At the Edge of Time: Exploring the Mysteries of Our Universe’s First Seconds

by Dan Hooper

A new look at the first few seconds after the Big Bang--and how research into these moments continues to revolutionize our understanding of our universe

Scientists in the past few decades have made crucial discoveries about how our cosmos evolved over the past 13.8 billion years. But there remains a critical gap in our knowledge: we still know very little about what happened in the first seconds after the Big Bang. At the Edge of Time focuses on what we have recently learned and are still striving to understand about this most essential and mysterious period of time at the beginning of cosmic history.

Delving into the remarkable science of cosmology, Dan Hooper describes many of the extraordinary and perplexing questions that scientists are asking about the origin and nature of our world. Hooper examines how we are using the Large Hadron Collider and other experiments to re-create the conditions of the Big Bang and test promising theories for how and why our universe came to contain so much matter and so little antimatter. We may be poised to finally discover how dark matter was formed during our universe's first moments, and, with new telescopes, we are also lifting the veil on the era of cosmic inflation, which led to the creation of our world as we know it.

Wrestling with the mysteries surrounding the initial moments that followed the Big Bang, At the Edge of Time presents an accessible investigation of our universe and its origin.

Genres: Science, Physics, Nonfiction, History, Astronomy, Space, Nature

248 pages, Hardcover

First published November 5, 2019

About the author

Daniel Wayne Hooper is an American cosmologist and particle physicist specializing in the areas of dark matter, cosmic rays, and neutrino astrophysics.

He is a Senior Scientist at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory and an Associate Professor of Astronomy and Astrophysics at the University of Chicago.

Hooper received his PhD in physics in 2003 from the University of Wisconsin, under the supervision of Francis Halzen. He was a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Oxford between 2003 and 2005, and the David Schramm Fellow at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Fermilab) from 2005 until 2007.

Reviews

[Mansoor · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you're gonna read just one book about cosmology, make it this one.

[Dan Graser · Rating 5 out of 5]

There have been a good number of physics books for the layperson written recently, some by celebrity scientists and others by more obscure but no less relevant figures in the field, this is a sterling example of the latter. Dan Hooper, head of the Theoretical Astrophysics Group at FermiLab and professor at the University of Chicago has presented a wonderful and lucid examination of the development of our knowledge of the cosmos since the revolution of 1905 precipitated by Einstein.

One of many great features of this book is that it doesn't engage in needless amounts of historical recycling of names and dates that every other book does, and I mean that quite literally, so many of them just reuse the same bits of historical information to really no benefit to their overarching telos. Hooper is quite focused on relating current notions of space and time back to the very earliest moments after the Big Bang and does so with great wonder, explanatory power, and a never-ending barraged of unanswered questions.

The reader will come away from this book with a very clear picture as to how the fundamental particles of the Standard Model came to be, what early conditions in the universe allowed this to take place, the pathway towards understanding the utterly baffling acceleration of cosmic expansion, why it is we don't understand so much about dark matter/energy, as well as a brilliant précis on gravitational-wave astronomy, which is, for me at least, the most exciting new branch of physics today. His own study of gamma rays as an indicator for understanding of dark matter and energy was particularly interesting and will likely inspire future reading in this area.

This is a bizarre time in that the sheer depth of accomplishment in the field of physics in the last century is astonishing. It's difficult to believe how Newtonian our understanding was until the very beginning of the 20th century. As such, Hooper suggests that at some point there will be another such revolution, where it is shown that not only are we asking some of the wrong questions, but the answers to the questions we are currently asking involve concepts utterly unreachable by previous generations. Whether or not this will come true is difficult to predict, however the sheer amount of work being done to fill in the knowledge gaps left in this field is well-documented here and I encourage everyone to give it a go.

[Gendou · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was kind of forgettable to me, but that's mostly because I've read so many books in this area. That's probably a good sign for you if you want an accurate if dry, information-dense read.

