James Lidsey deftly steers us along a journey back in time to the very origin of the universe. We are introduced to the fascinating ideas scientists are currently developing to explain what happened in the first billion, billion, billion, billionth of a second--the 'inflationary' epoch. Along the way Lidsey reviews the latest ideas on superstrings, parallel universes, and the ultimate fate of our universe. Lucid analogies, clear and concise prose, and straight-forward language make this book a delight to read. James E. Lidsey holds a Royal Society University Fellowship at Queen Mary and Westfield College. He has been awarded the Valerie Myerscough Prize in Physics, Mathematics and Astronomy as a doctoral student. He was later honored by the Gravity Research the Fifth Prize and named one of the 100 people most likely to play an influential role over the next decade by the Sunday Times.

Amazon.com Review Physics is usually thought of as the "hardest" science--but that really means it's the easiest. Physics is about broad generalities, not billions of specific cases. And astrophysics is about the true universals, those principles ("laws") that operate here and to the edge of the universe, now and since the beginning of time.

James Lidsey, an astrophysicist at the University of London, shows that it's possible to write a clear summary of the current thinking in his field in fewer than 150 pages. The Bigger Bang is a cosmology textbook for the intelligent layperson. Lidsey guides his readers through all the most interesting basics: relativity, where the chemical elements come from, superstring theory, the big bang, inflation, black holes. He writes in a lucid, rather British style that doesn't talk down to his readers, avoiding both excessive math and excessive metaphors. While Brian Greene's The Elegant Universe gives a good feeling for the personalities and vagaries of science, for the excitement and uncertainty at the leading edge, The Bigger Bang is a very clear, straightforward guide to the universe as we think we know it now. --Mary Ellen Curtin

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