Expansion Is Accelerating The Runaway Universe: The Race to Find
the Future of the Cosmos. Donald Goldsmith. x + 232 pp. Perseus
Books, 2000. $25. In 1998 two groups of astronomers discovered
independently that the universe may be expanding at an
accelerated pace, as if being pushed by a mysterious force. To
many, this was clear evidence that the cosmological constant
(proposed and later rejected by Einstein as his "greatest
blunder") is alive and well. In The Runaway Universe Donald
Goldsmith traces the development of 20th-century cosmology from
Einstein and Hubble to this 1998 discovery, with special
emphasis on the role that the cosmological constant plays in
predicting the ultimate fate of the universe. This is an
excellent book on cosmology for the general public, offering
readers the latest in the best story ever told—the story of the
universe. Goldsmith writes clearly, with touches of wit and
metaphysical contemplation. He takes the reader step-by-step
through the major discoveries of 20th-century cosm