Big Bang

This book is written for a general audience, and basically is a review of the history of cosmology from the ancients to about 1992, with an epilogue that discusses the more recent developments such as dark matter and dark energy, which are questions yet to be solved conclusively.

Beginning with ancient myths, the book outlines the history how ancient ideas about the cosmos were examined and improved upon or replaced, and the important figures and scientific ideas along the way. One of the first great scientific achievements was when Eratosthenes of Cyrene measured the circumference of the Earth. Building on this achievement, the ancient Greeks gradually figured out other things like the distance to the moon and the sun. Aristarchus of Samos proposed a Heliocentric cosmology, but most astronomers preferred Ptolemy’s Geocentric model, which remained the most popular model for over 1,000 years.

Anyway, without summarizing the whole book, I will recommend it for anyone interested in retracing the steps followed by astronomers that gradually led to our modern understanding of the Universe. The scientific concepts are explained in plain, easy-to-understand English, with helpful accompanying figures. You don’t have to be a scientist to understand the book, but it does provide enough information to explain how it is that we know what we know about the universe, from the base up.

<iframe src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=thejamesrandi-20&o=1&p=8&l=as1&asins=0007162219&fc1=000000&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&lc1=930505&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr&nou=1" style="width:120px;height:240px;" scrolling="no" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" frameborder="0"></iframe>

 

[canadarocks]

I agree with your assessment of the book. However, I especially liked how the book demostrated "how science works" with observation, theory to explain observation, other observations/predictions, revision of theory. I started putting a presentation together to hopefully show some elementary/middle/high school students (if I get invited to give talks as in years past). Also, I liked the historical aspects showing that the ancients (2500+ years ago) knew that the 1) earth was round, 2) what the earth's circumference, 3) distance to the sun, 4) distance to the moon, etc.

 

[Puppycow]

I agree with your assessment of the book. However, I especially liked how the book demostrated "how science works" with observation, theory to explain observation, other observations/predictions, revision of theory. I started putting a presentation together to hopefully show some elementary/middle/high school students (if I get invited to give talks as in years past). Also, I liked the historical aspects showing that the ancients (2500+ years ago) knew that the 1) earth was round, 2) what the earth's circumference, 3) distance to the sun, 4) distance to the moon, etc.

Indeed, European civilization went backwards scientifically (or stagnated) in the middle ages. The rennaisance was in large part a rediscovery of the scholarship of the ancient Greeks and Romans that had been lost or forgotten in the middle ages.

 

[Stir]

Just finished it and recommend it very highly. Clear and well written, and deals well with extremely complex topics without scaring off a lay audience. In addition to being an informative and entertaining history of cosmology, it thoroughly describes how science works (or sometimes fails to work) with many examples as well as discussions of the philosophy of science.

 

[Hound01]

Simon Singh has an incredible breadth of knowledge. I picked up this book because I enjoyed "The Code Book" very much. He makes the path of scientific progress easily followed. We can only imagine where we might be today if the Church hadn't held knowledge back for several centuries. The most enjoyable "debunking" however was of the scientist who said we would never know what the stars are made of. He was proved wrong almost as soon as he said it.