Rate this book

Clear rating

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

Big Bang: The Origin of the Universe

4.14 of 5 stars 4.14 · rating details · 4,050 ratings · 160 reviews

A half century ago, a shocking Washington Post headline claimed that the world began in five cataclysmic minutes rather than having existed for all time; a skeptical scientist dubbed the maverick theory the Big Bang. In this amazingly comprehensible history of the universe, Simon Singh decodes the mystery behind the Big Bang theory, lading us through the development of one...more

Paperback, 560 pages

Published November 1st 2005 by Harper Perennial (first published January 1st 2004)

more details... edit details

Get a copy:

More…

Friend Reviews

To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up.

Lists with This Book

A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson

A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking

Best Science Books - Non-Fiction Only

77th out of 594 books — 1,312 voters

The Fabric of the Cosmos by Brian Greene

Cosmology

30th out of 63 books — 58 voters

More lists with this book...

Community Reviews

(showing 1-30 of 3,000)

filter | sort: default (?) | rating details

Jul 08, 2012 Manny rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: history-and-biography, science, well-i-think-its-funny, parody-homage

An unbeatable offer: two reviews for the price of one! If you aren't interested in dull hairsplitting, scroll directly to the Infotainment Review below. But first, I'm afraid I must tediously present my

Scholarly review (fact-checked)

I'm conflicted about this book. There's plenty to love. As far as I can tell, Singh gets all the science right, and the fact that it's stuffed with entertaining stories about the historical characters involved makes it a fun read. I finished it in a couple of days. B...more

15 likes · like · see review

Nov 22, 2008 Nathan rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: science-fact, history

Full of fascinating historical anecdotes and character sketches, "Big Bang" was fun as well as informative from start to finish. I struggle with physics books because my mind often has trouble grasping concepts at different scales from our own, but Singh writes and explains so well that I was not just able to understand but was able to teach it to my kids afterward! I now look at the skies differently as a result of reading this book, and my knowledge of the history of physics is a lot richer. S...more

2 likes · like · see review

Feb 05, 2009 Bookmarks Magazine added it · review of another edition

Singh, a British physicist and author of Fermat's Enigma and The Code Book, knows how to popularize science. Big Bang, written with a nod to Carl Sagan, tells the story of the origin of the universe. It's not a new story, but one well told through philosophers and scientists who, over 2,000 years, discarded, accepted, or built on each other's theories. In essence, Big Bang reveals how science works. Critics agree that Singh's conversational style elucidates complex concepts without dumbing them

...more

like · see review

May 01, 2012 Ais rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: nonfiction, science

Simon Singh is one of my favorite authors. He quickly rose to this rank after I read The Code Book, loved it way more than I ever expected, and afterward devoured every other book of his I could find. He has the unique ability to write nonfiction in a way that is as readable and intriguing as fiction, while simultaneously providing the complete context of the topic he has set out to explore.

What I think is so commendable about Simon Singh is that he starts wayyyyy at the beginning of the story i...more Simon Singh is one of my favorite authors. He quickly rose to this rank after I read The Code Book, loved it way more than I ever expected, and afterward devoured every other book of his I could find. He has the unique ability to write nonfiction in a way that is as readable and intriguing as fiction, while simultaneously providing the complete context of the topic he has set out to explore.

What I think is so commendable about Simon Singh is that he starts wayyyyy at the beginning of the story in history-- generations before the thought may ever occur to anyone-- so that he can tell the entirety of the meaning of the topic. To me, that is the perfect way to learn about a subject. And the fact that he can do so on a nonfiction topic-- spanning hundreds of years in his telling, dipping in and out of cosmology, mythology and physics-- and still keep it readable goes to show how adept he is at these types of books. I'm not normally a nonfiction reader because I seem to have a short attention span for anything that comes off as too dry to me, but I was actually crushingly disappointed when I later realized I had read through all of his books available.

