General Relativity and Gravitation, VoL 23, No. 2, 1991
Book Review The Em'ly Universe. Edward W. Kolb and Michael S. Turner. AddisonWesley, New York, 1990. 547 pages, $48.95 [Editors note: Because of the difficulty of locating any of our usual book reviewers during the summer, we were hard pressed to find someone to review this book. Luckily, we were able to find someone outside the usual list of contributors. The mother of one of the authors, Mrs. Dorothy B. Kolb, agreed to review the book.]
This book was written by my son, Edward W. Kolb, usually known as Rocky (I have never approved of t h a t nickname), and by Michael S. Turner. Of course I know my son very well, although he never calls, but I don't know that other boy. "Turner is not the kind of collaborator you want your parents to meet," Rocky tells me. I don't know about that, but I do know that Rocky's Aunt Bertha's son Sidney brings all of his friends home to meet his parents, and Sidney is a big success, a doctor. Not a Ph.D. mind you, but a real doctor. Well, actually he is a dentist, but even if he were a real doctor he would still bring his friends home. "The Early Universe" is published by Addison-Wesley as part of its Advanced Book Program, for whatever t h a t ' s worth. It has a blue and white cover, although I think it should have a nice picture on it. In fact, although there are over 100 figures, there are no pretty color pictures. My son told me that it is not a "trade" book, but a serious book intended for graduate students and professional scientists. "Big deal," I told him. "You think you are too s m a r t to put in a few pretty pictures. Look at that book that nice man David Schramm recently wrote with his young assistant Leon Lederman. T h a t book had a lot of pictures. I ' m sure their mothers are very proud of them even if there are no fancy equations in it." The book has eleven chapters, a finale, and two appendices. You know I could have had my own appendix out for all my son knows. He is so busy writing books and papers that he never comes to see his own 247
O001-7701/91/0200-Ofi47506.50/fl ~ 1991 Plenum Publishht~ Co*pozatlon
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mother. My son and that other boy even prepared a reprint volume on the same subject with the same name. He just won't listen to me any more, I told him to stop with the cosmology nonsense and write a nice diet book, a book t h a t will sell. The book seems to be arranged in some sort of inverse chronological order. The first chapter is about the Universe observed, while the last chapter is a b o u t the Planck time. The Universe observed...ha! He should observe Mother's day and send flowers for a change rather than some cheap card. Although there is a entire chapter about the Planck time, I could tell you some stories about other times. I'll bet Rocky didn't tell you about the time he cried when he struck out with the bases loaded in a Little League baseball game, or about the time he was miserable after Darlene Damucci broke his heart in the 10th grade. Who was around to look after him then? His mother, t h a t ' s who! Now in between the first chapter and the last chapter there are a bunch of other chapters. I didn't read them either, but they had a lot of nice titles. My brother Joe took science in High School, and he explained to me that the first three chapters develop the standard big-bang cosmology. The fourth chapter is about big-bang nucleosynthesis. T h a t sounds pretty dangerous to me. I sure hope I won't live to see my son hurt himself in some sort of accident. There are other chapters on thermodynamics in the expanding Universe and on baryogenesis. Uncle Joe wasn't sure what baryogenesis was, but thought it had something to do with religion. The next chapter is about cosmological phase transitions, and discusses things like cosmic strings, magnetic monopoles, and s y m m e t r y restorations. I don't know what kind of phases these are, but boy, do I remember some other phases Rocky went through. You name it: long hair, beard, love beads. And t h a t was just last year! Then there is a chapter about inflation. W h a t do physicists know about inflation? They don't seem to care about financial security so they can help their parents live out the last few years of their life in comfort. The next two chapters on structure formation and axions are very detailed, including things like cold dark matter. I told him to dress warmly, living in a cold place like Chicago, but he won't listen to me any more. My son tells me that the book covers all topics in modern particle cosmology, and that everyone who works in the field should have one. Well, I ' m sure t h a t other boy Michael Turner tells his mother the same thing [Editor's note: we are unable to ascertain that Turner ever had a mother]. I guess I have to believe him because I can't imagine he would lie to his own mother who nearly died in childbirth having h i m . : I guess it is too much to expect my oldest son to write a book his mother can understand.
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He had to write it for graduate students in physics and astronomy. The book is $48.95 in the US. You should buy a copy. Not for Rocky or that other boy, but for their mothers. If he makes some money in royalties just m a y b e he will visit next Christmas and see me if I a m still alive then. Mrs. Dorothy B. Kolb
New Orleans, Louisiana, USA [Editors note: We received the fo]lowing note from a Mrs. J a n e t M. Turner, who claims to be Michad S. 2brner's mother. We are printing it without editing.] Dear Editors; Of course Michael S. Turner has a mother; not that you would know it from the number of times that he calls or writes her. Unlike Mrs. Cobb's son, my son did introduce his friend Rocky and his wife to me. (Such a nice girl. I wonder why she ever married him? ) T h a t Rocky person is the most impertinent friend he has brought home since his days at reform school. And that m u s t a c h e - - h e looks like some kind of Middle Eastern terrorist. T h a t Rocky person does have one saving grace: he can type equations. For 20 some years I have been typing my son's papers; finally, he found someone else to do that c h o r e - - a n d just in time, my son's book has more than 1000 equations. But I did find some typo's, and I am certain that it was that Rocky character who slipped in all those jokes of questionable taste that crop up throughout his book, especially that one about the Anthropic Principle. My son does not make mistakes and certainly would not include off-color jokes. I agree with Mrs. Cobb that it would have been nicer if my son's book had some pictures, like that beautiful picture book written by my son's former students David N. Schramm and Leon M. Lederman. (I still can't get over the fact his student Leon received the Nobel Prize for work that my son did.) Their book looks just lovely on our coffee table. Now let's get to my biggest beef: the dedication. In the copy of his book that my son sold to me (at a discount of course) the dedication was to his dear m o m and that Mrs. Cobb. When I visited my son and his wife I found a copy of his book on their coffee table and guess whom the dedication was to: his wife and that Rocky person's wife. Then, when I
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visited that nice David Schramm and his wife in their lake front penthouse in Chicago I found my son's book on their coffee table too. Guess whom that version was dedicated to: David Schramm. What gives here? Let me finish by saying that I agree with Mrs. Cobb. All those silly scientists who waste our valuable tax dollars worrying about what happened in the first second after the big bang (if there ever was one) should buy my son's book; it is destined to be the definitive work on this subject.
