The Hidden Reality: Parallel Universes and the Deep Laws of the Cosmos

· Vintage
4.1
41 reviews
Ebook
384
Pages

About this ebook

The bestselling author of The Elegant Universe and The Fabric of the Cosmos tackles perhaps the most mind-bending question in modern physics and cosmology: Is our universe the only universe?

There was a time when "universe" meant all there is. Everything. Yet, a number of theories are converging on the possibility that our universe may be but one among many parallel universes populating a vast multiverse. Here, Briane Greene, one of our foremost physicists and science writers, takes us on a breathtaking journey to a multiverse comprising an endless series of big bangs, a multiverse with duplicates of every one of us, a multiverse populated by vast sheets of spacetime, a multiverse in which all we consider real are holographic illusions, and even a multiverse made purely of math--and reveals the reality hidden within each.

Using his trademark wit and precision, Greene presents a thrilling survey of cutting-edge physics and confronts the inevitable question: How can fundamental science progress if great swaths of reality lie beyond our reach? The Hidden Reality is a remarkable adventure through a world more vast and strange than anything we could have imagined.

Ratings and reviews

4.1
41 reviews
A Google user
December 14, 2011
Nine types of parallel universes are proposed including quilted, inflationary, brane, cyclic, landscape, quantum, holographic, simulated and ultimate. The questions include how to test these theories, e.g. involving features which are common, or correlated, to the known universe, possibly through computation, and whether they can be used to solve problems. Various components such as black holes, string theory, and branes are explored and related to each model. There are eleven chapters.
A Google user
July 8, 2011
Thoroughly enjoying this book; it's been a while since I read "The Elegant Universe" and this book offers a useful refresher as well as a different approach and focus on the prevalent topics in theoretical physics.
A Google user
June 3, 2011
This book pick off up where 'Elegant Universe' left off. Overall, the illustration explains it better than the rest of the book.

About the author

Brian Greene received his undergraduate degree from Harvard University and his doctorate from Oxford University, where he was a Rhodes Scholar. He joined the physics faculty of Cornell University in 1990, was appointed to a full professorship in 1995, and in 1996 joined Columbia University, where he is professor of physics and mathematics. He has lectured at both a general and a technical level in more than thirty countries, and on all seven continents, and is widely regarded for a number of groundbreaking discoveries in superstring theory. His first book, The Elegant Universe, was a national best seller and a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. His most recent book, The Fabric of the Cosmos, was also a best seller. He lives in Andes, New York, and New York City.

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