It’s relatively rare that an astronomy book rolls along that I think astronomy enthusiasts MUST have. Such is the case, however, with The Cosmic Microwave Background, new from Springer.
Welsh research fellow astronomer Rhodri Evans of Cardiff University has produced a compelling book, woven together with many stories of his personal interactions with key players, about the central string of cosmology, the microwave background radiation.
The book (full title: The Cosmic Microwave Background: How It Changed Our Understanding of the Universe, 204 pp., paper. Springer-Verlag, New York, paper, color illustrations, ISBN 978–3–319–09927–9, $34.99) is an outstanding summary of the discovery and analysis of the CMB. It begins with cosmological models such as those of Aristotle, Copernicus, and others, and takes up a full narrative from the early days of astrophysics onward.
I heartily recommend this book. Readers interested in cosmology, the evolution of the universe, and the history of science will be charmed by this excellent effort.
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