Afterglow of Creation: Decoding the message from the beginning of time

I had been looking for a copy of this book for about 15 years. I first read it, as background reading, for an OU course on Astronomy; having borrowed it from the local library. A few years later I asked the Chief Librarian for N. Yorkshire if I could purchase it when they decided to dispose of it. She refused as it was against their policy, and eventually it was sold off in the normal branch book disposal sale, so I missed it.I was really please to find this copy, and have enjoyed reading it again. I find books by Marcus Chown very interesting although, at times, they can be difficult to digest unless you already have more than average knowledge of the subject area.V. good transaction.

Nice reading

Fascinating report of the work to discover the origin of the universe and the current thinking on dark matter and dark energy

Neither too technical nor swathed in mathematics. As an ordinary reader with an interest in this subject I would recommend this to any general reader.solmagwind.

I love all of Marcus Chowns books, he writes for the man in the street and not to impress other writers who have made that mistake.Terry

as usual, chown tells a brilliant story.this book starts with the realisation that the milky way is just one galaxy amongst billions of others and goes on to explain the significance of that knowledge with reference to the more recently proposed big bang theory.it's a fascinating tale. chown relates the serendipitous discoveries that astronomers and cosmologists have continued to find. these are men and women of gigantic intellect and genius. in short, you will probably find it as fascinating a read as i did.on the other hand, it IS a shorter book than chown's other works. but that's not necessarily a criticism.

An interesting alternative history of the exploration of the cosmic background radiation and its implications for the theory of 'the Big Bang' origin of our observable universe.Chown, through the presentation of a narrative based upon interviews with other key members of the COsmic Background Explorer team and a version of the history of 20th century cosmology, downgrades the role played by George Smoot (who shared a Nobel Prize for his and his team's role in developing the COBE experiment) and presents a panoply of alternative 'stars' of the story - only one of whom shared the Nobel Prize with Smoot.Chown's explanations of the physical concepts are very clear and the story is quite gripping - and there's a useful update to the COBE findings in the new edition: a teasing coverage of the problems of 'dark matter' and 'dark energy' which may tempt the reader to want to go further.A very good read!

Poorly written, and actually incorrect in places. Avoid.

Nice book