"I found myself getting wonderfully lost in this book, and swapping my usual pre-bedtime read for this. This is not something that has ever happened to me before with a popular science book!. . . I love that the book does not shy away from controversial or tough concepts. . . . This is essential reading for any cosmology enthusiast."-Dr. Laura Nuttall, BBC Sky at Night
"[At the Edge of Time]’s enthusiasm for its subject is contagious. From Einstein’s theories and Edwin Hubble’s discoveries to the Large Hadron Collider, the text presents scientific advancement as an exciting odyssey—if one that is, for the time being, often characterized by questions, to be answered at a future date to the satisfaction of all."-Rebecca Foster, Foreword Reviews
"[An] informed introduction to 'the mysteries of our universe’s first seconds'."-Andrew Robinson, Nature
"Hooper takes the reader on a tour of our collective ignorance about the early universe. . . . Science is a messy endeavor, with dead ends and false alarms and backtracking; that can still be an interesting story, and this book succeeds in explaining both what we do know about the universe’s origins and what remains unknown."-Jeff Foust, The Space Review
"Scientists know precious little about what happened when the universe got its start: many cosmologists think space and time underwent an extremely rapid expansion called inflation, yet this theory raises as many questions as it answers. . . . Hooper takes readers on a mind-bending expedition through these questions and shows how they all connect to the beginning."-Clara Moskowitz, Scientific American
"If you're mystified and curious about the mysteries of the Universe, including dark matter, dark energy, and cosmic inflation, and want a unique take on all of these puzzles with a peek behind how science-in-action works, you won't want to miss this book."-Ethan Siegel, Forbes
"Hooper's writing style has an almost palpable sense of excitement, which creates an incredibly engaging read as we travel back in time."-Matthew Hodgson, Astronomy Now
"This is definitely a book that will leave you musing on what might be the next big cosmological discovery."-Deb Farkas, California Classroom Science
"I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. . . . [At the Edge of Time is] a brief but comprehensive account of the general development of current cosmological knowledge, written by an enthusiastic expert in the field and easy for the layman to follow."-Colin Cooke, The Observatory
![At the Edge of Time: Exploring the Mysteries of Our Universe's First Seconds](http://img.images-bn.com/static/redesign/srcs/images/grey-box.png?v11.8.5)
At the Edge of Time: Exploring the Mysteries of Our Universe's First Seconds
Narrated by Graham Winton
Dan HooperUnabridged — 7 hours, 13 minutes
![At the Edge of Time: Exploring the Mysteries of Our Universe's First Seconds](http://img.images-bn.com/static/redesign/srcs/images/grey-box.png?v11.8.5)
At the Edge of Time: Exploring the Mysteries of Our Universe's First Seconds
Narrated by Graham Winton
Dan HooperUnabridged — 7 hours, 13 minutes
Audiobook (Digital)
Free with a B&N Audiobooks Subscription | Cancel Anytime
Already Subscribed?
Sign in to Your BN.com Account
Related collections and offers
FREE
with a B&N Audiobooks Subscription
Overview
Editorial Reviews
★ 2019-09-11
A fine history of the universe from the Big Bang to the present.
Hooper (Astronomy and Astrophysics/Univ. of Chicago Nature's Blueprint: Supersymmetry and the Search for a Unified Theory of Matter and Force, 2009, etc.), a senior scientist in the Theoretical Astrophysics Group at Fermilab, explains that the Big Bang is simply the consequence of rewinding time in today's universe, which is expanding and cooling. As time moves backward, the cosmos shrinks and becomes hotter until, 13.8 billion years ago, according to calculations, it becomes infinitely small and infinitely hot. During that early period, "matter likely interacted in ways that it no longer does, and space and time themselves may have behaved differently than they do in the world that we know." Nothing existed except a uniform soup. Since Einstein—whose theory of relativity provides the science behind the Big Bang—proved that matter and energy are equivalent, the particles that make up matter did not yet exist. After a few millionths of a second, the universe cooled enough for familiar subatomic particles (protons, neutrons, electrons) to form, but it remained too hot for these to combine. The universe was dark because charged particles (i.e., protons and electrons) soak up light. At 380,000 years ago, the temperature had dropped enough for these to combine into atoms. The universe became electrically neutral, and light spread everywhere; it is still present in the cosmic microwave background. Stars, galaxies, and planets followed. Progress in cosmology has increased our ignorance as well as our knowledge. A good sport, Hooper seems positively excited as he describes the discoveries of dark matter and dark energy, which reveal that everything we observe represents less than 5% of the universe. Beginning with Carl Sagan's Cosmos in 1980, Big Bang books have become a genre that curious readers should check out every few years to keep up with breakthroughs (gravity waves being the latest). They can't go wrong with Hooper's.
A lucid account that is neither dumbed down nor overly difficult.
Product Details
BN ID: | 2940173569936 |
---|---|
Publisher: | Recorded Books, LLC |
Publication date: | 11/05/2019 |
Edition description: | Unabridged |
Videos
![](/static/img/products/pdp/default_vid_image.gif)