A review by itsgs
The First Three Minutes: A Modern View of the Origin of the Universe by Steven Weinberg
2.0
The low rating for this book is not a reflection on its content - it is just a consequence of it being 2022 now. Weinberg wrote this book in 1970s. Early universe cosmology discussed in it seems ancient, given what we know today.
Here are the things I realized based on the introductory chapters: The ideas covered in this DO NOT include inflationary cosmology, dark matter, accelerated expansion/ dark energy (gasp). It was written before Planck, WMAP or even COBE took at look at CMB!!!! So while this book might be interesting from the POV of comprehending how far we have come in our knowledge of early universe in the last 50 years (assuming you know the current state of knowledge in the field from other sources), it is NOT a good book for someone in its target audience who is presumably using this book to get a "modern view of the origin of the universe". It is simply highly incomplete given what we know today, and does not provide the promised modern view.
There is supposed to be an afterword that adds some of the recent information, but I'd say skip the book instead and look elsewhere if you want to understand early universe cosmology as it stands today.
PS: Full disclosure - I did not finish the book - did not continue once I realized how outdated it is. I know early universe cosmology from the technical sources, had picked this book up simply because I will read anything Weinberg writes :)
Here are the things I realized based on the introductory chapters: The ideas covered in this DO NOT include inflationary cosmology, dark matter, accelerated expansion/ dark energy (gasp). It was written before Planck, WMAP or even COBE took at look at CMB!!!! So while this book might be interesting from the POV of comprehending how far we have come in our knowledge of early universe in the last 50 years (assuming you know the current state of knowledge in the field from other sources), it is NOT a good book for someone in its target audience who is presumably using this book to get a "modern view of the origin of the universe". It is simply highly incomplete given what we know today, and does not provide the promised modern view.
There is supposed to be an afterword that adds some of the recent information, but I'd say skip the book instead and look elsewhere if you want to understand early universe cosmology as it stands today.
PS: Full disclosure - I did not finish the book - did not continue once I realized how outdated it is. I know early universe cosmology from the technical sources, had picked this book up simply because I will read anything Weinberg writes :)