Overview

According to a recent survey, the most popular question about science from the general public was: what came before the Big Bang? We all know on some level what the Big Bang is, but we don't know how it became the accepted theory, or how we might know what came before. In Before the Big Bang, Brian Clegg explores the history of this remarkable concept.From the earliest creation myths, through Hershel's realization that the Milky Way was one of many galaxies, to ongoing debates about Black Holes, this is an incredible look at the origins of the universe and the many theories that led to the acceptance of the Big Bang. But the idea of Big Bang doesn't so much answer questions as raise new ones. Clegg challenges the notion of the Big Bang itself, and raises the deep philosophical question of why we might want to rethink the origin of the universe.

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Clegg follows the footsteps of Carl Sagan's Cosmos, Steven Hawking's A Brief History of Time and Timothy Ferris's Coming of Age in the Milky Way. He shares his predecessors' enthusiasm, eloquence and ability to explain complex ideas but provides a bonus by covering startling developments of the past decade. Anyone looking for an introduction to or a refresher course in cosmology need look no further. --Kirkus, Starred Review Indeed, the existence of so many things, from dark matter to black holes to wormholes all has to be inferred. The Big Bang, too, is only provisional and seems to be waiting for a more graceful model to replace it. In Clegg's words, the Big Bang theory has the feeling of something held together with a Band-Aid. Whether what came before our universe was another universe or nothing, or something else yet unconsidered, for now the most accurate answer might be: We just don't know. --Anthony Doerr Boston Globe, July 19

Clegg follows the footsteps of Carl Sagan's Cosmos, Steven Hawking's A Brief History of Time and Timothy Ferris's Coming of Age in the Milky Way. He shares his predecessors' enthusiasm, eloquence and ability to explain complex ideas but provides a bonus by covering startling developments of the past decade. Anyone looking for an introduction to or a refresher course in cosmology need look no further. - Kirkus, Starred Review <p> Indeed, the existence of so many things, from dark matter to black holes to wormholes all has to be inferred. The Big Bang, too, is only provisional and seems to be waiting for a more graceful model to replace it. In Clegg's words, the Big Bang theory has the feeling of something held together with a Band-Aid. Whether what came before our universe was another universe or nothing, or something else yet unconsidered, for now the most accurate answer might be: We just don't know. - Anthony Doerr Boston Globe, July 19 <p>

Clegg follows the footsteps of Carl Sagan's Cosmos, Steven Hawking's A Brief History of Time and Timothy Ferris's Coming of Age in the Milky Way. He shares his predecessors' enthusiasm, eloquence and ability to explain complex ideas but provides a bonus by covering startling developments of the past decade. Anyone looking for an introduction to or a refresher course in cosmology need look no further. --Kirkus, Starred Review Indeed, the existence of so many things, from dark matter to black holes to wormholes all has to be inferred. The Big Bang, too, is only provisional and seems to be waiting for a more graceful model to replace it. In Clegg's words, the Big Bang theory has the feeling of something held together with a Band-Aid. Whether what came before our universe was another universe or nothing, or something else yet unconsidered, for now the most accurate answer might be: We just don't know. --Anthony Doerr Boston Globe, July 19 -Clegg follows the footsteps of Carl Sagan's Cosmos, Steven Hawking's A Brief History of Time and Timothy Ferris's Coming of Age in the Milky Way. He shares his predecessors' enthusiasm, eloquence and ability to explain complex ideas but provides a bonus by covering startling developments of the past decade. Anyone looking for an introduction to or a refresher course in cosmology need look no further.- --Kirkus, Starred Review -Indeed, the existence of so many things, from dark matter to black holes to wormholes all has to be inferred. The Big Bang, too, is only provisional and seems to be waiting for a more graceful model to replace it. In Clegg's words, the Big Bang theory -has the feeling of something held together with a Band-Aid. Whether what came before our universe was another universe or nothing, or something else yet unconsidered, for now the most accurate answer might be: We just don't know.- --Anthony Doerr Boston Globe, July 19 Clegg follows the footsteps of Carl Sagan's Cosmos, Steven Hawking's A Brief History of Time and Timothy Ferris's Coming of Age in the Milky Way. He shares his predecessors' enthusiasm, eloquence and ability to explain complex ideas but provides a bonus by covering startling developments of the past decade. Anyone looking for an introduction to or a refresher course in cosmology need look no further. Kirkus, Starred Review Indeed, the existence of so many things, from dark matter to black holes to wormholes all has to be inferred. The Big Bang, too, is only provisional and seems to be waiting for a more graceful model to replace it. In Clegg's words, the Big Bang theory has the feeling of something held together with a Band-Aid. Whether what came before our universe was another universe or nothing, or something else yet unconsidered, for now the most accurate answer might be: We just don't know. Anthony Doerr Boston Globe, July 19 Clegg follows the footsteps of Carl Sagan's Cosmos, Steven Hawking's A Brief History of Time and Timothy Ferris's Coming of Age in the Milky Way. He shares his predecessors' enthusiasm, eloquence and ability to explain complex ideas but provides a bonus by covering startling developments of the past decade. Anyone looking for an introduction to or a refresher course in cosmology need look no further. - Kirkus, Starred Review Indeed, the existence of so many things, from dark matter to black holes to wormholes all has to be inferred. The Big Bang, too, is only provisional and seems to be waiting for a more graceful model to replace it. In Clegg's words, the Big Bang theory has the feeling of something held together with a Band-Aid. Whether what came before our universe was another universe or nothing, or something else yet unconsidered, for now the most accurate answer might be: We just don't know. - Anthony Doerr Boston Globe, July 19

Author Information

Brian Clegg is most recently the author of Armageddon Science. He holds a physics degree from Cambridge and has written regular columns, features and reviews for numerous magazines.

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