A Short History of the Universe

This is a short but dense book about cosmology and numerous topics related to our current understanding of creation and evolution of the Universe, not for a beginner but for someone who has some prior knowledge about astronomy (maybe outdated). What makes this book special is the amount of puzzling facts it presents with various ideas to resolve the contradiction between theory and observations. I was pleasantly surprise to find that book covers in great detail black holes, dark matter and dark energy. For students willing to broaden their understanding and appreciation of cosmology. It is a serious book, though there is very little math in it, one needs concentration and patience to absorb the material. This book gives a good snapshot of what is known, from here one could move on to more specialized books.

The science of cosmology gives a quantitative foundation to our views about the universe. A Short History of the Universe explains in layman's terms and with excellent pictures how our theories of the structure of the universe have evolved, thus feeding the areas of philosophy and religion. What do we mean if we say that the universe has limits, but is also infinite? Why is it that the sun is considered to be halfway through its lifetime? How can the universe be expanding in every direction that we look when the earth is not at the center of the universe? These sorts of questions are answered--and answered well. If you have curiosity about how the heavens are studied, this book is definitely worth your time.