 First edition cover art | |
| Author | Michio Kaku |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Subject | Physics |
| Genre | Popular science |
| Publisher | Doubleday |
Publication date | December 28, 2004 |
| Media type | Print (hardcover) |
| Pages | 428 |
| ISBN | 978-0385509862 |
| LC Class | QB981 .K134 2005 |
| Preceded by | Visions (book) |
| Followed by | Physics of the Impossible |
Parallel Worlds: A Journey Through Creation, Higher Dimensions, and the Future of the Cosmos is a popular science book by Michio Kaku first published in 2004. [1]
The book has twelve chapters arranged in three parts. Part I (Chapters 1-4) covers the Big Bang, the early development of the Universe, and how these topics relate to the Eternal Inflation Multiverse (Level II in the Tegmark hierarchy of Multiverses). Part II (Chapters 5-9) covers M-Theory and the Everett interpretation of Quantum Mechanics (Level III Multiverse). It also discusses how future technology will enable the creation of wormholes. Part III discusses the Big Freeze and how a Hyperspace wormhole (one in 11-dimensional Hyperspace rather than 3-dimensional normal space) will enable civilization and life to escape to a younger Universe.
In Parallel Worlds, Kaku presents many of the leading theories in physics; from Newtonian physics to Relativity to Quantum Physics to String theory and even into the newest version of string theory, called M-theory. He makes available to the reader a comprehensive description of many of the more compelling theories in physics, including many interesting predictions each theory makes, what physicists, astronomers, and cosmologists are looking for now and what technology they are using in their search.
Scarlett Thomas writing for The Independent calls Parallel Worlds "absolutely impossible to put down." [2] Mark Mortimer for Universe Today felt the book maintains a nice balance between detail and corollary while sometimes drifting to the philosophical side of things. [3] Gerry Gilmore of the Institute of Astronomy, wrote that the book "is not a classic, but does raise many interesting ideas." Gilmore praised the book for its "exotic physics" and felt their were "lots of intellectual challenge" but believed there "was a little too much of a pot-pourri." Gilmore wrote that the biggest weakness of the book is how it covers astrophysical history. [4]
The book was a finalist for the Samuel Johnson Prize for non-fiction in the UK. [5]
The multiverse is a hypothetical group of multiple universes. Together, these universes comprise everything that exists: the entirety of space, time, matter, energy, information, and the physical laws and constants that describe them. The different universes within the multiverse are called "parallel universes", "other universes", "alternate universes", or "many worlds".
A Brief History of Time: From the Big Bang to Black Holes is a book on theoretical cosmology by English physicist Stephen Hawking. It was first published in 1988. Hawking wrote the book for readers who had no prior knowledge of physics.
The ekpyrotic universe is a cosmological model of the early universe that explains the origin of the large-scale structure of the cosmos. The model has also been incorporated in the cyclic universe theory, which proposes a complete cosmological history, both the past and future.
A parallel universe, also known as a parallel dimension, alternate universe, or alternate reality, is a hypothetical self-contained plane of existence, co-existing with one's own. The sum of all potential parallel universes that constitute reality is often called a "multiverse".
Max Erik Tegmark is a Swedish-American physicist, cosmologist and machine learning researcher. He is a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the president of the Future of Life Institute. He is also a scientific director at the Foundational Questions Institute, a supporter of the effective altruism movement, and has received research grants from Elon Musk to investigate existential risk from advanced artificial intelligence.
Michio Kaku is an American theoretical physicist, futurist, and popularizer of science. He is a professor of theoretical physics in the City College of New York and CUNY Graduate Center. Kaku is the author of several books about physics and related topics and has made frequent appearances on radio, television, and film. He is also a regular contributor to his own blog, as well as other popular media outlets. For his efforts to bridge science and science fiction, he is a 2021 Sir Arthur Clarke Lifetime Achievement Awardee.
Brian Randolph Greene is an American theoretical physicist, mathematician, and string theorist. Greene was a physics professor at Cornell University from 1990–1995, and has been a professor at Columbia University since 1996 and chairman of the World Science Festival since co-founding it in 2008. Greene has worked on mirror symmetry, relating two different Calabi–Yau manifolds. He also described the flop transition, a mild form of topology change, showing that topology in string theory can change at the conifold point.
