History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)

Book Description

Recorded history is a finely-woven magic fabric of intricate lies about events predating the sixteenth century. There is not a single piece of evidence that can be reliably and independently traced back earlier than the eleventh century. This book details events that are substantiated by hard facts and logic, and validated by new astronomical research and statistical analysis of ancient sources.

Customer Reviews:

Calculations are only as good as your numbers.......2007-08-03

Yes, we can all agree that mainstream history is nearly 100% BS due to politics, economics, ego, problems with dating techniques, and various conspiracies. Agreed. But, I've been researching the distinct possibility that human history (in terms of civilizations) are much more ancient than we've been told, so coming across this book was very interesting to me. I wondered how Fomenko could be wrong (if at all) because he is very persuasive in his presentations. Then it dawned on me. If at previous times in prehistory, due to the various catastrophies that are well documented (comets, asteroids, planetary disruptions, plasma discharge, pole reversals, etc) the Earth was in a different position in relation to the sun, different tilt on its axis, different orbit, different rotation (in terms of velocity and DIRECTION), and the continents were in different positions, then would this not cause the ancients to see the sky (constellations) differently? In other words, is Fomenko making erronious assumptions about the physics of the Earth in pre-history, which then corrupt his data with regards to dating the relevant astrology? The last event to seriously disrupt our planet occured roughly 3500 years ago, according to other good researchers, so is it possible Fomenko has been confused by this? The vastly different physics of our planet in the not so distant past may explain this confusion, which is not to say the "mainstream" version of history is correct; on the contrary. I am not an expert in these fields, but wanted to see if this idea could spark discussion.

Pants on fire?.......2007-07-19

Will people ever read before spamming? Yes, Jesuits could not rewrite world history alone, they had help. Anyway, Dr Prof Acad A.Fomenko does not point to jesuits as the driving force of world wide history manipulation in published volumes 1,2,3;, actually he barely mentions the poor devils. Check it with 'Search inside' feature, please. China is rarely mentioned either, in fact, Dr Fomenko is completely eurocentric. Right, his theory contradicts all mainstream schools of history, because in their actual state they are all built on blatantly erroneus chronology. You don't need a mysterious cabal (conspiracy) to falsify history, the falsification is its modus operandi. It is inherent to history(ians) to falsify (distort) events, as it is inherent to humans to boast as it is inherent to power (authority) to legimize itself by referrring to glorious past made to its own order. Dr Prof Fomenko and team have identified scores of instances of such manipulation in Russian, European, etc.. history, and delivered valid statistical proof thereof. His own 'reconstruction' is completely another story. Forget c14 as a valid method of dating. W.Libby has initially discovered a brilliant method of INDEPENDENT dating. Too bad, c14 method has become a joke after a forced marrige with dendrochronology with consensual chronological scale inbuilt. Radiocarbon method can't stand blind tests, but is so very productive as a rubberstamp.

Accepted History & Chronology Must Be Changed. .......2007-04-09

There is no doubt that history as most know it is a sham, & institution's version of History both University & Church is fradulent & inaccurate. Everything was established with an agenda, The real "Dark Ages" are now when we have access to incredible amounts of information past authorities & more important 'common folk' didn't have but our institutions & educators are slow to evolve because of what has ignorantly & arrogantly been taught for too long. This is on many subjects not just Chronology.

For anyone to question "Why would a Mathematician have anything credible to say of History?" The answer is from Dr. Fomenko's preface in the book: "It would be worthwhile to remind the reader that in the XVI-XVII century Chronology was considered to be a subdivision of Mathematics." These volumes could possibly be some of the most important works to date & should be read by everyone with an interest in History, especially professors & educators who have a duty to the public. I have read both books & must say that 'Chronology 1' has some very eye opening & revolutionary information. Even if these volumes are part true the implications are profound & opens the doors to further investigations & questions which must be done. I speak several different lanquages & must say the logic Dr. Fomenko uses with "inflection" of words & words being read from left to right in one region & right to left in another then written backwards, the removal of vowels & get down to basics of words, or different cities & locations having the same name etc. is correct. Vowel usage has always been optional & varied, actually complicating linquistics & study. The first thing one has to understand is that words never had a fixed spelling in history like we do now, the spelling of words was mutable & regional, as well as names & titles of people were vast, varied & changed, NOTHING WAS FIXED or understood linear. Matters of Life & Death as well as financial profiteering yesterday & today were & are made with ignorant, illogical & conspiratorial views of history & reality, it's time people get closer to the Truth & society collectively grow up.

Very Interesting.......2007-03-07

It is a good proposal and I believe it will mature into something even better in the future. I think it deserves to be read.

History as Science Fiction.......2007-01-10

Anatoly Fomenko has written a very intriguing book, full of pictures, charts, and computer 'proof' of his thesis: backwards of AD900 we don't really know what happened or when. Between AD900 and AD1600 there is more certainty, but there is still a lot of fuzzy ground, and things don't get reliable until we get past the 1600's where the printing press made it very difficult for the perpetrators of this timeline manipulation to change anything that had been committed to print. The Dark Ages did not happen. Books were burned for a reason. One organization has doubled the actual length of its existence by expanding the real chronology. Read why.

I had always wondered why Christ died about AD33 and yet men waited until the 11th century to form the Knights Templar, the Cathars, etc and go after the Holy Land by force. Why the 1000 year gap? Turns out there wasn't more than a 10-12 year gap and he proves it using astronomy. This also implies that the planet is not as old as we have been told, and current Christian and other creationist scientists are already championing that idea without being aware of Fomenko's book. The two groups, creationist scientists and the Russian mathematical analysts corroborate each other. Fascinating.

Of course, all this flies in the face of what we have been told traditionally is the 'proper' chronology of western civilization, and most readers will experience 'cognitive dissonance' in reading this book. It means that our history going backwards from AD1600 becomes progressively more incorrect and unreliable until it cannot be trusted at all... in the space of 700-800 years.

Naturally, the curious, open-minded reader will want to know WHO did this, WHY, and did any of the events we think of as really ancient ever happen?
Dr. Fomenko is a respected scientist/mathematician at Moscow State University who has already answered these questions to the satisfaction of his initially skeptical colleagues. Most of them are now believers, a few still refuse to believe (the usual diehards), and of course the western press has ignored Fomenko's work -- for obvious reasons when you read the book. The ones who perpetrated this chronology ruse have a lot to answer for. They are still with us. That's why this book is a well-kept secret.

