Sign in with Facebook
Loading...
11th out of 64 books
—
58 voters
The First Three Minutes: A Modern View Of The Origin Of The Universe
This classic of contemporary science writing by a Nobel Prize-winning physicist explains to general readers what happened when the universe began, and how we know.
Paperback, 224 pages
Published
August 18th 1993
by Basic Books
(first published January 1st 1977)
Friend Reviews
To see what your friends thought of this book,
please sign up.
Community Reviews
(showing
1-30
of
3,000)
A scientist and a creationist try a duet
“In the beginning God created the heaven and the Earth...”
“Can we leave out God and just say that, in the beginning, the Universe got created?”
“NO!”
“Oh well, leave it in for now. Let's continue.”
“And the earth was without form and void...”
“I'd rather say that the Universe was just a vacuum fluctuation and space-time had no structure and was some kind of quantum foam.”
“That's not very poetic, you know.”
“Yes, but it's more accurate and means almost the same...more
“In the beginning God created the heaven and the Earth...”
“Can we leave out God and just say that, in the beginning, the Universe got created?”
“NO!”
“Oh well, leave it in for now. Let's continue.”
“And the earth was without form and void...”
“I'd rather say that the Universe was just a vacuum fluctuation and space-time had no structure and was some kind of quantum foam.”
“That's not very poetic, you know.”
“Yes, but it's more accurate and means almost the same...more
31 likes · like · see review
view all 23 comments
Dec 15, 2012
John E. Branch Jr.
rated it
3 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
play-project-1,
physics
Readers will have to look elsewhere for a serious review. Weinberg's book sits on the shelf where I keep background reading for a play about suicide (of which I've written one version), and an inscription tells me I bought my current edition of it in 2006, but I'm not sure now--six years later--how Weinberg's account of the beginning of the universe related to my subject. Possibly I wanted to see just what kind of story leads up to this final-page statement, which is close to famous among studen...more
Weinberg's classic of cosmology still reads well, even if it is a bit dated. This is not a book for the lay person, though. The book is filled with complicated and rigorous mathematical formalisms and has an appendix that doesn't' shy away from the quantitative work that went into reconstructing the universe in the minutes that followed the Big Bang itself.
The First Three Minutes is still an enjoyable read, even after over thirty years since the original date of publication. Newer editions have...more
The First Three Minutes is still an enjoyable read, even after over thirty years since the original date of publication. Newer editions have...more
It's a fairly short book, only about 155 pages but there is a lot of information in it. The history of discovering what the Universe was like after the Big Bang is covered, the missteps & a clarification of how things are missed even with useful information available. It obviously goes into the conditions of the early universe. For me personally, reading a little bit about the basics of Quantum Physics & relativity helped me out tremendously with certain topics that were covered & I...more
The author is Professor of Physics at Harvard, which is fairly indicative of the level of 'The First Three Minutes'.
Marcus Chown's account of this subject matter is a better bet for the lay reader. Weinberg's account of the 'big bang', is a deeper dive into cosmology and particle physics, that I feel is more suited towards the student than the lay reader. However, this book is written in a style that can guide and carry the curious towards the frontiers of the sub atomic. Published in 1977, I'm...more
Marcus Chown's account of this subject matter is a better bet for the lay reader. Weinberg's account of the 'big bang', is a deeper dive into cosmology and particle physics, that I feel is more suited towards the student than the lay reader. However, this book is written in a style that can guide and carry the curious towards the frontiers of the sub atomic. Published in 1977, I'm...more
Number 4 on my all time most influential list is this slim volume written by a physicist with a true gift of prose. The simple elegance of Dr. Weinburg's explanation of the neucleosysthesis of the visible universe erased any lingering childhood doubts I may have harbored that all creation myths were anything other than what they are, i.e. mythology. Another prop to the prevailing religious superstitions was reduced to meaninglessness. Yet, it did raise an entirely new level of contemplation. Whe...more
After having read Bill Bryson and Simon Singh, the style of this book seemed a little dry, but Prof. Weinberg is mainly a scientist and not a writer. As I understand it, this book was one of the first of its kind (after Gamows Mr. Tompkins), bringing science to the layman, so it should earn some respect, but in the meantime there have been issued better (and of course more up to date) books on the issue of the Big Bang. I just was very glad the mathematic formulas were put in an extra chapter at...more
I have to warn you that Dr. Weinberg does not get to describing the actual "scene" of the big bang until chapter 5, but you will be happy to note that he describes it in terms of a movie, within several frames. Also, he covers the first 3 and 3/4 minutes. (He apologizes for the inaccuracy of the title.) Those looking for a more abstract book will be disappointed, as Dr. Weinberg's studies are in particle physics, as opposed to astrophysics. I think the word neutrino was mentioned no less than 30...more
Weinberg has done an excellent job throughout the book in segmenting mathematical calculations with clearly defined narrative. Even though the text is a little dated, it always blows my mind to look at the exponential growth of that 1st second of existence in the universe. This is were Weinberg's strength really kicks in...fantastic insight from a Physics genius but with enough explanatory text for most to appreciate it. LOVED IT!!
