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From Brian Greene, one of the world’s leading physicists and author the Pulitzer Prize finalist The Elegant Universe, comes a grand tour of the universe 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.
From the Trade Paperback edition.
- Sales Rank: #75202 in eBooks
- Published on: 2007-12-18
- Released on: 2007-12-18
- Format: Kindle eBook
Amazon.com Review
As a boy, Brian Greene read Albert Camus' The Myth of Sisyphus and was transformed. Camus, in Greene's paraphrase, insisted that the hero triumphs "by relinquishing everything beyond immediate experience." After wrestling with this idea, however, Greene rejected Camus and realized that his true idols were physicists; scientists who struggled "to assess life and to experience the universe at all possible levels, not just those that happened to be accessible to our frail human senses." His driving question in The Fabric of the Cosmos, then, is fundamental: "What is reality?" Over sixteen chapters, he traces the evolving human understanding of the substrate of the universe, from classical physics to ten-dimensional M-Theory.
Assuming an audience of non-specialists, 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. For the most part, he succeeds. His language reflects a deep passion for science and a gift for translating concepts into poetic images. When explaining, for example, the inability to see the higher dimensions inherent in string theory, Greene writes: "We don't see them because of the way we see…like an ant walking along a lily pad…we could be floating within a grand, expansive, higher-dimensional space."
For Greene, Rhodes Scholar and professor of physics and mathematics at Columbia University, speculative science is not always as thorough and successful. His discussion of teleportation, for example, introduces and then quickly tables a valuable philosophical probing of identity. The paradoxes of time travel, however, are treated with greater depth, and his vision of life in a three-brane universe is compelling and--to use his description for quantum reality--"weird."
In the final pages Greene turns from science fiction back to the fringes of science fact, and he returns with rigor to frame discoveries likely to be made in the coming decades. "We are, most definitely, still wandering in the jungle," he concludes. Thanks to Greene, though, some of the underbrush has been cleared. --Patrick O'Kelley
From Publishers Weekly
String theory is a recent development in physics that, by positing that all which exists is composed of infinitesimally small vibrating loops of energy, seeks to unify Einstein's theories and those of quantum mechanics into a so-called "theory of everything." In 1999, Greene, one of the world's leading physicists, published The Elegant Universe (Norton), a popular presentation of string theory that became a major bestseller and, last fall, a highly rated PBS/Nova series. The strength of the book resided in Greene's unparalleled (among contemporary science writers) ability to translate higher mathematics (the language of physics) and its findings into everyday language and images, through adept use of metaphor and analogy, and crisp, witty prose. The same virtues adhere to this new book, which offers a lively view of human understanding of space and time, an understanding of which string theory is an as-yet unproven advance. To do this, Greene takes a roughly chronological approach, beginning with Newton, moving through Einstein and quantum physics, and on to string theory and its hypotheses (that there are 11 dimensions, ten of space and one of time; that there may be an abundance of parallel universes; that time travel may be possible, and so on) and imminent experiments that may test some of its tenets. None of this is easy reading, mostly because the concepts are tough to grasp and Greene never seems to compromise on accuracy. Eighty-five line drawings ease the task, however, as does Greene's felicitous narration; most importantly, though, Greene not only makes concepts clear but explains why they matter. He opens the book with a discussion of Camus's The Myth of Sisyphus, setting a humanistic tone that he sustains throughout. This is popular science writing of the highest order, with copious endnotes that, unlike the text, include some math.
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From Bookmarks Magazine
If the idea that time may travel in more than one direction hurts your brain, there's hope for you yet. Greene, author of The Elegant Universe and professor at Columbia University, designed this dazzling overview of physical reality for general readers (and kindly gives ample notice when he's about to delve into physics-speak). Using humorous examples from everyday life, from Larry King and Homer Simpson to earthworms, Greene animates thorny questions of space, time, and reality. Although he stresses speculative physics, he often dismisses some of its implications. And the illustrations don't add much. But Greene's enthusiasm and "excitement for science on the threshold of vital breakthroughs," notes The New York Times, "is supremely contagious."
Copyright � 2004 Phillips & Nelson Media, Inc.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful.
ANOTHER OF GREENE’S EXPLANATIONS OF STRING/M-THEORY AND ITS IMPLICATIONS
By Steven H Propp
Brian Randolph Greene (born 1963) is an American theoretical physicist and string theorist who is professor at Columbia University and chairman of the World Science Festival since co-founding it in 2008. He has participated in several PBS television specials, and has also written books such as The Elegant Universe: Superstrings, Hidden Dimensions, and the Quest for the Ultimate Theory, The Hidden Reality: Parallel Universes and the Deep Laws of the Cosmos, Icarus at the Edge of Time, etc.
