PRESS

A Beautiful Coffee-table Size Book

10 Nov 2006

Bang! The Complete History of the Universe by Brian May, Patrick Moore and Chris Lintott
£20, Carlton Books, London 2006

This is a beautiful coffee-table size size book, filled with gorgeous photographs of the universe and elegant explanations of the state of our knowledge about the cosmos, its origins and its future. Divided into seven chapters, it tells the biography of the universe, sidling through the beginning of light, the universe’s evolution, the formation of stars and planets and the emergence of life. The final chapters look into the future and to the anticipated end of the universe. The text is accessible and engaging without coming across as dumbed down. It is aimed at a non-scientific audience and includes as asides (in ‘grey areas’) explanations of the Kelvin temperature scale and other concepts that might be unfamiliar to a non Imperial student. Like bonus tracks on a CD, after chapter 7 we come to more fascinating information.

Tips for getting into practical astronomy and guides to the night sky help you go further; biographies of sixteen astronomers and physicists, whose research has led to our current understanding of the universe. What is unlear is who wrote what parts of the book. An entire section is dedicated to the biographies and achievements of astrophysicists - it would have been nice to know each of the author’s own contributions.

There’s a Bang! website www.banguniverse.com you can look at.

Joanna Carpenter

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