The First Three Minutes

A Modern View of the Origin of the Universe

By: Steven Weinberg

Narrated by: Raymond Todd

A Nobel Prize-winning physicist explains what happened at the very beginning of the universe, and how we know, in this popular science classic.

Our universe has been growing for nearly 14 billion years. But almost everything about it, from the elements that forged stars, planets, and lifeforms, to the fundamental forces of physics, can be traced back to what happened in just the first three minutes of its existence.

In this book, Nobel Laureate Steven Weinberg describes in wonderful detail what happened in these first three minutes. It is an exhilarating journey that begins with the Planck Epoch—the earliest period of time in the history of the universe—and goes through Einstein's Theory of Relativity, the Hubble Red Shift, and the detection of the Cosmic Microwave Background. These incredible discoveries all form the foundation for what we now understand as the "standard model" of the origin of the universe. The First Three Minutes examines not only what this model looks like, but also tells the exciting story of the bold thinkers who put it together.

Clearly and accessibly written, The First Three Minutes is a modern-day classic, an unsurpassed explanation of where it is that everything really comes from.

©1977, 1988 Steven Weinberg (P)2022 Basic Books

Critic reviews

"The book is the first I have seen to put the details, both historical and conceptual, of the origin of the Universe within the grasp of the general reader... As such, it is a tremendous service to us all."—Isaac Asimov

"His book is science writing at its best."—Martin Gardner, New York Review of Books

"Weinberg builds such a convincing case...that one comes away from his book feeling not only that the idea of an original cosmic explosion is not crazy but that any other theory appears scientifically irrational."—Jeremy Bernstein, New Yorker

Lucid, understandable cosmology, but lax editing

The explanation of the Standard Model and the way it was developed from astronomy, spectroscopy, and mathematics is fascinating. However, the audiobook contains a number of passages that are repeated, and one fairly long passage that is there three times in a row
! The main text dates from 1977, with notes from 1993. It’s too bad there isn’t an update that takes into account the cancellation of the Superconducting Supercollider and the new findings from the Large Hadron Collider and the Hubble and James Webb orbiting telescopes.

Interesting

I enjoyed listening to this audiobook. I found it most interesting. Thank you for producing.

Good information... for 30 years ago

There's a number of problematic things in this book. For example the writer saying that Neutrinos have no mass and giving the wrong amount of time from the big bang to the last scattering surface. Another is saying that the universe could only be open or closed, not including the more likely possibility of it being flat. These are all explainable in that the information in this book is 30 years out of date. At one point the author even comments on the formation of the committee that lead to the launch of the WMAP probe, that first mapped the entirety of the CMB.

There's also a number of technical glitches. Most are pretty small, but at one point the narrator re-reads several pages of the text.

Overall, there's better books on this subject. It does act as a good signpost on where our knowledge was.

Interesting listen

I found the juxtaposition of the extreme scale differences to be interesting. The extremely large expanses of space and the extremely small particles. The strong and weak forces, etc.
As someone with an engineering background the math wasn’t difficult or rigorous, but it might be a bit much if you find any math off putting it might not be for you. Since this text is from the time I started college and I am now retired it has spiked my interest sufficiently to look for an update with learnings from the Hubble and James Webb space telescopes and the LHC.

3.5 Rounding up to 4

This was somewhat understandable for the complete novice that I am. Did I understand everything? Absolutely. NOT. Did I understand some of it? YES. I am glad that I saw this one and decided to listen to it. I especially enjoyed the parts where I could reference back in my memory with The Big Bang Theory series.

All things are born in the stars

Besides being very accurate,the narration of the book was excellent. A background in science would improve the immediate understanding of the work.

Interesting, but very tech/math heavy.

An enlightening story on the beginning of the universe. A strong background in science and math is necessary to grasp many of the principles described. I enjoyed this class on Cosmology!

Old but interesting

First of all, this is an old book, written at a time when we knew much less about the cosmos and physics. But still it is a very good base for our current knowledge of the universe and our most accepted models. (Even though it looks like some of them might currently be reaching their end.) This is also one of the cool cases where an author of supreme intellect explains his area of expertise in a clear and accessible way.

Worst edited audible ever!

Horrible proofing by someone, destroys and overrides any positive to this audible. Passages and sections are repeated numerous times throughout.

Good tale but some problems

Many times the recording repeats what was just said. Very frustrating. His desire to get away from scientific notation might work on the page but the second time you hear “0 point 0 0 0 0 0 0 026”you want hit someone. Then he throws in parsecs in the end, a unit only used in cosmology. Also, he seems to lose nerve and then we get million million million followed by the scientific notation. Did they edit this book?