Big Bang itself taught me a lot about a topic I thought I knew fairly well after all the times it had been mentioned in school. It turned out there was a lot that I was missing and I found it fascinating to read a more complete history.

I actually brought Big Bang home with me one Christmas for "light reading." A 500+ page book on The Big Bang Theory and the origin of the universe truly did feel like light reading to me. Of course, it ended up sparking some interesting conversation with a family member who doesn't happen to believe that the Big Bang occurred...

Finally, I also have to say that my favorite, nerdiest insult I have ever heard came from this book:

"One of the fiercest critics of the Big Bang model was the Bulgarian-born Fritz Zwicky, infamous among cosmologists for his eccentricity and recalcitrance. He had been invited to Caltech and Mount Wilson in 1925 by the Nobel Laureate Robert Millikan, and Zwicky repaid the favour by announcing on one occasion that Millikan had never had a good idea in his life. All of his colleagues were targets of his abuse and many of them were subjected to his favourite insult -- 'spherical bastard.' Just as a sphere looks the same from every direction, a spherical bastard is someone who was a bastard whatever way you looked at them."

-Big Bang by Simon Singh, Chapter 4: Mavericks of the Cosmos, page 278

Come on! A book that throws in little asides like that while teaching you about history is more than worth the read. I definitely recommend this book to anyone even slightly curious about this topic.(less)

like · see review

Feb 29, 2012 Katie P rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: people interested in physics and cosmology for beginners

Shelves: non-fiction

I loved this book because it appealed to my science nerdiness and my history nerdiness.

You can actually get a decent way through this book without much mention of the Big Bang theory or even the universe as a whole as the early parts are given over to a history of human endeavour towards understanding Earth within the universe. From various creation myths to the methodolgy employed to work out that the world was round, the circumference of the planet, the distance to the moon and sun, how orbits...more

like · see review

Jul 22, 2009 Peter rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: nonfiction, physics, science

This book is not so much an explanation of the Big Bang itself as a historical event - at least not directly. But the truth of the matter isn't so simple as to allow that anyway. Not all questions have yet been answered, the context isn't fully understood (it never is in science), and not everyone agrees even on the basics (Fred Hoyle, the astronomer who went to his grave as the most prominent critic of the Big Bang despite having inadvertently named it, has been dead for less than a decade). A...more This book is not so much an explanation of the Big Bang itself as a historical event - at least not directly. But the truth of the matter isn't so simple as to allow that anyway. Not all questions have yet been answered, the context isn't fully understood (it never is in science), and not everyone agrees even on the basics (Fred Hoyle, the astronomer who went to his grave as the most prominent critic of the Big Bang despite having inadvertently named it, has been dead for less than a decade). A more contextually rich understanding is called for, requiring the story of how the knowledge was obtained, and it's that which this book provides. It's a scientific history book.

The narrative opens with examples of human creation myths, and goes on for 500 pages to trace how they were supplanted by scientific observation and interpretation. The story isn't strictly chronological, and at times I didn't know what century I was reading about; the author's strategy is to follow several independent threads (prescient developments in theory, the growth of telescope technology, relevant advances elsewhere in physics, etc) and keep the flow of time in each one without precise regard for overall synchrony. The result is a bit confusing, but it would probably have been even worse to mix events that aren't part of the same story.

Simon Singh frequently takes pains to summarize what's just been explained. For example, each chapter (100 pages or so) ends with a two page graphical spread reminding the reader of key points. This makes comprehension easier and helps to distinguish the most important concepts and contributors from the incidental ones. There is, naturally, a good deal of science to wrestle with in this story of science, but it's always well explained, in text as well as images, and I doubt anyone with genuine interest combined with knowledge of high school science will be left behind. But science is only half of the story; the other half is the story of the rivalries and alliances that brought us the knowledge we have.

