A Brief Book Review: "Bang! The Complete History of the Universe"

[JamesK]

Got this book for Christmas and finally got round to finishing it yesterday.

I really feel it was a very interesting book. "Bang!..." follows the evolution of the Universe in a chronological manner from the point of the Big Bang to the eventaul fate of the cosmos. Patrick Moore, Chris Linott, and Brian May provide a very interesting insight to how our latest theories describe how and why our Universe is like it is. As only a GCSE student, I felt that my limited knowledge was built upon in a way so that I could follow and pretty much understand the descriptions and explaintions given throughout the book. The book is presented beautifully, with clear and visual atttractive diagrams that support the text descriptions and are often much better for showing a concept than the text-based description alone. The pictures contain some beautiful examples of astrophotography, visable-light and non-visable-light (radio, infra-red etc.) that are always well chosen - they seem to have picked fantastic examples of objects that clearly show the features described in the text. I perticulary enjoyed the section on the formation of stars and galaxies, and I feel after hearing the phrase "dark matter" knocked around and never really understanding it I now appreciate what it is all about. The only negative is that I now want to spend money on somthing that goes a little more in-depth! 9/10, altough I suspect a little too simplistic for those with an already sound knowledge of space science and cosmology.

N.B. Unsure whether this should go in EQUIPMENT REVIEWS, but didn't know where else to put it, please move if appropriate.

[snowking]

Thanks, I found this very helpful and I am ordering the book now

[rblunden]

I bought this book last year, and am slowly working my way through it. I have an interest in cosmology, so it is just up my street. The text is very clearly written and the pictures are stunning. Highly recommended.

[AlanB]

Got a copy of the book at last years Astrofest and waited patiently in line for hours to get it autographed by Sir Patrick himself (and the obligatory photo ).

It is a very nicely put together book, not finished it yet though. When I get some free time I hope to.

Alan

[bish]

I bought this book a couple of years ago at Astrofest , mainly to get it signed by Patrick Moore. I've finally got around to reading it and have found it a really good read. I've read plenty of other books that cover the subject but highly recommend this one for somebody starting out. It's an easy and enjoyable read that broadly covers the subject. Nicely illustrated too.

[ollypenrice]

Good review. Thanks. Does it talk much about those who are not convinced by the Big Bang? They are few in number but are serious scientists none the less. Simon Singh's book is very much pro big bang. I would like to see the dissenters get an airing.

Olly

[kev 102 42]

jist about to start reading The Fabric Of The Cosmos by Brian Green, has anyone read it...............................kev

[bish]

I've read The fabric of the Cosmos. It was a while ago and my memory's not great. Found it a good book, perhaps not quite such an easy read as something like Simon Singh's Big Bang - but that may just be my preference of writing style. However it is an interesting read, with his explanations on the flow of time etc. Sorry I haven't given much of a review. To keep it simple - would I recommend it for somebody interested in the theory of cosmology? Yes.

[darkly]

been trying to save pennies after xmas but I've gone and cracked, just tabbed Amazon as I type ... ooops !!!

[rory]

just bagged a copy from e bay for 99p , result !