Big Bang: The Origin of the Universe by Simon Singh

Review by Patricia de Hemricourt

An indispensable read for anyone who wants to write about science related topics!

Simon Singh achieves the incredible feat of taking the readers from the Greek philosophers all the way to the String Theory and Quantum physics with the skills of a gifted thriller writer.

As if turning an apparently boring topic such as history of science into a page turner was not enough, Singh manages to bring to the reader in depth understanding of seemingly arcane topics usually reserved to the elite few working in research labs in universities.

 Singh brings to life the inner politics of the scientific communities and brings many a smile on the face of the reader with humorous descriptions of the petty concerns of scientifically brilliant minds and the very real effect these concerns have on the development of theories and the vagrancies they create.

Under his pen, the battles between science and religion come to life, the quirks of the scientific community give birth to numerous anecdotes that he weaves with  complicated concepts in such a way that we learn all what our teachers failed to get us interested in. He makes us laugh and keeps us frenetically turning to the next page while expanding our knowledge of the fundamentals of modern science and how they were uncovered.

Big Bang is a must read for anyone who wants to understand the world we live in and is the best gift one can give to a teenager reluctant to get to his science classes.

It only gets 5 stars because that is the accepted rating system, but it deserves as many stars as those populating the galaxies it describes among other marvels.