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The Inflationary Universe: The Quest For a New Theory of Cosmic Origins. Alan Guth. 368 pp. Helix Books, Addison-Wesley, 1997. $25.
Since 1977 Steven Weinberg's explanation of the origin of the cosmos, The First Three Minutes, has been matchless in its simplicity, clarity and scientific accuracy-until now, that is, when The Inflationary Universe by Alan Guth elegantly and engagingly makes a compelling case for his inflationary universe theory.
Although the big bang theory is very successful in describing the evolution of the universe, it fails to address some very fundamental questions: What is the origin of all the matter in the universe? Why is the universe so flat? Why is cosmic background radiation so uniform? Guth's theory of the inflationary universe was invented to answer these questions and others by postulating a very brief moment of hyper-rapid expansion ("inflation") in the very early universe. His purpose is not so much to replace the big bang theory as to refine its description of the universe's first fraction of a second by explaining the "bang" in the big bang.
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