I gave the book a 4-star rating because I was unable to check out some of his claims; those I checked were as he said. But if even 1/3 of his claims are true, this punches a big hole in what we think is our history, the meaning of western civilization, our educational process (for repeating the ruse as gospel), and the trustworthiness of the organization that perpetrated this ruse, well-intentioned or not.

This book relates to current research into a Young Earth paradigm, to John Keel's discoveries about our planet, and Fr Malachi Martin's insights (in his now out-of-print books). We are indeed sheep who are manipulated and kept ignorant -- for a reason. While knowing what these men have to say may be the "booby prize" (as in: 'what can you do with this knowledge?'), it will provide interesting reading. Didn't someone say: "...and the Truth will set you free."?? For you to judge if this book contains the truth.

History: Fiction or Science? Chronology 2 (Chronology)

Average customer rating:

Check and see
Suprise! Suprise!
Prescient St Augustine?
Something of a disappointment
Romulus courts Helen, Paris founds Rome, Moses goes to Troy..

History: Fiction or Science? Chronology 2 (Chronology)
Anatoly T Fomenko
Manufacturer: Delamere Resources LLC
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 2913621066

Product Description

`History: Fiction or Science? Chronology 2` is the second volume of the most explosive and astounding tractate on history ever written - however, every theory it contains, no matter how unorthodox, is backed by rock solid scientific data. The book is easy and pleasant to read; it is well-illustrated, contains hundreds of charts, graphs and illustrations, copies of ancient manuscripts, and countless facts attesting to the falsity of the chronology used nowadays. You will be amazed to discover: - That the chronology universally accepted today and taken for granted is simply wrong; - That ALL methods of dating of ancient sources and artefacts known today are erroneous or non-exact; - That there is not a single document that could be reliably dated earlier than the XIth century; The Author refers to the Middle Ages as the Antiquity and proves mutual superimposition of the Second and the Third Roman Empire, both of which become identified as the respective kingdoms of Israel and Judah. Furthermore, he asserts that the famous reform of the Occidental Church in the XI century by Pope Gregory Hildebrand was the reflection of the XII century reforms of Byzantine emperor Andronicus who in his turn identifies with Jesus Christ. The Trojan war counted by Homer happened only as late as of the XIII century A.D. and the great poet actually lived in XIV century A.D. No stone in history of Antiquity is left unturned. Literally. This book is the beginning of a major correction to the chronology we live with.

Customer Reviews:

Check and see.......2007-06-21

I don't care what other people say of this book. Those affirmig it's fake, they hadn't ever read it. Or have some special reasons to do so. "Living is easy with eyes closed, misunderstanding all you see..." This book won't make you feel comfortable. It'll make you feel free. It'll make you feel you're "not the only one" to feel you'd been lied to for centuries.

Suprise! Suprise!.......2007-03-22

Here is a serie of books which turns "the whole world" upside down. I learned a lot of it and I hope that a new book from A.T. Fomenko will follow very quick. A absolute must for everybody who is interested in history or even a little bit from it.

Prescient St Augustine?.......2006-02-05

We can so far divide the New Chronology into the following three parts:

a) The verifiable theory that proves consensual chronology wrong with the aid of astronomy, statistics and mathematics;

b) The new chronology hypothesis based on a new understanding of known historical facts and the most likely logical explanation of the most obvious inconsistencies inherent in the official version of history;

c) The history conjectures, that is experimental historical reconstructions based on assumptions that the authors believe to make sense in the light of their research and linguistic parallels - void of ironclad factual support to date.

Fomenko's theory complies with the most rigid scientific standards as a whole:

It gives a coherent explanation of what we already know.

- It is consistent: independent lines of inquiry all lead to the same conclusion.

- The predictions it makes are confirmed empirically.

Fomenko goes by the following axioms:

- Chronology is the basis of history;

- Human evolution has always been linear, gradual and irreversible;

- The "cyclic" nature of human civilization is a myth, likewise all the gaps, duplicates, "dark ages" and "renaissances" that we know from consensual history;

- The accumulation of geographical knowledge as reflected in cartography is a gradual and irreversible process;

- The chronological distance between a given manuscript and the events described therein is proportional to the amount of distortions it contains;

- There is no "useless" information in authentic ancient sources.

Why the mainstream historians do not shower mathematician Academician Dr.Prof Fomenko with thanks and laurels?

The Russians:

Because Fomenko asserts that there was no such thing as the Tartar and Mongol invasion followed by three centuries of slavery, providing a formidable body of documental evidence to prove his assertion. The so-called "Tartars and Mongols" were the actual ancestors of the modern Russians, living in a bilingual state with Arabic spoken as freely as Russian. The ancient Russian state was governed by a double structure of civil and military authorities. The hordes were actually professional armies with a tradition of lifelong conscription (the recruitment being the so-called "blood tax"). Their "invasions" were punitive operations against the regions that attempted tax evasion. Fomenko proves that Russian history as we know it today is a blatant forgery concocted by a host of German scientists brought to Russia by the usurper dynasty of the Romanovs, whose ascension to the throne was the result of coup d'état, charged with the mission of making their reign look legitimate. Fomenko proves Ivan the Terrible to be a collation of four rulers, no less. They represented the two rival dynasties - the legitimate rulers and the ambitious upstarts. The winner took it all! Over some 30 years of controversy, Russian historians have made a most remarkable transition - they were initially accusing the young mathematician Fomenko of anticommunist dissident activity and attempts to deface the historical legacy of Soviet Russia; nowadays the middle-aged mathematician is accused of adhering to "pro-communist Russian nationalism" and defacing the proud historical legacy of Great Russia.

The Westerners:

Because Fomenko blows consensual Russian history to smithereens, successfully removing a crucial cornerstone from underneath the otherwise impeccable edifice of World History. Fomenko adds insult to injury, wiping out one by one the Ancient Rome (the foundation of Rome in Italy is dated to the XIV century A. D.), the Ancient Greece and its numerous poleis, which he identifies as the mediaeval crusader settlements on the territory of Greece, and the Ancient Egypt (the pyramids of Giza become dated to the XI-XV century A. D. and identified as the royal cemetery of the Global "Mongolian" Empire, no less). The civilization of the Ancient Egypt is irrefutably dated to the XII-XV century A. D. with the aid of the ancient Egyptian horoscopes cut in stone. He was the first one to decipher and date all such horoscopes, coming up with mediaeval dates in every case. English historians rage at the suggestion that the history of Ancient England was de facto a Byzantine import transplanted to the English soil by the fugitive Byzantine nobility. To reward the English historians who consider themselves the true scribes of World History, the cover of the present book portrays Tintoretto's Jesus Christ crucified on the Big Ben.