[Cindy · Rating 5 out of 5]

My gods, Dan Hooper already broadcasted the answers to the universe, but they got lost somewhere between the cat memes and ten second recipe videos! Okay, maybe not THE answers, but SOME answers. He told us how it’s possible for matter to exist at all. He explained what neutron stars are, and why he hates them. He described the process of inflation, which is not just the thing that makes gas prices high. He talked at length about dark energy and dark matter. He is a dark matter researcher, which means he doesn’t know more about dark matter than you don’t know, just by virtue of studying the subject for long enough to be able to posit more questions. He painted a picture of what dark matter research looks like, and it’s surprisingly not, as he mentioned, just him sitting in his office twiddling his thumbs. If you’re curious about all of the physics buzzwords including: gravitational waves, the multiverse, the large hadron collider, the Higgs Boson, and more, you should read the book. This was a fantastic, humble exploration of what we know and what we don’t know about the beginning of the Universe.

[Andrés Astudillo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awesome. We need to read more books from Dan Hooper. This one I would recommend to people who'd like to learn about everything we've achieved concerning cosmology. Due to the fact that this book is relatively new, written in 2017, tackles issues concerning dark matter, dark energy and quantum gravity. Loved it.

He explains major breakthroughs in science, specially all of those derived from Eistein's equations, so, we get to learn about space-time geometry, DeSitter's equations, and the nature of both QED and QCD, having noticed at last the quantum gravity conundrum nowadays.

This book manages to explain these difficult issues in a general language, letting people understand the nature of the Universe while entertaining us. Awesome book.

[Richard Thompson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very good piece of popular science writing about the physics of the origin of the universe. It is hard for me to find non-mathematical physics books that advance my knowledge because I already know almost as much about physics and cosmology as can be reasonably explained without a better grasp of math than I have managed to retain many years after college. But this book delivered. It helped to reinforce my basic understanding of ideas like inflation, dark matter and supersymmetry, and introduced me to some ideas that were new to me -- Sakharov's three conditions for a universe in which matter can exist without having been completely obliterated by antimatter, the gamma wave flashes from the center of the galaxy that may be evidence of dark matter, and the possibility that scientists may be able to develop a more detailed chronology of the earliest moments of the universe by studying the redshifts of photons with 21cm wavelength. It's interesting stuff and presented in a way that anyone who wants to know more about the origin of the universe can understand. I would strongly recommend this book for people with a bit of background in the subject who want to advance their knowledge but aren't ready for the math.

[Livresque · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's informative and profound in it's exploration of modern cosmological theories. Best thing about this book is it doesn't start from the same old fundamental physics theories and introductions. It goes straight to the point . It's very humbling to know where we came from and why the Universe seems the way it is. I have known a lot about CERN's experimental playground from this book.I don't know why more people are not reading this book. It's far better than many pop science book out there.

[Jack Ryan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Damn good book. Easily comprehensible.

[Makayla MacGregor · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great overview of super deep, philosophical concepts related to cosmology. There were a lot of really helpful analogies that made these topics slightly more digestible, which I really appreciated. It's also very cool because I'm taking a class with Dr. Hooper right now, so the lectures build really well of of these concepts that he introduces in At the Edge of Time - he's both a fantastic lecturer and writer.

[Cole · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a thrilling, fast paced read, at once approachable and dense enough to really sink my teeth into. To take a concept like the early history of our universe and render it into compelling prose with this level of clarity is nothing short of a triumph. Some of this material really knocked my head back in the best possible way.

My only nag is that the later chapters give quite a bit of space to the topics of string theory and the anthropic principle, and while the author does note that these are unproven theories, there’s no room given to competing ideas (loop quantum gravity is mentioned once but never elaborated upon). And while the multiverse can be a thrilling idea, having just finished Sean Carroll’s ‘Something Deeply Hidden’, I have to say I’ve read enough about this topic for quite some time.

With that bit of griping out of the way, I have to highly recommend At the Edge of Time. After Carlo Rovelli’s trilogy, this is one of the most approachable yet exhilarating physics books I’ve read recently. When it gets into speculation, the book seems to lose its momentum — but for the remaining 80% or so, it’s a fantastic ride.

