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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
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Book Description Paperback. Condition: new. Paperback. Brian Greene's The Fabric of the Cosmos is an astonishing grand tour of the universe and the best layman's guide to current thinking on 'how everything works'. This rollercoaster ride explores the mysteries of space and time; asks questions about the nature of reality, dark matter, space warps and wiggles; and will fundamentally alter the perceptions of anyone that's looked up at the stars and asked themselves- what's it all about? Shipping may be from multiple locations in the US or from the UK, depending on stock availability. Seller Inventory # 9780141037622
Book Description Paperback. Condition: new. Paperback. Brian Greene's The Fabric of the Cosmos is an astonishing grand tour of the universe and the best layman's guide to current thinking on 'how everything works'. This rollercoaster ride explores the mysteries of space and time; asks questions about the nature of reality, dark matter, space warps and wiggles; and will fundamentally alter the perceptions of anyone that's looked up at the stars and asked themselves- what's it all about? Shipping may be from our Sydney, NSW warehouse or from our UK or US warehouse, depending on stock availability. Seller Inventory # 9780141037622
Book Description Paperback. Condition: new. Paperback. Brian Greene's The Fabric of the Cosmos is an astonishing grand tour of the universe and the best layman's guide to current thinking on 'how everything works'. This rollercoaster ride explores the mysteries of space and time; asks questions about the nature of reality, dark matter, space warps and wiggles; and will fundamentally alter the perceptions of anyone that's looked up at the stars and asked themselves- what's it all about? Shipping may be from our UK warehouse or from our Australian or US warehouses, depending on stock availability. Seller Inventory # 9780141037622