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Cosmological Physics

This book is aimed at advanced undergraduates and new PhD students. It introduces the reader to advanced topics whilst maintaining the structure of a textbook which can be worked through be the student. Similar level textbooks can become a bit abstract, which means that they get harder to follow as you get into them, particular for a reader outside the usual academic environment. Here this problem is avoided by the use of examples from astrophysics to provide material for actual calculations, which help the reader to get to grips with the subject. The book starts with a rapid introduction to tensors, which might be a bit intimidating, but you don't really need to remember the symbolism to proceed with the book.

The book is nearly 700 pages in length and so covers a wide area of cosmology and physics. There is a section of the book devoted to quantum field theory, and you might find this a good place to learn the subject as there are plenty of examples of how QFT is used in practice. In particular those wishing to find out about Hawking radiation and similar phenomena will find this book useful. The author provides plenty of discussion of alternative ideas in cosmology, which will be of great benefit for anyone wanting to know why the 'standard' cosmological model is favoured over other possibilities.

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Paperback 702 pages
ISBN: 0521422701
Salesrank: 539840
Weight:2.85 lbs

Published: 1998 Cambridge University Press

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Amazon.co.uk info

Paperback 702 pages
ISBN: 0521422701
Salesrank: 352281
Weight:2.85 lbs

Published: 1998 Cambridge University Press

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Paperback 702 pages
ISBN: 0521422701
Salesrank: 206283
Weight:2.85 lbs

Published: 1998 Cambridge University Press

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Product Description
This textbook provides advanced undergraduate and graduate students with a complete introduction to modern cosmology. It successfully bridges the gap between undergraduate and advanced graduate texts by discussing topics of current research, starting from first principles. Throughout this authoritative volume, emphasis is given to the simplest, most intuitive explanation for key equations used by researchers. The first third of the book carefully develops the necessary background in general relativity and quantum fields. The rest of the book then provides self-contained accounts of all the key topics in contemporary cosmology, including inflation, topological defects, gravitational lensing, galaxy formation, large-scale structure and the distance scale. To aid understanding, the book is well illustrated with helpful figures and includes outline solutions to more than ninety problems. All necessary astronomical jargon is clearly explained, ensuring the book is self-contained for any student with undergraduate physics.

Product Description

This textbook provides advanced undergraduate and graduate students with a complete introduction to modern cosmology. It successfully bridges the gap between undergraduate and advanced graduate texts by discussing topics of current research, starting from first principles. Throughout this authoritative volume, emphasis is given to the simplest, most intuitive explanation for key equations used by researchers. The first third of the book carefully develops the necessary background in general relativity and quantum fields. The rest of the book then provides self-contained accounts of all the key topics in contemporary cosmology, including inflation, topological defects, gravitational lensing, galaxy formation, large-scale structure and the distance scale. To aid understanding, the book is well illustrated with helpful figures and includes outline solutions to more than ninety problems. All necessary astronomical jargon is clearly explained, ensuring the book is self-contained for any student with undergraduate physics.

Highly disappointing *
Cosmological Physics by J.A. Peacock is little more than an arrogant exhibition of author's mastery of the subject at the expense of his unsuspecting reader. speaking in a language that is way over the head of his intended audience, Peacock makes no efforts at providing the mathematical derivation for the many obscure formulas which appear to have been pulled from the thin air, thereby leaving the reader with a "take it or leave it" option. While this approach may help conceal author's own understanding of the underlying mathematics, it does little to convince even the least skeptic of minds of the scientific merits of much of what he has to say. Peacock's book is in the worst tradition of college books largely responsible for the dislike of science in general,and mathematics in particular by generations of otherwise inquiring minds. While this book may be of some value at a Cosmological symposium, primarily as a means of impressing one's colleagues with half-baked pronouncements, it is of no value either as a teaching tool or as a comprehensible source of learning.