[Audioreader · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read quite a bit of popular-level physics and cosmology when I was younger, so perhaps I wasn't that excited about this book because I didn't learn many new things. So my feeling may be biased. But it's been at least 15 years since I actively read about cosmology so I had hoped that more developments had happened in the meantime that the author could discuss.

The book strikes a good balance between not being overly complicated, yet not spending too much time on basic concepts. Therefore, it's probably not the best book to read for someone who has never read popular-level physics, but even a basic familiarity with a bit of physics (especially particle physics) will help. It's also not going to be of any interest to someone with a knowledge of cosmology as they will probably know everything in the book. In this sense, it strikes a good middle ground.

[Lukas Wierer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Scientists are really smart. I've read/listened to a number of books on the topic and this is my favorite thus far. I suspect that each new book builds out my vocabulary and comfort with some of the big ideas and as a result I am able to understand more each time, so maybe that is why I enjoyed this one the most.

[GABRIELLE · Rating 4 out of 5]

i never knew books could make me so giddy about neutrino astrophysics and particle accelerators and dark matter and the shape of the universe and all that, but alas, here i am. don’t get me wrong, my mind was practically liquidated after the first chapter, but i still loved the book. the endless stream of possibilities and questions and confusion made me feel like a prehistoric ape trying to figure out what the hell i am doing on this cosmic rock thing, but in a fun way. my only qualms were the same repetitive concepts being written 100 different ways and the dull middle section that made me take a week off from reading. this called for an ejection of one of the 5 stars bringing it down to 4/5. sorry hooper! still love you! xoxo

[Michael Grizer (He-Him) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely 5 stars. One of the best written and clearest explanations of cosmology I have ever read. As good as, if not better than, A Brief History of Time. And 30 years newer. The first 3/4s is great science. The last 1/4 is a lot of philosophy about the realm beyond the edge of current science, but still interesting.

[Barb Middleton · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am really dated when it comes to physics. I didn’t realize so much has happened in a few decades. I didn’t even know the subject of cosmology had emerged. Interesting look at how the universe is constantly expanding and its impossible to see the end. That’s an oversimplification so read the book for details. The author predicts that the next phase of studying the universe will require going on the far side of the moon where there’s less noise interference. Or something like that.

[Scott · Rating 5 out of 5]

Enjoyed learning about the origin of the Universe in this book but would have liked a glossary to explain some of the ideas

[❆ Ash ❆ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Top science read of the year so far.

[Trevor Garza · Rating 2 out of 5]

For such a short book, this became a slog to finish. Absolutely thrilling material and speculating about the first fraction of a second of our Universe deserves a great book, but this is not it. Hooper’s writing prose is extremely repetitive. I felt like i was constantly rereading the same sentences. I get that its a cosmology book meant for the layman, but this kind of book has been done much better many times before. The first half was really solid and given how short it is, i cant fully recommend it nor suggest staying away. If you’ve never read a cosmology book before, this would be a non intimidating place to start I suppose

[Michelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

About a 4.5* for me - very readable and comprehensible book on cosmology. I have great ambitions to really comprehend this area of physics, but I tend to start and then not complete many books. This one just carried me along, being pitched at exactly the right level for me, at least for most of the book.

Towards the middle and the end, terms started popping up that I didn't know the definition of, and things started to get a bit hazier. That's part of my quibble with this book - the other is that because we didn't move in a chronological order (probably a good thing from a science communication perspective) - I feel a bit confused about the order in which the various events happened in the early universe. A chronology would've been helpful.

But otherwise, this was excellent. Being published in 2019, it's fairly up-to-date, which is a big plus. I got a few new insights and ideas that I haven't gotten in my other cosmology reading. Dan Hooper is an excellent science communicator - I enjoy his podcast as well. The conclusion, that we may be on the verge of a brand new revolution in physics (because we've reached the limits of what the Standard Model/General Relativity can explain about the universe) is also very exciting, although I'm kinda like...let me understand the current physics first!!!