The Chinese:

Because Fomenko wipes out the Ancient History of China outright. No such thing. Full point. The compilation of the so-called Ancient Chinese History is reliably datable to the XVII-XVIII century only. It is perfectly recognizable as the Ancient European history, reworked and transcribed in hieroglyphs as yet another historical transplantation, this time performed on the Chinese soil by the loving Jesuit hands. The Chinese are the next in line to go berserk. Chinese history is inevitably bound to get both more ancient and more eventful, proportionally to the growing involvement of China in the world affairs. Chinese historians will keep on finding valid proof of prehistoric Chinese spaceflights until the Politburo orders them to shut up.

The Arabs:

Too bad. Islam with all its key figures is datable to XV-XVI century A. D. Arabic historians may find consolation in the crucial historical role of the Ottoman Empire in the XVI-XVII century. The trouble is that this empire was initially a Christian state, with Hagia Sophia identifiable as Temple of Solomon, according to Fomenko! We can only guess if the acquisition of Alexander the Great (a Macedonian and a Christian) as the founder of the Muslim World Empire will make Fomenko's theories more acceptable to the Arabic mainstream. He certainly does not spare any holy cows at all, claiming The Stone of Qa'Aba in Mecca to contain the lost Arch of the Covenant.

The Divinity:

Despite of reiterated statement that his theory is all about chronology and not Religion, Fomenko stirs up a whole condominium of wasp nests. His collection of anathemas, fatwa, and other condemnations from all parties concerned is already considerable. Little wonder, considering that the history of religions à la Fomenko looks as follows: the pre-Christian period (before the XI century and JC), Bacchic Christianity (XI-XII century, before and after JC), JC Christianity (XII-XVI century) and its subsequent mutations into Orthodox Christianity, the Catholicism, Islam, Buddhism, and so on.

According to Fomenko we know strictly NOTHING about the events that predate the X century A. D.

St Augustin was prescient when he spoke unto us: "be wary of mathematicians, particularly when they speak the truth."

Something of a disappointment.......2005-09-09

After having read the first volume of this expected series of 7 volumes I was triggered by the thesis of these authors that ancient Greek and Roman history did in fact take place in the Middle Ages. So I started studying medieval history of the Middle East - also known as Islamic history - to find out if the opponents of the ancient Greeks and Romans - the Acheamenid Persians, Sassanids, Scythians, Egyptians, etc. - also have their duplicates in medieval history. My search was disappointing: none of the many medieval Islamic dynasties seemed to correspond to the ancient middle eastern rulers.

However, I did find a close correspondence between Herodotus' Persian kings and medieval events:

- the defeat and capture of an Anatolian king - the Lydian Croesus - by the Persian conqueror Cyrus is identical to the defeat and capture of another Anatolian king - sultan Bayezid - by the Asian/Mongol conqueror Tamerlane;
- the Persian conquest of Egypt by the cruel tyrant Cambyses reds almost exactly as the Ottoman conquest of Egypt by Selim the Grim (note the nickname!);
- Darius the Lawgiver of the Persian Empire looks very much alike to Sulayman the Magnificent, the Lawgiver in Islamic history;
- Xerxes, whose main claim to fame is to be defeated by the Greeks at the naval battle of Salamis, looks like Selim II (the Sot) whose main claim to fame is to be defeated by a Spanish-Italian alliance at the naval battle of Lepanto.

I should have expected Fomenko et al. to arrive at similar conclusions, however, they claim that the Persian kings are the alter egos of the Angevin kings of Sicily whose biographies do not contain the exploits of the Persian kings.

The similiarities I indicate lead to the conclusion that Herodotus must have written his Histories at the close of the 16th century. But this is extremely late, given that Herodotus is "the Father of History", so therefore all other "ancient" histories must have been fabricated even later. Yet, the founders of modern chronology - Scaliger and Petavius - laid their foundations also at the close of the 16th century and had the full corpus of ancient histories already at their disposal.

It seems to me that Fomenko has to address these inconsistencies, maybe in the forthcoming 5 volumes?

Another critique of their book is that the correspondencies between different rulers are often based on a superficial comparison of the biographies; upon a more thorough comparison many details appear that do not correspond at all.

Finally, the authors rely heavily on the works of Gregorovius (1821-1891!!) - his medieval histories of Rome and Athens - as the source of medieval history; these works are - at least in the West - hoplessly outdated and have been superceded by more up-to-date works (for instance, Julius Norwich's trilogy on Byzantine history is not even cited).

Romulus courts Helen, Paris founds Rome, Moses goes to Troy.........2005-07-30

If you agree with Fomenko that Roman chronology is basically the foundation of the entire edifice of global chronology; you would also certainly agree that despite its numerous gaps and inconsistencies, Roman history is the best-documented field of ancient history, and thus a reference scale. But how well is the actual date of the Eternal City's foundation known?

Firstly, Rome is supposed to have been founded by the Trojans who had to flee after the fall of Troy. Some claim Rome to have been founded by Aeneas and Ulysses shortly after Troy had fallen; others are of the opinion that there was an entire dynasty that ruled for 500 years between the fall of Troy and the foundation of Rome.

Well, that's just an innocent 500 years long misunderstanding compared with what heretic Fomenko says, asserts, proves in his second volume: Second Roman Empire, Third Roman Empire, Biblical Kingdom of Israel, Biblical Kingdom of Judah, Holy Roman Empire are stories about basically same events, written from different points of view at different times. The underlying events have actually taken place during xii-xv cy. These histories have been written and perfected by multitude of highly talented humanist and clerical writers of xiii-xvi cy disguised as "ancients" with glorious names like Homer, Pluto, Thucydides etc..Chronology 2.0 beta..

Historians are kindly invited to report the bugs.

