DISCLAIMER
This is a personal Web page.
It is not an official University Web page.
Any opinions expressed here are not necessarily those of
The University of Queensland.


A Brief Annotated Bibliography of
Books about Cosmology

Ken Smith: July, 2006

This page is revised at rather irregular intervals.
Look later to see more books listed.

Introduction

This bibliography is intended merely as a starting point for anyone who wishes to delve into some aspects of cosmology, the study of the universe as a whole, its origin, development, and final fate.

Although speculations about the universe as a whole go back into the earliest recorded human writings, cosmology as a science (in the modern sense of that word) can be said to have originated in the first quarter of the 20th century. Einstein's 1917 paper applying general relativity to the universe as a whole provided a theoretical basis. One of the first results to be established in the early 1920s by the 2.5 metre (100 inch) telescope at Mt Wilson was that the vague nebulae which had been observed for many years could be resolved into individual stars, and thus were galaxies in their own right, external to our galaxy, the Milky Way. A completely unexpected discovery, in the late 1920s, which made the name of astronomer Edwin Hubble almost a household word, was the fact that almost all these galaxies were moving away, at speeds roughly proportional to their distances, and the phrase "expanding universe" was born.
It remained a fairly small part of astronomy until the clash between the age of the universe (about 2,000 million years, from Hubble's measurements) and the age of the Earth (between 3,000 and 4,000 million years, from measurements using radioactive decay) became acute in the 1930s and 1940s, and the (unrelated) development of radio astronomy in the late 1940s. This led to the proposal of a "steady-state universe", popularised by Hoyle in his broadcast lectures. The discovery of the cosmic background radiation in 1965 led to a massive increase in study and research in cosmology, and this interest continues with no signs of flagging.

Note

This page is in the initial stages of construction, and much of it is incomplete. However it is thought desirable to present at least an outline of what is anticipated to be the layout of a more finished version, although most of the annotations are incomplete or missing. Some books are listed here without a reference to a library where they are held. It is hoped to rectify these omissions at a later time.

Since the University of Queensland, denoted by UQ, serves an academic community, it is understandable that its holdings in popular writings about cosmology are somewhat limited; Thus in some cases books held by other Brisbane libraries are listed below:

Typographical conventions used

In order to make various points more easily identifiable, the following conventions are followed: the bulk of the annotations are in black type; names of authors are in blue type, while titles of books and journals are in slanted blue type: headings, cross references, and quotations are in red type. The layout of a typical entry is thus:

Author (year: library):-- Title.
Annotations, including any quotations.

In some cases an important reference work, or several such, is listed first within each section of the bibliography. In general, however, books are arranged alphabetically by family name of the first author or editor, and chronologically for each particular author or editor.

Popular Works

Asimov, Isaac (1980: GU):-- The Universe: From Flat Earth to Quasar.
This is the third edition of a book first published in 1966. Asimov takes a partly historical approach, starting with the earth and working outwards to the solar system, the Milky Way, galaxies, and then considering the age of the earth and energy generation in stars. He then looks at the expanding universe, and discusses at some length the many solutions which were offered for the energy output of quasars and other very strong energy emitters. Has 1 page of Suggested Further Reading, and a 16 page Index.

Calder, Nigel (1979: GU):-- Einstein's Universe: A Guide to the Theory of Relativity.
This book was produced to accompany the television film, of the same name, produced to celebrate the centenary of the birth of Einstein. It concentrates on the special theory, but the latter part of the book deals with the general theory and cosmology. There is no bibliography, but an 8 page Index.

