Review by thend157 -- Mysteries Of the First Instant

[thend157]

[Following is a volunteer review of "Mysteries Of the First Instant" by Daniel Friedmann.]

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4 out of 4 stars

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With a title like Mysteries of the First Instant, you might think this a mystery novel. However, it is a fascinating non-fiction book by Daniel Friedmann about the mysteries of the universe. It begins with the author's description of how a Danish toymaker first came up with the idea for Lego blocks. This leads to a discussion between the author, Daniel, and his nephew, Seb, about the building blocks of life. Daniel says he is trying to use this in the research for his latest book, which will look into what happened before the big bang. Daniel explains he will do this by comparing the remarkable similarities between the Jewish Torah and the scientific theory of how the universe formed. This leads into a remarkable narrative between Daniel and Seb about how the universe was created by God, and how it evolved over a very long period of time to become what it is today.

One thing that I liked about this book was reading, and thus learning, more about the chemistry and science of the universe. Science to me has always been something very logical and almost mathematical in quality. Thus, I enjoyed how the writer took the theory behind the science of the formation of the universe, and made it seem like something less mathematical, and more of an epic-length narrative of the beginnings of our world.

Another thing that I liked about this book was learning more about the Jewish interpretation of creation. I especially liked how the author showed translations of the Jewish account of the book of genesis. The author also goes beyond the Jewish Torah by using the Kabala to explain some of his theories. I enjoyed this because I liked learning more about the Jewish Kabala and how it came about. The writer also explains, in this book, that the symbolism of the Jewish alphabet can be used to describe the qualities of atomic particles. I liked learning about this as well because I liked learning about the symbolism behind the Jewish alphabet.

There is very little that I did not like about this book. One thing that I found myself having a difficult time with, was the detail the author goes into with his explanations. The author explains his theories in great detail, and sometimes these explanations can seem a little dull. However, I found the addition of the diagrams to be somewhat helpful with this.

Because I enjoyed learning about the universe so much in this book, I would give it 4 out of 4 stars. I thought that it was well written and flawlessly edited. I would recommend it to lovers of science and astronomy books. I would also recommend it to readers of philosophical subjects as it delves quite deeply into these areas.

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Mysteries Of the First Instant
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[MsH2k]

Having read The Biblical Clock by the same authors, I understand what you mean by the level of detail included. Thank you for your review. I may have to add this book to my list.

[Olgamiell]

Wow, that sounds like an interesting approach to the subject! I don't have much experience with this kind of books, but the theory the author presents definitely seems intriguing. I think I'd gladly check it out. Thank you for a nice review!