Essential Relativity: Special, General, and Cosmological (Theoretical and Mathematical Physics)

Average customer rating:

Very well written
Relativity in the style of Feynman's Lectures
subtle approach to SR and GR

Essential Relativity: Special, General, and Cosmological (Theoretical and Mathematical Physics)
W. Rindler
Manufacturer: Springer
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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The Trouble With Physics: The Rise of String Theory, The Fall of a Science, and What Comes Next

ASIN: 354007970X

Customer Reviews:

Very well written.......2002-02-16

As a modern textbook in the theory of relativity, this book is rare, in that its goal is to give the reader a conceptual introduction to the theory, and not just mathematical formalism. The author also does not hesitate to include some philosophical argumentation wherever needed. It is written for the advanced undergraduate, and will prepare such a reader for more advanced reading in the subject.

The first chapter of the book is the best, for it is a comprehensive discussion of the origins of the theory of relativity as one that rejected the assertion that space and time were absolute. The author also gives an interesting historical discussion of Lorentz's ether theory, wherein Lorentz hypothesized that bodies moving through the ether undergo a contraction, and he discovered a time transformation that implied that clocks moving through the ether run slow. As the author points out, Lorentz thought such considerations were purely mathematical, and not important physically. In addition, in the section on Mach's principle, the author discusses briefly the work of Dennis Sciama who showed that the 1872 gravitational theory of F. Tisserand included Mach's principle. I was not aware of this work, and it motivated me to do further reading on the subject. The author also gives several examples to show that Mach's principle is not physically vacuous, but has observational consequences.

Chapter two overviews the kinematic consequences of the special theory of relativity. The most interesting part of this discussion was the section on the formulation of special relativity without assuming the invariance of the speed of light. The author shows that the principle of relativity implies that either all inertial frames are related by Galilean transformations, or all are related by Lorentz transformations with the same (postive) velocity (squared).

A discussion of optical effects follows in chapter 3. One unexpected and interesting result in this chapter is that a moving sphere has a circular outline to all observers because of length contraction.

Some of the mathematical formalism needed in special relativity is overviewed in chapter four. The class of four-vectors and four-tensors is defined, and the light cone geometry discussed in detail.

The relativistic mechanics of point particles is covered in chapter five. Such a theory is cast in the language of four-vectors, and the author explains nicely the mass-energy equivalence, analyzes scattering from a relativistic standpoint in the center of momentum frame, and shows how Newtonian mechanics is altered in the relativistic realm. He also spends a little time on relativistic continuum mechanics, via the energy tensor of the simplest continua: dust.

The connection between relativity and electrodynamics is outlined in chapter six. The material is standard and found in most books on relativity.

The author begins the study of general relativity in chapter seven with some elementary considerations of the differential geometry of curved surfaces and also Riemannian spaces. The author endeavors, rightfully, to explain the mathematics in a way that is intuitive as possible, rather than hitting the reader with highly abstract formalism.

He then presents the mathematica foundations of general relativity in chapter eight. After a brief review of tensor calculus, the author considers the gravitational field equations in a vacuum, emphasizing their nonlinearity. This is followed by a detailed discussion of the famous Schwarzschild solution. In addition, he considers a particular exact solution of the Einstein field equations in a vacuum, namely a plane-fronted gravitational wave. Although not physical, this solution illustrates some important properties of general gravitational radiation.

The author ends the book with a fairly detailed overview of cosmology. The difficulties in the pre-relativistic cosmology are discussed, one of the more interesting being the consideration of the Newtonian gravitational field inside a cavity resulting from the removal of a finite sphere from a static universe. Recognizing that Poisson's equation does not have a constant solution led to the alteration of the Newtonian potential and thus a modification of the Poisson equation. As the author observes, this move to get a static Newtonian universe is formally the same as what Einstein did via the introduction of the cosmological constant in his field equations (also to get a static universe). The author also considers the Robertson-Walker, Milne, and Friedman universe, and compares these to what is known observationally.

Relativity in the style of Feynman's Lectures.......1998-07-19

This is a wonderful book, very amusing and thought provoking. Without trying to be comprehensive, it sheds much light on the basics of the theory, as well as of the mathematics. His discussion of Mach's principle is brilliant, and ends with a proposal of an experiment to test it with satellites! Very good at computations too, boasting tables for computing the curvature tensor from the metric tensor which are very useful.

subtle approach to SR and GR.......1997-07-15

Although not the most comprehesive text on the subject (see Thorne's tome, Gravitation), Essential Relativity is perhaps the most fulfilling book from which to learn both special and general relativity on a graduate school level. Flipping through the pages, one cannot help but notice that it often reads like a novel. For the student or the adventurous, a wide variety of problems are found in an appendix. The author's background in differential geometry is very evident in his excellent explanations of difficult concepts.

Cosmological Physics (Cambridge Astrophysics)

Average customer rating:

Highly disappointing
NOT recommended because......
Proud as a Peacock
Wearysome notation
Borrow it first .

Cosmological Physics (Cambridge Astrophysics)
J. A. Peacock
Manufacturer: Cambridge University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0521422701

Book Description

This textbook provides advanced undergraduate and graduate students with a complete introduction to modern cosmology. It successfully bridges the gap between undergraduate and advanced graduate texts by discussing topics of current research, starting from first principles. Throughout this authoritative volume, emphasis is given to the simplest, most intuitive explanation for key equations used by researchers. The first third of the book carefully develops the necessary background in general relativity and quantum fields. The rest of the book then provides self-contained accounts of all the key topics in contemporary cosmology, including inflation, topological defects, gravitational lensing, galaxy formation, large-scale structure and the distance scale. To aid understanding, the book is well illustrated with helpful figures and includes outline solutions to more than ninety problems. All necessary astronomical jargon is clearly explained, ensuring the book is self-contained for any student with undergraduate physics.

Customer Reviews:

Highly disappointing.......2007-10-02

Cosmological Physics by J.A. Peacock is little more than an arrogant exhibition of author's mastery of the subject at the expense of his unsuspecting reader. By speaking a language that is way over the head of his intended audience, Peacock makes no attempt at providing the mathematical derivation for the many obscure formulas scattered throughout the book, thereby leaving the reader with a "take it or leave it" feeling. While this book may be of some value at a Cosmological seminar, primarily as a means of impressing one's colleagues, it is of no value either as a teaching tool or as a comprehensible source of learning.

NOT recommended because.............2007-09-08

Well first of all, I want my money back...(and I paid for a used one!)
I can NOT imagine where the HECK he got the pricing for this book because I have read $10-$20 physics/cosmology books that were better than this!

Basically...
This is the first J.A.Peacock book I've read (as well as the last), but if I had to guess, I'd definitely guess that this is NOT his usual subject matter because for the most part it seemed like he had NO idea what was going on!

