What We Are Reading Today: Flashes of Creation

Short Url
Updated 29 August 2021
Follow

What We Are Reading Today: Flashes of Creation

Author: Paul Halpern

Paul Halpern, a respected physics professor and author, breaks down the great debate over the Big Bang and the continuing quest to understand the fate of the universe.
The universe is changing. But scientists did not realize that a century ago, when astronomers like Edwin Hubble and Henrietta Leavitt discerned that other galaxies exist and that they’re hurtling away from the Milky Way at incredible speeds. That monumental discovery sparked decades of epic debates about the vastness and origins of the universe, and they involved a clash of titans, the Russian-American nuclear physicist George Gamow and the British astrophysicist Fred Hoyle.
In his new book, Flashes of Creation, Halpern chronicles the rise of Gamow and Hoyle into leaders of mostly opposing views of cosmology, as they disputed whether everything began with a Big Bang billions of years ago, said Ramin Skibba in a review for The New York Times.
Halpern is the author of 14 popular science books, exploring the subjects of space, time, higher dimensions, dark energy, dark matter, exoplanets, particle physics, and cosmology.


What We Are Reading Today: ‘Geology’ by David Bainbridge

Updated 22 February 2026
Follow

What We Are Reading Today: ‘Geology’ by David Bainbridge

The geological processes that underlie all life on Earth can seem intimidatingly vast, ancient, and sometimes even alien. 

Our planet’s dynamics have fascinated humans for millennia, yet only recently have we developed a clear picture of how they work. 

This book presents the discoveries and critical scientific advances that inform our understanding of Earth’s origins and the forces driving geological change. 

Each chapter tells a key piece of the story, focusing on a major aspect of geology that shapes how we experience our world.