The Shadows of Creation

The Shadows of Creation:Dark Matter and the Structure of the Universe is a look at the nature of dark matter, and why it is necessary to postulate it in cosmological models. The book was published in 1993, which was before the COBE results showed the detailed structure of the Cosmological Microwave Background Radiation, and the ensuing addition of dark energy to the model of the universe. Hence the book is somewhat dated. However, you might find it interesting to see what the problems were which faced cosmologists at that time, so that you can get an idea of which ones have now been solved.

The book starts with an overview of cosmology and the big bang model. It goes on to look at how elementary particles originated and formed the elements, and the reason for the matter-antimatter asymmetry. The main purpose of the book is to examine the reasons for postulating dark matter, such as the rotation curves of galaxies, and the modelling of the formation of galaxies and larger structures. The authors consider candidates for what the dark matter may be, and there's a chapter on how inflation enters the picture. The concluding chapter looks at the equipment which is being used to search for dark matter. The book is written in a non-technical manner, and would be a useful introduction to ideas about dark matter, as long as you don't mind that it doesn't deal with recent discoveries.