Here's the problem;
At first glance, the book seems great! It covers a wide array of topics in one book and also seems to be nicely updated. But then once you start reading it word by word, you quickly notice that what this guy basically did was say "Hey, I'm gonna go write a book about astrophysics because I think it's neat!" And so he went and did a BUNCH of research reading in these various subjects, regergitated the same information back out so that he could put it all together into one big book, then without having anyone that is advanced in the subject proof-read it, printed it and slapped a huge price on it thinking that there's no way people will think a book can suck if it's that expensive...
Now, for those of you who are saying "Hey, what's wrong with that? That's very common and a lot of good, well-rounded books have emerged that way!" I completely agree because sometimes you want to learn a wide range of information under one subject and instead of reading 20 'specialized' books, it's nice when someone puts them all together so that you only have to read one and then branch off into specialized areas later if you want to... BUT THERE'S JUST ONE PROBLEM WITH THAT! He literally forgot to do the most important thing when writing a book on a subject you know nothing about by smashing a bunch of other books together;
He forgot that you're supposed to carefully read through everything AFTER you smash it all together so that you can either take out or explain all the contradictions and things that don't match up! (because when you put multiple sources together, that's something that's pretty much guaranteed to happen!) Then, obviously, have someone who IS very knowledgable in the field proof read it to ensure that it all makes sense before you publish it...

I found this book confusing (but not because it was "too advanced" for me..) and very flawed (like I said, it seemed like someone clipped a bunch of passages out of a bunch of books, arranged them by subject, then put them all together without rereading it afterwards).
I do not recommend it and suggest you use the money to buy two cheaper books with better authors (who have written about cosmology before!).

Proud as a Peacock.......2006-04-25

The book is greatly lacking in didactics. Good Summary of current state-of-the-art though .....
I would have found the first section on GR incomprehensible, had I not previously gone though several books on GR which I very much recommend: Weinberg's, Sean Carroll's and Schutz's

Wearysome notation.......2004-08-25

I bought this text because it seemed to cover all the topics in which I was interested. Alas, the coverage is far from uniform and the notation is constantly changing. No point in requesting clarification directly from Peacock. In reply to, "some symbols are used before they are defined," you'll be told that "the meanings of the symbols are well known to any physics undergraduate." Complain that one of those well-known symbols seems to have an entirely different meaning in some other section of the text, and you'll be told to look at such and such an equation for the new definition. Mathematicians who have their own set of standard symbols, such as ^ for the outer product will find themselves completely baffled.
Text lacks all mention of loop quantum gravity.

Borrow it first ........2002-06-10

I got this book on short term inter-library loan hoping to further my knowledge of inflationary cosmology. I don't think that this is a suitable volume from which to begin study of this topic unless you have a supervisor on hand for occasional help.The chapter on inflation for example summarises standard results. I found derivations of these not to be explained fully enough for a first encounter. The derivation of the basic equations of motion for the scalar field cosmologies from the Lagrangian is an example.The slow -roll parameters and their relationship to the Friedmann equations are summarised - (a much fuller discussion of these is given in Scott Watson's e -book - see below).This sometimes terse approach can make the book heavy going for people like me working on their own for 'fun'.I did enjoy the chapter though as I had already studied a lot of the material using John Norbury's e-book 'General Relativity'(pdf and html available -contains quite a few errors but inflation is very clearly explained),Scott Watson's (pdf/html)'Exposition on inflationary cosmology'and numerous preprints from the e-archives. With mastery of this material under my belt I therefore found Peacock's material on this topic readable and enjoyable although I did not learn anything new from it. The problems (and solution hints) were good.I enjoyed the chapters on the rudiments of GR (being already very familiar with this albeit from long ago)but again the treatment is brief and constitutes a review rather than a place to start learning GR from.
Dipping into the chapters of material new to me, I could see little hope of personal progress here using this book as a starting point.I realise however that the book covers a huge amount of varied material much of which has been developed in the last twenty years and the book needs to be kept to a sensible size.My perspective is that of someone dabbling independently in their sparetime twenty years after leaving university. I daresay a beginning PhD student might view it in a different light.

The Anthropic Cosmological Principle (Oxford Paperbacks)

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700 Page Paperback
Modern cosmology.
NOT a Layman's guide to the Anthropic Cosmological Principle
What principle?
He's got the whole world... upside down!

The Anthropic Cosmological Principle (Oxford Paperbacks)
John D. Barrow , Frank J. Tipler , and John A. Wheeler
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
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ASIN: 0192821474

Book Description

Is there any connection between the vastness of the universes of stars and galaxies and the existence of life on a small planet out in the suburbs of the Milky Way? This book shows that there is. In their classic work, John Barrow and Frank Tipler examine the question of Mankind's place in the Universe, taking the reader on a tour of many scientific disciplines and offering fascinating insights into issues such as the nature of life, the serach for extraterrestrial intelligence, and the past history and fate of our universe.

Customer Reviews:

700 Page Paperback.......2006-08-19

Originally published in late 1980s this book discusses what has come to be known as the `anthropic principle'. Barrow and Tippler are physicists and popular science writers.

This anthropic principle has been variously understood, but, in a general sense, it pertains to the relationship between the characteristics of the universe and our existence within the universe - i.e. the universe seems remarkably tuned for human life. A strong formulation of this principle would argue along the lines of "the universe was intended/designed for our type of life". While a weaker formulation would take the tact that these qualities are required in order to produce observers such as ourselves. I applaud the author's ambition in tackling this issue. They make a laudable effort to be comprehensive and attempt to cover the pertinent historic, philosophical and scientific ground.

Unfortunately, the book is too broad, as a result, at times it devolves into a litany of disparate quotes and facts that leaves the reader thinking; so what? Someone looking to get the gist of the types of questions addressed in this text is better looking at on-line sources such as Wikipedia (it has limits, but is a better entry point). I wonder who is the intended audience for this text? Anyone capable of following the discussion will likely find it superficial. While someone new to this area might find it impenetrable. Additionally, it is a 700-page pocketbook - the quotes are vanishingly small!

Despite the limitations of this book, the authors deserve some credit for their pioneering effort. I would, however, not recommend it. There is a tremendous range of outstanding popular works on the market that cover similar ground much more effectively - Greene, Ferris are especially good for the science aspects.

Modern cosmology........2005-09-08

A great book about the modern scientific theories on the origin and functioning of the universe.