Coleman, James A. (1954: QUT):-- Relativity for the Layman: A Simplified Account of the History, Theory, and Proofs of Relativity.
This small book is rather unusual in that it contains a significant amount of historical matter, relating to measurements of the speed of light and attempts to describe the medium through which light waves were propagated. The titles of the chapters are: 1. The Velocity of Light; 2. The Great Dilemma; 3. The Special Theory of Relativity; 4. Experimental Proof of the Special Theory; 5. The General Theory and Experimental Proof; Relativity and the Nature of the Universe; 7. The Unified-Field Theory. The last chapter discusses, very briefly, Einstein's attempts to produce a unified theory, which were unsuccessful. For a second edition, published in 1969, the section dealing with the clock paradox was completely rewritten, but only minor changes were made in the remainder of the book. One paragraph in the Preface to this edition reads:
"In all cases the more recent tests of the theory of relativity have, without exception, further verified the basic predictions of the theory. The fundamental theory and predictions as originally announced by Einstein thus remain unchanged."

Hoyle, Fred (1950, 1960: GU, UQ):-- The Nature of the Universe.
This book contains the text of Hoyle's series of broadcast lectures, under the same title, in which he presented his ideas about "continuous creation", or the "steady-state theory". Although this is no longer a viable scientific option, the book provides a useful introduction to the early days of scientific cosmology. Hoyle, in these, referred to relativistic cosmology, in disparaging terms, as the "big bang", and this has now become common usage.
Comparing the two editions is illuminating. The age of the universe, from Hubble's measurements in the late 1920s, was about two billion years, while the age of the earth, from radioactive decay methods, was about four billion years, clearly a contradiction. This was a major reason for postulating "continuous creation". However, by the time of the revised edition the timescale for the universe had been revised to around ten billion years, and so there was no contradiction. These two values are mentioned in the respective editions. The book by Bondi (an early worker on the "steady-state" theory) mentioned below also points this out.

Singh, Simon (2004: UQ):-- Big Bang: The Most Important Scientific Discovery of All Time and Why You Need to Know About It.
This is one of the best books available about the "big-bang", but it covers much more than just the origin of the universe. It takes a historical approach, and there are tables scattered throughout the text comparing predictions of one theoretical model with another, starting with a heliocentric versus a geocentric approach to the solar system, and moving on to a comparison of big-bang and steady-state cosmologies. The book begins with a very brief discussion of early religious ideas before moving on to science. The work of Eratosthenes in calculating the size of the earth is followed by the way naked eye observation of lunar eclipses can give the size and distance of the moon. This is then extended to the size of the solar system as a first step towards determining the great extent of the galaxy and then the universe. Singh then covers the discovery of the expansion of the universe, and the application of general relativity to explain this expansion. One chapter is devoted to the challenge from the steady-state theory, and the ultimate success of relativity over all other challenges.
The limitations of any book attempting a popular explanation in the field of cosmology are mentioned in some paragraphs on pages 471 and 472.
"In fact, this book mentions only a small fraction of those who contributed to the development of the Big Bang model, because it would be impossible to give a complete and definitive account of the Steady State versus Big Bang debate in just a few hundred pages. Each subsection of each chapter of this book would need to be expanded into its own dedicated volume to do justice to everyone who has contributed to the development of the Big Bang model.
"In addition to the limitations of space, this account of the history of the Big Bang model has also been constrained by an effort to minimise the number of mathematical equations. Mathematics is the language of science, and in many cases a full and accurate explanation of a scientific concept is possible only by presenting a detailed mathematical exposition. However, it is usually possible to give a general description of a scientific concept by using mere words and a few pictures to illustrate the key points. Indeed, the mathematician Carl Friedrich Gauss once stressed the value of `notions, not notations'."

Smart, W. M. (1928: SLQ):-- The Sun, the Stars and the Universe.
This is one of the few popular books written after the existence of galaxies outside the Milky Way was definitely established, but before the expansion of the universe was widely known. It is also somewhat unusual (for its time) in giving due credit to the work of women astronomers. It contains a large number of plates and diagrams to help understand the vast scale and the multitude of phenomena which astronomy had discovered by the mid-1920s.

