Science news and science current events, research and discoveries.
Top science news articles and science current events stories from the past week.
Science Resources
Science RSS News Feeds
Earth, Life and Space Science RSS News Feeds.
|
 |
 |
 |
| View Larger Image | Alpha and Omega : The Search for the Beginning and End of the Universe
by Charles Seife
| | List Price: | $24.95 |  | | 5 New starting at: | $6.49 | | 10 Used starting at: | $4.78 | | | | | Sales Rank: | 1252833 | | | Binding: | Hardcover | | Number Of Pages: | 304 | | Publication Date: | July 14, 2003 |
| |
FORMATS |
|
EDITORIAL REVIEWS |
Product Description
Humankind has grappled for millennia with the fundamental questions of the origin and end of the universe-it was a focus of ancient religions and myths and of the inquiries of Aristotle, Galileo, Copernicus, Kepler, and Newton. Today we are at the brink of discoveries that should soon reveal the deepest secrets of the universe.
Alpha and Omega is a dispatch from the front lines of the cosmological revolution that is being waged at observatories and laboratories around the world-in Europe, in America, and even in Antarctica-where scientists are actually peering into both the cradle of the universe and its grave. Scientists-including galaxy hunters and microwave eavesdroppers, gravity theorists and atom smashers, all of whom are on the trail of dark matter, dark energy, and the growing inhabitants of the particle zoo-now know how the universe will end and are on the brink of understanding its beginning. Their findings will be among the greatest triumphs of science, even towering above the deciphering of the human genome.
This is the book you need to help understand the frequent front-page headlines heralding dramatic cosmological discoveries. It makes cutting-edge science both crystal clear and wonderfully exciting. |
CUSTOMER REVIEWS (Average Customer Rating: 4.0 based on 12 reviews)
|
wow! 
Amazing! Truth can be stranger than fiction. Vacuums filled with activity. The beginning and end of the universe. Spacetime a rubber sheet. And all described specifically and clearly.
October 06, 2007 | |
satisfactory overview 
This book provides a satisfactory overview of the history and current state of cosmology. Unfortunately, the book describes Copernicus as wasting many years trying to explain the radiuses of the planetary orbits in terms of the five Platonic solids, when in fact it was Kepler who was obsessed with this idea. The majority of popular books devoting space to the history of astronomy mention this, with most also including a picture of Kepler's model, thus it is certainly not an obscure fact. This error made me wonder whether the book was reviewed by anyone knowledgeable prior to publication. I was disappointed to see such a major error in the book as it made me wonder what other errors might be lurking in the text. It definitely showed that the author was not as familiar with the material as he should have been.
January 08, 2007 | |
This book is a good intro to cosmology and explains every discovery so far...
I like Seife's writing style. He wrote this book keeping in mind that 'regular' people will be reading it. He starts with the very first theorys on the universe and explains them in a way that slides right into to your mind like butter. The theorys are written chronologically and gradually get more complex as new things are discovered. He also describes these new discoveries chronologically and detailed to where the average person has a broader more precise understanding of the whys and hows and whats of each theory.This book has confirmed what I always thought was a huge part in the creation of the universe: symmetry; particularly TCP symmetry (I wish there was more info on that in the book)...The previous reviewer mentioned that this book suffers by "trying to explain mathematical ideas without using mathematics"... that is a bunch of bull b/c there is a great glossary that explains every mathematical term/symbol....speaking of math; I'll leave you with a though: in this book we find out that the universe is in fact finite(albeit ever-expanding) but how can you truly decifer the language of a finite universe with an infinite language of illusions and possibilities(MATH!)that allows anything to go?... If we could then over 95% of the universe still wouldn't be invisibe dark matter now would it!
December 15, 2005 | |
Very convincing 
I am a skeptic. I have a mind of my own, and I like authors who treat the reader with respect. If I wanted religion, I would go to church. I want to be convinced.
In particular, I am very skeptical of the whole big bang idea. I've been exposed to some of the evidence, but it has always seemed relatively scant to me.
No longer. Seife has convinced me. The big bang, basically, probably, did in fact occur.
His deep respect for skeptical scientists, my heroes, runs through the whole book. Seife acknoledges that much of the old evidence was really not overwhelming. When he refers to very recent experiments which disprove moribund but reasonable ideas (some of which have occurred even to laymen like me) he does not criticize the scientists who had held out hope. Actually, he seems to admire the tenacity of the iconoclast.
The icing on the cake is the list of ongoing and future experiments. This section may soon be outdated, but for now it has the effect of including the reader in the scientific pursuit. I am now very excited to learn the results of some of these experiments, though they may be years away.
If you just want to admire the insights, go with Hawking. If you want to dream, try Brian Greene. If you want to be dragged kicking and screaming into the new cosmological era, read this book.
Why only 4 stars? The book becomes less convincing in the final chapters. But it is the best I've found.
July 25, 2004 | |
Good introduction for non-science types
A fine and clear review of the development of cosmological theory from Ptolemy to the present, definitely written for the curious non-scientist.
Seife has a good feeling for how strange the universe is, and for how unsettling it can be to contemplate it. He takes your hand and leads you through the stories of discovery with respect, but assuming you know little to nothing about the subject.
I had trouble putting it down.
July 15, 2004 | |
SIMILAR PRODUCTS |
| |
|
|
|
|
