Written in simple and accessible language, this non-technical introduction to cosmology, or the creation and development of the universe, explains the discipline, covers its history, details the latest developments, and explains what is known, what is believed, and what is purely speculative. In addition, the author discusses the development of the Big Bang theory, and more speculative modern issues like quantum cosmology, superstrings, and dark matter.

Peter Coles is Professor of Astrophysics at the University of Nottingham and author of Einstein and the Birth of Big Science and Stephen Hawking and the Mind of God. He has co-written two textbooks on cosmology, and over a hundred technical articles on various aspects of the Big Bang theory.