This is a rather balanced account about the stable or expanding universe or multiverse issue. Rees is the Royal Astronomer of England or something so he is a bit cautious about cosmological speculations, which is, i think, a good thing. It's upsetting when scientists go rambling all over the place about matters about which they have zero information. I thoroughly enjoyed his explanations about dark matter, the inflationary universe, gravity, and the mechanism of converting hydrogen to helium and deuterium. I had been reading about the importance of that but until Rees's explanation i didn't know why it was important or how it happened. In the end it would seem that we are almost unbelievably fortunate to be alive in This Universe. And i think that is a good message, "be thankful for the life you have, even if you don't understand it."
Author(s): Martin Rees
Edition: 0
Publisher: Basic Books
Year: 1999
Language: English
Pages: 184
cover......Page 1
J U S T S I X N U M B E R S......Page 2
CONTENTS......Page 4
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS......Page 6
PREFACE......Page 8
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS......Page 10
1 THE COSMOS AND THE MICROWORLD......Page 12
2 OUR COSMIC HABITAT I: PLANETS, STARS AND LIFE......Page 23
3 THE LARGE NUMBER N: GRAVITY IN THE COSMOS......Page 35
4 STARS, THE PERIODIC TABLE, AND ε......Page 51
5 OUR COSMIC HABITAT II: BEYOND OUR GALAXY......Page 63
6 THE FINE-TUNED EXPANSION: DARK MATTER AND Ω......Page 82
7 THE NUMBER λ: IS COSMIC EXPANSION SLOWING OR SPEEDING?......Page 102
8 PRIMORDIAL 'RIPPLES': THE NUMBER Q......Page 114
9 OUR COSMIC HABITAT Ill: WHAT LIES BEYOND OUR HORIZON?......Page 128
10 THREE DIMENSIONS (AND MORE)......Page 145
11 COINCIDENCE, PROVIDENCE - OR MULTIVERSE?......Page 159
NOTES......Page 173
INDEX......Page 178
