Category: Astronomy

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Before the Beginning: our universe and others
	by Martin Rees Addison-Wesley; ISBN: 0201151421 Hardcover (September 1997); 320 pp Ships in: 2-3 days.

Synopsis
And its place within a grander scheme, one of the most creative and original of contemporary scientists draws together recent advances in astrophysics and up-to-the-minute research to cast a piercing light on man's place in the cosmos.

Expert Commentary:
From John D. Barrow - New Scientist:
Although most subjects discussed here have been expounded in other popular books, Rees's version of the past 35 years of cosmology is accessible to those who have not followed this subject before, pitched at an invitingly low level. . . . Rees explains how many of our Universe's properties are not only unusual, but apparently essential for the origin and evolution of any form of complexity at all. . . . This is an accessible yet accurate account of modern cosmology that clearly separates our store of sure knowledge about the Universe from its speculative edge. It nicely reflects Rees's wide-ranging interests andhis powerful intuition about astrophysical problems. If you haven't read a single cosmology book, this is a good place to start.
From The Reader's Catalog:  
Carefully distinguishing between established fact and speculation in cosmology, Rees argues that a family--even an infinity--of universes could have been created, some before and some after the one we inhabit, each in its own Big Bang. He also argues that only a razor's edge separates a dead universe from one that allows for the evolution of life.
From The Publisher:
It is now widely accepted that our universe exploded around 15 billion years ago from an unimaginably energetic initial event: the big bang. As the primordial material expanded and cooled, it evolved into the exquisite patterns of stars and galaxies we now observe. The mix of energy and radiation that characterizes our universe was imprinted in that initial instant - as were the binding forces of nuclear physics and gravity that controlled our universe's evolution. The experimental triumphs and theoretical insights of recent years offer the most dramatic enlargement in our concept of the universe since astronomers first realized the sun's true place among the stars. Sir Martin Rees draws these advances together with up-to-the-minute research on black holes, dark matter, and nucleosynthesis of the elements. He also sheds light on some of the personalities behind the science, offering first-hand impressions of Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar, Stephen Hawking, John Archibald Wheeler, and Fred Hoyle, among others. Professor Rees argues that a family - even an infinity - of universes may have been created, each by its own big bang, and each acquiring a distinctive imprint and its own laws of physics. These baby universes will either live out their immense cosmic cycle, or die because those laws do not allow them to achieve longevity. The multi-universe revolution in cosmological thought limned by Rees casts a piercing light on man's place in the cosmos, and argues that the conditions permitting the evolution of life stand on the razor's edge between a dead universe and one filled with living beings.

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