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'The real stuff of astronomy -- written by the best authority' --Stephen Hawking 'Mind-stretching... Equipped with little more than an inquiring mind, the reader can accompany this expert guide across the length and breadth of our universe, backwards and forwards in time, to find out just what cosmologists nowadays do and don't know' SUNDAY TIMES 'Masterly... I cannot think of a more civilised and stimulating way to escape from the mundane concerns of everyday life than to read BEFORE THE BEGINNING' FINANCIAL TIMES 'Fascinating... A highly accessible book... Sir Martin Rees does much to persuade us that the cosmos might well be even more spectacular than we could have imagined' SUNDAY TELEGRAPH 'If you haven't read a single cosmology book, this is a good place to start' NEW SCIENTIST 'This is the book for those who read A BRIEF HISTORY OF TIME and were still left wondering whether they quite had the whole picture' GUARDIAN
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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In this landmark book, one of the twentieth centurys greatest astronomers presents scientific evidence that our vast universe may be only a grain of sand on the infinite cosmic shore. It is now widely accepted that our universe exploded around 15 billion years ago from an unimaginably energetic initial event: the big bang. As the primordial material expanded and cooled, it evolved into the exquisite patterns of stars and galaxies we now observe. The mix of energy and radiation that characterizes our universe was imprinted in that initial instantas were the binding forces of nuclear physics and gravity that controlled our universes evolution. The experimental triumphs and theoretical insights of recent yearsfrom the detection of neutrinos from exploding stars to the search for extraterrestrial lifeoffer the most dramatic enlargement in our concept of the universe since astronomers first realized the suns true place among the stars. In this illuminating work, Sir Martin Rees, Britains Astronomer Royal and one of the most creative and original of contemporary scientists, draws these advances together with up-to-the-minute research on black holes, dark matter, and nucleosynthesis of the elements. He also sheds light on some of the personalities behind the science, offering first-hand impressions of Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar, Stephen Hawking, John Archibald Wheeler, and Fred Hoyle, among others. With stunning clarity, Professor Rees argues that a familyeven an infinityof universes may have been created, each by its own big bang, and each acquiring a distinctive imprint and its own laws of physics. These baby universes will either live out their immense cosmic cycle, or die because those laws do not allow them to achieve longevity. Our home universe, then, is just one element in a cosmic archipelago where impassable barriers prohibit communication between the islands. But, as Rees demonstrates, our universe is an exceptional member of this infinite ensemble, for it is still near the beginning of a fascinating evolutionary process that will end either in the heat-death of external expansion, or in what scientists call a big crunch. Most remarkable of all, our universe contains creatures able to observe it. The multi-universe revolution in cosmological thought limned by Rees casts a piercing light on mans place in the cosmos, and argues that the conditions permitting the evolution of life stand on the razors edge between a dead universe and one filled with living beings.
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"Whilst this planet has been cycling on according to the fixed law of gravity, from so simple a beginning forms most wonderful...have been and are being evolved." Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
"Whilst this planet has been cycling on according to the fixed law of gravity, from so simple a beginning forms most wonderful...have been and are being evolved." Read the first page
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31 of 31 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This fascinating book deals with inter alia pregalactic history, black holes, dark matter, time in other possible universes, ecology of universes, omega and lambda, great attractors, pulsars, neutron stars and anthropic reasoning, which the author defends. It represents a drastic enlarging of our cosmic perspectives - the cosmos is more spectacular by far than we could have imagined. He also maintains that the apparent fine tuning that our existence depends on cannot be a coincidence. What we call the universe is likely to be just one member of an ensemble, but ours may be in an unusual subset that permits complexity and consciousness to develop. Our universe could be an atom in an infinite ensemble, a cosmic archipelago in which impassable barriers prohibit communication between the islands. Quoting scientists like Hawking and Chandrasekar throughout, the author broadens our understanding of cosmology and quantum science while offering unique and interesting new perspectives on our understanding of consciousness and existence. Highly recommended.
14 of 14 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This is a book about Cosmology from a big perspective. It takes a view on the very existance of our universe. How it may have come into being and what there may be beyond it in time and space.
Of course, these matters are not the subject of simple experiments but it is remarkable that our understanding of nature allows such speculation.
This book is aimed at a non-technical audience and the overall style is clear and the arguments lucid.
The author starts with an introduction that explains our universe as it has been understood through the main developments of physics in the last one hundred years. The sections on gravitation effects, ranging from stellar collapse to massive black holes missing mass and expansion were presented with great clarity.
However, if you are looking for a book that talks about "Before the Beginning", you may just find yourself wondering why you read the first nine chapters. They are a good, non-technical introduction but they are about our universe from the big bang to the present time.
The last 40% of the book actually contains material hinted at in the title. The author makes the point that our universe is remarkable in the way that it is fit for human life. He then links this observation to the current thinking about the origins of the universe.
Perhaps, our universe is one of many. Very, very many and this one just happens to suit the development of life but there may be many universes "out there" that are still born in the sense that they cannot support life.
Reese explains how space time inflation may lead to universes with different laws of physics and how universes may spawn new universes through the formation of black holes. At the end of this arguement, he talks about the "Anthropomorphic Reasoning" by which we can understand this. These ideas are very speculative and are disputed by many others. Reese achieves a good balance by writing about these disputes.
If you want a book that will give you the current state of the art view of cosmology together with some fascinating speculation about fuuture developments then this is just the job.
I can only level a small number of criticisms at the book. I suspect that most of the target audience will already be familiar with the first 60% of the book so, perhaps, it would have been better to condense that material. The "Further Reading" list at the end just has a collection of titles and authors with no expansion on the contents of these references. Some more information here would be a huge help to readers wondering what to look at next.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
i like martin rees' style of writing. he is concise and informative, tells a good story and is witty into the bargain. his speculative ideas are exceptionally well thought out and persuasive.
this book tells the history of the cosmos, as far as science can hypothesise, from the moments even before its existence, through the "big bang" event, hyperinflation and continues to explain where we are presently, approximately 14 billion years later. along the way we are treated to the theories of how the various elements may have formed (nucleogenesis, as rees calls it), how life might have arisen, how lifeforms from other parts of the universe might attempt to communicate with us (i smugly presume the prime sequence on page 24 is a typo since it goes 1, 3, 5, 7, 11 ...), and how the numbers highly speculative and intriguing numbers omega and lambda might influence how the universe might continue or end. we can be sure that it will peter out to nothingness, dissolving into an ever-diluting wash of radiation; stay constant, i.e. continually expanding, or bounce back into a so-called "big crunch", possibly resulting in a new creation event, another "big bang"). i can't wait to find out.
i loved this book and have read it three times and will definitely read it again. a five-star book!
this book tells the history of the cosmos, as far as science can hypothesise, from the moments even before its existence, through the "big bang" event, hyperinflation and continues to explain where we are presently, approximately 14 billion years later. along the way we are treated to the theories of how the various elements may have formed (nucleogenesis, as rees calls it), how life might have arisen, how lifeforms from other parts of the universe might attempt to communicate with us (i smugly presume the prime sequence on page 24 is a typo since it goes 1, 3, 5, 7, 11 ...), and how the numbers highly speculative and intriguing numbers omega and lambda might influence how the universe might continue or end. we can be sure that it will peter out to nothingness, dissolving into an ever-diluting wash of radiation; stay constant, i.e. continually expanding, or bounce back into a so-called "big crunch", possibly resulting in a new creation event, another "big bang"). i can't wait to find out.
i loved this book and have read it three times and will definitely read it again. a five-star book!
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