The Fabric of the Cosmos

Author: Brian Greene
Publisher: Vintage
ISBN: 0307428532
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 594

Book Description
NATIONAL BESTSELLER • From one of the world’s leading physicists and author of the Pulitzer Prize finalist The Elegant Universe, comes “an astonishing ride” through the universe (The New York Times) that makes us look at reality in a completely different way. Space and time form the very fabric of the cosmos. Yet they remain among the most mysterious of concepts. Is space an entity? Why does time have a direction? Could the universe exist without space and time? Can we travel to the past? Greene has set himself a daunting task: to explain non-intuitive, mathematical concepts like String Theory, the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle, and Inflationary Cosmology with analogies drawn from common experience. From Newton’s unchanging realm in which space and time are absolute, to Einstein’s fluid conception of spacetime, to quantum mechanics’ entangled arena where vastly distant objects can instantaneously coordinate their behavior, Greene takes us all, regardless of our scientific backgrounds, on an irresistible and revelatory journey to the new layers of reality that modern physics has discovered lying just beneath the surface of our everyday world.

The Fabric of the Cosmos

Author: Brian Greene
Publisher: Penguin UK
ISBN: 0141959959
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 926

Book Description
'A magnificent challenge to conventional ideas' Financial Times 'I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It manages to be both challenging and entertaining: it is highly recommended' the Independent '(Greene) send(s) the reader's imagination hurtling through the universe on an astonishing ride. As a popularizer of exquisitely abstract science, he is both a skilled and kindly explicator' the New York Times 'Greene is as elegant as ever, cutting through the fog of complexity with insight and clarity; space and time become putty in his hands' Los Angeles Times Book Review

The Elegant Universe: Superstrings, Hidden Dimensions, and the Quest for the Ultimate Theory

Author: Brian Greene
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
ISBN: 0393058581
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 447

Book Description
Introduces the superstring theory that attempts to unite general relativity and quantum mechanics.

Until the End of Time

Author: Brian Greene
Publisher: Vintage
ISBN: 1524731684
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 448

Book Description
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A captivating exploration of deep time and humanity's search for purpose, from the world-renowned physicist and best-selling author of The Elegant Universe. "Few humans share Greene’s mastery of both the latest cosmological science and English prose." —The New York Times Until the End of Time is Brian Greene's breathtaking new exploration of the cosmos and our quest to find meaning in the face of this vast expanse. Greene takes us on a journey from the big bang to the end of time, exploring how lasting structures formed, how life and mind emerged, and how we grapple with our existence through narrative, myth, religion, creative expression, science, the quest for truth, and a deep longing for the eternal. From particles to planets, consciousness to creativity, matter to meaning—Brian Greene allows us all to grasp and appreciate our fleeting but utterly exquisite moment in the cosmos.

The Fabric of Reality

Author: David Deutsch
Publisher: Penguin UK
ISBN: 014196961X
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 400

Book Description
An extraordinary and challenging synthesis of ideas uniting Quantum Theory, and the theories of Computation, Knowledge and Evolution, Deutsch's extraordinary book explores the deep connections between these strands which reveal the fabric of realityin which human actions and ideas play essential roles.

Icarus at the Edge of Time

Author: Brian Greene
Publisher: Knopf
ISBN: 0307268888
Category : Icarus (Greek mythology)
Languages : en
Pages : 33

Book Description
A futuristic reimaging of the classic Greek myth, as a boy ventures through deep space and challenges the awesome power of black holes. The beauty of the book lies in the images, provided by NASA and the Hubble Space telescope, and printed on board rather than paper.

The Hidden Reality

Author: Brian Greene
Publisher: Penguin UK
ISBN: 0141029811
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 502

Book Description
There was a time when 'universe' meant all there is. Everything. Yet, as Brian Greene's extraordinary book shows, ours may be just one universe among many, like endless reflections in a mirror. He takes us on a captivating exploration of parallel worlds - from a multiverse where an infinite number of your doppelg ngers are reading this sentence, to vast oceans of bubble universes and even multiverses made of mathematics - showing just how much of reality's true nature may be hidden within them.

How the Universe Got Its Spots

Author: Janna Levin
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 0691232288
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 224

Book Description
Is the universe infinite, or is it just really big? Does nature abhor infinity? In startling and beautiful prose, Janna Levin's diary of unsent letters to her mother describes what we know about the shape and extent of the universe, about its beginning and its end. She grants the uninitiated access to the astounding findings of contemporary theoretical physics and makes tangible the contours of space and time—those very real curves along which apples fall and planets orbit. Levin guides the reader through the observations and thought-experiments that have enabled physicists to begin charting the universe. She introduces the cosmic archaeology that makes sense of the pattern of hot spots left over from the big bang, a pursuit on the verge of discovering the shape of space itself. And she explains the topology and the geometry of the universe now coming into focus—a strange map of space full of black holes, chaotic flows, time warps, and invisible strings. Levin advances the controversial idea that this map is edgeless but finite—that the universe is huge but not unending—a radical revelation that would provide the ultimate twist to the Copernican revolution by locating our precise position in the cosmos. As she recounts our increasingly rewarding attempt to know the universe, Levin tells her personal story as a scientist isolated by her growing knowledge. This book is her remarkable effort to reach across the distance of that knowledge and share what she knows with family and friends—and with us. Highly personal and utterly original, this physicist’s diary is a breathtaking contemplation of our deep connection with the universe and our aspirations to comprehend it.

How to Build a Time Machine

Author: Paul Davies
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 1101563982
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 145

Book Description
With his unique knack for making cutting-edge theoretical science effortlessly accessible, world-renowned physicist Paul Davies now tackles an issue that has boggled minds for centuries: Is time travel possible? The answer, insists Davies, is definitely yes—once you iron out a few kinks in the space-time continuum. With tongue placed firmly in cheek, Davies explains the theoretical physics that make visiting the future and revisiting the past possible, then proceeds to lay out a four-stage process for assembling a time machine and making it work. Wildly inventive and theoretically sound, How to Build a Time Machine is creative science at its best—illuminating, entertaining, and thought provoking.

The Fabric of the Heavens

Author: Stephen Toulmin
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 9780226808482
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 300

Book Description
The story of our relationship with the stars and their celestial cousins is long, involving, and full of surprises. The Fabric of the Heavens, by science historians Stephen Toulmin and June Goodfield, outlines thinking about astronomy and dynamics from "pre-theoretical" Babylonian times to the Newtonian revolution that seeded our modern conceptions of space. Fully integrating the two cultures of science and the humanities, the authors find evidence of new thinking in Milton's writing and medieval tapestries as well as classic scientific and pre-scientific works. Using language that is beautiful, compelling and precise, they trace the threads of history which are woven into today's science (which, they predict, will find itself woven into something even more startlingly unrecognisable in years hence). Why were the ancients so fascinated by the sky and stars? Interestingly, it seems that their concerns were mostly practical; theological significance took longer to attach itself to the patterns up above. Agricultural and navigational concerns, once resolved, gave way to deeper philosophical, mythological and religious curiosity--which used the mathematical tools of its predecessors to great effect. The lives and works of Aristotle, Copernicus, Galileo and Newton are all thoroughly explored, and it is easier to see the continuity between them and their contemporaries in the breadth of this writing. First published in 1962, The Fabric of the Heavens was one of the first postmodern studies of the development of physical science; even were it not such a pleasure to read, it would still merit careful study.