PREVIOUS generations would have killed for the kind of knowledge we have of the cosmos we live in. We know its principal content – 100 billion or so galaxies, one of which is our Milky Way – and we have a pretty good idea of where it came from, how it came to be the way it is and where it might be heading.
It is this story – the epic tale of the origin, evolution and fate of the universe – that is told in Evolving Cosmos, published by Cambridge University Press.
Govert Schilling, the Dutch science writer and occasional contributor to New ÐÓ°ÉÔ´´, takes us all the way from the universe’s birth in a bang to its probable end in a whimper. He does this by focusing in turn on the key physical processes that have sculpted the cosmos, from the gravitational contraction of gas clouds to form stars and galaxies to the accretion of dust and rocks to make planets.
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Astronomical coffee-table books are ten a penny, but this one is a triumph.
Schilling has a deep understanding of his subject and writes with verve and enthusiasm. Nobody has written a popular history of the universe as detailed as this before. Schilling succeeds in reminding us what a privilege it is to be alive at a time when profound questions about the universe and its origin have a real chance of being answered within decades or less.
Every step of the story is illustrated with stunning colour images. Schilling deserves to do well with this offering. A beautiful, awe-inspiring book.
Evolving Cosmos
Cambridge University Press
