Question by The Chief: What are some good documentaries on how the Universe began?
I decided I wanted to learn more about the world and what better place to start than the start. I’m looking for some good documentaries that have to up to date information on the theories that are out there. Preferably some that aren’t dull and dry but if that’s all you know of it’s cool too.
If you have any recommendations for books I should check out that would be cool too.
Best answer:
Answer by William
I prefer reading than watching documentaries, but you might start with “Origins: fourteen billion years of cosmic evolution,” By Neil deGrasse Tyson and Donald Goldsmith- this is a book and a NOVA documentary.
This might be a little advanced unless you’ve taken some good physics classes, but Alan Guth’s “Inflationary Universe” is a wonderful book. He explains the Big Bang cosmology and the inflationary theory in wonderful detail, without all the complicated math. This is especially relevant with the Hadron collider in operation- much of his theories were confirmed by COBE and the Wilkinson anisotropy probe, and now Hadron is putting it to the test. Guth appeared in History Channel’s “The Universe,” Season 1, Episode 14, “Beyond the Big Bang,” which was much higher quality than typical History Channel programs:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1099790/
This is both a book and a documentary: “The Elegant Universe: Superstrings, Hidden Dimensions, and the Quest for the Ultimate Theory” By Brian Greene.
These should give you a good start, and are reasonably up-to-date. Because new developments are almost constant, it is helpful to keep up on articles in science magazines and journals as well.
Know better? Leave your own answer in the comments!