Whitrow, G. J. (1949: UQ):-- The Structure of the Universe: An Introduction to Cosmology.
This book is one of the few, written at a popular level, which attempts to explain the ideas of E. A. Milne and A. S. Eddington on cosmology. These ideas are now only of historical interest. The book was written before Hoyle's popularisation of the steady-state theory, and so does not mention it. The chapters in the book are: 1. The Depths of the Universe (I); 2. The Depths of the Universe (II); 3. Space and Time; 4. Relativity; 5. World-Models (I); 6. World-Models (II); 7. The Age of the Universe; 8. The Structure of the Nebulae; 9. Cosmology and the A Priori. Chapter 5 covers relativistic cosmology, while the ideas of Milne and Eddington are discussed in chapter 6. There are 3 pages of Bibliography, and a 7 page Index.

Semi-Popular Works

These books are not suitable for complete beginners. However most tertiary students should be able to profit from them after two or three introductory books have been perused.
Since general relativity is the only surviving theory which adequately explains what we observe about the universe, a number of the books in this section attempt to explain relativity for people with little (or no) scientific background. Most of such books contain some exposition of the application of the theory to the universe as a whole.

Greene, Brian (1999):-- The Elegant Universe.

Greene, Brian (2004: SLQ):-- The Fabric of The Cosmos: Space, Time, and the Texture of Reality.
Two paragraphs at the top of page xi in the Preface explain the intended audience for this book and outline the contents.
"The Fabric of the Cosmos is intended primarily for the general reader who has little or no formal training in the sciences but whose desire to understand the workings of the universe provides incentive to grapple with a number of complex and challenging concepts. As in my first book, The Elegant Universe (1999), I've stayed close to the core scientific ideas throughout, while stripping away the mathematical details in favor of metaphors, analogies, stories, and illustrations. When we reach the book's most difficult sections, I forewarn the reader and provide brief summaries for those who decide to skip or skim these more involved discussions. In this way the reader should be able to walk the path of discovery and gain not just knowledge of physics' current worldview, but an understanding of how and why that worldview has gained prominence.
"Students, avid readers of general-level science, teachers, and professionals should also find much of interest in the book. Although the initial chapters cover the necessary but standard background material in relativity and quantum mechanics, the focus on the corporeality of space and time is somewhat unconventional in its approach. Subsequent chapters cover a wide range of topics --- Bell's theorem, delayed choice experiments, quantum measurement, accelerated expansion, the possibility of producing black holes in the next generation of particle accelerators, fanciful wormhole time machines, to name a few --- and so will bring such readers up to date on a number of the most tantalizing and debated advances."
Greene goes on to point out that where a general consensus has emerged on some topic, this is given in the text, and some of the other viewpoints are relegated to the Notes. However where no distinct consensus has yet emerged, the various views are discussed in the text. The Notes also provide some of the mathematical details for those with the appropriate background. The 16 chapters in the book are divided into five groups of roughly equal length: 1. Reality's Arena; 2. Time and Experience; 3. Spacetime and Cosmology; 4. Origins and Unification; and 5. Reality and Imagination. These are followed by 42 pages of Notes, a 5 page Glossary of technical terms, 2 pages of Suggestions for Further Reading, and a comprehensive Index running to 25 pages.

Parker, Barry (1988: SLQ):-- Creation: The Story of the Origin and Evolution of the Universe.
Presents an up-to-date version of findings in cosmology and astrophysics, from the origin of the universe to supernovae. Brief biographies of the scientists who have been responsible for major advances are included. The titles of the chapters are: 1. Introduction; 2. Discovery of the Expanding Universe; 3. Cosmology of the Mind; 4. Alpha, Beta, and Gamow; 5. From Quarks to Black Holes; 6. From Chaos to Creation; 7. Inflation; 8. Mystery of the Cosmic Mirror; 9. The Cosmic Cookbook; 10. Emergence of the Fireball; 11. Before the Big Bang; 12. The Big Breakup; 13. A ``Lumpy'' Universe; 14. Cosmic Strings; 15. The "Heavy Element" Cookbook; 16. The Emergence of Life; 17. Epilogue. There is a 6 page Glossary, 1 page of Further Reading, and a 7 page Index. The final paragraph in the book (on page 282) reads:
"Before I end the book I feel I should address a question that some of you will no doubt be wondering about: Why does a book on the creation of the universe have no mention of God? Scientists do, indeed, rarely mention God when they talk about creation. Furthermore, they are sometimes accused of trying to do away with the need for God by attempting to explain creation in scientific terms. And it is true: scientists would prefer a purely scientific explanation of the beginning of the universe. That is not to say, though, that all scientists are atheists (few are). Furthermore, there is no fear that scientists will ever eliminate the need for a God. If we look back at the early universe we see that regardless of how far things are pushed -- even if we were someday able to explain creation itself in an entirely satisfactory scientific way -- there is still something that is unexplained. Creation depends on the basic laws of nature -- without them it would not be possible. Who created these laws? There is no question but that a God will always be needed."

