''The Inflationary Universe'' is a popular physics book by theoretical physicist Alan H. Guth, first published in 1997. The book explores the historical and theoretical development and expansion of the theory of inflation, which was first presented by the author in 1979 as the culmination of his research on the implications of theory of the

Big Bang The Big Bang is a physical theory that describes how the universe expanded from an initial state of high density and temperature. Various cosmological models based on the Big Bang concept explain a broad range of phenomena, including th ...

. The book's blurb referred to it as "the passionate story of one leading scientist's effort to look behind the cosmic veil and explain how the universe began".

Reception

The book was generally well-received upon release, with critics noting the toned down use of complex mathematics in favor of featuring its explanations through diagrams and analogies instead.

Marcus Chown Marcus Chown (born 1959) is a science writer, journalist and broadcaster, currently cosmology consultant for ''New Scientist'' magazine. Biography He graduated from the Queen Mary University of London in 1980 with a Bachelor of Science in physics ...

of ''

New Scientist ''New Scientist'' is a popular science magazine covering all aspects of science and technology. Based in London, it publishes weekly English-language editions in the United Kingdom, the United States and Australia. An editorially separate organ ...

'' contemporaneously criticized the rate at which " chnical terms are tossed about ..making the book tough going for anyone not familiar with the basic lexicon of physics". Despite its perceived nonlinearity, he nevertheless praised the title and recommended it for the scientific relevance, deeming the book's core "arguably the most significant new development in cosmology for half a century" should the model prove true. It was similarly praised by ''

The New York Times Book Review ''The New York Times Book Review'' (''NYTBR'') is a weekly paper-magazine supplement to the Sunday edition of ''The New York Times'' in which current non-fiction and fiction books are reviewed. It is one of the most influential and widely rea ...

'', the ''

San Francisco Examiner The ''San Francisco Examiner'' is a newspaper distributed in and around San Francisco, California, and has been published since 1863. Once self-dubbed the "Monarch of the Dailies" by then-owner William Randolph Hearst and the flagship of the He ...

'', ''

Science Science is a systematic discipline that builds and organises knowledge in the form of testable hypotheses and predictions about the universe. Modern science is typically divided into twoor threemajor branches: the natural sciences, which stu ...

'', and ''

The Washington Post Book World ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

''. In April 2015, physicist and Nobel laureate

Steven Weinberg Steven Weinberg (; May 3, 1933 – July 23, 2021) was an American theoretical physicist and Nobel laureate in physics for his contributions with Abdus Salam and Sheldon Glashow to the unification of the weak force and electromagnetic inter ...

included ''The Inflationary Universe'' in a personal list of "the 13 best science books for the general reader".

Reception

See also

References

Further reading