is an odd hybrid of a book. It starts out normally enough with a clear and well-written critique of the Big Bang theory of cosmology, pointing out the many flaws in this theory in a way understandable to a layman like myself. However, after the first chapter or two it veers off into a socio-political tract about how philosophy influences science. As I understand the author's thesis, he argues that the Big Bang is an example of Platonic philosophy where ideas, especially mathematical ideas, take precedence over experimental results. "If the data does not fit the beautiful theory, discard the theory". Whereas other (Aristotelian) models of the universe fit the theories to the experimental data rather than the other way round. Today's orthodox cosmology is stagnating as it is trapped in a Platonic philosophy that will not discard the concept of the Big Band despite ever accumulating evidence against it. The book is like the curate's egg: good in parts. If you are interested in how philosophy influences science, this is for you. However, if you just want a good critique of the Big Bang, there are other more focussed books on the topic.

One person found this helpful

J. Dunning-Davies

required reading.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 20, 2010

Verified Purchase

I admit that I haven't, as yet, finished reading Eric Lerner's beautifully written book, 'The Big Bang Never Happened'. I can see already what a well written account this is and feel it should be required reading for those of an age to appreciate it. This should mean people from mid-teens onwards. This age range would, in fact be highly desirable because so much pseudo-scientific indoctrination of our teenagers is allowed and, indeed, persued. This book offers a perfectly reasonable, and reasoned, alternative to the popular Big Bang model and here it should always be remembered that that is ALL the Big Bang is - a MODEL! It is not a revealed truth; it is not a proven scientific fact; it is just a MODEL! It must be remembered that all the so-called predictions of the Big Bang may be obtained from other theories - indeed, for example, several other theories gave much better estimates of the temperature of the background radiation than did the Big Bang and it may even be noted that Penzias and Wilson were NOT the first to detect this - that honour is more correctly reserved for A. McKellar, as is well known!
This book by Eric Lerner is important and definitely shouldn't be out of print. In fact, I venture to suggest that, if it was supporting the Big Bang, it would still be in print!
If you can obtain a copy, do so; read it; enjoy it; and, most importantly, learn from it! If you're young enough to change your ways, learn to question everything in science. Science is a wonderful, fascinating discipline but, once you cease to question, it becomes sterile and, surely, that is something it was never meant to be and never should be.

11 people found this helpful