From the reviews of the first edition:
This book is yet another example of the author's outstanding expository skills and deserves to be hailed as a brilliant and up-to-date account of current understanding in the field of cosmology and galaxy formation.
The Observatory, 1999
...Despite its title, the book actually covers pretty much all of extragalactic astronomy and cosmology...offers one of the most comprehensive descriptions of the topic, in particular where observational data are concerned....Longair never fails to place the results within the big picture...Besides completeness, it is also the most up-to-date textbook. Even very recent developments are included....I very much enjoyed reading this book, and I am sure I will make use of it the next time I teach a cosmology graduate course, as both a textbook for the students and a guide in preparing my lectures.
Physics Today, September 1999
From the reviews of the second edition:
This second edition of Longair's 1998 book is extensively revised and updated. It is a superb and extensive overview of the physics and evolution of the universe ... . Longair ... succeeds in his goal of writing at an appropriate level for upper-level undergraduates and beginning graduate students. He makes difficult material understandable by using clever analogies ... . The book is valuable both for academic coursework and as a reference source. Summing Up: Essential. Upper-division undergraduate through professional collections. (T. Barker, CHOICE, Vol. 45 (10), June, 2008)