The last chapter, an epilogue, helpfully recounts the major points once more before covering the notions and problems on the fringe of human cosmological understanding. This is always my favorite part of science literature. Concepts include the horizon problem (why, if different parts of the Universe are too far apart to have ever exchanged information, do they look so similar?), inflation (hey, maybe they were once close enough to exchange information but spread apart very quickly), the fine tuning of natural constants (why, when a slightly different universe wouldn't have allowed for the sort of matter we observe, is ours so precisely as it needs to be?), the anthropic argument (hey, maybe there are many universes and we shouldn't be surprised to find ourselves in the one that allows for our existence), the question of the Universe's ultimate fate (Big Crunch, or Big Rip?), and dark matter / dark energy. It leaves one with a healthy grasp of the duality between the solidity with which we have deduced what we do know vs. the wealth of knowledge we haven't yet toiled enough to enjoy.

I like Simon Singh's writing. The material covered in Fermat's Enigma would have been miles over my head as described by a less capable author, and I found Big Bang captivating from beginning to end. I think I'll be seeking more of his work in the future.(less)

like · see review

Dec 03, 2012 Sujitt rated it 5 of 5 stars

I have Finished reading Big Bang by Simon Singh and i have enjoyed every page! This is my non-fiction book for this quarter.This book discusses the scientific theories about the big bang and how the universe was created. there were charts and graphs on some pages to explain things. The author gets you caught into this book on the first page. The big bang was an accidental crash between two powerful sebetomic particles. This created an explosion so big that it was able to chemicaly react with oth...more

like · see review

Jul 28, 2011 José added it

Prior to picking up this book, I'd read Singh's Code Book (a comprehensive history of cryptography). What I love about Singh's style is that he doesn't limit himself to addressing the book's primary subject. His protagonists are three-dimensional characters in a fascinating story that began with the Greeks and continues today. Singh achieves the goal he sets, which is to weave into this story the much more important subtext of the interplay of established theory with new models and observations....more

like · see review

Aug 02, 2011 Steve Mitchell rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Simon Singh’s book covers the story of the search for the origins of the universe starting with the ancient Greeks trying to form an understanding of natural – rather than supernatural – phenomena. Taking the paradigm shift from a geocentric to a heliocentric understanding of the solar system, the understanding that the Milky Way represented the mass of stars that forms our galaxy and that the Milky Way is just one galaxy among millions of other galaxies that make up the observable universe.
Taki...more

like · see review

Oct 23, 2011 Raj rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: non-fiction, pop-science

This book is Singh's attempt to explain the Big Bang theory to the layman, along with a general overview of how science works. In that regard, he succeeds in both, but moreso in the second goal than the first. Although Singh's writing is clear and lucid, I think having some background in science and being familiar with concepts in astronomy and cosmology definitely help. Although he keeps the maths to a minimum, there are a few equations in the book (although you don't have to solve them!), so h...more

like · see review

Jan 21, 2013 Justin Gerhardstein rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: academic, non-fiction

If you want to understand how the universe came into existence (is there anyone who doesn't?), read this book. Singh contextualizes the Big Bang model from the very beginning of astronomy, around 6th Century BC, and then takes us on a tour of the key discoveries, such as Einstein's special theory of relativity, that formed the basis of cosmological knowledge needed to hypothesize, and eventually solidify, the big bang model. It's a large dose of stranger-than-life non-fiction, including crazy sc...more

like · see review

Dec 24, 2010 Toby rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

In "The Big Bang," Simon Singh gives us two histories.

One is the history of western astronomical discovery beginning with the Greeks and ending with late-20th century debates about the Big Bang. The second is an illustration of Kuhn's paradigm shifts in action, complete with the assertion that new ideas don't gain traction until the conservative old fogeys die off or retire. It struck me as bizarre that so many brilliant scientists in the 20th century would keep hold of the idea of an "eternal,...more In "The Big Bang," Simon Singh gives us two histories.

