19 of 100: Endless Universe

[jerseyfabulous]

Endless Universe was a very interesting read, and honestly, I'm tempted to buy myself a copy just because it has a good history of the development of cosmology. I've read quite a few pop sci books that failed to chronicle the discipline as clearly, making it difficult to place the author's work in context. (Possibly I'm the only one bothered by it.) The authors' theory is an interesting one, if not precisely new: the universe is cyclic. The 'Big Bang' was just the starting point of one of many cycles which can carry on infinitely*. While the idea has been proposed before from time to time, the authors present it as a possibility of string theory/M theory. Of course, as ever with pop sci presentations of higher physics, my sticking point is that I am well aware I am not advanced enough to follow the math to know whether or not the authors are pulling material from their buttocks and calling it an encyclopedia. Maybe I should go back to school...

*BSG fans, get it out of your system now.

Administrivia: I had other projects going on in August, thus the long gap between 100 Things installments. I am now posting belated reviews for the books I read in the past 3 weeks, so there will be a couple scant reviews, then a return to more reasonable length entries.