He wrote in the Preface of this 2004 book, “science is still struggling to understand what space and time actually are. Are they real physical entities or simply useful ideas? If they’re real, are they fundamental, or so they emerge from more basic constituents? What does it mean for space to be empty? Does time have a beginning? Does it have an arrow, flowing inexorably from past to future, as common experience would indicate? Can we manipulate space and time? In this book, we follow three hundred years of passionate scientific investigation seeking answers, or at least glimpses of answers, to such basic but deep questions about the nature of the universe.” (Pg. ix) He adds, “[This book] is intended primarily for the general reader who has little or no formal training in the sciences but who desire to understand the workings of the universe… Some of the material I cover is controversial. For those issues that remain up in the air, I’ve discussed the leading viewpoints in the main text. For the points of contention that I feel have achieved more of a consensus, I’ve relegate different viewpoints to the notes… I’ve striven for a balanced treatment.” (Pg. xi)
In the first chapter, he suggests, “As we continue to gain facility with superstring theory and its extension M-theory, our cosmological insights will deepen, bringing both time’s origin and its arrow into ever-sharper focus. If we let our imaginations run wild, we can even envision that the depth of our understanding will one day allow us to navigate spacetime and hence break free from the spatio-temporal chains from which we’ve been shackled for millennia. Of course, it is extremely unlikely that we will ever achieve such power. But… deep understanding yields its own empowerment. Our grasp of the true nature of space and time would be a testament to the capacity of the human intellect. We would finally come to know… the silent, ever-present markers delineating the outermost boundaries of human experience.” (Pg. 20)
He explains, “according to [Niels] Bohr and the Copenhagen interpretation of quantum mechanics … before one measures the electron’s position there is no sense in even asking where it is. It does not have a definite position… The electron has a definite position in the usual intuitive sense only at the moment we ‘look’ at it… when we measure its position… It’s not that the electron has a position and that we don’t know the position before we do our measurement. Rather, contrary to what you’d expect, the electron simply DOES NOT HAVE a definite position before the measurement is taken. This is a radically strange reality. In this view, when we measure the electron’s position we are not measuring an objective, preexisting feature of reality. Rather, the act of measurement is deeply enmeshed in creating the very reality it is measuring.” (Pg. 94)
He states, “If two photons are entangled, the successful measurement of either photon’s spin about one axis ‘forces’ the other, distant photon to have the same spin about the same axis; the act of measuring one photon ‘compels’ the other, possibly distant photon to … take on a definitive spin value---a value that precisely matches the spin of its distant companion. And that boggles the mind… even though the two photons are spatially separate, their common origin establishes a fundamental link between them… the two photons are so intimately bound up that it is justified to consider them---even though they are spatially separate---as parts of one physical entity.” (Pg. 115-116)
He says, “if the universe is spatially infinite, there was already an infinite spatial expanse at the moment of the big bang… In this setting, the big bang did not take place at one point; instead, the big bang eruption took place EVERYWHERE on the infinite expanse… it is as though there were many big bangs, one at each point on the infinite spatial expanse. After the bang, space swelled, but its overall size didn’t increase since something already infinite can’t get any bigger. What did increase are the separations between objects like galaxies… there is mounting evidence that the overall shape of space is not curved… the flat, infinitely large spatial shape is the front-running contender for the large-scale structure of spacetime.” (Pg. 249-250)
He argues, “A common misconception is that the big bang provides a theory of cosmic origins. It doesn’t. The big bang is a theory… that delineates cosmic evolution from a split second after whatever happened to bring the universe into existence, but it says nothing at all about time zero itself… It tells us nothing about what banged, why it banged, how it banged, or, frankly, whether it ever really banged at all. In fact… the big bang presents us with quite a puzzle… gravity is an attractive force… So what could possibly be responsible for the OUTWARD force that drove space to expand? It would seem that some kind of powerful repulsive force must have played a critical role… but which of nature’s forces could that possibly be?” (Pg. 272)
He suggests, “[we need] a theory that can overcome perhaps the greatest obstacle theoretical physics has faced during the last eighty years: a fundamental rift between general relativity and quantum theory. Many researchers believe that a relatively new approach called superstring theory may have accomplished this, but if superstring theory is right, the fabric of the cosmos is far stranger than almost anyone ever imagined.” (Pg. 323)