One is the history of western astronomical discovery beginning with the Greeks and ending with late-20th century debates about the Big Bang. The second is an illustration of Kuhn's paradigm shifts in action, complete with the assertion that new ideas don't gain traction until the conservative old fogeys die off or retire. It struck me as bizarre that so many brilliant scientists in the 20th century would keep hold of the idea of an "eternal, unchanging" universe based on, essentially, a just-so assumption. According to Singh, even Einstein was initially dismissive of the big bang (before it was called such), but as one expects he changed his mind once Hubble's observational evidence started coming in.

Singh has written an approachable history of our understanding of the stars, and in it he encapsulates small biographies of the major players, promoting some of them from the dustbin of forgotten science journals (like the guy who changed the film for Hubble's observations).

Singh is also constricted by scope. In the story of astronomy, one necessarily enters the realm of nuclear physics. Singh does his best to keep this relationship tangential, but in so doing he raises more questions than he can answer. Where do neutrons come from? Why do different arrangements of nuclear particles yield different atomic masses? How and why do neutrons decay into protons? We have to take his word for it -- the scope just doesn't allow that kind of detail (if this were a Penrose tome, you'd better believe you'd have answers till your head swims!), so Singh just puts it out there and moves on. It's a fair trade, and his bibliography is split out by chapter so you can easily see where you may want to explore next.

This book ends with the discovery of CMB radiation (cosmic background microwave radiation, the "fossil" of the Big Bang) and in the epilogue hints at the next unknowns, including dark matter and dark energy, the weirdness of the quantum world. There's more to know in this story, but "The Big Bang" is a great first act.(less)

like · see review

Sep 25, 2009 Paula rated it 4 of 5 stars

Recommended to Paula by: Michio Kaku program on KPFA

Shelves: non-fiction, science

I'm a sucker for readable tomes explicating theoretical physics/ cosmology for the non-mathematically trained and feel compelled to pump up my puny understanding of the field every now and then. Singh kept me engaged almost all the way through The Big Bang(the book slacks off a bit toward the end)as he ran through the history of the science leading up to and encompassing the acceptance of The Big Bang theory as the most accurate description we now have of the origin and evolution of the universe...more

1 like · like · see review

Nov 25, 2008 Jefke rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Dit is een aanrader voor iedereen die geïnteresseerd is in astronomie. Zowel voor gevorderden als voor mensen die er bijna niets van afweten.
Voor de gevorderden is het boek vooral interessant omdat het de verhalen rond de wetenschap vertelt. Singh vertelt op een heel meeslepende manier hoeveel de Grieken al wisten over het heelal (en zeker in vergelijking met het kennis zwarte gat van de middeleeuwen) en hij legt ook haarfijn uit hoe ze tot die kennis kwamen ondanks het feit dat ze geen geavance...more

like · see review

Jun 30, 2009 Raghu rated it 4 of 5 stars

I had enjoyed reading Simon Singh's 'Fermat's Enigma' and 'The Code Book' immensely. So, it was no brainer to read this 532-page book on the theories relating to the origin of the Universe.
This book is a history of the Big Bang model, providing at the same time an insight into what science is and how the scientific method works. It traces the history of how an idea is created, tested, verified and finally broadly accepted. The book can be summarised as follows:
"Initially, all matter and energy w...more I had enjoyed reading Simon Singh's 'Fermat's Enigma' and 'The Code Book' immensely. So, it was no brainer to read this 532-page book on the theories relating to the origin of the Universe.
This book is a history of the Big Bang model, providing at the same time an insight into what science is and how the scientific method works. It traces the history of how an idea is created, tested, verified and finally broadly accepted. The book can be summarised as follows:
"Initially, all matter and energy was condensed to a point. Then there was the Big Bang. The Big Bang was not an explosion IN Space but an explosion OF Space. Similarly, it was not an explosion IN Time but OF Time. Both Time and Space were created at the moment of the Big Bang.
Within a second, the super-hot universe expanded and cooled dramatically, falling from a few trillion to a few billion degrees. The universe contained mainly protons, neutrons and electrons, all bathed in a sea of light.The protons, equivalent to hydrogen nuclei, reacted with other particles in the next few minutes to form light nuclei such as helium. The ratio of hydrogen to helium in the universe was fixed largely within these first few minutes and is consistent with what we see today.
The universe continued to expand and cool. It now consisted of simple nuclei, energetic electrons, vast amount of light, with everything scattering off everything else. After roughly 300,000 years, the universe had cooled sufficiently to allow the electrons to slow down, latch on to the nuclei and form fully fledged atoms. This effectively prevented further scattering of light, which ever since has been sailing through the universe largely unhindered. This light is known as the Cosmic Microwave Background(CMB)Radiation, a sort of luminous echo of the Big Bang, which was predicted by Gamow, Alpher and Herman and detected by Penzias and Wilson.
Detection of CMB radiation also showed that the universe contained regions of slightly higher-than-average density when it was 300,000 years old. These regions gradually attracted more matter and grew denser so that the first stars and galaxies had formed by the time the universe was roughly a billion years old. The nuclear reactions initiated inside the stars went on to form the medium-weight elements, while the heaviest elements would be created in the intense conditions of the star's violent death throes. It is thanks to the stellar formations of elements such as carbon, oxygen, nirogen, phosphorus and potassium that it was possible ultimately for life to evolve.
And here we are, approximately 15 billion years later!"
The book is engagingly written in a very easily readable manner, giving the historical perspectives along the way. The author shows how the Catholic church embraced the Big Bang theory for obviously the wrong reasons as opposed to the competing 'Steady State' theory. He also shows how both the theories were unacceptable to the communist states because of their dogmatism. Though the book is 532-page long, it grabs your attention all the way and makes it a fairly easy and enjoyable read.
I sure would recommend the book to anyone interested in this complex theory of cosmology presented in a very understandable way.(less)

like · see review

Jul 07, 2010 Jack rated it 5 of 5 stars

“If you want to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first create the universe.” Carl Sagan

It may seem like a silly thing to say, but I like to know where I am.

Living in Solon, Ohio, I know that Lake Erie is a few miles to the north (go to the end of our street and turn left). Downtown Cleveland is about 20 miles to the northwest, Chagrin Falls just east, Chicago about a 6 hour drive west, DC about 6 hours through Pennsylvania to the east.

When I travel, I always look at a map, even if I’m n...more

like · see review

Apr 25, 2010 Rowland rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: science

Simon Singh has become one of my favourite science authors. He takes you on a journey not only of science but of the political landscape at the time of the discoveries, of the governments of the day interference and also the battle of personalities. That is what science is about. Its about people arguing over theories and supporting those theories with conclusive evidence. Eventually one side wins.

The Big Bang begins with the conflict of early scientists with the governmental/religious forces ar...more

like · see review

Dec 30, 2011 Bob Reed rated it 5 of 5 stars

This book is absolutely amazing. The authors does an incredible job of explaining the basic, scientific discoveries that underly the evidence for the Big Bang theory of the beginning of the universe. Three things are amazing: First, he has a remarkable ability to identify each of the essential steps that it took to develop the Big Bang theory. Second, he is able to describe how each of the discoveries were made in a way that can be understood by a scientific layman (unlike, for example, Stephen...more

like · see review

Oct 24, 2010 Steve rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: science, favorites

"Gripping" probably isn't a word you'd expect to hear used about a book on the historical development of the Big Bang theory - but trust me this book is thoroughly difficult to put down! A truly riveting journey from ancient Greece to the present day, Big Bang charts the great successes - and crushing disappointments - of key figures instrumental to the quest to learn more about the origin of the universe.

Singh not only knows his science inside out, he's also a fantastic storyteller, and manage...more

like · see review

Aug 02, 2011 Tanja Seppä rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: science, cosmology

This translates to a short history of the cosmos. A complex theory like that of big bang builds on a lot of knowledge, so the author begins with the ancient greeks and move forward from there. The book is written with humour, insight into human nature and endless fascination about the universe. There is enthusiasm in every sentence. However, the book ends with the final proof that there really was an explosive start to the universe, which somehow feels a bit anti-climatic. "Wasn't there more?" O...more

like · see review

Jun 26, 2009 Richard rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: so-glad-i-read

Simon Singh is the kind of science writer we need. His sense of storyline and his touch for humanity bring a lot of breath to scientific thought and the wonderful reminder that scientists are human, and not just in the "not God" way, but as thinking creatures who re-evaluate themselves and adapt and sometimes get a little headstrong.

Overall, this book is a story of the scientific process and an idea that's been centuries in the making, and is not even complete yet. While conservative yahoos may...more

like · see review

May 02, 2012 Pınar rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: herkes

Shelves: anytime-anywhere, owned, pop-sci

Bu kitap gerçekten çok güzeldi.

Evrenin başlangıcını çok sade bir dille, her detayı açık açık anlatarak gözlerinizin önüne seriyor. Dinle çakışmaması beklenmedik ve rahatlatıcı bir detaydı; fakat zaten bu kitap fikirleri anlatmıyor. Herhangi bir yerinde fikir bulmanız çok zor, kitabın asıl anlattıkları keşifler ve etrafımızda olan bitenlerin doğası.

Size bilim adamlarıyla ilgili çok ilginç bilgiler vererek sıkılmamanızı, filozofi ve din ile ilgili sorulan soruları yorumsuz yazarak da düşünmenizi s...more

like · see review

Jan 20, 2010 Brie rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: anyone looking for a historical look at Cosmology

Shelves: astronomy, non-fiction, 2010

This is a great historical look at how the Big Bang theory started. Singh does a great job at relating historical events in an interesting way, and also adding some science into the mix that is understandable. The book starts with the earliest creation myths, and takes us on a historical journey through cosmology with people such as Copernicus, Tycho Brahe, Kepler, Galileo, and Einstein. He also spends a great deal of time on more direct contributors to the Big Bang theory such as Lemaitre, Gamo...more

like · see review

Aug 23, 2011 Ed Holden rated it 5 of 5 stars

This is possibly the best science book I've ever read. Far from being about the Big Bang specifically, and without asking the reader to take any of the case for this amazing theory for granted, Singh takes his usual knack for explaining complex concepts to the layperson and tunes it up to eleven, effectively building the case for the Big Bang from first principles. We start with Ptolemy and the Greeks, move into the Middle Ages and Renaissance, and so on, and along the way we put together the wh...more

like · see review

Apr 30, 2010 Cathee rated it 5 of 5 stars

I've been a fan of Simon Singh since I read "Fermat's Enigma", and this book was another great one. It's not just about the Big Bang theory, but about the whole history of cosmology, starting with the-earth-is-flat-and-at-the-center-of-the-universe beliefs, up until the present-day understanding of things. He pulls in lots and lots of interesting characters, both well-known (Galileo and Einstein) and less well-known, all of whom are worthy of attention. Singh has a real gift for turning science...more

1 like · like · see review

Dec 30, 2009 D.J. Webber rated it 5 of 5 stars

I loved this book. It was the first one I've actually finished in a while. I am a regular reader of NewScientist and have read a lot of popular science books about the cosmos but I think I learnt more from this than any other. This could be because the science is interspersed with history, which gives context to the facts.

