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Observational Cosmology, by S. Serjeant

Observational Cosmology is a very modern textbook about the fundamentals of space, time and the universe as it may be characterised based on observation and measurement. It is richly illustrated in full colour throughout and uses a modern style of presentation. This holds true both for the text which is very well written and easy to understand even if the topic is difficult, and for the figures, coloured background boxes and page layout. The author, Stephen Serjeant, is a reader in cosmology at The Open University in Milton Keynes, UK. He manages to write in a very interesting style that helps students to understand the critical points which they otherwise may miss. This is aided by text attributes such as bold lettering, coloured boxes highlighting important statements and additional small figures in the margins of the text. A nice feature is the summary at the end of each chapter, where the most important findings are repeated in short sentences. The content of this book reflects most of the important issues in the current understanding of the universe. The table of contents holds eight chapters: Space and Time, The Cosmic Microwave Background, The Local Universe, The Distant Optical Universe, The Distant Multi-wavelength Universe, Black Holes, Gravitational Lensing and The Intervening Universe. Each chapter comes with helpful exercises, the solutions of which are given at the end of the book. In important places, the text margins have references and further reading, the remaining suggestions for further reading are given at the end of each chapter. There are two appendices, one putting together all important numbers and constants in physics and cosmology, the other being a nice and short course in special relativity. It should be noted that this book is up to date with the modern tools of cosmological observation and their results, there is even a one-page epilogue discussing the hot topics in cosmology and looking into the immediate future of the field. The content is part of an Open University course entitled ‘The Relativistic Universe’. The quality of the paper, the print, and the book as a whole is excellent. A hardback version is available as well. The book can be recommended without restraint to advanced undergraduates as well as to experts who look for an up-to-date reference in observational cosmology.