NOT a Layman's guide to the Anthropic Cosmological Principle.......2005-08-03

Although this is a very extensive book, covering the Anthropic Cosmological Principle (which in short focuses on the fact that so many aspects of the cosmos and nature are finely tuned to make life possible) in a historical perspective, within cosmology, quantum theory, chemistry and biology, it is definitely not a book for the Layman. It includes a lot of mathematics, which I think should have been included in the references at the end of each chapter. However, when you filter those passages out, and focus on the main points, this book is a must-have and a classic for everyone with an open mind and interest in our place in this universe.

Rob (The Netherlands)

What principle?.......2005-06-04

Barrow is the chief advocate of the so-called "anthropic cosmological principle," which he treats in some detail in this book. There are two basic objections to this notion.

First, if chaotic inflation is correct then there should be an infinite number of universes out there, past, present and future, taking all possible physical constants. In this case, there should be no wonder that a certain percentage of these universes should happen to take fundamental constants (such as the ratio of the strength of the gravitational force versus that of the electromagnetic force) that are favorable to life. The law of large numbers means that it would be strange if NO universes should have life. A percentage of life-supporting or even life-suffusing universes would be infinite if the number of "baby" or "bubble" universes out there is indeed infinite. If a large enough number of people buy the Powerball lottery, then some people are bound to win sooner or later, no matter how small the odds. Feeling that life is special because the physical constants in our universe require "fine tuning" would be like saying that if you are the Powerball winner, that's because the lottery was designed for you and you only. And that's absurd. The jackpot is given to whoever has the winning ticket, and not just you. And more importantly, the lottery was never designed with giving away prizes as its primary goal - it was designed to bring in revenue. Winners are just an inevitable side-effect of the whole scheme. If you win, you're merely lucky. But there is nothing special about you. Of course, a lottery must have winners or else the lottery would not work. The difference between lotteries and nature is that there is no reason to suppose that life is necessary in order for universes to exist.

We can all feel life is special for other reasons, but one should not argue that this is because nature is the way it is in order that life exists without also asking why it doesn't exist in SO MANY other places. And even if our universe is the only possible one (such a view is no longer acceptable), it is still a matter of debate among physicists as to whether fine tuning actually occurred.

The other objection is that this so-called "principle" is really just an interpretation, and is in no way a scientific principle comparable to the laws of mechanics or natural selection. Sir Martin Rees says "anthropic reasoning" would be more appropriate. It does not command general consent among scientists, and is thus more like a philosophical school of thought than a genuine scientific principle. To elevate anthropic ideas to the status of "principles" is exaggerated and misleading.

In my view, scientists like Barrow who win the Templeton Prize are disqualified thereby, somewhat like athletes who test positive for banned drugs. I'm not suggesting that scientists cannot have religious beliefs (and I was surprised to know that Andre Linde, a founder of chaotic inflation, also does). I only insist that scientific research should not be misused for religious purposes. Barrow can perhaps point to distinguished scientists like Freeman Dyson and John Wheeler for sympathy with his views. But I think this only shows that even distinguished scientists can be in serious error. Nobel Laureate in Physics Steven Weinberg, who thinks more clearly about these matters than most, finds that the Weak Anthropic Principle is nothing more than "mystical mumbo jumbo" (because it's just common sense to say that if the physical constants had been any different we would not have existed), and that the Strong Anthropic Principle is unbelievable because our universe is probably not the only one.

The main virtue of this book is the breadth of its coverage and the range of subjects discussed. Its erudition is broad rather than deep.

He's got the whole world... upside down! .......2005-04-13

Dear Frank Tipler. In case you don't know, it was God who created the Universe, and not the other way around.

He is the Alpha and Omega points. He is not a creation of nature. He is the Creator of nature. Nature is the Beta point. Are you intelligent and wise enough to get that?

Once you understand this simple truth, everything will start to fit in and feel right, and it will help a lot to clear up your helplessly confused and senseless thoughts and speculations. Right now you have it upside down. You have to change your assumptions and renew your mind, as the Apostle Paul has put it.

You see, once your starting assumptions are wrong, the brighter you are the worse is the trouble your reasoning gets you in.

By the way, the thousands of anthropic coincidences that can be found in the macro and micro spheres of the Universe are exactly what biblical creationism would predict.

General Relativity (Springer Undergraduate Mathematics Series)

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General Relativity (Springer Undergraduate Mathematics Series)
N.M.J. Woodhouse
Manufacturer: Springer
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1846284864

Book Description

Based on a course given at Oxford over many years, this book is a short and concise exposition of the central ideas of general relativity. Although the original audience was made up of mathematics students, the focus is on the chain of reasoning that leads to the relativistic theory from the analysis of distance and time measurements in the presence of gravity, rather than on the underlying mathematical structure. The geometric ideas - which are central to the understanding of the nature of gravity - are introduced in parallel with the development of the theory, the emphasis being on laying bare how one is led to pseudo-Riemannian geometry through a natural process of reconciliation of special relativity with the equivalence principle. At centre stage are the "local inertial coordinates" set up by an observer in free fall, in which special relativity is valid over short times and distances.

In more practical terms, the book is a sequel to the author's Special Relativity in the same series, with some overlap in the treatment of tensors. The basic theory is presented using techniques, such as phase-plane analysis, that will already be familiar to mathematics undergraduates, and numerous problems, of varying levels of difficulty, are provided to test understanding. The latter chapters include the theoretical background to contemporary observational tests - in particular the detection of gravitational waves and the verification of the Lens-Thirring precession - and some introductory cosmology, to tempt the reader to further study.

While primarily designed as an introduction for final-year undergraduates and first-year postgraduates in mathematics, the book is also accessible to physicists who would like to see a more mathematical approach to the ideas.

Origin of Inertia: Extended Mach's Principle and Cosmological Consequences

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A milestone in cosmology
Inertia explained
Review of Origin of Inertia

Origin of Inertia: Extended Mach's Principle and Cosmological Consequences
Amitabha Ghosh
Manufacturer: Aperion
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ASIN: 096836893X

Book Description

The riddle of inertia is solved by Origin of Inertia!

In the author's model, absolute motion is defined by relational motion parameters with respect to an infinite, quasistatic universe. Old problems associated with Newton's laws of motion and universal gravitation are resolved, and evidence is shown for a cosmic drag depending on velocity with respect to the mean rest frame of the universe. The book provides coherent solutions to long-standing mysteries of celestial mechanics and cosmology.