I liked the detail about how the Big Bang model slowly but surely beat off its rivals over the course of many years, although I found myself rooting for Fred Hoyle's steady st...more

like · see review

May 14, 2012 ala rated it 4 of 5 stars

This was a pretty decent pop-sci exploration of cosmology. Having a PhD in cosmology myself, I think I am qualified to say that the science was done pretty well. And the descriptions of the history of the science was also interesting. I was a little bored in parts, but maybe that's because I already knew most of it. Pop sci books are hit or miss for me and sometimes I can't get through even the well-received ones (for instance, Brian Green's books). This one I pushed through (though partly becau...more

like · see review

Sep 12, 2009 Thomas Holder rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: non-fiction, physics, science, astronomy

Big Bang offers a wealth of pub quiz knowledge combined with the sort of knowledge that makes some peoples brains ache. The history, of the big bang or rather, the history of the study of the big bang is a truly fascinating. Elements of it's study date back to centuries ago with the likes of Gallileo and his telescopes first mapping the night sky. Singh, delivers a comprehensive review of the big bang and goes into some pretty meaty science along the way, we learn about important physicists and...more

like · see review

Apr 17, 2008 Stuart rated it 4 of 5 stars

Simon Singh is a marvellously engaging non-fiction writer. Only straying from his central subject to relay a surprising or eyebrow-raising anecdote, he manages to paint a human face on the history of our perception of the universe.

In telling the story of the Big Bang theory, the book takes you through miniature biographies and descriptions of the impact of the life-work of Galileo, Copernicus, Kepler, Hubble and many others who strove and discovered gems of cosmological truth through history. Th...more

1 like · like · see review

Dec 08, 2007 Trevor rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: science

This is my father's favourite book, I think. It is a wonderful read. Clear and fast paced, it explains such things as how we worked out how big the universe is, how we can tell how far away stars are, how we know the universe is getting bigger and many other questions you may never have wondered about at all like what is dark matter and how do we know it must be there. Many of these questions have been answered by people who in themselves would make for wonderful books - the history of physics i...more

like · see review

« previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 … 99 100 next »

new topic
Discuss This Book

There are no discussion topics on this book yet. Be the first to start one »

Recommend it | Stats | Recent status updates

combine
Other Editions (21)

More editions...

Genres

Science

297 users

Non Fiction

125 users

Science > Physics

53 users

History

32 users

Science > Astronomy

28 users

Science > Popular Science

25 users

Space

4 users

Science > Mathematics

4 users

Education

3 users

Science > Natural History

2 users

See top shelves...

Readers also enjoyed similar books

About Simon Singh

Simon Lehna Singh, MBE (born 1 January 1964) is a British author who has specialised in writing about mathematical and scientific topics in an accessible manner. He is the maiden winner of the Lilavati Award.

His written works include Fermat's Last Theorem (in the United States titled Fermat's Enigma: The Epic Quest to Solve the World's Greatest Mathematical Problem), The Code Book (about cryptogra...more

More about Simon Singh...

Books by Simon Singh

Fermat's Enigma: The Epic Quest to Solve the World's Greatest Mathematical Problem

The Code Book: The Science of Secrecy from Ancient Egypt to Quantum Cryptography

Trick or Treatment: The Undeniable Facts about Alternative Medicine

The science of secrecy: The secret history of codes and codebreaking

The Science Book: 250 Milestones in the History of Science

More…

Share This Book

Facebook Twitter Your website

Trivia About Big Bang: The Ori...

1 trivia question

More quizzes & trivia...

Quotes from Big Bang: The Origin o...

“All that was required to measure the planet was a man with a stick and a brain. In other words, couple an intellect with some experimental apparatus and almost anything seems achievable.” — 12 people liked it

More quotes…

title link	preview: Big Bang: The Origin of the Universe
avg rating	preview: Big Bang: The Origin of the Universe Goodreads rating: 4.14 (4050 ratings)
small image	preview: click here [close]
med image	preview: click here [close]
BBCode	[url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/131304.Big_Bang?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book][img]http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1347692172l/131304.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/131304.Big_Bang?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book]Big Bang: The Origin of the Universe by Simon Singh[/url]

Big Bang: The Origin of the Universe

Friend Reviews

Community Reviews

Share This Book

Share This Book on Your Website