Listening to the Big Bang

From renowned physicist and New York Times best-selling author Brian Greene comes the remarkable human quest to grasp how the universe came to be.

A Russian dissident, a Jesuit priest, and an American mule skinner are but a few of the bold visionaries who crafted the scientific story of cosmic origins. The collective insights of these and numerous creative thinkers advanced human understanding from mythology to mathematics, yielding falsifiable alternatives to ancient folklore and campfire tales.

Listening to the Big Bang tells the dramatic human story—filled with colorful characters, unsung catalysts, and glorified heroes—which made the Big Bang the leading cosmological theory.

But deep questions remain. Was the big bang a one-time event or might there be series of bangs? What sparked the big bang? Why is there anything at all? Decades of astronomical evidence notwithstanding, only by listening for the sounds of creation will scientists be equipped to extol, or extend, or expel our most refined story for how the universe began.

With deep insight, a light touch, and an artful sense of narrative, Brian Greene takes us all to the very edge of understanding.