The cosmic century

When teaching a subject, some people feel that it helps to move away from its historical development. However, if you want an overview of a subject, or you are interested in current research, then a view of the history is much more important. In The cosmic century : a history of astrophysics and cosmology Malcolm Longair provides such a viewpoint. The book is in five parts. It splits the subject into pre and post-World War II sections, and within each has a section dealing with each of astrophysics and cosmology. In the middle there is a chapter on the boost which came from the opening up of the electromagnetic spectrum - the development of radio, X-ray, infrared and other forms of astronomy.

Longair packs an lot of material into the 450 pages of the book, and the history continues up to 2006, and so I felt that it gives a fairly comprehensive overview of current research into cosmology and astrophysics, but without being too technical. There is a bit of maths in the text, but it isn't intrusive (many of the chapters have an appendix with a mathematical derivation of a significant result). Readers do need some prior knowledge of the subject but I would think most science undergraduates would have no problems following the book. Certainly if are thinking of doing research in these subjects, or if you want a substantial overview of the field then I would say that this book deserves a place on your bookshelf.