This is the story of the cosmic background radiation - the 'afterglow' of the Big Bang in which the Universe was born - and how it was discovered. Chown brilliantly weaves a tale of the search for the origins of the Universe, beginning in the 1920s and culminating with the flight of the COBE satellite and its crucial discovery.

These are just some newspaper/magazine reviews of my book
"A very good piece of storytelling... Chown writes as if he were addressing his fellow human beings." New Scientist

"An excellent introduction to the most recent developments in cosmology... he carefully explains intricacies in which other writers would have been bogged down." The Observer

"Chown superbly captures the spirit of scientific endeavour... The story is told with panache and the science is so well explained it makes and effortless read. Afterglow of Creation is upbeat, witty and informed." The Sunday Times

"It's a long time since this reviewer has read a popular science book that so accurately communicates the science involved while maintaining the reader's interest through the beauty of the written word... Afterglow excels at portraying science as a human endeavour where personalities, ideas, egos, politics and money all mix in the endeavour we know as astronomy... This book should be in every middle school, high school and public library and on the shelves of anyone interested in either astronomy or the nature of science. It is a wonderful story, brilliantly told." The Science Teacher (US)

"Beautiful science, beautifully told." The Australian

"The secret of the universe in 170 pages!" Focus

2007-10-18 a great read

as usual, chown tells a brilliant story.

this book starts with the realisation that the milky way is just one galaxy amongst billions of others and goes on to explain the significance of that knowledge with reference to the more recently proposed big bang theory.

it's a fascinating tale. chown relates the serendipitous discoveries that astronomers and cosmologists have continued to find. these are men and women of gigantic intellect and genius. in short, you will probably find it as fascinating a read as i did.

on the other hand, it IS a shorter book than chown's other works. but that's not necessarily a criticism.