Highly disappointing *

Cosmological Physics by J.A. Peacock is little more than an arrogant exhibition of author's mastery of the subject at the expense of his unsuspecting reader. speaking in a language that is way over the head of his intended audience, Peacock makes no efforts at providing the mathematical derivation for the many obscure formulas which appear to have been pulled from the thin air, thereby leaving the reader with a "take it or leave it" option. While this approach may help conceal author's own understanding of the underlying mathematics, it does little to convince even the least skeptic of minds of the scientific merits of much of what he has to say. Peacock's book is in the worst tradition of college books largely responsible for the dislike of science in general,and mathematics in particular by generations of otherwise inquiring minds. While this book may be of some value at a Cosmological symposium, primarily as a means of impressing one's colleagues with half-baked pronouncements, it is of no value either as a teaching tool or as a comprehensible source of learning.

NOT recommended because...... *
Well first of all, I want my money back...(and I paid for a used one!) I can NOT imagine where the HECK he got the pricing for this book because I have read $10-$20 physics/cosmology books that were better than this! Basically... This is the first J.A.Peacock book I've read (as well as the last), but if I had to guess, I'd definitely guess that this is NOT his usual subject matter because for the most part it seemed like he had NO idea what was going on! Here's the problem; At first glance, the book seems great! It covers a wide array of topics in one book and also seems to be nicely updated. But then once you start reading it word by word, you quickly notice that what this guy basically did was say "Hey, I'm gonna go write a book about astrophysics because I think it's neat!" And so he went and did a BUNCH of research reading in these various subjects, regergitated the same information back out so that he could put it all together into one big book, then without having anyone that is advanced in the subject proof-read it, printed it and slapped a huge price on it thinking that there's no way people will think a book can suck if it's that expensive... Now, for those of you who are saying "Hey, what's wrong with that? That's very common and a lot of good, well-rounded books have emerged that way!" I completely agree because sometimes you want to learn a wide range of information under one subject and instead of reading 20 'specialized' books, it's nice when someone puts them all together so that you only have to read one and then branch off into specialized areas later if you want to... BUT THERE'S JUST ONE PROBLEM WITH THAT! He literally forgot to do the most important thing when writing a book on a subject you know nothing about by smashing a bunch of other books together; He forgot that you're supposed to carefully read through everything AFTER you smash it all together so that you can either take out or explain all the contradictions and things that don't match up! (because when you put multiple sources together, that's something that's pretty much guaranteed to happen!) Then, obviously, have someone who IS very knowledgable in the field proof read it to ensure that it all makes sense before you publish it... I found this book confusing (but not because it was "too advanced" for me..) and very flawed (like I said, it seemed like someone clipped a bunch of passages out of a bunch of books, arranged them by subject, then put them all together without rereading it afterwards). I do not recommend it and suggest you use the money to buy two cheaper books with better authors (who have written about cosmology before!).

NOT recommended because...... *

Well first of all, I want my money back...(and I paid for a used one!)
I can NOT imagine where the HECK he got the pricing for this book because I have read $10-$20 physics/cosmology books that were better than this!

Basically...
This is the first J.A.Peacock book I've read (as well as the last), but if I had to guess, I'd definitely guess that this is NOT his usual subject matter because for the most part it seemed like he had NO idea what was going on!

Here's the problem;
At first glance, the book seems great! It covers a wide array of topics in one book and also seems to be nicely updated. But then once you start reading it word by word, you quickly notice that what this guy basically did was say "Hey, I'm gonna go write a book about astrophysics because I think it's neat!" And so he went and did a BUNCH of research reading in these various subjects, regergitated the same information back out so that he could put it all together into one big book, then without having anyone that is advanced in the subject proof-read it, printed it and slapped a huge price on it thinking that there's no way people will think a book can suck if it's that expensive...
Now, for those of you who are saying "Hey, what's wrong with that? That's very common and a lot of good, well-rounded books have emerged that way!" I completely agree because sometimes you want to learn a wide range of information under one subject and instead of reading 20 'specialized' books, it's nice when someone puts them all together so that you only have to read one and then branch off into specialized areas later if you want to... BUT THERE'S JUST ONE PROBLEM WITH THAT! He literally forgot to do the most important thing when writing a book on a subject you know nothing about by smashing a bunch of other books together;
He forgot that you're supposed to carefully read through everything AFTER you smash it all together so that you can either take out or explain all the contradictions and things that don't match up! (because when you put multiple sources together, that's something that's pretty much guaranteed to happen!) Then, obviously, have someone who IS very knowledgable in the field proof read it to ensure that it all makes sense before you publish it...

