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karp76's review against another edition
3.0
“The effort to understand the universe is one of the very few things that lifts human life a little above the level of farce, and gives it some of the grace of tragedy." There can be no doubt that Weinberg knows this subject, that he is intimately familiar and dedicated to the pursuit and understanding of physics not only for those of that are dedicated to this pursuit but for the general public as well. Weinberg states in his introduction, "I had better say for what reader this book is intended. I have written for one who is willing to puzzle through some detailed arguments, but who is not at home in either mathematics or physics. Although I must introduce some fairly complicated scientific ideas, no mathematics is used in the body of the book beyond arithmetic, and little knowledge of physics or astronomy is assumed in advanced." Is it? The execution does not match the intention. The arguments are detailed, the scientific ideas are complicated and if you don't have some familiarity with physics or astronomy, you will be lost. And that is the stinging caveat of the book: you will learn and be immersed, perhaps even thrilled, but you may not know how or even why.
emiann2023's review against another edition
4.0
A great read. Shirt but clear. Unfortunately also a bit dated.
7anooch's review against another edition
4.0
Pretty good exposition of early universe cosmology. Highly recommended.
itsgs's review against another edition
2.0
The low rating for this book is not a reflection on its content - it is just a consequence of it being 2022 now. Weinberg wrote this book in 1970s. Early universe cosmology discussed in it seems ancient, given what we know today.
Here are the things I realized based on the introductory chapters: The ideas covered in this DO NOT include inflationary cosmology, dark matter, accelerated expansion/ dark energy (gasp). It was written before Planck, WMAP or even COBE took at look at CMB!!!! So while this book might be interesting from the POV of comprehending how far we have come in our knowledge of early universe in the last 50 years (assuming you know the current state of knowledge in the field from other sources), it is NOT a good book for someone in its target audience who is presumably using this book to get a "modern view of the origin of the universe". It is simply highly incomplete given what we know today, and does not provide the promised modern view.
There is supposed to be an afterword that adds some of the recent information, but I'd say skip the book instead and look elsewhere if you want to understand early universe cosmology as it stands today.
PS: Full disclosure - I did not finish the book - did not continue once I realized how outdated it is. I know early universe cosmology from the technical sources, had picked this book up simply because I will read anything Weinberg writes :)
Here are the things I realized based on the introductory chapters: The ideas covered in this DO NOT include inflationary cosmology, dark matter, accelerated expansion/ dark energy (gasp). It was written before Planck, WMAP or even COBE took at look at CMB!!!! So while this book might be interesting from the POV of comprehending how far we have come in our knowledge of early universe in the last 50 years (assuming you know the current state of knowledge in the field from other sources), it is NOT a good book for someone in its target audience who is presumably using this book to get a "modern view of the origin of the universe". It is simply highly incomplete given what we know today, and does not provide the promised modern view.
There is supposed to be an afterword that adds some of the recent information, but I'd say skip the book instead and look elsewhere if you want to understand early universe cosmology as it stands today.
PS: Full disclosure - I did not finish the book - did not continue once I realized how outdated it is. I know early universe cosmology from the technical sources, had picked this book up simply because I will read anything Weinberg writes :)
irinagoldberg1's review against another edition
4.0
The last chapter: The First One-Hundredth Second us the best part. The rest of the book is less entertaining.
brad_mckay's review against another edition
2.0
Quite technical despite saying it was not so in the preface.
rocky1650's review against another edition
4.0
It may have been written 45 years ago, but it is far from inaccurate. It is true that today we know in more detail what has happened since the beginning of the universe, but this book does not dissapoint, it is very precise and elegantly written.
jolibon4e's review against another edition
informative
slow-paced
3.5
Interesting to read but sometimes I got post in the details