What came before the Big Bang? How did the universe begin and must it inevitably end? In this remarkable book, Roger Penrose brilliantly illuminates some of the deepest mysteries of the universe. "Cycles of Time" contains a penetrating analysis of the second law of thermodynamics - according to which the 'randomness' of our world is continually increasing - and a thorough examination of the light-cone geometry of space-time. It combines these two central themes to show how the expected ultimate fate of our accelerating, expanding universe can actually be reinterpreted as the 'big bang' of a new one. Presenting various standard and non-standard cosmological models, discussing black holes in depth as well as taking in the role of the cosmic microwave background along the way, Roger Penrose argues that the Big Bang was not actually the beginning of everything - nor will it signal the end. Original and compelling, "Cycles of Time" offers new answers to the ultimate questions of life.

About the Author

Professor Sir Roger Penrose is Emeritus Rouse Ball Professor of Mathematics at the University of Oxford. He has received a number of prizes and awards, including the 1988 Wolf Prize for physics which he shared with Stephen Hawking for their joint contribution to our understanding of the universe.

Prizes

In his first book since the bestselling The Road to Reality, one of our most distinguished scientists offers a radical new theory of the origin, and ultimate end, of the Universe.

Reviews

"Penrose is truly one of the world's leading mathematical physicists."
"-- Scotland on Sunday

""Science needs more people like Penrose, willing and able to point out the flaws in fashionable models from a position of authority, and to signpost alternative roads to follow."
"-- Independent

""A genuinely new idea about the origins of the universe."
"--"Doug Johnstone", Scotsman
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"Cycles of Time can be highly recommended as an example of how cosmologists are now thinking the unthinkable by trying to look back beyond the Big Bang and forward beyond the death of our universe."
"--Literary Review
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