"Drawing upon Descartes's saying, 'What do I know?' Rowan-Robinson asks what we know about the universe. In answer, he has come up with nine numbers that summarize our current understanding of the cosmos. . . . [T]he numbers Rowan-Robinson presents are grounded in scientific research, although more than a little speculation was used in deriving a couple of them. . . . His nine numbers relate to the density of baryonic matter, the anisotropy of the universe, the Hubble constant, the age of the universe, the temperature of the microwave background, the densities of cold dark matter and hot dark matter, the cosmological constant and the star formation history of the universe. . . . [R]eaders should gain an excellent understanding of what we currently know about the universe and the techniques through which we have acquired that knowledge. . . . [T]he book is a good summary and will make a useful addition to general science collections."--Publishers Weekly

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How old is the universe? How far away are the galaxies and how fast are they travelling away from us? What do the atoms in our bodies, our very existence, tell us about the history of the universe? Are we in a special place in the universe? What is dark matter and why do astronomers think it pervades the universe? How heavy is the vacuum? How do galaxies form? This volume aims to answer these questions and encapsulate all that modern astronomy has learnt about the universe around nine numbers. Some, like the age of the universe are natural choices. Others are less obvious. The author's motto is Montaigne's "What do I know" and the reader emerges with a genuine feel for what we really know about the universe and also what we do not know. Only one of the nine numbers is known with real precision and four of them are extremely poorly known. Difficult ideas like the origin of the elements, the general theory of relativity, quantum theory, and the standard model of particle physics, ideas which underpin modern cosmology, are explained in a simple way. This book is intended for general readers of popular science.

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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent tour of the cosmos via 9 parameters, 17 April 2007

By	M. Page (Renton, WA, USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Nine Numbers of the Cosmos (Paperback)

"The Nine Numbers of the Cosmos" is an excellent treatise on modern cosmology. It is relatively brief, but informative and to the point. Professor Rowan-Robinson writes clearly and often entertainingly. He generally gives exactly enough history and context to make his points clear to the informed (but not necessarily expert) reader.

Rowan-Robinson approaches his topic from an unusual angle: identifying nine cosmic parameters that (in his reasoned opinion) together characterise our universe. He then explains each parameter by considering its importance and its physical implications. He chose parameters that are "more or less" independent of one another. (Only time will tell how mutually independent they actually prove.)

I enjoyed the book. It was well thought through, the author knows his subject matter intimately and - above all - he writes as a true scientist, rather than as an ideologue with a Theory of Everything to peddle. If you're interested in cosmology, then you should definitely give this book a read.

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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars brush up on your cosmology, 2 May 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: The Nine Numbers of the Cosmos (Paperback)

Concise and clearly explained account of the current state of cosmology. After reading the book I scanned a number of scientific journals to find the issues raised in the book at the heart of current discussion. The central issues on the nature of the universe are clearly introduced with the minimum of waffle and even the more esoteric concepts are laid out in an understandable way. I approached the book with the idea of bringing myself up to date on the subject and was not disappointed. I do feel that a basic knowledge of physics & chemistry is necessary to fully appreciate what is being said, (but would you be interested in reading the book in the first place if you didn`t have this knowledge?).

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4.0 out of 5 stars Dark matter, dark energy, dark force!!!, 28 Oct 2007

By	Luis Mansilla Miranda (Vi�a del Mar, Chile) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Nine Numbers of the Cosmos (Paperback)

Although written in 1999 this book was a clarifying reading. I am not going to say that I understood everything, but despite of that, I was able to grasp the author excitement about what we currently know about the universe and what to expect in the future, whether we conquer the knowledge of these numbers or not --- and the author is optimistic. It is difficult to swallow the bing bang, especially on what happened during the planck time and the succesive exponential expansion of the universe, but that is what physics theorist say was the likely beginning of the Universe, supported by the very well known temperature of the microwave background. One interesting number is the density of the universe because is one of the numbers that cannot be explained only by radio "visible" matter, so that is where dark matter (and dark energy) makes its appereance.

This is an interesting subject indeed, mainly because there are so many facts to learn, and perhaps correct on our actual knowledge, but we are advancing, new projects are in phase of construction, like the Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA) and a bigger accelerator will be ready soon. We just have to wait to their results.

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