[Mack · Rating 5 out of 5]

At the Edge of Time by Dan Hooper is an exciting survey of cosmology, today. Hooper covers the near-certainties and speculative with honest and humble appraisal.

[Gulshan B. · Rating 4 out of 5]

While clearly an excellent and erudite book on the subject of cosmology, that painstakingly attempts to present to the layman reader the entire gamut of research that has gone into the decidedly and ironically dense subject of The Big Bang, it ultimately leaves you with a certain lack of conclusion, that it tries to justify by alluding to the numerous unanswered questions in its actual subject matter itself.

While there is no argument that the subject of the origin and birth of our universe is perhaps one of the defining problems in contemporary science, seeing as how it combines quantum physics and relativistic physics while walking the right rope of reconciling theories with observed reality, the author has tried to connect too many dots without getting into the nitty-gritty of the calculations and that leads to repeated references and repeated statements, that clearly could have benefited from a better editing team. Of course, editing a text on cosmology can’t be easy - it is literally beyond rocket science, and to find someone who can proof read and suggest edits to an otherwise excellent subject matter can’t have been easy. I believe the inherent complexity of the subject matter warranted more scrutiny and perspicacity.

The book starts off very well, by explaining its context, and defining its scope and ultimate albeit expected limitations. Mr Hooper writes with a clearly first-hand fluency, based on extensive experiences and years of rigorous research. He leads from one to the other rather well in those first few chapters, and keeps on building on the idea of where the idea of Big Bang came from, why it made sense - and still does, and why is it still considered incomplete, despite being widely accepted as the definitive origin theory. In fact, for the first half of the book, the writing is so good that I was compelled to make notes. Not something I do often.

Somewhere beyond the halfway mark the book begins to get meandering, repetitive and not just ambiguous but nearly vague. While more often than not it does seem obvious that there’s a point being made, on more than a few occasions the point gets lost, or is rather obtuse to say the least. I’m sure there’s nothing factually incorrect or wrong here, it’s just not whet I would expect in a book that starts with the premise and promise this one does.

For instance, the cosmic microwave background is mentioned at many places, and while it’s relevance is nearly impossible to overemphasize, yet the repeated attempts to explain and connect it to other topics doesn’t always make sense and leaves a disjointed impression. Many times the narrative is interrupted by leading questions, which too are repeated and often pull down the momentum of an ongoing discussion. I understand the author is a Professor and his pedagogical approach is perhaps the source of this particular approach to writing. Such questions don’t look as good on paper as they might seem in a classroom with students, where they are a reliable precursor to more discussion and will often lead to realizations and learning.

Enough criticism.

The book is a very good read, and will satisfy the appetite of most readers.

[Matthew · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars - strong start, slows down about halfway through, picks up towards the end. Another one of these great books that writes cleanly and eloquently about complex issues, in particular Dark Matter.

Interesting take from a man who has seemingly dedicated his professional life to trying to figure out what happens in the first few trillionths of a billionth of a second after the Big Bang. The author, an astrophysicist at UChicago, believes better understanding this time period will help answer perplexing issues like the relatively low levels of antimatter vs matter, despite theoretically existing at identical levels (some unknown interference in those earliest moments prevented all matter from being wiped out by antimatter).

Also does a good job at explaining how space can be expanding in our universe (which it is - which in relatively short order will end our ability to see beyond a set horizon) without actually expanding into anything (yay physics). Love this stuff.

[Nadav Har'El · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a really interesting book about cosmology - how we think the universe began, how we found out, and what still needs to be figured out. I enjoyed reading it, and couldn't put it down.

It is is likely that had I known less about cosmology before reading this book, I would have given it five stars. However, because I was already quite familiar with most of what this book covers, I was a bit disappointed that it was too short (just 200 pages), with not enough details (and not a single equation or mathematical statement of any kind). For example, Leonard Susskind's video series on cosmology goes into much more detail about how and why the universe expands, and how inflation works. Max Tegmark's book "Our Mathematical Universe" goes much more deeply into the issues of parallel universes and eternal inflation. But if this is the first book you read about cosmology, I think it will be a great introduction.

