Big Bang: The Most Important Scientific Discovery of All Time and Why You Need to Know About It

Simon Singh is one of my favourite authors when it comes to popular science. I've enjoyed his books a lot, his style is both entertaining and educational at the same time. Big Bang is no different. By focusing his story on the colourful characters instead of equations, Singh makes the book easy to approach.

There's one thing to notice: the book is less about the Big Bang itself and more about the theory of Big Bang. Singh starts from the ancient Greek, describing how the whole concept of science was born and developed. Much of the book is devoted to the argument between Big Bang and steady-state universe theories. After reading this book, the reader will be familiar with the scientific process and the evolution of scientific paradigms.

Another success for Singh, and I'm definitely looking forward to whatever he's doing next. (Review based on the Finnish translation.)

Detest Sci-Fi? Simon Singh is the Answer (5/5 people found this helpful)

Simon Singh has put together one of the best books of the popular science genre. Tired of all the maternity literature, I bought the "Big Bang" in a desperate urge only the 8th month of pregnancy can ignite. And a wonderful read it was. He has the most complex formulas explained through a smooth narrative of historical development of the Big Bang theory. It is a most compelling evidence of a beautiful marriage the natural and humanitarian sciences may have if put together this masterfully. The best thing about it is that I now can fearlessly answer to my curious little ones' questions on where we come from and why.

brilliant (3/3 people found this helpful)

mr singn tells the biography of the BIG BANG theory with great skill. starting from the greeks view of the night sky, to the genius minds from, coppernicus, galileo, newton, einstein ect..

i found this book very fulfilling and easy, and has inspired me to read my on the cosmos.

a must buy for those who dont know much on the subject, but wish to.

Once again, Simon Singh delivers a truly marvelous book (5/5 people found this helpful)

I'm a Physics undergraduate, and upon reading Fermat's Last Theorem (also by Singh), I knew I was in for a treat when I picked this one up. As Fermat's Last Theorem was pretty much a brief history of maths, analogously Big Bang is a brief history of astronomy and cosmology.

As pretty much everyone else has said, Singh has a remarkable ability to convey every single one of his points and all of his information in an extremely clear and concise manner, and explains both simple and more complex concepts without sounding patronising.

One point I would like to make about this book is the sheer volume of reference to historical figures and discoveries in physics. Singh could quite easily have written this book without half as much of the historical background whilst maintaining the same level of content; however it is so right that such importance is given to these great thinkers, as we would certainly not be in the world we are in without them.

I think this book is perfect for people similar to my father (who I am buying this book for) who have (some) intelligence, are interested in educating themselves, but maybe do not have the physics background that some modern literature require.

An impressive tour de force (11/12 people found this helpful)

Simon Singh eloquently and engagingly weaves the story of the development of scientific understanding that leads to the theory of the Big Bang. This is the explanation of how the edifice was built, brick by brick. Clearly written, it does not assume detailed scientific knowledge, but explains concepts in understandable language.It should be required reading for all science teachers, not for the scientific content but for a demonstration of the art of the possible in simple explanation.
This book is up there with "The Ascent of Man" and "A Short History of Nearly Everything".
As an aside, this is also the best example of art of summarising material that I have ever seen - each chapter of around 80 pages is summed up in 2 sides of notes - without losing anything.

Big Bang: The Most Important Scientific Discovery of All Time and Why You Need to Know About It

Simon Singh

Reader Reviews:

The history of Big Bang theory explained (1/1 people found this helpful)

Detest Sci-Fi? Simon Singh is the Answer (5/5 people found this helpful)

brilliant (3/3 people found this helpful)

Once again, Simon Singh delivers a truly marvelous book (5/5 people found this helpful)

An impressive tour de force (11/12 people found this helpful)

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