Thorne, Kip S. (1994: UQ):-- Black Holes and Time Warps: Einstein's Outrageous Legacy.


Trefil, James S. (1983: GU):-- The Moment of Creation: Big Bang Physics from before the First Millisecond to the Present Universe.
The book covers the then state of knowledge about the development of the universe, but concentrates on the very early stages when interactions between elementary particles were the dominant phenomena. The final section in the book is entitled "What About God?", and the final part of this reads:
"It now appears that our new discoveries of the laws that govern the nature of elementary particles may allow us to push the frontiers back to the very creation of the universe itself. This does not, however, alter the fact that there is a frontier. All it does is to transfer our attention from the material form of the universe to the laws that govern its behaviour. I can hear a twenty-first century philosopher saying, "Very well, we agree that the universe exists because of the laws of physics. But who created those laws?" And even if, as some physicists have suggested, the laws of physics we discover are the only laws that are logically consistent with each other (and therefore the only laws that could exist), our philosopher would ask, "Who made the laws of logic?"
"My message, then, to those who feel that science is overstepping its bounds when it probes the early universe is simple: don't worry. No matter how far the boundaries are pushed back, there will always be room both for religious faith and a religious interpretation of the physical world.
"For myself, I feel much more comfortable with the concept of a God who is clever enough to devise the laws of physics that make the existence of our marvellous universe inevitable than I do with the old-fashioned God who had to make it all, laboriously, piece by piece."

Will, Clifford M. (1986: UQ):-- Was Einstein Right? Putting General Relativity to the Test.
This book discusses, in a fairly easily digestible form, the various tests which have been applied to the predictions of general relativity. It also discusses the only recent contender as a replacement for general relativity, the Brans-Dicke scalar-tensor theory, and shows that experimental determination of the additional parameter in the equations makes it virtually indistinguishable from relativity. In addition to the three predictions made by Einstein, which have now been verified to the limits of experimental accuracy, three tests derived subsequently, the strong equivalence principle, time delay, and gravitational radiation, have also provided impressive backing for relativity. An Appendix, "Special Relativity: Beyond a Shadow of a Doubt", covers some of the predictions of special relativity, which have been verified to even more impressive accuracy. There are 3 pages of Suggestions for Further Reading, and a 12 page Index.
Chapter 11, "The Frontiers of Experimental Relativity", discusses at some length the behaviour of a gyroscope near the earth. This will change its orientation due to two effects: the curvature of space near the earth, and what is known as `dragging of inertial frames' due to the earth's rotation (this is mentioned briefly in the title story in Larry Niven's science fiction collection Neutron Star, published in 1966). Both these effects are extremely small, and it has proved extremely difficult to construct a gyroscope stable enough for the effects to be measured. However the dragging of frames has now (2006) been measured with an accuracy of about 10%, and agrees with predictions from general relativity. Work is still continuing on this and other tests.

Technical and Historical Works

The following books are mainly intended for those who wish to study the historical development of our ideas about the universe, or investigate the technical details in greater depth. The technical works, in general, require a strong mathematical background.

