How it began: a time-traveler's guide to the universe

by Chris Impey Einstein at first dismissed its advocate as a preacher of abominable physics, but George Lemaitre's theory that the universe originated in a big bang has opened exciting new horizons. To explain those horizons, Impey takes his readers on a dizzying journey. By traveling back through billions of years, readers listen in on the tremendous primal bang (amusingly likened to the last chord of the Beatles' A Day in the Life ), then watch as the echoes of that bang summon forth the radiant stuff of nebulae, stars, and planets and the maddennigly invisible but pervasive black matter. By visiting the furthest reaches of space, from the Methuselah planet near the globular cluster M4 to the black hole-powered radio galaxy jets in M87, readers learn just how many astrophysical mysteries scientists have already penetrated and how many more they hope to unravel with daring new grand unified theories of the universe. But what will especially impress readers is just how entertaining Impey can make science as he regales them with his own piquant experiences as a researcher and translates arcane mathematics into metaphors (guitar strings, apple pies, Tootsie Pops) drawn from everyday life. Readers will never find more intellectual adventure packed into fewer pages. Check Our Catalog