Jan 05, 2009
Kenny Johnson
added it
A wonderful read but not for the unscientific mind. Advanced concepts in astrology, chemistry, physics, and distance telemetry are discussed ad nauseum. In the years since this book has beeen written Dr. Weinberg has come to doubt or retract his opinions and reasoning due to recent technological advances. 7/10 ... ~Kenny
This was very difficult for me to read and understand, but the content is extremely fascinating. I give it 3 stars because I had to work really hard to enjoy it. This is not a pop-science book. It really puts you in a different frame of mind to seriously analyze events taking place at unbelievably micro/macro levels/timescales.
This is the book that turned me on to physics. Sure, it was Carl Sagan who turned me on to science and scientific thinking (skepticism), but Weinberg's "The First Three Minutes" made me realize that all of my most profound questions had answers in the field of physics.
This book attempts to explain what happened in the first three minutes after the big bang... They think they understand what went on up to about that very very first 'mondoquadzillionth' of a second. Enjoyed the book, but only grasped about a second and a half.
This was very fascinating and challenging and my only complaint is that it was perhaps too technical to suit its purpose, which is supposed to be to clarify the main evidence for and about the big bang theory for a lay audience. Though that may just be my ignorance speaking :)
I'm not a physicist but I thought this was a very useful introduction to the thinking in physics at the time. It's probably a bit dated now. I find it fairly clear reading and enjoyable.
1 like · like · see review
Jan 09, 2009
Kohl Gill
rated it
3 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
fans of popular science
Recommended to Kohl by:
DC Public Library
This is a decent, if a bit dated, layman's introduction to the beginning of the universe. I'd recommend it for anyone who thinks physics is cool, but doesn't understand why we'd want to study the beginnings of the universe, or the building blocks of nature.
One of the best for general consumption science books I have ever read. Weinberg performs masterfully at laying out the evidence for how universe evolved and why it must be so.
An interesting book although sometimes hard to understand. It's interesting to see how views of the universe's beginning have changed since this book was published.
Dec 15, 2012
Oguzhan Yildirim
added it
İlk 3 dakika !
Mar 26, 2011
Rick
added it
Beyond good!
Jun 26, 2009
Ruslan almakazzari
is currently reading it
briliant
Todo un clásico de divulgación científica. El autor hace fotos a las pocas décimas, centésimas, millonésimas... de segundo del Big Bang, y nos habla de muchos procesos de partículas elementales que tuvieron parte en cada uno de esos momentos, hasta hacer del Universo lo que hoy vemos. Un libro épico que en su día resumió al gran público una cantidad gigantesca de conocimientos de astrofísica, cosmología y física de altas energías. Uno de los grandes de la divulgación. Imprescindible.
today i went to the bookstore to buy my books for class, which starts tomorrow, and at the same moment that i realized i'd forgotten my check book, my friend andrew called to say that he was on his way to come and pick me up for a trip to walden pond, with sandwiches. so i got this book instead, for some other class that i'm not taking, and i read it at the pond. i'm still not up to the end of the first minute yet, but it was so much more than plenty for one day.
It was probably a very good book when it came out, but it's desperately out of date. The edition I read was very proud of updating to include cosmic microwave background anisotropy. Pass on this one, it's not going to give you a good view of the field.
Interesting read, but very out of date even with the "updated" afterword.
This book is rather outdated, but beyond that, I didn't find it really saying or explaining much. There are much better books on the subject now. But of course, this is one that the latest authors refer to. At the time, it was probably a breath of fresh air. But now a days, I would try Calibrating the Cosmos first.
pop science account of the state of affairs in cosmology with regard to the early universe. this book spawned about 65 spinoffs by astrophysicists of various degrees of competence as everyone rushed to deliver "the last three minutes", "the next three minutes", etc, etc, etc.
Very dense and highly technical details of what happened in the first three minutes of origination of the Universe, alongside how were those details discovered. Fascinating yet not easy to understand at all.
Being a flighty little bird, this led me to the 'Poetic Edda' (add to Never Finished since I didnt have Wikipedia), then to the 'Ring des Nibelungen'. Good times.
There are no discussion topics on this book yet.
Be the first to start one »
Share This Book
No trivia or quizzes yet. Add some now »
“فالسعى إلى رضا عن فهم الكون هو من الأشياء النادرة التى تسمو بالإنسان فوق مستوى الترهات ،وتنعم عليه بشىء من شرف المشاركة فى هذه المسرحية المأساوية .”
—
1 person liked it
More quotes…