[Beth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Finally finished this book, after buying it at an Astronomy On Tap event from Dan Hooper himself (my copy is signed!). I liked Dan Hooper's "Why This Universe" podcast before I realized he took the Director job at the IceCube Neutrino Telescope at University of Wisconsin-Madison, so it was cool to get to see and hear him speak in-person. His book is an excellent summation of the things he discusses in "Why This Universe", and the topics of quantum mechanics and cosmology are complex enough that I benefitted from reading the book and listening to the podcast twice.

Hooper is a great communicator - this book is a nice balance between complex and understandable. You will benefit from understanding the basics of astronomy, general relativity and some physics history to better grasp the book, but it's not required.

[Linda Lee · Rating 4 out of 5]

At the Edge of Time: Exploring the Mysteries of Our Universe's First Seconds by Dan Hooper takes you on a scenic ride from the first moment that our universe came into existence until today. Everything that science has learned about our beginning is clearly presented in a timeline that is easy to follow. There is so much information that I find myself reading, highlighting, and rereading most pages. It is worth the effort!
While it is not a long book, the reading time may take longer to allow for thinking about and absorbing Dan Hooper's description of the beauty and complexity of the fascinating world in which we live. At the Edge of Time will be a fine reference to come back to as more secrets of our universe are revealed.

[Ian Partridge · Rating 5 out of 5]

The scope of this extraordinary book was to eplain the conditions in the universe shortly after the Big Bang. What seemed an impossibly difficult task was deftly handled by the author without the need to resort to complex scientifc jargon or formulae.

The author's carefully constructed analogies enable the reader to navigate the grand theories surrounding the formation of the universe and to convey a lucid and compelling review of our evolving knowledge of the origins of the universe and the direction that science might lead us next.

I found the book to be compelling, mentally exhausting and yet ehilirating. The author set out a clear explanation for how cosmology has evolved to help us make sense of the universe to within fractions of a second after Big Bang.

[Julio Astudillo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awesome. We need to read more books from Dan Hooper. This one I would recommend to people who'd like to learn about everything we've achieved concerning cosmology. Due to the fact that this book is relatively new, written in 2017, tackles issues concerning dark matter, dark energy and quantum gravity. Loved it.

He explains major breakthroughs in science, specially all of those derived from Eistein's equations, so, we get to learn about space-time geometry, DeSitter's equations, and the nature of both QED and QCD, having noticed at last the quantum gravity conundrum nowadays.

This book manages to explain these difficult issues in a general language, letting people understand the nature of the Universe while entertaining us. Awesome book.

[Susan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is so clear while the information is . . . Stunning . . . And on the edge of my understanding. My favorite line was towards the end which was something like: "We do not yet know what happened during the first 10 (to the 26th) second of the beginning of the universe." (Ok!) The constructs of understanding and of the mind are in parallel with our understanding of the universe. What we can concieve of is significant, in itself. When the mathematics proves these theories to be true I am in awe. I always wonder, though, do we prove theories because we thought of them? And how does perception change 'reality' (whatever that is!). A wondeful place to be.

[Chentao · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really enjoy reading the book. Learned a great detail about particle physics wrt the early cosmology. This is a throughout overview of what we have learned so far about the origin of our Universe.
1. History of the cosmic evolution;
2. General relativity;
3. The beginning of the Universe;
4. The Big Bang;
5. Particle physics;
6. the Standard Model;
7. Dark matter (e.g., WIMP);
8, Gamma-ray excess;
9. Exotic DM models;
10. Cosmic inflation;
11. Weinberg's anthropic explanation of dark energy;
12. GUT and the future.

[Hannah and Nicholas · Rating 4 out of 5]

I highly recommend this book to anyone who is fascinated by the universe and wants to know what cosmologists have discovered recently. It took me longer than usual to read since I wanted to make sure I was truly wrapping my head around all of the physics and science. It was a bit dry at times but Hooper included many wonderful analogies for laypeople to get a better grasp on the subject. No matter how much I read about it the universe is always mind-blowing!!!