The Very First Light: The True Inside Story of the Scientific Journey Back to the Dawn of the Universe

As impossible as understanding the moment the universe was created seems this story is a great example of what happens when we try and of what can be accomplished. The authors do a great job of explaining many complex ideas in physics and astronomy.
While oversimplifications must abound in the end they echo Einstein’s dictum: “make everything as simple as possible but no simpler.”
Perhaps a little more than I wanted to hear about the interpersonal competitions but they are part of the story and part of the puzzle.

The anisotropy of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) consists of the small temperature fluctuations in the blackbody radiation left over from the Big Bang. This is the story of the COBE satellite experiment platform that definitively documented this state. From one of the scientists involved, this is the inside story of the years of effort involved in getting this accepted by the scientific community at large, NASA specifically (even after the mission-limiting Challenger disaster) and the ultimate vindication of discovery. From the cover of the first edition of Wrinkles in Time, Stephen Hawking calls this event "the scientific discovery of the century, if not all time". So, it is worth reading to see how the battle of bureaucracy show more versus vision is how such discoveries are made, now. show less

Great book for amateur astronomers