Tech Manifesto

Parallel Worlds: A Journey Through Creation, Higher Dimensions, and the Future of the Cosmos

Description:

Well-known physicist and author Kaku ( Hyperspace ) tells readers in this latest exploration of the far reaches of scientific speculation that another universe may be floating just a millimeter away on a “brane” (membrane) parallel to our own. We can’t pop our heads in and have a look around because it exists in hyperspace, beyond our four dimensions. However, Kaku writes, scientists conjecture that branes—a creation of M theory, marketed as possibly the long-sought “theory of everything”—may eventually collide, annihilating each other.

Such a collision may even have caused what we call the big bang. In his usual reader-friendly style, Kaku discusses the spooky objects conjured up from the equations of relativity and quantum physics: wormholes, black holes and the “white holes” on the other side; universes budding off from one another; and alternate quantum realities in which the 2004 elections turned out differently. As he delves into the past, present and possible future of this universe, Kaku will excite readers with his vision of realms that may exist just beyond the tip of our noses and, in what he admits is a highly speculative section, the possibilities our progeny may enjoy countless millennia from now; for instance, as this universe dies (in a “big freeze”), humans may be able to escape into other universes. B&w illus.

Details:

• Hardcover: 448 pages
• Publisher: Doubleday; 1st edition (December 28, 2004)
• Language: English
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Hyperspace : A Scientific Odyssey Through Parallel Universes, Time Warps, and the 10th Dimension

Description:

Since ingesting Einstein’s relativity theory 50 years ago, physics fell down a quantum rabbit hole and, ever since, physicists’ reports to the world of popular science have been curiouser and curiouser. This version, from the author of the graduate text Quantum Field Theory , is very curious as he delineates the “delicious contradictions” of the quantum revolution: that the new paradigms of subatomic matter require the existence of “hyperspace,” an ultimate universe of many dimensions, to accomodate their mostly mathematical behaviors. Unified field theory as it is currently understood does not preclude any of the hypotheses that Kaku invites to this Mad Hatter’s Theory Party: superstrings, parallel universes and, his centerpiece, time travel. Although occasionally facile, Kaku remains on solid theoretical ground up to the point of his untestable hypotheses, which lead to his more abstract arguments. In the past decade particle physics has lurched to astonishing contradictions and Kaku’s adventurous, tantalizing book should not be penalized for promising more than present technology can test. His intellectual perceptions will thrill lay readers, SF fans and the physics-literate. Illustrations.

Details:

• Paperback: 359 pages
• Publisher: Anchor (February 1, 1995)
• Language: English
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About the Author: Michio Kaku

Dr. Michio Kaku is a Japanese American theoretical physicist, tenured professor and noted contributor to string field theory. Dr. Kaku received a B.S. (summa cum laude) from Harvard University in 1968 where he was first in his physics class. He went on to the Berkeley Radiation Laboratory at the University of California, Berkeley and received a PhD in 1972. In 1973 he held a lectureship at Princeton University. Today, Dr. Kaku holds the Henry Semat Professorship in Theoretical Physics at The City College of New York and the Graduate Center of the City University of New York, where he has taught for more than 25 years and is engaged in work involving Einstein’s “Theory of Everything,” which seeks to unify the four fundamental forces of the universe — the strong force, the weak force, gravity and electromagnetism — into a single equation.

Description:

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.

Details:

• Hardcover: 576 pages
• Publisher: Knopf; 1st edition (February 10, 2004)
• Language: English
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Description:

One of the more compelling scientific (cum-theological) questions in the Middle Ages was: “How many angels can dance on the head of a pin?” Today’s version in cutting-edge science is, “How many strings… ?” As posited by s tring theory physics, strings are furiously vibrating loops of stuff. The concept of strings was devised to help scientists describe simultaneously both energy and matter. The frequency and resonance of strings’ vibration, just like those of strings on an instrument, determine charge, spin and other familiar properties of energy?and eventually the structure of the universe: a true music of the spheres. There’s a chance that strings are themselves made up of something still smaller. But scientists can prove their existence only on the blackboard and computer, because they are much too tiny?a hundred billion billion times smaller than the nucleus of an atom?to be observed experimentally. Brian Greene, professor of physics and mathematics at Cornell and Columbia universities, makes the terribly complex theory of strings accessible to all. He possesses a remarkable gift for using the everyday to illustrate what may be going on in dimensions beyond our feeble human perception. Just when we might be tempted to dismiss strings as grist for the publish-or-perish mill, Greene explains how they have demonstrated connections between mathematics and physics that have helped solve age-old conundrums in each field. This book will appeal to astronomy as well as math and physics fans because it probes the important insights string theory gives into hotly debated issues in cosmology. Later chapters require careful attention to Greene’s explications, but the effort will prepare readers to follow the scientific advances likely to be made in the next millennium through application of string theory. Author tour.

Details:

• Paperback: 464 pages
• Publisher: Vintage; Vintage edition (February 29, 2000)
• Language: English
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About the Author: Brian Greene

Dr. Brian Greene (born February 9, 1963) is a physicist and one of the world’s foremost string theorists. As of 2003, he is a professor at Columbia University. Born in New York City, Greene was a child prodigy in mathematics. At the age of five, he could multiply 30-digit numbers. His skill in mathematics was so great that by the time he was twelve years old, he was being privately tutored in mathematics by a Columbia University professor because he had surpassed the high-school math level. He entered Harvard in 1980 to major in physics, and with his bachelor’s degree, Greene went to Oxford University, in England, as a Rhodes Scholar.

Description:

The concept of symmetry has seen increasing service in science popularizations as a metaphor to convey the intuitive appeal of physics, a vogue that continues in this dense treatise. Nobel Laureate Lederman ( The God Particle ) and theoretical physicist Hill deploy mathematical symmetry as a unifying theme in a tour of physics from Newton’s laws to quarks and superstrings. Sometimes, as in a demonstration that the invariance of physical laws through time implies the law of conservation of energy, this approach yields insights. But usually, as in their confusing exposition of special relativity, symmetry considerations get in the way. The authors keep things readable with lots of physics-for-poets bits, including some tie-ins to environmentalism, comparisons of modern cosmology with ancient Greek myths, and a fictional dialogue—partly in Italian—between two newlywed physicists and Galileo’s ghost. Unfortunately, symmetry is a forbiddingly abstract branch of mathematics that was peripheral to the development of much of physics and gives little tangible feel for its substance, and the point where it becomes indispensable to discussions of modern physics is also the tipping point where the book, like many others, topples into total incomprehensibility to laypeople. Readers who think symmetry implies clarity and grace will be disappointed. Photos.

Details:

• Hardcover: 363 pages
• Publisher: Prometheus Books (October 31, 2004)
• Language: English
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About the Author: Leon M. Lederman

Leon Max Lederman (born July 15, 1922) is an American experimental physicist who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1988 for his work on neutrinos. He is Director Emeritus of Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Fermilab) in Batavia, Illinois. He founded the Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy, in Aurora, Illinois, in 1986. He received his bachelor’s degree from the City College of New York in 1943, and received a Ph.D. from Columbia University in 1951. His current occupation is a resident scholar in the Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy.