Amazon.com
If Albert Einstein were alive, he would have a copy of The Road to Reality on his bookshelf. So would Isaac Newton. This may be the most complete mathematical explanation of the universe yet published, and Roger Penrose richly deserves the accolades he will receive for it. That said, let us be perfectly clear: this is not an easy book to read. The number of people in the world who can understand everything in it could probably take a taxi together to Penrose's next lecture. Still, math-friendly readers looking for a substantial and possibly even thrillingly difficult intellectual experience should pick up a copy (carefully--it's over a thousand pages long and weighs nearly 4 pounds) and start at the beginning, where Penrose sets out his purpose: to describe "the search for the underlying principles that govern the behavior of our universe." Beginning with the deceptively simple geometry of Pythagoras and the Greeks, Penrose guides readers through the fundamentals--the incontrovertible bricks that hold up the fanciful mathematical structures of later chapters. From such theoretical delights as complex-number calculus, Riemann surfaces, and Clifford bundles, the tour takes us quickly on to the nature of spacetime. The bulk of the book is then devoted to quantum physics, cosmological theories (including Penrose's favored ideas about string theory and universal inflation), and what we know about how the universe is held together. For physicists, mathematicians, and advanced students, The Road to Reality is an essential field guide to the universe. For enthusiastic amateurs, the book is a project to tackle a bit at a time, one with unimaginable intellectual rewards. --Therese Littleton
Book Description
Roger Penrose, one of the most accomplished scientists of our time, presents the only comprehensive and comprehensible account of the physics of the universe. From the very first attempts by the Greeks to grapple with the complexities of our known world to the latest application of infinity in physics, The Road to Reality carefully explores the movement of the smallest atomic particles and reaches into the vastness of intergalactic space. Here, Penrose examines the mathematical foundations of the physical universe, exposing the underlying beauty of physics and giving us one the most important works in modern science writing.
Customer Reviews:
Really good!.......2007-09-19
If you are mad about science that a book you MUST have. I am an electrical engineer and at least 60% of the book had new contents for me so.... READ IT!
The Road to Reality: A Complete Guide to the Laws of the Universe.......2007-09-04
This is a book over one 1000 pages! My daughter asked me: Is the road to reality indeed so long? We both laught...and after a while I braged about it: With Roger Penrose help, the 1000 pages road to reality may be the shortest! However, I found out later on, that it may indeed be the shortest, but only if you have your own five stars shining above you...
Great to read, recommended to re-read.......2007-08-26
This is an excellent book, if you take the time to understand the material. In my opinion it is well worth the time reading every page.
Sir Roger is as Confused as the Rest of Us.......2007-08-15
Roger Penrose feels comfortable in his Platonic mathematical world and he recognizes how useful complex analysis is to quantum theory. But, like everyone else, he is at a loss to explain things just when they become interesting.
He cannot explain to his own satisfaction how that the universe came to be so specially ordered at the moment of the big bang. He cannot explain in a mathematically elegant way how or why that the wave function collapses upon an observation being made, with a new wave function being thus created. He seems mystified by complex numbers in a way that is reminds one of Pythagoras. He speaks in a gushy way about how "magical" they are. Nevertheless, he cannot even be sure that perfect circles or pi or straight lines exist in reality. He is Platonic, despite modern philosophy's rejection of Plato's theory of forms. He gingerly avoids any metaphysics and/or religion. And, he feels that one can learn about our universe by studying pristine mathematical models, despite the fact that R. Feynman and others have said that the only road to truth (the real road to reality) is through experimentation. Feynman wisely stated that he could calculate things very precisely, but he could not explain things in common sense, everyday terms. Are we really going to do better than him?
Perhaps things are as one physicist said " ..not only strange, but stranger than we can contemplate". We are physically not equipped to explain things.
A book with a message.......2007-07-11
Other reviews focus on whether the book is easy to understand or not, or wheter it is too big or not. And it would seem that
the only purpose of the book is to put all togheter the physical laws mankind knows.
But this is a book with a message. A message that takes very long to transmit and Penrose chose to start from the very begining.
A significant part of the physics as it is known today is exposed in a long (900 pages) preamble, but Penrose wants to tell
us that he believes that the road to the Theory of Everything that is standard in today's physics leads nowhere.
If you have read "The Emperor's new mind" you know that Penrose's ideas are not mainstream in today's physics. But if you are
interested in cutting edge physics you'll also know that there is a growing number of physicists that believe that the field is on crisis. Let me sumarize Penrose views:
- The standard interpretations of quantum mechanics are wrong. Even the decoherence approach.
- Infactionary cosmology cannot be right.
- Superstring theory is just a beautiful mathematical construction with no connection to the physical world. His point of view is similar to Smolin's ("The trouble with physics").
I'm not at all an expert on the field, although I studied quantum mechanics in the University, and I'd say that at least Penrose has a very strong point. He is not able to provide but hints of alternative theories but this does not lower the merit of the book.
He also explains standard areas of mathematics and physics such as complex number calculus, Maxwell fields or group theory in a non-conventional but brilliant way. For example, it includes a beautiful demonstration of Pythagoream theorem. The chapter about the standard model of particle physics is particularly helpful; nowhere else can be found a concise and understable explanation of it.
And yes, the book is difficult, but if you don't understand the mathematics, just keep reading.
Book Description
This is an outstanding text with a long history that has been updated and given a fresh look, including worked examples pulled out of the text into numbered boxes. The text is now also accompanied by stronger media support with "CPS" eInstruction student response system questions, more extensive online quizzing, and PowerPoint lectures. Aimed at presenting the essentials of physics, chemistry, earth science, and astronomy in a clear, easy-to-understand way, The Physical Universe shows students how science works, how scientists approach problems, and why science constantly evolves in its search for understanding. The text can also be packaged with its long time companion student study guide, which includes a review of chapter terms and concepts; self quizzing for extra practice; and solved problems from the text.
Customer Reviews:
Creationism vs. evolution.......2007-06-05
If you believe in creationism then read this book with caution. This book tries to brainwash you into thinking that evolution is based on solid foundation and creationism is quack. Buyer beware. I would not buy this book for someone under 18 years of age.
Very Easy Book To Read.......2006-02-25
This book is self explanatory and easy to read. I use this book for my SC 102 class. I'm a senior non-science major and it is really a good book.
Very good book and CD.......2005-09-24
The book is very good and the merchant was excellent in service and delivery.
Nice edition, but it is really necessary?.......2004-04-16
For over thirty years, McGraw has been putting out various editions of this highly successful textbook. Now in its tenth iteration, McGraw has made an important extension. It added a CD (which was long overdue). Plus, the book gives access to an online resource called PowerWeb. Pretty snazzy! You can access whole bunches of material there which is simply not in the book.
Hopefully, this may help motivate some students to learn more effectively. But a disquieting counterargument has arisen in some quarters. Is a new edition really needed? Perhaps an earlier edition would suffice for most students. If so, this would let several buy second hand versions far more cheaply. But if the publisher goes to this edition, and it is made mandatory by a school, then it is far harder for students to find used versions. At least for a few years. And later? When those used editions start circulating, what if the publisher and school then go to a newer edition?
From the Viewpoint of a Freshman High School Student........1998-11-30
This title is a comprehensive look at many aspects of science. Its Study guide is very helpful in preparing for examinations. The book, however, has a complicated way of explaining material. This slight defect may be reduced with the help of the useful appendixes, and study guides.
Book Description
As Charles Seife reveals in this energetic new book, information theory, once the province of philosophers and linguists, has emerged as the crucial science of our time, shedding new light on the mysteries of physics, the nature of space and time and the creation and destruction of the universe itself.
With his gift for making cutting-edge science accessible and entertaining, Seife explains how theorists came to understand that information is not a construct of the mind but a fundamental element of the physical world, something that sits inside every living cell and surrounds every black hole in the cosmos. It exists, like energy, even if there is no life to observe it. Starting with the breaking of the Enigma code during World War II and building momentum with the computer revolution, information theory has taken its place at the forefront of theoretical physics as scientists begin to use it to reconcile the paradoxes of relativity and quantum mechanics that have puzzled theorists since Einstein. Lucid and exhilarating, Decoding the Universe probes the mind-boggling advances that are taking us to the brink of a new understanding of the universe.
Customer Reviews:
Information theory, the third physics revolution of the XXth century.......2007-10-03
The author has a degree in probability theory and artificial intelligence, but he is a professor of journalism and has therefore written a book which is both very entertaining and not too difficult to understand. The subject is information, which Seife claims is the third XXth century revolution in physics started by Claude Shannon and which has relations with the other two: Relativity and Quantum Mechanics.
Of course, information is also related to thermodynamics and entropy, so the book contains a discussion of all these topics: thermodynamics, relativity and quantum mechanics. Famous conundrums such as Schroedinger's cat, entanglement, Maxwell's demon, etc. are analyzed from the point of view of information theory.
Here are some snippets of the book:
According to Seife, Einstein dictum "Nothing can travel faster than light" is really about information:" Information speed cannot exceed c". Another interesting fact is that what really causes computers to heat is the erasure of bits.
Seife describes recent achievements and experiments, proof that he is familiar with the latest results. One curious example is the solution of "the knight problem" in 2000 by using a DNA computer! Another one is that the entire human race has less genetic diversity than a few scores of chimps due to some kind of cataclysm about 500,000 years ago. A third one is the 1996 experiment demonstrating the existence of virtual particles (the so called Casimir effect).
In chapter 7, quantum computers are introduced and the possibility of the brain being one is briefly discussed. Unfortunately, it seems that Max Tegmark proved Roger Penrose wrong on this count. You begin to understand the power of quantum computation when the author describes Grover's algorithm to guess a number out of 16. Classically you need four yes/no answers to four questions. Grover manages the same task with two. Quantum computation reduces the complexity of some problems from n to square root of n.
I found also very interesting the reasons why the photoelectric effect cannot be explained by waves. On the other hand, interference cannot be explained by a corpuscular theory of light, so we are stuck with duality.
Towards the end, the author discusses black holes and the holographic principle: the quantity of information contained in a ball is not limited by its volume (surprisingly), but by its area. Since most cosmologists consider now the universe infinite (inflation seems to imply this) we are led, via the holographic bound, to the conclusion that the universe contains infinite copies of our own bubble universe. Seife admits that this is the most bizarre thing among the many ones described in his book.
Very Well Rounded.......2007-09-20
I have a Ph.D. in Physics and therefore know many well educated scientists, but very few have a functional concept of Information as a physical science. Begun with, mostly, Claude Shannon, this topic of study has been growing into a real science for decades now, but for some reason it is one of the most misunderstood subjects out there, even for seasoned professional scientists. Seife cuts to the heart of the matter with very clear thinking and examples from a very well rounded range of scientific points of view. Seife clearly and very engagingly demystifies many confusing topics and brings a real and almost visceral familiarity to a complex subject. After reading this, you will understand many esoteric scientific concepts better than even some professionals... and enjoy it immensely!
Basic information.......2007-08-02
This book is easy to read and is well written, but does not have much depth. The author has proven to be able to explain clearly complex ideas, but seems to lack enough background for some of the fields that the book explores. E.g., the enthusiasm with which the author explains that in an infinite universe there are many (infinite) worlds like ours seems annoying, and has little if anything to do with information or the holographic principle. It is a quite trivial idea valid for many cosmological theories.
Anyway, you can have a good time reading it, and if you are not an expert in information theory, you can find here good explanations of some basic concepts.
covers the science of information theory.......2007-07-21
This book is about information theory. The first few chapters describe information theory and then these theories are applied to biology and physics. I thought the introduction to information theory was well done, I came away with enough knowledge to follow the rest of the book. The chapter on biology, called Life, was interesting but I thought the best part of the book was the physics part. The author talks at length about Boltzman's statistical physics in a very comprehensible manner. He also explains how, although some experiments have allowed parts of light waves to travel faster than light, you can't send information over those parts of light waves so in effect you still can't travel faster than light. The author states that, from information theories perspective, you can't send information faster than light and that this law has not even been bent. Even the "spooky action at a distance" of superposition of atomic spin, which has to do with quantum mechanics, does not allow transferal of information at speeds faster than light. After reading this book my knowledge of the central concepts of information theory and statistical mechanics was greatly expanded. I even made some headway into the concepts of quantum mechanics. I highly recommend this book for those people looking looking for information about the above topics.
Information Theory, Entropy, and Shannon.......2007-07-06
1. Boltzmann, wrote S=k log W , the first law of thermodynamics deals with explaining heat, work, and energy.
2. The industrial revolution needed more powerful engines. The steam engine stars with a fire that cause water to boil into steam, which takes up more room than the equivalent water-it expands. The expansion of steam does work; it moves a piston which, in turn, can move a wheel or lift a rock or pump water. The steam then either flies away into the sky or moves into a cool chamber exposed to air and then condenses, flowing back toward the fire to begin the cycle again. The steam engine sits between high temperature object (fire) and a cold-temperature object(the air). The system will tend toward equilibrium. In allowing the heat to flow, the engine extracts some of the energy and perform useful work. Work and heat are always ways of transferring energy.
3. Carnot put a super engine flowing heat from the hot resevoir to the cold. While allowing the same amount of heat, Q, to flow the cold reservior through a heat pump back into the hot reservoir. Some of the work from the super engine can be diverted to the heat pump. "All, told no, net heat flows from the cold reservoir to the hot reservoir". A perpetual motion machine. "But nothing comes for free. It's the law." "Energy can not be created or destroyed. Energy is conserved." The second law of equilibrium states that anytime you do work, you are irreversibly increasing the equilibriumness of the universe." The second law explains why there does not exist a super engine. "Entropy always increases". "Entropy captures the configuration of the entire collection of matter in terms of probabilities-in terms of the most probable configurations of a collection of atoms, or, in our box-and marble example, the most likely outcomes wen we dump marbles in a box. The higher the probablity of a configuration of mater, the higher the entropy of that configuration."
4. "Some of themost fundamental rules in physics, the laws of thermodynamics, for example, andthe laws that tell how collections of atoms move in a chunk of matter-are deep down, actually laws about information." Shannons helped translate differential equations into a form the computer could understand and creating designs of electrical relays and flip-flo switches. Shannon created boolean logic using mathematics of manipulating 0s and 1s. Shannon uses 0s and 1s to measure the mass flow of information; he included compression algorithms into the model by exploiting redundancy in a given message. A question with N possible outcomes would need log N bits of information to distinquish between the information. Informtion encoded in 1s and 0s cand answer any question, so long as that question has a finite answer. Written language is a stream of finite symbols. Each symbol can be represented as a stream of bits. Bits are the universal medium of information. Five bits can be compressed into a one or two bits through a mapping rule. The rules make the string redundant. Shannon creates his channel capacity theorem to explain how much stuff can be sent over communication lines. "Information is intimately related to entropy and energy. The function Shannon derived was, roughly speaking, a measure of how unpredictable a string of bits is. the less predictable it is, the less able you are to generate the entire message from a smaller string of bits-in other words, the less redundant. The less redundancy a message has, the more information it can contain, so by measuring this unpredictability, Shannon hoped to be able to get at the information stored in the message." In the marbles in the box, the distribution of half the marbles on both the left and right side had the highest entropy and the distribution with all the marbles on either the left or right side had the lowest entropy. The entropy distribution of 1s ands 0s of symbols directly relates to the amount of information of the stream.
5. Shannon figured out how much energy was required to transmit a bit from place to place under certain conditions. Information theory is the science of manipulation and transmission of bits, is very closely tied to thermodynamics. Maxwell's entropy problem could use information theory instead thermodynamics to separate the hot atoms from the cold atoms. Information does not come free, it requires energy. Szilard calculated that kT log 2 joules for every bit of information. Using that useful energy increases the entropy of the box. The process of obtaining and acting on the information increases the entropy of the universe. The opening and closing of the shutter was based on the information and decreases the entropy. Shannon information entropy and thermal entropy are related. Once the energy is stopped the box returns to equilibrium. A turning machine could acts as the controller for the shutter, opening and closing.
6. Memory reusablity requires energy and increases entropy. "Bits can be added without consuming energy or increasing the energy of the universe. You can multiple bits. You can negate them. But one action in a computer generates heat, which when dissipated into the environment, increases the entropy in the universe. That action is erasing a bit."
Average customer rating:
- the best textbook on modern cosmology
- Congratulations!
- Understanding the new theories of inflationary cosmology
- excellent textbook
|
Physical Foundations of Cosmology
Viatcheslav Mukhanov
Manufacturer: Cambridge University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
 Astronomy
| Astronomy
| Science
| Subjects
| Books
Astrophysics & Space Science
| Astronomy
| Science
| Subjects
| Books
Cosmology
| Astronomy
| Science
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Science
| Subjects
| Books
Cosmology
| Physics
| Science
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Physics
| Science
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Nuclear Physics
| Physics
| Science
| Subjects
| Books
Astrophysics & Space Science
| Astronomy
| Professional Science
| Professional & Technical
| Subjects
| Books
Cosmology
| Astronomy
| Professional Science
| Professional & Technical
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Physics
| Professional Science
| Professional & Technical
| Subjects
| Books
Nuclear Physics
| Physics
| Professional Science
| Professional & Technical
| Subjects
| Books
Look Inside Science Books
| Trip
| Specialty Stores
| Books
All Titles
| Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007
| Stores
| Books
Similar Items:
-
Cosmological Inflation and Large-Scale Structure
-
Modern Cosmology
-
String Theory and M-Theory: A Modern Introduction
-
Supersymmetry and String Theory: Beyond the Standard Model
-
Extragalactic Astronomy and Cosmology: An Introduction
ASIN: 0521563984 |
Book Description
Inflationary cosmology has been developed over the last twenty years to remedy serious shortcomings in the standard hot big bang model of the universe. Taking an original approach, this textbook explains the basis of modern cosmology and shows where the theoretical results come from. The book is divided into two parts; the first deals with the homogeneous and isotropic model of the Universe, the second part discusses how inhomogeneities can explain its structure. Established material such as the inflation and quantum cosmological perturbation are presented in great detail.
Download Description
Inflationary cosmology has been developed over the last twenty years to remedy serious shortcomings in the standard hot big bang model of the universe. Taking an original approach, this textbook explains the basis of modern cosmology and shows where the theoretical results come from. The book is divided into two parts; the first deals with the homogeneous and isotropic model of the Universe, the second part discusses how inhomogeneities can explain its structure. Established material such as the inflation and quantum cosmological perturbation are presented in great detail, however the reader is brought to the frontiers of current cosmological research by the discussion of more speculative ideas. An ideal textbook for both advanced students of physics and astrophysics, all of the necessary background material is included in every chapter and no prior knowledge of general relativity and quantum field theory is assumed.
Customer Reviews:
the best textbook on modern cosmology.......2006-08-21
With the rising importance of cosmology has come an increasing flood of textbooks on modern cosmology. While I have not surveyed all the textbooks out there, many of those I have looked at suffered from serious problems. Recently, I had the opportunity of looking at Slava Mukhanov's new book on cosmology and I was so struck by its excellence that I am moved to post a review on Amazon, something I am not in the habit of doing. The bottom line is that I heartily recommend to any student or physicist serious about mastering modern cosmology. Mukhanov is one of the earliest pioneers in inflationary cosmology and a towering figure over the whole field, particularly when it comes to actual calculation, as compared to mere talk, of the density fluctuation spectrum.
Different people have different criteria for an outstanding textbook. I like a textbook to slice away all the obscure and unnecessary formalism shrouding the subject and to get through to the underlying concepts and the important physical ideas. So, dear reader, if you love heavy dry formalism that does not help you understand physics, then this book is not for you. (An aside: from a cursory glance at some of the reviews of physics books posted on Amazon I was amazed by the number of readers, apparently misinformed and misguided, more interested in mathematics and formalism than in understanding physics.)
There is a whole spectrum of books on cosmology. There are the giant compendia of every imaginable topic, but with almost nothing really derived, such as the book by Peacock. Then there are those books notorious for the amount of hype and hot air they blow. Such books apparently really appeal to people who want to "grasp" cosmology without doing any work; they could just read the hype and "be happy." On the opposite end of the spectrum is the book by Scott Dodelson, which is full of nitty gritty, the real stuff that you need to do detailed cosmic microwave background calculations, and which for that reason I highly recommend to students wanting to become professional cosmologists.
I have not read Mukhanov's book in its entirety. I read the parts on inflation and looked at his treatment of density perturbations. I really like his discussion of inflation, which carries the stamp of authority and deep understanding associated with a master who invented the subject. He cuts to the essential physics of the different approaches and wisely refrains from presenting the one thousand and one inflationary scenarios that have flooded (some would say, polluted) the literature. When he comes to density perturbations, he does it as simply as possible, and most importantly, correctly. Students should be aware of the fact that many of the well-known papers on the subject contain errors, as Mukhanov points out in a very helpful and biting footnote.
I recommend this book enthusiastically to all those serious about modern cosmology.
Congratulations!.......2006-07-27
I think this is the best conceptual book in cosmology,
I truly enjoy reading it.
Understanding the new theories of inflationary cosmology.......2006-03-21
Theories are written to explain observed phenomenon. They are then used to predict future discoveries. So long as the theory continues to work, it is accepted by the scientific community at large. Up until thirty or so years ago the model of the Cosmos was a fairly well agreed upon theory. Then slight problems began to appear, until in 1980-81 the author of this book conducted some experiments and developed theories that applied quantum fluctuations to the large scale structure of the universe.
This began the theory of inflationary cosmology that remedied several annoying little problems in the standard big bang model of the universe.
This is a textbook suitable for students in theoretical cosmology, physics, and astrophysics. It might be suitable for advanced undergraduates, but is more likely to be used in graduate level study. Some knowledge of general relativity and particle physics (and quantum field theory) is said by the author to be helpful but not necessary. I suppose that that's true, but by the end of the book you will certainly have some knowledge in this area. I'd recommend a bit of study in other books before tackling this one.
This book is a good single volume work on the modern view of cosmology. It can be used as a text on the subject. Further it contains a lot of information that will be very useful for even the best experts in the field.
excellent textbook.......2006-02-02
Long-waited excellent textbook on phyical cosmology.
Contrary to many other texts on cosmology, which report
numerous facts, this one is self-consistent and derives
results from the first principles, economically
and often neatly. It covers main topics where
theoretical physics operates in cosmology.
Book Description
A major contribution to our understanding of the basic laws of the universe -- from the author of
The Book of Nothing.
The constants of nature are the fundamental laws of physics that apply throughout the universe: gravity, velocity of light, electromagnetism and quantum mechanics. They encode the deepest secrets of the universe, and express at once our greatest knowledge and our greatest ignorance about the cosmos.
Their existence has taught us the profound truth that nature abounds with unseen regularities. Yet while we have become skilled at measuring the values of these constants, our frustrating inability to explain or predict their values shows how much we have still to learn about inner workings of the universe.
What is the ultimate status of these constants of nature? Are they truly constant? And are there other universes where they are different?
John D. Barrow, one of our foremost mathematicians and cosmologists, discusses the latest thinking about these and many more dramatic issues in this accessible and thought-provoking book.
Customer Reviews:
Historical and Baffling at times!.......2007-08-27
Barrow's has a good humour about philosophy but also takes it seriously enough to explain all concepts clearly. Numbers are not my thing but this one pulled me in pretty tight. This bloke knows his stuff but the book is very readable. If you're interested in math and M Theory stuff, this a good one. It starts from the beginning when measurements were first used and numbers' significance in the universe, thus spiralling into some fairly complex and modern issues.
Are there any constants in the universe?.......2007-02-23
In considering physics, Einstein once asked whether God had any choice in laying out the rules.
After discussing the history of human measurements (historically a product of chance), Barrow turns his attention to the so called physical constants of measurement and ultimately asks the question of whether they too are a product of chance (albeit on a different scale).
Though admittedly he makes errors along the way (like saying it takes 3 seconds for light to reach Earth from the sun instead of eight minutes), Barrow nonetheless manages to create a physics book that accessible makes cutting edge insights available to the casual reader.
And what Barrow has to say about the "constants of the universe" and perhaps their ultimately changeable nature speaks mightily to the boundless enigma that is the universe (perhaps one of many) in which we live.
Good book.......2007-01-13
This was an entertaining book but a little tedious at times. Also it was not exactly what I expected. I thought it would be more of a description of different physical phenomena, while this is more like a survey of different historical approaches to uniting all constants with one theory, which constantly failed but shed light on many side issues along the way.
ARE FINE-TUNED CONSTANTS EVIDENCE OF GOD?.......2006-09-30
As one who believes that life is a natural property of the universe, I am intrigued by the concept that the constants of nature seem to have been fine-tuned to make life possible. The conservative Patrick Glynn asserts, in God: The Evidence, that they constitute essentially incontestable evidence for what was once merely a matter of faith: "the existence of soul, afterlife, and God." The notion that the universe is really an infinite multiverse, and that we just happen to inhabit one of the infinitesimal few whose constants make the wildly improbably string of coincidence leading to our existence possible, is dismissed as far-fetched nonsense propagated by atheistic scientists desperate to find some way to justify their materialist dogma.
While I once considered the notion of a multiverse to be unlikely, further study has convinced me this is not so. However, even if the multiverse is a fact, the theory offers no more support for materialism than fine-tuned constants constitute evidence for a God whose existence is completely external to the universe. We have no way of examining these other universes, and hence no way of knowing that they have constants incompatible with the evolution of life and intelligence. If consciousness is intrinsic to physical existence, and there is no compelling reason for insisting that it is not, then the constants of nature would necessarily have "fine-tuned" values.
It is odd that John Barrow's interest in this possibility arouses such animosity and ridicule in some people. Is the idea that our existence might not be an accident really so distasteful? There are those who argue that the anthropic principle should instead be called the insectoid principle since the constants are also fine-tuned to produce insects. True enough, but insects are unable to discuss the matter. We are.
Dr. Barrow's book is an excellent choice for anyone interested in gaining a better understanding of some of the intriguing coincidences of nature, and of the myriad ways in which these coincidences have been interpreted by scientists of different historical eras. There are some minor errors in the book, such as the sun being three light-seconds from Earth instead of eight light-minutes, but these are really important. The one question I have is the claim that human behavior, even if free will is illusory, is unpredictable in principle because if people are aware of the predictions made about their behavior, then they can act to falsify those predictions. But if free will really is illusory, why should the scientist not be able, in principle, to predict that behavior also?
(Peter Payne, author of CAPTAIN CALIFORNIA BATTLES THE BEELZEBUBIAN BEASTS OF THE BIBLE)
Barrow embraces change........2005-10-03
Interesting and topical to a discussion on the possibilities of existence. Barrow explores the difficulties of objective measurement, Einstein's fascination with what the universe could have been, Eddington's strange love of theory over experiment, the position of Dirac in the coincidence vs. consequence of habitable places, and the unexpected finding of possible variance in the fine structure constant from the worlds earliest known nuclear reactor.
Book Description
Physical Processes in the Interstellar Medium discusses the nature of interstellar matter, with a strong emphasis on basic physical principles, and summarizes the present state of knowledge about the interstellar medium by providing the latest observational data. Physics and chemistry of the interstellar medium are treated, with frequent references to observational results. The overall equilibrium and dynamical state of the interstellar gas are described, with discussions of explosions produced by star birth and star death and the initial phases of cloud collapse leading to star formation.
Customer Reviews:
Good book.......2007-04-11
good book
lot's of useful informations.
It's good to have one.
A classic in astronomy, but not worth the price for students.......1997-12-06
Here, Spitzer introduces many fundamental concepts in astronomy, and at the time it was written was perhaps the only single publication that covered all of the topics in the table of contents from a fairly fundamental level.
When I paid $80 for this book for an Interstellar
Medium course about 5 years ago, the instructor
said he would not have required it had he known the price. Now it stands at $112!
If this material is important to you and you do not
have a well developed graduate level curriculum
to study from, then perhaps it is worthhwhile, otherwise I recommend "Astrophysics of Gaseous Nebulae and Active Galactic Nuclei"
by Donald E. Osterbrock for $36 as an excellent substitute, though you won't find much on dust grains and kinetics in it. For those topics you
should go to review articles and a statistical mechanics text anyway!
Spitzer was a great astronomer and he wrote what was at the time an indispensible book, but at this price think carefully before you buy.
Book Description
In this fascinating book, the renowned astrophysicist J. Richard Gott leads time travel out of the world of H. G. Wells and into the realm of scientific possibility. Building on theories posited by Einstein and advanced by scientists such as Stephen Hawking and Kip Thorne, Gott explains how time travel can actually occur. He describes, with boundless enthusiasm and humor, how travel to the future is not only possible but has already happened, and he contemplates whether travel to the past is also conceivable. Notable not only for its extraordinary subject matter and scientific brilliance, Time Travel in Einstein's Universe is a delightful and captivating exploration of the surprising facts behind the science fiction of time travel.
Customer Reviews:
The story behind the hand of the moving finger that writes.......2007-01-22
"The moving finger writes and then moves on, nor all your piety can lure it back to retrace a line nor your tears wash out a word of it."
John Donne
Perhaps if Donne had written his immortal words AFTER having read this book, he MAY HAVE SAID "...unless of course, you have your Richard Gott time machine handy."
And like many other serviceable entries in the time machine genre of scientific speculation (like Paul Davies "How to Build a Time Machine"), Gott uses plain simple English with great illustrations to explain the three traditional theories of how time travel could be accomplished as well using the idea of time travel itself to speculate on the origins of the universe.
As to the three potential theories, Gott makes some good points:
1) Kurt Godel's suggestion that IF this were a rotating static universe, then time travel would be possible simply by going far enough into the future. Significantly, Godel was friends with Einstein over the course of the last fifteen years of Einstein's life. So, while Godel knew both Einstein and Einstein's physics, unfortunately his theory doesn't comport with physical observations that our universe is not rotating is expanding and not static as his theory would require. However, his theory does show that Einstein's physics do allow time travel, just not in the way Godel suggested.
2) The Tipler rotating cylinder...Proposed by Frank Tipler, if you could create and infinitely long cylinder in space and rotate it, one could travel along the access of rotation to move forward or backward in time. Unfortunately, to put it mildly, Tipler's cylinder is a tad bit beyond our current financial resources. (Just over a "few" billion, Congress nixed the Supercolliding Superconductor back in 1993 so they probably would be less excited about this project!).
3) Wormholes. The specialty of Star Trek lore wormholes were discussed at length in the Kip Thorne book "Black Holes and Time Warps." And although Thorne was the idea man beyond how Carl Sagan got Jody Foster to the middle of our galaxy in the movie "Contact," for his part Thorne is not optimistic that Black Holes could stay open to actually transport materials beyond a Planck length. In other words, modern string theory talks about basic building blocks of reality -- strings -- that are in size to a neutron as a neutron would be to our solar system. Even on weight watchers, the astronauts ("chrononauts") would have tough going.
Still the same, Gott noted that even though available for only subatomic transmissions, time travel could still explain how our universe was created.
SPOILER ALERT: IF YOU WANT TO HEAR THE GUY WHO INVENTED IT TO EXPLAIN STOP READING NOW.
But if you're willing to let me do it, here goes:
As noted, time travel -- even backwards -- can work at subatomic levels. The technical jargon is cosmic foam and apparently it happens all the time. To create the universe all that would need to happen is for a sufficiently compacted amount of matter to travel back in time so that it could become the Big Bang.
So in other words, depending on how you denominate it, time may be going now, about to begin somewhere or already be thirteen point seven billion years old.
Even if you read my explanation, read Gott's. He's a great accessible writer who has written perhaps the very best book on this issue.
A thrilling journey deep into the strangeness of cutting-edge physics.......2006-07-05
Richard Gott's Time Travel in Einstein's Universe: The Physical Possibilities of Travel Through Time is a thrilling journey deep into the strangeness of cutting-edge physics - a place where beautiful, baffling ideas are sometimes indistinguishable from the utterly crazy. On this journey, we meet a time-travelling brilliant mathematician. The journey ends with a strange and dark conclusion - one which calls into question our very existence. Ever since Einstein showed it was theoretically possible, the quest to travel through time has drawn eccentric amateurs and brilliant scientists in almost equal numbers. The amateurs include Aage Nost, who demonstrates his time machine in front of the cameras. The professionals include the likes of Professor Frank Tipler of Tulane University. His time machine sounds good - but it would weigh half the mass of the galaxy.There is, however, one way that time travel to the past could be possible. And it would be much more convenient. Future civilisations could use computers to create exact replicas of the past. Unfortunately that idea has physics trembling in its socks. Because if you can generate a perfect virtual reality version of the past, who's to say we are not one of the replicas? If your looking for a book that outline's all that latest theories this is about as close as you'll get.
Good for this type of content.......2006-06-26
I searched extensively for a book that would explain current theories of time and the implications thereof that could be understood by a non-mathematical mind and one not trained in physics, and it was extraordinarily difficult. I ended up choosing this book, which is probably as close as one will get to what I was hoping for. The first and last chapters are actually the most accessible and interesting, the first being an overview of many fictional accounts of time travel (both movies and books) and the last a treatise on future prediction and probability, which I found most interesting and consoling. The chapters inbetween were the denser material in which the author discusses whether or not time travel to the past or the future could work and, inevitably, it deals with the theory of relativity, wormholes, black holes, etc. and how all that would function, all of which is confusing for a layperson like me. Nevertheless, this is, as I mentioned, the closest thing to a non-scientific explanation of what are at base purely mathematical constructs. It does get one thinking philosophically about what "time" is and about time travel in general. For example, if one can travel to the future, doesn't that imply that the future already "exists" as a "place" which one can visit? Mindbending reading and worth it for that reason alone.
Science Fiction and Real Quantum Time.......2006-02-08
Gott explores the current possibilities for actual time travel in light of current physics and quantum mechanics. He summarizes the history of quantum physics, as providing insights into the concepts of time, and possibility of wormholes and other perturbations of Spacetime that might allow time travel. He reports on various experiments and lines of enquiry by various physicists, like Kip Thorne, who have investigated time and practical factors in time relationships and travel into the future or past. The concepts of relativity and war speed (speed of light) come into view here. Gott correlates various areas of current enquiry, including a rich survey of contributions science fiction has made to actually enquiry in quantum physics.)
Stick to time travel and lose the statistics next book.......2006-01-18
Summary: Interesting read but when Gott left time travel physics to discuss statistics and probability theory the book became bland like author was padding his essential [time travel, nature of the universe, beginnings, etc & TOE-chasing] published papers with his other non-essential statistical theory work.
Book Description
Understand the nature of your mind and exactly how it interacts with matter at the quantum level to produce manifestations, magick and miracles.
Learn the nature of the universe in which we live and the exact process by which you can change your destiny by mere faith and imagination.
Understand how modern physics demonstrates the absolute immortality of your consciousness, your mind, your spirit.
The Universe and Multiple Reality presents a viewpoint dramatically different from the currently fashionable scientific interpretation of modern physics, an interpretation that denies the most important part of recent scientific discoveries: the mind and its effect on reality.
The Universe and Multiple Reality explains the exact physical processes by which paranormal events operate, including how miracles, magick and manifesting occur.
This book is a must for any person curious about the place their mind occupies in the cosmic scheme of things.
The Universe and Multiple Reality breaks new ground. There are a great many books on "parallel universes," on quantum physics and multiple reality--but none that proffers an understandable theory on how the human mind interacts with multiple realities at the quantum level to produce palpable physical effects.
Customer Reviews:
The Universe and Multiple Reality, by M R Franks.......2007-09-04
It deseves one star, at the most, compared to other books published on the same subject.
I Question Some of the Concepts.......2005-05-31
I had a very mixed reaction of this book, which served as the catalyst for my recent paper on parallel universes and found it to be a very interesting read. What I most appreciated however was that when I asked M.R. Franks about some details in his book he sent me three articles within about two hours. What disappointed me however was the shortness of the book and the focas on cited works from other authors and I don't really buy the andriod therory persented at the end of this book.
Very Interesting..But..........2004-08-03
Let me first say that I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book..but I have a few questions.
The basic idea behind the theory is that any two contiguous frames differs by ONE quantum state. There are infinite number of such frames through which consciousness traverses contiguously.
Then Mr.Franks writes that the case is so becoz nature doesn't like voids and hence creates all permutations and combinations of frames possible.
So my question is that if nature doesn't like voids then why accept quantum states as constant. In other words why can't nature create and fit in another infinite set of frames between the two quantum states by which any two contiguous frames differ as postulated by this theory? Isn't the gap between the two quantum states a "void"?
Galileo or Einstein.......2004-04-21
"Postulates with no explanation" is also what critics said of Galileo and Einstein. Such criticism usually comes from those heavily invested in the current orthodoxy, from those unable or unwilling to see beyond the box.
Genius, it is said, instantly recognizes genius, while mediocrity knows nothing better than itself.
This book is BRILLIANT!
Recall Occam's Razor: The simplest explanation is probably the correct one. Einstein's General Theory of Relativity didn't drone on for hundreds and hundreds of pages. Those who fault brevity should spend their money on longer, more expensive, but far less insightful works.
This book, however, can change your view of the universe and even of life itself. It's a must for those with the courage to view things differently but far more clearly.
I couldn't agree more..........2004-04-05
I agree completely with the previous reviewer - postulates with no explanations - is what you will find in this short book, filled mainly with quotes from other authors & experts. I was also inclined to read the book since it received such a positive online rating. However, further inspection of the reader reviews show they are redundant, lacking real substance, and biased. Why else would a reader seek to criticize all other similar titles (ex. The Elegant Universe, The Theory of Everything and even Deutsch's great writing) with the same useless lingo of 'bunny fluff', 'puffery', etc. only to recommend this book in each? I am sorry, the only thing PUFFED up, are some of the reviews.
As an intelligent reader and theorist who has studied parallel universes and quantum physics, I prefer a text that answers what it claims to, not a brief with quotes from authors, whom have ironically been bashed. I was left more confused than satisfied and asked myself "what IS the purpose of this book"?
Although a bit disappointing, it remains a good read but is much better as an extensive editorial. I gave the author an extra star for creativity, intellect and excellence in writing but would have really preferred to read about his own perspectives/theories to offer an explanation to the postulates put forth in the book.
Book Description
A best-selling first year astronomy textbook, by Frank Shu of University of California, Berkeley.
Customer Reviews:
Excellent introduction.......2006-07-20
This book should be titled "Introduction to the physics of astrophysics". As such it is excellent. I used it for many years in an intermediate astrophysics course. The only problem with it is that it is dated in parts (no mention of helio-and astro-seismology for instance), though it is current well into 1982.
It would be of great benefit to physics education and to astrophysics education at the intermediate level if Prof. Shu would bring out an updated edition!
A classic astronomy and astrophysics textbook.......2004-12-24
This was a superb textbook when it appeared over twenty years ago. It begins with some introductory material about microscopic and macroscopic laws of physics. After that, we learn about stars and their evolution. And binary stars. Next are galaxies and galactic clusters. And cosmology and the hot big bang. Then our planetary system. And we finish with life and intelligence in the universe.
I read this book when it first came out and truly enjoyed it. But I do want to warn folks that it is getting a little out-of-date and definitely needs a new edition. In the past twenty years, we have made plenty of new discoveries. Topics such as dark energy, the accelerating expansion of the universe, cosmic microwave background anisotropies, gamma-ray bursters and soft gamma repeaters, supernova 1987A, ultraluminous infrared galaxies, extrasolar planets and planetary migration, the Big Splat theory of the origin of the Moon, and inflationary models of the big bang are too new to be in this book. Plenty of work on formation of galaxies is too new as well. Descriptions of and recent results from deep space probes and telescopes are not included. That leaves us with much less to discuss about Uranus or Neptune, not to mention recent in situ observations of Mars or questions about water under the icy surface of Europa. And even topics such as artificial intelligence are discussed without the benefit of the past twenty years of perspective.
I still recommend the book. But I wouldn't be able to teach a class on astronomy or astrophysics from this text without supplementing it with a substantial amount of extra material.
The basis for introductory astrophysics textbooks.......2003-10-09
I have owned The Physical Universe for 10 years. While the book is out of date in many ways, it still serves as an excellent overview of many of the basic concepts that astronomers need to learn at the undergraduate level.
The book starts with a basic introduction to physical concepts such as dynamics, thermodynamics, and relativity, then proceeds to overview many of the fundamental concepts about stars, the interstellar medium, galaxies, cosmology, planets, and life in that order. At some times, the book's organization seems a bit eccentric, especially with the last chapters, which stray away from astronomy too much to be used in an astronomy undergraduate class. The book was written so that it could be used with students at various educational levels, so the book uses both written descriptions and mathematics to explain various astronomical concepts. Unfortunately, students without a strong background in mathematics will not benefit from the book as much. The problems, distributed throughout the text of the chapters, are very good at walking students through deriving mathematical equations; I myself consider problem sets I wrote for these problems to be reference material that is as important as the text itself.
The Physical Universe is good for understanding many of the basic concepts of astronomy. I still use this book to look up simple equations, such as magnitude and redshift equations. Nonetheless, the book is out of date. Important new science, especially many space-based observations by IRAS, Hubble, Chandra, ROSAT, and COBE, are missing. New fields of study, such as extrasolar planets, deep-field cosmology, and ultraluminous and luminous infrared galaxies, are unmentioned. The eccentric structure of this book also makes it a bit odd to learn out of or to find information in. Nonetheless, the book is a standard textbook in undergraduate astronomy education, and the structure and material in other books often follows the structure Shu has laid out in this book. I therefore rate this book highly for astronomy undergraduate students (as well as for astronomy graduate students and professionals), but I also recommend considering alternative introductory textbooks as well.
Shu's Lectures on Astrophysics.......2002-07-31
Yes, I nicknamed that book like the well-known The Feynman Lectures on Physics. With regard to Feynman, I have no doubt that if Richard Feynman himself is to write a book and give lectures on Astrophysics, he will end up wrote a book similar to this book.
I am a graduate physics student working in experimental high energy physics, but I have always found myself curious about astrophysics. Back in my home country, the literature on astronomy is so rare that I only can manage to borrow and read an old edition of Abell's Exploration of the Universe. It was a good book, but I need more physics to cater my curiosity in astrophysics.
I've heard about this book quite some time, but not until I arrived in USA that I can buy this book through Amazon and start to read it. With my background in graduate level physics, this book is quite an easy read for me.
The book was written with multiple audience in mind: humanities and liberal arts majors who are interested in astrophysics but don't want to use too much mathematics; freshman students with great curiosity but not much mathematical skills; biology, life-science, and pre-med students with interest in astrobiology and the origin of life; general science and engineering students with strong math and physics background but have no intention to have a career in science; and ultimately to those thoughtful, astronomers-astrophysicist-physicist-wanna-be students. Perhaps those are exactly the same kind of audience Shu ever has in Berkeley: Berkeley is famous for diversity.
The book is self-contained, in the sense that (almost) all the necessary scientific concepts and backgrounds are explained: mechanics, quantum mechanics, thermodynamics, microbiology, genetics, even there are some discussions in supersymmetry and grand unification. There are some parts and problems that requires calculus and advanced undergraduate physics but the reader doesn't have to read those part to understand the results. I was lucky to have all the necessary physics to fully understand the book, but this should not stop laymen and common people to read this book.
The book is divided into four parts.
Part I (Chapter 1-4). Basic Principles.
This part explains the origin and history of astronomy and astrophysics, and the basic physical principles behind astrophysics: mechanics, relativity, optics, telescopes, quantum mechanics, atomic theory, and thermodynamics.
Part II (Chapter 5 - 10). Stars.
This part discuss stars as a basic constituents of our universe. Starting with the Sun as an example, the book goes with the energy generations and physical mechanism behind stars, birth, life, and death of stars, star classifications, stellar clusters, and binary stars.
Part III (Chapter 11 - 16). Galaxies and Cosmology.
This part starts with discussing materials between stars in our Galaxy, then our own Galaxy the Milky Way, further galaxies outside Milky Way, an introduction to Einstein's concepts of gravitation, cosmology, and ends with the Big Bang theory as the current Standard Model of Cosmology.
Part IV (Chapter 17 - 20). The Solar System and Life.
This part discuss the Solar System and the Planets, origins of the Solar System, and finally: the origin of life on Earth, and later the Life and Intelligence in our Universe. In my opinion, not much astronomy/astrophysics book discuss this subject, and in this sense this book make itself clearly stands out among the other.
Although it's 20 years now after the original publication, about 90% of the material are still relevant and interesting.
I personally suggest that Shu take a thorough revision and include some latest results on astrophysics in his book:
the dark energy and cosmic expansion, cosmic microwave background anisotropy, quark stars, extrasolar planets, large extra-dimensional particle theory, genetic engineering etc.
This would certainly bring the book back up-to-date for the 21st century.
I, without doubt, heartily recommend this book for all of you who are interested in astronomy and astrophysics, whatever background you have. A special recommendation is for physics student who wants to do astronomy in grad school but never take any astronomy/astrophysics courses. By buying, reading, and studying this book alone, combined with a mastery of upper-level undergraduate physics (analytical mechanics, thermodynamics & stat phys, electromagnetism, quantum mechanics, and math methods), I believe you will be ready for your grad-level astrophysics courses and even may have some advantages due to your physics background.
Great Book.......2001-02-23
This is a great book for anyone interested in astronomy. It is fine for anyone who is knew to astronomy, although you would be better off with some background in it first. For people who know more about astronomy, it has optional calculus problems, so it covers people with any level of knowledge.
Book Description
During the last twenty years, dramatic improvements in methods of observing astrophysical phenomena from the ground and in space have added to our knowledge of what the universe is like now and what it was like in the past, going back to the hot big bang. In this overview of today's physical cosmology, P.J.E. Peebles shows how observation has combined with theoretical elements to establish the subject as a mature science, while he also discusses the most notable recent attempts to understand the origin and structure of the universe. A successor to Peebles's classic volume Physical Cosmology (Princeton, 1971), the book is a comprehensive overview addressed not only to students but also to scientists active in fields outside cosmology.
The first chapter of the work presents the elements of physical cosmology, including the history of the discovery of the expanding universe. The second, on the cosmological tests that measure the geometry of spacetime, discusses general relativity theory as the basis for the tests, and then surveys the broad variety of ways the tests can be applied with the new generations of telescopes and detectors. The third chapter deals with the origin of galaxies and the large-scale structure of the universe, and reviews ideas about how the evolution of the universe might be traced back to very early epochs when structure originated. Each section of these chapters begins with an introduction that can be understood with no special knowledge beyond undergraduate physics, and then progresses to more specialized topics.
P.J.E. Peebles is Albert Einstein Professor of Science at Princeton University. He is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the Royal Society.
Customer Reviews:
A big disapointment!.......1999-03-28
Although the book overviews many topics in cosmology, it seems an excersise in personal interests of the writer. The results are often not directly applicable to "real-life" situations and rewritting of formulae is usually required. Personally, I would recommend the book "Cosmological Physics" by Peacock, which is much more transparent and up-to-date.
Books:
- The Slave Community: Plantation Life in the Antebellum South
- The Trouble With Physics: The Rise of String Theory, the Fall of a Science, and What Comes Next
- The Wars of Gods and Men: Book III of the Earth Chronicles
- The Wolves at the Door: The True Story of America's Greatest Female Spy
- This Moment on Earth: Today's New Environmentalists and Their Vision for the Future
- Traditional Mexican Style Interiors (Schiffer Design Book)
- Tycho & Kepler
- Universe: Stars and Galaxies w/Student CD & Starry Night CD: featuring Starry Night Backyard and Deep Space Explorer
- When Time Began: Book V of the Earth Chronicles
- Wildlife Ecology and Management (5th Edition)
Books Index
Books Home
Recommended Books
- Take Me Out to the Ballpark: An Illustrated Tour of Baseball Parks Past and Present
- Lords of Madness: The Book of Aberrations
- From Line to Design: Design Graphics Communication
- Kisscut: A Novel
- History: Fiction or Science
- Molecular Biology of the Cell, Fourth Edition
- Mathematicians Are People, Too: Stories from the Lives of Great Mathematicians
- The World of Bertoia
- How to Talk Dinosaur With Your Child
- Ferns of the northwest,: Covering Washington, Oregon, Idaho, British Columbia, Montana, Wyoming, cen
Warped Passages: Unraveling the Mysteries of the Universe's Hidden Dimensions
The Fabric of the Cosmos: Space, Time, and the Texture of Reality
The Trouble With Physics: The Rise of String Theory, The Fall of a Science, and What Comes Next
The Elegant Universe: Superstrings, Hidden Dimensions, and the Quest for the Ultimate Theory
Deep Down Things: The Breathtaking Beauty of Particle Physics