Customer Reviews:

A milestone in cosmology.......2007-03-27

An excellent book and a fascinating thesis. Prof. Ghosh analyzes the difficulties of Newtonian mechanics and proposes a new model based on Inertial Induction. The proposed solution is fully compliant with Mach's Principle (unlike Einstein's Relativity). It shows the far-reaching implications of velocity and acceleration dependent terms in the laws of motion, which could be a solution to the riddles of the expanding universe, the cosmic redshift, and the flat rotation curve of galaxies among others.
The thorough explanations are very plausible and real food for thought for cosmologists and physicists. Although his thesis is completely out of the current orthodoxy, it should be studied by everyone interested in these subjects, who is trying to get a thorough understanding of the Cosmos.
I strongly recommend this book.

Inertia explained.......2007-02-14

In Origin of Inertia, Amitabha Ghosh provides a very possible explanation of Inertia. The book is extremely interesting to anyone who wants to understand the basic working of our universe. It makes bold suggestions and takes a new viewpoint on the universe, which is very different from orthodox thinking. For those of us who have wandered about the origin of inertia and suspected that it is in some way related to the gravitational effect of the distant universe, this book provides clarity and explanation.
Instead of trying to invent new forces or exotic matter, the author simply assumes that velocity and acceleration of a mass, relative to masses in the rest of the universe, results in forces acting on that mass. When this very reasonable assumption has been made, the remaining part of the book rests on solid logic and mathematical proof.
The book offers a thorough treatment of some of the effects, which is to be expected if the force of gravity has a velocity dependent, and an acceleration dependent term. It explains several observations that are not explained in a satisfactory way by mainstream cosmology. This book will certainly broaden your mind.

Review of Origin of Inertia.......2003-10-01

The book "Origin of Inertia" is a great piece of work. The subtitle indicates the main topics of the book,
namely, "Extended Mach's Principle and Cosmological Consequences". The book was published by Apeiron,
a publisher in Montreal, Canada: http://redshift.vif.com (ISBN: 0-9683689-3-X)

Amitabha Ghosh has published many research papers related with the topics of this book in important
conferences and scientific journals including Astrophysics and Space Science; Pramana Journal of Physics;
Earth, Moon and Planets etc. In 2002 he organized an International Workshop on Mach's Principle and the
Origin of Inertia which happened in Kharagpur, India. The Proceeding of this workshop were published by
Apeiron in 2003 (edited by M. Sachs and A. R. Roy, ISBN: 0-9732911-0-9).

The main topic of the book is to discuss the inertia of bodies. According to Newton's first law of motion,
when there is no net force on a body it remains at rest or moving in straight line at a constant velocity.
If there is a force on the body it will be accelerated along the direction of the force, with the
acceleration being proportional to the force and inversely proportional to the inertial mass of the body,
according to Newton's second law of motion. There are two main puzzles with Newton's laws.
The first is that the inertial masses of bodies is proportional to their gravitational masses.
This suggests that the inertia of any body is due to a gravitational interaction.
But there is nothing in Newton's laws of motion nor in his universal law of gravitation which connects
these two aspects (inertia and gravitation). The second puzzle is that the best inertial frames
(frames of reference where Newton's laws are valid) are those which are not accelerated relative to the frame
defined by the distant galaxies in the cosmos. This suggests that the distant matter in the cosmos,
or some other matter which is at rest relative to the frame of distant galaxies, defines/creates/specifies the
inertial frames. Once more there is nothing in Newton's laws which links these two aspects
(inertial frames and distant matter). The idea that the distant matter in the cosmos specifies the inertial
frames due to a gravitational interaction became known as Mach's principle, a subject mentioned in the
subtitle of this book, as these ideas were presented by the austrian experimental physicist and philosopher
Ernst Mach in his influential book The Science of Mechanics, first published in 1883. Mach didn't
implement his ideas mathematically. This is the goal of Amitabha Ghosh in this book.

Origin of Inertia has 9 chapters: Introduction, Difficulties with Newton's Laws of Motion,
Mach's Principle and Inertial Induction, Extension of Mach's Principle, Universal Interaction and Cosmic
Drag, Cosmic Drag: Cosmological Implications, Local Interaction of Photons with Matter, Interaction of
Matter with Matter, Extra-galactic Phenomena. They are followed by an Epilogue and a rich list of References.
The Forword was written by David Roscoe, Applied Mathematics Department, Sheffield University, UK.

In order to implement Mach's principle the author defines the mean rest frame of the universe connected with all
the matter in the cosmos. The main idea of the book is to present a modified law of gravitation. It includes
Newton's inverse square law and has two extra terms. One of the extra terms is proportional to the
acceleration of the test body relative to an infinite and quasistatic universe and falls inversely with the
distance to the source body. When integrated for the test body interacting with the whole universe this term
leads to an analogous to Newton's second law of motion. But now the mass which appears is a gravitational mass.
This explains at once the remarkable proportionality between inertial and gravitational masses, which had puzzled
Newton, Mach, Einstein and many others.

The second extra term is proportional to the square of the velocity of the test body. This is a dragging force of
cosmic origin. Amitabha Ghosh calculates the magnitude of this cosmic drag and obtains many implications.
In particular he applies his model for photons interacting with matter and derives a cosmological redshift which
gives an explanation for Hubble's law without big bang and without the associated expansion of the universe.
He also explains many other puzzling redshifts observed in astronomy, the bending of light etc. When he considers
the interaction of matter with matter the cosmic drag explains the transfer of solar angular momentum, the
distribution of matter in spiral galaxies and other puzzling phenomena. All of this is obtained without the supposion
of dark matter.

In summary this is a fascinating book which should be read by all scientists interested in fundamental questions of
physics and cosmology.

Andre Koch Torres Assis
Institute of Physics

Book Description

Enormous progress has been made in inflationary cosmology in the past few years and this book is the first to provide a modern and unified overview of the subject. Coverage examines every aspect of inflationary cosmology and carefully compares predictions with the latest observations, including those of the cosmic microwave background, the clustering and velocities of galaxies and the epoch of structure formation. Problems are included throughout to help the student develop a thorough understanding. An ideal introduction to what promises to be one of the most fruitful topics of research in science in the next decade, this volume will be of great interest to graduate students and researchers in astrophysics, cosmology, particle physics, theoretical physics and applied mathematics.

Customer Reviews:

An Excellent Textbook.......2006-04-18

This book by Andrew Liddle and David Lyth is on a far more advanced technical level than the other book by A.Liddle I reviewed earlier for Amazon(An Introduction to Modern Cosmology).So when the reviewer calling himself "a reader" declares that "the level of mathematics is pretty much nil, anyone with basic algebra could cope", Dr Liddle must have chuckled, and so did I ! I wonder if this reader has really read the book, because no one, not even a Fields Medalist, would consider topics such as the Laplace equation,spin-weighted spherical harmonics, Bessel functions,the gamma fuction, the Riemann tensor and the Bianchi identities etc.. as falling in the category of "basic algebra".Dr Liddle himself, in the Bibliography to "An Introduction to Modern Cosmology", considers this book to be in the "postgraduate" category, so, prospective reader, beware!
Now to come to the book itself: this is an excellent textbook, and the authors lead the reader from one level of understanding to a higher one in the clearest way possible . No wonder, since the authors have been instrumental in developing inflationary cosmology, in particular the concept of "slow-roll inflation".Sure, there are some conceptual errors, which are listed and corrected in a comprehnsive "errata" list on the book's webpage.This list is regularly updated, and I know from experience that Dr Liddle is happy to receive any remark about a genuine error that a reader has spotted.Unfortunately this book's webpage does not contain (contrary to what the same "reader" suggests) any information on new developments in the field.But it is noteworthy that most predictions in the book,(e.g angular power spectrum for temperature and polarization anisotropies)have been verified by the one-year and , recently, three-year WMAP data.We can say with pretty much confidence now that LCDM is a viable cosmological model that requires only one thing to become definitive: a physical explanation of dark matter and dark energy.
However, I have one misgiving about the book: it does not contain a full treatment of acoustic oscillations and their relation to acoustic peaks from first principles, and these concepts are essential for the understanding of the physics that lies behind the angular power spectrum of CMB anisotropies.To be more precise, the treatment of Acoustic peaks given in paragraph 5.2.7 is purely qualitative,whereas it could have been analytically related to that of Acoustic oscillations given in paragraph 4.5.4 .It would have been good to show how the theoretical curves of Figure 5.10 are generated from the solutions of equation (4.133), instead of referring the reader to " the publically available CMBFAST code of Seljak and Zaldarriaga". I am pretty sure that Drs Liddle and Lyth will consider introducing a section on this issue in the next revised edition of this masterly book.

Concise, modern and lucid: pretty good.......2001-08-20

This is a nice book that introduces all of the basic material for inflation. I found that most of it can be found elsewhere (eg. in Peacock's book), and it isn't necessarily any more comprehensive in Liddle & Lyth, because the pace of exposition is slow. However, it's worth buying for the insights the authors give, for the careful treatment of cosmological perturbation theory and gauge choice, and because it is approached from an explicitly supersymmetric direction. (There is no technical information about supersymmetry, however, and if you are after a book on supersymmetric cosmology, then you will have to look elsewhere. I think Peter D'Eath has a book of this sort, published by CUP.) There is a "beyond the slow roll approximation" section, which is good, and the chapter of inflationary model building is the best I have seen.The level of mathematics is pretty much nil, anyone with basic algebra could cope. Other points of interest are that (1) the authors develop all spectra (power spectrum, spectrum of tensor perturbations etc.) from what they call the "curvature perturbation", which is new to me, although there's absolutely nothing at all wrong with it, (2) the section on large-scale structure (Press-Schecter et. al.) which is included, and (3) the fact that the bibliography gives eprint numbers for the quoted papers. A minor downside is a small amount of forward referencing. It's concise, modern and lucid, and the website has up-to-date info. Excellent.

Cosmological Relativity: The Special and General Theories of the Structure of the Universe

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Cosmological Relativity: The Special and General Theories of the Structure of the Universe
Moshe Carmeli
Manufacturer: World Scientific Publishing Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 9812700757

Relativity: Special, General, and Cosmological

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One of the worst text on GR
Whoosh
Very good

Relativity: Special, General, and Cosmological
Wolfgang Rindler
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
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ASIN: 0198567316

Book Description

Relativistic cosmology has in recent years become one of the most exciting and active branches of current research. In conference after conference the view is expressed that cosmology today is where particle physics was forty years ago, with major discoveries just waiting to happen. Also
gravitational wave detectors, presently under construction or in the testing phase, promise to open up an entirely novel field of physics.

It is to take into account such recent developments, as well as to improve the basic text, that this second edition has been undertaken. The most affected is the last part on cosmology, but there are smaller additions, corrections, and additional exercises throughout.

The books basic purpose is to make relativity come alive conceptually. Hence the emphasis on the foundations and the logical subtleties rather than on the mathematics or the detailed experiments per se. Aided by some 300 exercises, the book promotes a deep understanding and the confidence to tackle
any fundamental relativistic problem.

Customer Reviews:

One of the worst text on GR.......2005-06-19

This is one of the worst text I came across. Author keep discussing a topic but never points to the result. A book where you keep flipping back and forth to make sense. Often notations are used but there is no explanation what they represents. I have gone through chapter 15 and 18 ,on Linearized GR and FRW metric, following every step and found out that there are few errors and a lot of key steps are omitted. For example, gauge transformations are done and results are obtained but if you won't consult other similar texts then you won't know what are the results and which are the transformations, unless you already are a professor. Almost same topic is discussed in Inverno's book and you can clearly see what are the various transformations and what are the results.

A book may contain every topic what you are looking for but the key Qs is how well are they conveyed. In order to write an excellent text the author should be first clear about it in his own mind and organize it before publishing it. Save yourself and get a nicer book like Inverno or Stephani. I would not recommend this text for GR unless absolutely necessary.

Whoosh.......2003-05-01

Professor Rindler explains the concepts with clarity and rigour while minimising the complexities of the notation and formulae. His ability to put ideas into words is outstanding. If you have heard the tales of trains that whoosh past in the ether, and are still none the wiser; or have wondered how the background radiation that set out on its way at the speed of light when the world was a smaller simpler place is only now reaching us, this book will enlighten you. Even for those whose maths cannot keep up it should be worthwhile, stimulating even, to read the sections at the beginning of each chapter, and those elsewhere light in formulae. For those willing to tackle the exercises he is perhaps a little too generous with the hints.

Very good.......2002-12-27

I think both undergraduates and graduates students in physics will find this text enjoyable and enlightening. The sections on general relativity and cosmology are, I think, a