Masters of Time: Cosmology at the End of Innocence

Boslough actually summarized the "plot" superbly in his own preface: "This book is the story of what happened along the road to the big bang theory and how it may be a mere will-o'-the-wisp rather than a final destination. The book also seeks to raise a number of questions about the biggest sacred cow of all, the big bang." "Masters of Time" is a thoroughly enjoyable read, appealing to both scientists and non-scientists alike, that succeeds on three separate levels. First, it is a well written history of the development of modern cosmological theory in the 20th century, replete with amusing anecdotes, heroes, villains and goats, false leads and both successful and dead end research. Second, it is a quality primer for the non-scientist on virtually any topic one could name in the field of cosmology - microwave radiation, quasars, pulsars, black holes, cosmic strings, inflation, the great attractor, baryonic matter, lumpy galactic super clusters - the list just goes on and on. Finally, it is a cautionary tale that, in the spirit of Kuhn's discussion of paradigm shifts, suggests the big bang as a theory just may be in a world of trouble - too many unexplained glitches and too many theories that are simply unobservable, untestable or unreproducible. As a specific example, Boslough criticizes Guth's model of inflation in the early universe: "The reason for this apparent accuracy in explanatory power was of course simple: The inflationary theories had been created to do exactly this, explain the origin and evolution of the universe in terms that could stand up to observed detail. In the most simple terms, the theories had been constructed in such a way that they could not be disproved." The problem with many of these models is that, while they explain observations with impeccable precision, they make no independent predictions that can be tested by further observation. We may or may not be in for the major paradigm shift that Kuhn predicts is on the way but I certainly agree with Boslough - skepticism and ongoing scrutiny of existing science is healthy. "Masters of Time" is a great read. Thanks, John Boslough!