Bondi, H. (1960: UQ):-- Cosmology.
This is the second edition of the book first published in 1952. It is divided into three parts: 1. Principles of Cosmology; 2. Observational Evidence; 3. Cosmological Theories. Part 1 is still of some value, and can be read with profit. Part 2 is out-of-date, since virtually all of the data has been replaced by much more accurate data from artificial satellites, especially from the Hubble telescope and COBE, the COsmic Background Explorer. Before reading part 3, the following words from the Preface to the Second Edition should be read and absorbed:
"Since the first edition of this book went to print in 1951 considerable changes have occurred in cosmology. They are in the main due to the drastic revision of the time scale by Baade and Sandage, which has largely resolved the time-scale problem so prominent eight years ago. No major independent development has occurred in theoretical cosmology, but readjustment of the various theories to the new situation is taking place."
The discovery of the cosmic background radiation in 1965 has completely changed the sentiments expressed in the last sentence, and now relativistic cosmology is the only theory of more than historical interest. However Part 3 is still useful for a discussion of some other theories due to Milne, Eddington, Dirac and Jordan, as well as the Steady-Sate theory to which Bondi was a major contributor, which were viable contenders in the 1940s. Contains 8 pages of Bibliography, nearly all to the technical literature.

Hawking, S. W. and Ellis, G. F. R. (1973: UQ):-- The Large Scale Structure of Space-Time.
This book is highly mathematical, and deals with the singularity theorems for general relativity which were proved in the 1960s and early 1970s. The scope of these is illustrated by the following sentence from the Preface:
"This theory [general relativity] leads to two remarkable predictions about the universe: first, that the final state of massive stars is to collapse behind an event horizon to form a `black hole' which will contain a singularity; and secondly, that there is a singularity in our past which constitutes, on some sense, a beginning to the universe."
The fact that the Big Bang is a prediction of general relativity, and not a separate assumption, is not generally appreciated. Contains 8 pages of References, nearly all to the technical literature, followed by 4 pages of Notation.

Lorentz, H. A., Einstein, A., Minkowski, H. and Weyl, H. (1923: GU):-- The Principle of Relativity: A Collection of Original Memoirs on the Special and General Theory of Relativity.
Among the papers translated into English and printed here are "On the Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies", Einstein's first paper on special relativity, "The Foundations of the General Theory of Relativity", with Einstein's famous prediction about the bending of light rays, and "Cosmological Considerations of the General Theory of Relativity". This paper introduced the "cosmological constant", about which there has been considerable discussion. Buried in one paragraph (on page 184) are some words which indicate the commonly held ideas about the universe at that time -- 1917.
"The most important fact that we draw from experience as to the distribution of matter is that the relative velocities of the stars are very small as compared with the velocity of light. So I think that for the present we may base our reasoning upon the following approximate assumption. There is a system of reference relatively to which matter may be looked on as being permanently at rest.
The most significant words here are the last three. Not only is the universe stationary, "permanently" implies that it has always been so, that is, the universe is taken to be infinitely old. This was a common, if usually unstated, idea throughout most of the 19th century and the early part of the 20th century. This idea only changed after Hubble discovered the expansion of the universe. Einstein, of course, as a good scientist, always allowed for changes in the approach to the universe, with his words "for the present".

McVittie, G. C. (1965: UQ):-- General Relativity and Cosmology.
This can be regarded as a somewhat simplified version of the classic treatise by Tolman. It contains a chapter on tensor calculus and Riemannian geometry for those readers who are competent in mathematics but lack this particular background. Observational matters, and comparisons between theoretical predictions and observations, and briefly treated in the final chapter.

Tolman, R. C. (1934: UQ):-- Relativity, Thermodynamics and Cosmology.
The classic exposition of cosmology based on general relativity. Requires a reasonably strong background in mathematics, but not as strong as most more modern works. Those without such a background could still profit by skimming through sections 160 to 164 (pages 407--416), ignoring all the mathematics but paying attention to the figures showing the wide range of theoretically possible behaviours for a universe which is changing in size. As observational accuracy has improved these have been whittled down to just a few cases.





This page last revised 13 June 2007