Product Description
Provides a provocative and personal saga of two adventure-laden decades of discovery in which the author, an astrophysicist, and his colleagues searched for the universe's ""seeds"" and the nature of existence itself. 100,000 first printing. $100,000 ad/promo. Tour.

CUSTOMER REVIEWS (Average Customer Rating: 4.0 based on 16 reviews)

Not True

The discoveries made by the COBE satellite were truly astounding: the microwave
background has a blackbody spectrum, the diffuse IR background, and the fluctuations
in the radiation temperature (the 'wrinkles').
Unfortunately, the author spends too much of the time making it out as if he really
made the discovery and leaving out how it was actually made by the whole science team.
Furthermore, there is no mention of how he ignored the disclosure rules of his groups
and held a self-aggrandizing press conference before the official announcement of the
measurements.

For a much better accounting of this historic experiment, read the book by John Mather,
the other recipient of the Nobel for COBE.
January 14, 2007

bad at any price

I bought this used for 50 cents and didn't
get my money's worth. The author's pompous
style is offputting and the content of the
book has been much better covered by others.
August 16, 2004

History of Discovering Cosmic History

"Einstein, who was devoted to a rational explanation of the world, once said: `I want to know how god created the world. I want to know his thoughts.' He meant it metaphorically, as a measure profundity of his quest." - George Smoot

Wrinkles in time, written by George Smoot and Keay Davidson, is an excellent book if you are interested in cosmology like me, or if you are looking for something to read about how the `big bang hypothesis' was proved into theory, especially if you are in favor of it.

The first part of the book had beneficial knowledge about particle physics. It included different types of dark matter such as baryonic, non-baryonic, cold, hot, etc. It explains the physical, chemical, and nuclear phase transitions of matter, which goes from solid to liquid to gas to plasma and then protons. In this part the author also explains theories such as the big bang theory, predictions, discoveries, and mysteries of the cosmos.

To me the first part was also more exciting than the second part where George Smoot is on a `journey of exploring the Cosmic Background History'. This is the part where the author pursues the `holy grail of science' and at last is allowed to send up his satellite whose data is unbelievable so he goes on an expedition to Antarctica to collect data from the South Pole by his own hands. At last George finds his reason for himself rejecting the data. The book ends with him going to the press to reveal his data and final conclusions.
December 07, 2003

Feels like an eternity

The book covers the last 14 billion years or so, and sometimes it feels like it. It is a bit long-winded and certainly contains a lot of info that I doubt people really want to know. There are some compelling sections - like the U2 flights and the creating of COBE - but all in all Smoot repeats himself too much, and spends too much time on trivialities.
A worthy read for those interested in cosmology, but not a stocking stuffer for the casual reader!
October 20, 2003

Essencial cosmology book - for cosmology lovers.

I cherish books about cosmology, especially chronicling the most important discoveries about the Universe.
We have had currently three major important milestone developments, changing our perception of the space:
--In 1981 Alan Guth introduced rapid, early inflation theory. It was crucial theory explaining why it is natural for the Universe to be expanding close to the critical rate today.
--Scientists were able to obtain a background measure at all in the Universe, using COBE satellite. In 1992 George Smoot announced existence of primordial seeds of modern-day structures such as galaxies, clusters of galaxies, and so on. Later these infrared readings were called "face of God".
--In 1998, acceleration of visible space expansion was officially acknowledged as a breakthrough of the years. The observations confirmed Alan Guth's inflationary theory. Robert Kirshner- supernova guru from Harvard, is one of the most important scientists studying this "cceleration" phenomena.

George Smoot's books belongs to this category of essential "collectors' items". Reader will learn first hand how COBE project has been completed and its results confirmed by measurements of Milky Way's radio emissions taken at the South Pole. Book delivers substantial amount of basic information about Universe as well. As for today, it is a bit of outdated info, but author's writings about personal life, work and experience are still worth of perusal.

December 13, 2002

SIMILAR PRODUCTS

The First Three Minutes: A Modern View Of The Origin Of The Universe
by Steven Weinberg

The Very First Light: The True Inside Story of the Scientific Journey Back to the Dawn of the Universe
by John Boslough, John Mather

A Brief History of Time
by Stephen Hawking

Six Easy Pieces: Essentials of Physics Explained by Its Most Brilliant Teacher (Helix Book)
by Richard P. Feynman, Robert B. Leighton, Matthew L. Sands, Matthew Sands, Paul Davies

The Cosmic Landscape: String Theory and the Illusion of Intelligent Design
by Leonard Susskind