The First Three Minutes Audiobook By Steven Weinberg cover art

The First Three Minutes

A Modern View of the Origin of the Universe

 Preview
LIMITED TIME OFFER

3 months free
Try for $0.00
Offer ends July 31, 2025 at 11:59PM PT.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for $14.95/mo after 3 months. Cancel anytime.

The First Three Minutes

By: Steven Weinberg
Narrated by: Raymond Todd
Try for $0.00

$0.00/mo. after 3 months. Offer ends July 31, 2025 at 11:59PM PT. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $17.09

Buy for $17.09

Confirm purchase
Pay using card ending in
Switch payment method
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use, License, and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.
Cancel

A Nobel Prize-winning physicist explains what happened at the very beginning of the universe, and how we know, in this popular science classic.

Our universe has been growing for nearly 14 billion years. But almost everything about it, from the elements that forged stars, planets, and lifeforms, to the fundamental forces of physics, can be traced back to what happened in just the first three minutes of its existence.

In this book, Nobel Laureate Steven Weinberg describes in wonderful detail what happened in these first three minutes. It is an exhilarating journey that begins with the Planck Epoch—the earliest period of time in the history of the universe—and goes through Einstein's Theory of Relativity, the Hubble Red Shift, and the detection of the Cosmic Microwave Background. These incredible discoveries all form the foundation for what we now understand as the "standard model" of the origin of the universe. The First Three Minutes examines not only what this model looks like, but also tells the exciting story of the bold thinkers who put it together.

Clearly and accessibly written, The First Three Minutes is a modern-day classic, an unsurpassed explanation of where it is that everything really comes from.

©1977, 1988 Steven Weinberg (P)2022 Basic Books Astronomy Astronomy & Space Science Cosmology Physics Science Mathematics Black Hole Solar System Thought-Provoking

Critic reviews

"The book is the first I have seen to put the details, both historical and conceptual, of the origin of the Universe within the grasp of the general reader... As such, it is a tremendous service to us all."—Isaac Asimov

"His book is science writing at its best."—Martin Gardner, New York Review of Books

"Weinberg builds such a convincing case...that one comes away from his book feeling not only that the idea of an original cosmic explosion is not crazy but that any other theory appears scientifically irrational."—Jeremy Bernstein, New Yorker
All stars
Most relevant  
Definitely science based well explained. would be excellent book for those with some big bang knowledge and want to begin expanding that knowledge base

author's knowledge of the subject

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
The explanation of the Standard Model and the way it was developed from astronomy, spectroscopy, and mathematics is fascinating. However, the audiobook contains a number of passages that are repeated, and one fairly long passage that is there three times in a row
! The main text dates from 1977, with notes from 1993. It’s too bad there isn’t an update that takes into account the cancellation of the Superconducting Supercollider and the new findings from the Large Hadron Collider and the Hubble and James Webb orbiting telescopes.

Lucid, understandable cosmology, but lax editing

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I enjoyed listening to this audiobook. I found it most interesting. Thank you for producing.

Interesting

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
There's a number of problematic things in this book. For example the writer saying that Neutrinos have no mass and giving the wrong amount of time from the big bang to the last scattering surface. Another is saying that the universe could only be open or closed, not including the more likely possibility of it being flat. These are all explainable in that the information in this book is 30 years out of date. At one point the author even comments on the formation of the committee that lead to the launch of the WMAP probe, that first mapped the entirety of the CMB.

There's also a number of technical glitches. Most are pretty small, but at one point the narrator re-reads several pages of the text.

Overall, there's better books on this subject. It does act as a good signpost on where our knowledge was.

Good information... for 30 years ago

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I found the juxtaposition of the extreme scale differences to be interesting. The extremely large expanses of space and the extremely small particles. The strong and weak forces, etc.
As someone with an engineering background the math wasn’t difficult or rigorous, but it might be a bit much if you find any math off putting it might not be for you. Since this text is from the time I started college and I am now retired it has spiked my interest sufficiently to look for an update with learnings from the Hubble and James Webb space telescopes and the LHC.

Interesting listen

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
This was somewhat understandable for the complete novice that I am. Did I understand everything? Absolutely. NOT. Did I understand some of it? YES. I am glad that I saw this one and decided to listen to it. I especially enjoyed the parts where I could reference back in my memory with The Big Bang Theory series.

3.5 Rounding up to 4

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Besides being very accurate,the narration of the book was excellent. A background in science would improve the immediate understanding of the work.

All things are born in the stars

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
An enlightening story on the beginning of the universe. A strong background in science and math is necessary to grasp many of the principles described. I enjoyed this class on Cosmology!

Interesting, but very tech/math heavy.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
First of all, this is an old book, written at a time when we knew much less about the cosmos and physics. But still it is a very good base for our current knowledge of the universe and our most accepted models. (Even though it looks like some of them might currently be reaching their end.) This is also one of the cool cases where an author of supreme intellect explains his area of expertise in a clear and accessible way.

Old but interesting

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Horrible proofing by someone, destroys and overrides any positive to this audible. Passages and sections are repeated numerous times throughout.

Worst edited audible ever!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
See more reviews