Reviews from Amazon

Introduction to cosmology

Barbara Ryden's 'Introduction to cosmology' fills something of a gap in the market for cosmology textbooks. Whilst most are aimed at postgraduate researchers, with hefty doses of tensor calculus and possibly quantum field theory too, this book is aimed at undergraduates. There's plenty of mathematics, indeed Ryden seems to introduce a new calculation at every opportunity, and I wouldn't recommend the book to anyone who wasn't willing to work through these calculations. But it's mathematics of the sort which shouldn't be too taxing for a physics undergraduate and so the book should find a place in many university physics courses.

The book is slower paced than more advanced works, and doesn't go as deeply into astrophysics. Most of the book concerns what happened in the early universe at or before the time of recombination. The main focus is explaining how the current proportions of dark matter and dark energy in the universe have been arrived at. Hence there are chapters on the cosmological microwave background, nucleosynthesis and element ratios, inflationary cosmology and the formation of structure from early inhomogeneities. If you have heard about these things from popular science books and want to know more mathematical details about how they are used to find the fundamental parameters of the universe, then you should consider working through this book.

Amazon.com info

Hardcover 300 pages
ISBN: 0805389121
Salesrank: 158526
Weight:1.76 lbs

Published: 2002 Benjamin Cummings

Amazon price $58.24

Marketplace:New from $55.28:Used from $42.72

Buy from Amazon.com

Amazon.co.uk info

Hardcover 300 pages
ISBN: 0805389121
Salesrank: 40672
Weight:1.76 lbs

Published: 2002 Addison Wesley

Amazon price £38.99

Marketplace:New from £34.31:Used from £36.61

Buy from Amazon.co.uk

Amazon.ca info

Hardcover 300 pages
ISBN: 0805389121
Salesrank: 106856
Weight:1.76 lbs

Published: 2002 Benjamin Cummings

Amazon price CDN$ 80.05

Marketplace:New from CDN$ 62.52:Used from CDN$ 93.16

Buy from Amazon.ca

Product Description
Introduction to Cosmology provides a rare combination of a solid foundation of the core physical concepts of cosmology and the most recent astronomical observations. The book is designed for advanced undergraduates or beginning graduate students and assumes no prior knowledge of general relativity. An emphasis is placed on developing the readers' physical insight rather than losing them with complex math. An approachable writing style and wealth of fresh and imaginative analogies from "everyday" physics are used to make the concepts of cosmology more accessible. The book is unique in that it not only includes recent major developments in cosmology, like the cosmological constant and accelerating universe, but also anticipates key developments expected in the next few years, such as detailed results on the cosmic microwave background. For anyone interested in cosmology or astronomy.

Product Description

Introduction to Cosmology provides a rare combination of a solid foundation of the core physical concepts of cosmology and the most recent astronomical observations. The book is designed for advanced undergraduates or beginning graduate students and assumes no prior knowledge of general relativity. An emphasis is placed on developing the readers' physical insight rather than losing them with complex math. An approachable writing style and wealth of fresh and imaginative analogies from "everyday" physics are used to make the concepts of cosmology more accessible. The book is unique in that it not only includes recent major developments in cosmology, like the cosmological constant and accelerating universe, but also anticipates key developments expected in the next few years, such as detailed results on the cosmic microwave background. For anyone interested in cosmology or astronomy.

Hard Cover not perfect ****
The book arrived to me in Italy 20-15 days before the standard international shipping's time. I expected a glossy (i think this is the word) hard cover, but it was ruined, like if it was scraped hundreds of times. The book is otherwise perfect.

Hard Cover not perfect ****

The book arrived to me in Italy 20-15 days before the standard international shipping's time. I expected a glossy (i think this is the word) hard cover, but it was ruined, like if it was scraped hundreds of times. The book is otherwise perfect.

Excellent Choice for beginners ****
I highly recommend this book for people wanting to study cosmology and understand its vocabulary at an introductory level. You won't get the indepth treatment you would get from a book like Cosmology by peebles... you'll understand cosmology at the surface level, and very broadly as well. I'd say the ideal audiencce for this book are undergraduate sophmores and juniors.

Excellent Choice for beginners ****

I highly recommend this book for people wanting to study cosmology and understand its vocabulary at an introductory level. You won't get the indepth treatment you would get from a book like Cosmology by peebles... you'll understand cosmology at the surface level, and very broadly as well. I'd say the ideal audiencce for this book are undergraduate sophmores and juniors.

Ease your way into cosmology *****
As an undergraduate studying particle physics, I have found Ryden to be an excellent first-book in cosmology for self-study. The text requires no previous knowledge of general relativity (though this certainly helps, perhaps at the level of Carroll's text) or astrophysics, which is refreshing for those who would rather not wade through the astrophysics part of an astrophysics-cosmology course. Ryden's explanations are clear and carefully thought out, and she really makes an effort to hold one's hand through many topics. The book is straightforward and well-organized enough for more advanced students to skim quickly through chapters they are familiar with while also being able to slow down at certain points for a careful derivation here and there. Overall, the topics are somewhat rudimentary (this text is definitely geared towards undergraduates)--i.e. don't expect to be calculating dark matter relic densities or studying cosmic strings--but combined with her suggested references for further reading and the text's ground-up style, this is a fantastic book at this level that provides a solid foundation for students who wish to move on to more advanced texts such as Kolb and Turner or Dodelson. Addison Wesley should also be commended for their excellent typesetting (continuing a string of very well typeset books including Carroll's Spacetime Geometry and Goldstein's Classical Mechanics, 3rd. ed). Formulae are clear and easy to read, sections are well divided, and there is a wonderfully large margin for readers to write notes in. The only lament I can agree with on this book is that it does not contain WMAP data, which would be a delight for a modern cosmology book.