But he acknowledges, “bear in mind that no one has ever seen a string and… it is likely that no one ever will. Strings are so small that a direct observation … would require resolving power nearly a billion billion times finer than our current technology allows. Some scientists argue vociferously that a theory so removed from direct empirical testing lies in the realm of philosophy or theology, but not physics. I find this view shortsighted… While we may never have technology capable of seeing strings directly, the history of science is replete with theories that were tested experimentally through indirect means.” (Pg. 352)
He points out, “But the quantum mechanical equations of string theory don’t work in four spacetime dimensions, nor in five, six, seven, or 7,000. Instead… the equations of string theory work only in ten spacetime dimensions---nine in space, plus time. String theory DEMANDS more dimensions. This is a fundamentally different kind of result… Prior to strings, no theory said anything at all about the number of spatial dimensions in the universe… Now, for the first time, string theory provided equations that PREDICTED the number of space dimensions.” (Pg. 366-367)
He admits, “the code of the cosmos may well be written in the geometry of a Calibi-Yau shape… The question, then, is which Calabi-Yau shape, if any, constitutes the extra-dimensional part of the spacetime fabric… the question remains unanswered… The equations don’t even determine the size of the extra dimensions. Since we don’t see the extra dimensions, they must be small, but precisely how small remains an open question. Is this a fatal flaw of string theory? Possibly. But I don’t think so… the exact equations of string theory have eluded theorists for many years and so much work has used APPROXIMATE equations.” (Pg. 372) He adds, “String theory, at least in principle, allows all particle properties to be determined by the theory itself. No one has accomplished this, but as emphasized, string theory is still very much a work in progress. In time, researchers hope to realize fully the vast potential of this approach to unification.” (Pg. 374)
He observes, “with the new insights of the unified M-theoretical framework, [Edward] Witten was able to … demonstrate that one space dimension had been overlooked [by string theory] all along. Thus, Witten showed that the five ten-dimensional frameworks that string theorists had developed for more than a decade were actually five approximate descriptions of a single, underlying eleven-dimensional theory. You might wonder whether this unexpected realization invalidated previous work in string theory. By and large, it didn’t. The newfound tenth spatial dimension added an unanticipated feature to the theory, but is string/M-theory is correct, and should the tenth spatial dimension turn out to be much smaller than all others… previous work would remain valid.” (Pg. 383)
He asserts, “Earlier, we required the extra dimensions of string/M-theory to be tightly curled up. The reason, clearly, is that we don’t see the extra dimensions and so they must be hidden away. And one way to hide them is to make they smaller than we or our equipment can detect… there is an alternative explanation for why we’re not aware of the extra dimensions. It is not necessarily that the extra dimensions are extremely small. They could be big. We don’t see them because of the way we see. We see by using the electromagnetic force, which is unable to access any dimensions beyond the three we know about.” (Pg. 392-393) Later, he adds, “Right now, right next to you… there could be another spatial dimension---a dimension beyond left-right, back/forth, and up/down, a dimension that’s curled up but still large enough to swallow something as thick as this page---that remains beyond our grasp.” (Pg. 400) But he adds, “if the braneworld scenario is correct, upcoming accelerator experiments DO have the potential of confirming string theory.” (Pg. 428)
Anyone interested in string theory, M-theory, and its cosmological implications will likely be interested in this book.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful.
Better than I did with Stephen Hawking's "Brief History of ...
By J. Volz
I have no background in physics. He writes with humor and tries to appeal to the mathematically and physically (haha) impaired, but about half way through I began to struggle. I did learn what a quark was and I think I have some understanding, flawed as it is, of what quantum physics is and what string theory entails. So, my mind and my knowledge were expanded. But I really, really got last in the end. I read every word, however. Better than I did with Stephen Hawking's "Brief History of Time."
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful.
Wish It Were Required Reading
By Quinbus
My paperback copy of this book fell to pieces from frequent rereading, so I got the Kindle version -- imperishable, I hope -- to read through again over the last few weeks. Brian Greene's three popular books (this one, "The Elegant Universe" and "The Hidden Reality," which I also have via Kindle) are marvels of clear explanation for those of us who aren't mathematically gifted. Brian Greene is a working physicist with a particular focus on string theory, but he's not out to promote his own point of view, and doesn't hesitate to point out its current shortcomings and problems. He makes extensive use of endnotes to elaborate on difficult or tangential points. His prose is pleasant and conversational.
I've enjoyed his books very much and feel wiser, not stupider, after reading them -- not always the case when I finish a book meant to explain physics to the layman. Highly recommended. I only wish this was required reading for every liberal-arts student.
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