I found this book confusing (but not because it was "too advanced" for me..) and very flawed (like I said, it seemed like someone clipped a bunch of passages out of a bunch of books, arranged them by subject, then put them all together without rereading it afterwards).
I do not recommend it and suggest you use the money to buy two cheaper books with better authors (who have written about cosmology before!).

Wearysome notation **
I bought this text because it seemed to cover all the topics in which I was interested. Alas, the coverage is far from uniform and the notation is constantly changing. No point in requesting clarification directly from Peacock. In reply to, "some symbols are used before they are defined," you'll be told that "the meanings of the symbols are well known to any physics undergraduate." Complain that one of those well-known symbols seems to have an entirely different meaning in some other section of the text, and you'll be told to look at such and such an equation for the new definition. Mathematicians who have their own set of standard symbols, such as ^ for the outer product will find themselves completely baffled. Text lacks all mention of loop quantum gravity.

Wearysome notation **

I bought this text because it seemed to cover all the topics in which I was interested. Alas, the coverage is far from uniform and the notation is constantly changing. No point in requesting clarification directly from Peacock. In reply to, "some symbols are used before they are defined," you'll be told that "the meanings of the symbols are well known to any physics undergraduate." Complain that one of those well-known symbols seems to have an entirely different meaning in some other section of the text, and you'll be told to look at such and such an equation for the new definition. Mathematicians who have their own set of standard symbols, such as ^ for the outer product will find themselves completely baffled.
Text lacks all mention of loop quantum gravity.

Borrow it first . ***
I got this book on short term inter-library loan hoping to further my knowledge of inflationary cosmology. I don't think that this is a suitable volume from which to begin study of this topic unless you have a supervisor on hand for occasional help.The chapter on inflation for example summarises standard results. I found derivations of these not to be explained fully enough for a first encounter. The derivation of the basic equations of motion for the scalar field cosmologies from the Lagrangian is an example.The slow -roll parameters and their relationship to the Friedmann equations are summarised - (a much fuller discussion of these is given in Scott Watson's e -book - see below).This sometimes terse approach can make the book heavy going for people like me working on their own for 'fun'.I did enjoy the chapter though as I had already studied a lot of the material using John Norbury's e-book 'General Relativity'(pdf and html available -contains quite a few errors but inflation is very clearly explained),Scott Watson's (pdf/html)'Exposition on inflationary cosmology'and numerous preprints from the e-archives. With mastery of this material under my belt I therefore found Peacock's material on this topic readable and enjoyable although I did not learn anything new from it. The problems (and solution hints) were good.I enjoyed the chapters on the rudiments of GR (being already very familiar with this albeit from long ago)but again the treatment is brief and constitutes a review rather than a place to start learning GR from. Dipping into the chapters of material new to me, I could see little hope of personal progress here using this book as a starting point.I realise however that the book covers a huge amount of varied material much of which has been developed in the last twenty years and the book needs to be kept to a sensible size.My perspective is that of someone dabbling independently in their sparetime twenty years after leaving university. I daresay a beginning PhD student might view it in a different light.

Borrow it first . ***

I got this book on short term inter-library loan hoping to further my knowledge of inflationary cosmology. I don't think that this is a suitable volume from which to begin study of this topic unless you have a supervisor on hand for occasional help.The chapter on inflation for example summarises standard results. I found derivations of these not to be explained fully enough for a first encounter. The derivation of the basic equations of motion for the scalar field cosmologies from the Lagrangian is an example.The slow -roll parameters and their relationship to the Friedmann equations are summarised - (a much fuller discussion of these is given in Scott Watson's e -book - see below).This sometimes terse approach can make the book heavy going for people like me working on their own for 'fun'.I did enjoy the chapter though as I had already studied a lot of the material using John Norbury's e-book 'General Relativity'(pdf and html available -contains quite a few errors but inflation is very clearly explained),Scott Watson's (pdf/html)'Exposition on inflationary cosmology'and numerous preprints from the e-archives. With mastery of this material under my belt I therefore found Peacock's material on this topic readable and enjoyable although I did not learn anything new from it. The problems (and solution hints) were good.I enjoyed the chapters on the rudiments of GR (being already very familiar with this albeit from long ago)but again the treatment is brief and constitutes a review rather than a place to start learning GR from.
Dipping into the chapters of material new to me, I could see little hope of personal progress here using this book as a starting point.I realise however that the book covers a huge amount of varied material much of which has been developed in the last twenty years and the book needs to be kept to a sensible size.My perspective is that of someone dabbling independently in their sparetime twenty years after leaving university. I daresay a beginning PhD student might view it in a different light.

Cosmology resources *****
Great book. Unlike many other cosmology books it is very up to date. Should be used with another book, such as Rowan-Robinson or Kolb and Turner for class atmosphere. It is a little lacking in examples, while the presentation is very good. This book is for the undergraduate senior or the graduate student.

Cosmology resources *****

Great book. Unlike many other cosmology books it is very up to date. Should be used with another book, such as Rowan-Robinson or Kolb and Turner for class atmosphere. It is a little lacking in examples, while the presentation is very good. This book is for the undergraduate senior or the graduate student.

Great work ****
An amazing compilation of theoretical and observational knowledge for advanced study in cosmology. Although it is possible for undergraduate students to understand, chapters about relativistic quantum mechanics, fields and topological defects are de facto for graduate students, even advanced in the topic, for the text very often lacks in deriving the equations. Also, a completed course of general relativity would be of great help. Anyway, chapters about the expansion of the universe and galaxies are easier to understand and useful for young researchers.

Great work ****

An amazing compilation of theoretical and observational knowledge for advanced study in cosmology. Although it is possible for undergraduate students to understand, chapters about relativistic quantum mechanics, fields and topological defects are de facto for graduate students, even advanced in the topic, for the text very often lacks in deriving the equations. Also, a completed course of general relativity would be of great help. Anyway, chapters about the expansion of the universe and galaxies are easier to understand and useful for young researchers.

An excellent book that comletely fulfills it's purpose *****
I recommend this book to whoever wants to understand how nature works in the outerspace. The author explains the reader step-by-step the latest observations and theories about space and reveals him the secrets of the universe starting from basic physics - relativity and quantum mechanics - and provides him with the necessary background for further research in astrophysics. Also supports the reader who does not want further research with an almost complete knowledge of it's subject. Of course a good knowledge of advanced mathematics is necessary for the study of the book. I believe that is one of the most well - written books on this subject.

An excellent book that comletely fulfills it's purpose *****

I recommend this book to whoever wants to understand how nature works in the outerspace. The author explains the reader step-by-step the latest observations and theories about space and reveals him the secrets of the universe starting from basic physics - relativity and quantum mechanics - and provides him with the necessary background for further research in astrophysics. Also supports the reader who does not want further research with an almost complete knowledge of it's subject. Of course a good knowledge of advanced mathematics is necessary for the study of the book. I believe that is one of the most well - written books on this subject.

Excellent book. *****
Very lucid and up-to-date description of cosmology and relativity, with the right balance of qualitative discussion, presentation of the important observations, and mathematical formalism.

Excellent book. *****

Very lucid and up-to-date description of cosmology and relativity, with the right balance of qualitative discussion, presentation of the important observations, and mathematical formalism.

Possibly the worst book that I own *
This book is possibly the worst book that I own. I found it totally incomprehensible. The other reviewer must have only flipped through the book and not attempted to read it. I admit that the book looks good when flipping through it, but don't be decieved. This book was used in a cosmology class that I took, but was abandoned after 1 week because it was so bad. Try to find another book!

Possibly the worst book that I own *

This book is possibly the worst book that I own. I found it totally incomprehensible. The other reviewer must have only flipped through the book and not attempted to read it. I admit that the book looks good when flipping through it, but don't be decieved.

This book was used in a cosmology class that I took, but was abandoned after 1 week because it was so bad.

Try to find another book!

This is the best book on the subject *****
This is a very comprehensive book, clearly written, and very up-to-date, which is very important in this fast moving field. As a researcher, I find it a very useful reference work.

This is the best book on the subject *****

This is a very comprehensive book, clearly written, and very up-to-date, which is very important in this fast moving field. As a researcher, I find it a very useful reference work.

John Peacock

Cosmological Physics