Ease your way into cosmology *****

As an undergraduate studying particle physics, I have found Ryden to be an excellent first-book in cosmology for self-study. The text requires no previous knowledge of general relativity (though this certainly helps, perhaps at the level of Carroll's text) or astrophysics, which is refreshing for those who would rather not wade through the astrophysics part of an astrophysics-cosmology course.

Ryden's explanations are clear and carefully thought out, and she really makes an effort to hold one's hand through many topics. The book is straightforward and well-organized enough for more advanced students to skim quickly through chapters they are familiar with while also being able to slow down at certain points for a careful derivation here and there.

Overall, the topics are somewhat rudimentary (this text is definitely geared towards undergraduates)--i.e. don't expect to be calculating dark matter relic densities or studying cosmic strings--but combined with her suggested references for further reading and the text's ground-up style, this is a fantastic book at this level that provides a solid foundation for students who wish to move on to more advanced texts such as Kolb and Turner or Dodelson.

Addison Wesley should also be commended for their excellent typesetting (continuing a string of very well typeset books including Carroll's Spacetime Geometry and Goldstein's Classical Mechanics, 3rd. ed). Formulae are clear and easy to read, sections are well divided, and there is a wonderfully large margin for readers to write notes in.

The only lament I can agree with on this book is that it does not contain WMAP data, which would be a delight for a modern cosmology book.

Very well written *****
It seems lately people have been writing very good textbooks, for example "Gravity: from the ground up", "String theory: First Course" and "Spacetime and Geometry" etc, and this is among the best. As has been mentioned, there are no tensors in this book. General relativity is introduced with equivalence principle and the metric and by investigating different kind of curvatures and corresponding metrics. Clarity is outstanding in almost every chapter. After introducing the Friedmann, fluid and acceleration equations etc, the chapters include single-component universes, multiple-component universes, measuring cosmological parameters. dark matter, cosmic microwave background, nucleosynthesis and the early universe, inflation and the very early universe + formation of structure. I think one of the positives of this book is that the chapters are quite short and the whole book itself is quite short at 250 pages. I think this is a good thing because its much easier to stay focused/motivated when you know it wont take 10 years to reach the end. And as has been mentioned, the writing style is very understandable and not too terse. I think this book is a perfect example on how to write physics tetxbooks.

Very well written *****

It seems lately people have been writing very good textbooks, for example "Gravity: from the ground up", "String theory: First Course" and "Spacetime and Geometry" etc, and this is among the best. As has been mentioned, there are no tensors in this book. General relativity is introduced with equivalence principle and the metric and by investigating different kind of curvatures and corresponding metrics. Clarity is outstanding in almost every chapter.

After introducing the Friedmann, fluid and acceleration equations etc, the chapters include single-component universes, multiple-component universes, measuring cosmological parameters. dark matter, cosmic microwave background, nucleosynthesis and the early universe, inflation and the very early universe + formation of structure. I think one of the positives of this book is that the chapters are quite short and the whole book itself is quite short at 250 pages. I think this is a good thing because its much easier to stay focused/motivated when you know it wont take 10 years to reach the end. And as has been mentioned, the writing style is very understandable and not too terse. I think this book is a perfect example on how to write physics tetxbooks.

Clear and useful *****
This book is an excellent introduction to all facets of cosmology for anyone from advanced undergraduates on. It includes a slow immersion in the key physical concepts of current cosmology theory, and broadly covers all relevent topics, as listed in the chapter headings. However, the greatest strength of this book is in the decision to forgo detailed General Relativity derivations. Instead of pages of numbing treatment of tensor math and metrics, Ryden summarizes the results of GR that are relevant to current cosmology, presenting the Friedmann equation and the Robertson-Walker metric. While this approach might infuriate purists, it allows the student to understand cosmology from a conceptual standpoint, while providing the mathematical tools necessary for analysis, and is a sufficient general introduction for any physics or astronomy student. It also provides a strong base of knowledge for those who do wish to proceed further into the details of GR. Furthermore, the conversational style of the text makes it much easier to read than any other physics textbook I have encountered. I would recommend any student (or professional) who slogged through their cosmology studies with no sense of the overall state of the field to use this book for both brushing up on the basics and as a quick reference.

Clear and useful *****

This book is an excellent introduction to all facets of cosmology for anyone from advanced undergraduates on. It includes a slow immersion in the key physical concepts of current cosmology theory, and broadly covers all relevent topics, as listed in the chapter headings. However, the greatest strength of this book is in the decision to forgo detailed General Relativity derivations. Instead of pages of numbing treatment of tensor math and metrics, Ryden summarizes the results of GR that are relevant to current cosmology, presenting the Friedmann equation and the Robertson-Walker metric. While this approach might infuriate purists, it allows the student to understand cosmology from a conceptual standpoint, while providing the mathematical tools necessary for analysis, and is a sufficient general introduction for any physics or astronomy student. It also provides a strong base of knowledge for those who do wish to proceed further into the details of GR. Furthermore, the conversational style of the text makes it much easier to read than any other physics textbook I have encountered. I would recommend any student (or professional) who slogged through their cosmology studies with no sense of the overall state of the field to use this book for both brushing up on the basics and as a quick reference.