The characterization of the universe as finely tuned suggests that the occurrence of life in the universe is very sensitive to the values of certain fundamental physical constants and that the observed values are, for some reason, improbable. If the values of any of certain free parameters in contemporary physical theories had differed only slightly from those observed, the evolution of the Universe would have proceeded very differently and life as it is understood may not have been possible.
The Elegant Universe: Superstrings, Hidden Dimensions, and the Quest for the Ultimate Theory is a book by Brian Greene published in 1999, which introduces string and superstring theory, and provides a comprehensive though non-technical assessment of the theory and some of its shortcomings. In 2000, it won the Royal Society Prize for Science Books and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for General Non-Fiction. A new edition was released in 2003, with an updated preface.
The Fabric of the Cosmos: Space, Time, and the Texture of Reality (2004) is the second book on theoretical physics, cosmology, and string theory written by Brian Greene, professor and co-director of Columbia's Institute for Strings, Cosmology, and Astroparticle Physics (ISCAP).
Hyperspace is a concept from science fiction relating to higher dimensions as well as parallel universes and a faster-than-light (FTL) method of interstellar travel that also occasionally appears in scientific works in related contexts. Its use in science fiction originated in the magazine Amazing Stories Quarterly in 1931 and within several decades it became one of the most popular tropes of science fiction, popularized by its use in the works of authors such as Isaac Asimov and E. C. Tubb, and media franchises such as Star Wars.
Hyperspace: A Scientific Odyssey Through Parallel Universes, Time Warps, and the 10th Dimension is a book by Michio Kaku, a theoretical physicist from the City College of New York. It focuses on Kaku's studies of higher dimensions referred to as hyperspace. The recurring theme of the book is that all four forces of the universe become more coherent and their description simpler in higher dimensions.
Arthur Willink (1850-1913) was a nineteenth-century British theologian and clergyman.
Laura Mersini-Houghton is an Albanian-American cosmologist and theoretical physicist, and professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She is a proponent of the multiverse hypothesis and the author of a theory for the origin of the universe that holds that our universe is one of many selected by quantum gravitational dynamics of matter and energy. Predictions of her theory have been successfully tested by astrophysical data. She argues that anomalies in the current structure of the universe are best explained as the gravitational tug exerted by other universes.
Paul Halpern is an American author, Professor of Physics, and Fellow in the Humanities at the University of the Sciences in Philadelphia.
The Grand Design is a popular-science book written by physicists Stephen Hawking and Leonard Mlodinow and published by Bantam Books in 2010. The book examines the history of scientific knowledge about the universe and explains eleven-dimensional M-theory. The authors of the book point out that a Unified Field Theory may not exist.
The Hidden Reality: Parallel Universes and the Deep Laws of the Cosmos is a book by Brian Greene published in 2011 which explores the concept of the multiverse and the possibility of parallel universes. It has been nominated for the Royal Society Winton Prize for Science Books for 2012.
Physics of the Future: How Science Will Shape Human Destiny and Our Daily Lives by the Year 2100 is a 2011 book by theoretical physicist Michio Kaku, author of Hyperspace and Physics of the Impossible. In it Kaku speculates about possible future technological development over the next 100 years. He interviews notable scientists about their fields of research and lays out his vision of coming developments in medicine, computing, artificial intelligence, nanotechnology, and energy production. The book was on the New York Times Bestseller List for five weeks.
Quantum fiction is a literary genre that reflects modern experience of the material world and reality as influenced by quantum theory and new principles in quantum physics. The genre is not necessarily science-themed and blurs the line separating science fiction and fantasy into a broad scope of mainstream literature that transcends the mechanical model of science and involves the fantasy of human perception or imagination as realistic components affecting the every day physical world. Quantum fiction is characterized by the use of an element in quantum mechanics as a storytelling device. In quantum fiction, everyday life hinges on some aspect of the quantum nature of reality.
 | This article about a physics-related book is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
 | This article about an astronomy-related book is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |