This is a pretty darn good book. | Parallel Worlds: A Journey Through Creation, Higher Dimensions, and the...

Great book on cosmology! | Parallel Worlds: A Journey Through Creation, Higher Dimensions, and the Future of the Cosmos | Michio Kaku

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	• Parallel Worlds: A Journey Through Creation, Higher Dimensions, and the Future of the Cosmos Michio Kaku Anchor, 2006 - 448 pages average customer review:based on 57 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

A wonderful book for the intelligent lay person

As an applied physicist/electrical engineer who received his Ph.D. in 1952, and who has never taken an interest in particle physics, but has always been a devoted reader of science fiction, "Parallel Worlds......" is endlessly fascinating, and strangely enough, even suggests, that physics has shown that our universe is such a wonderful place, that it may even have had a designer! The whole book does not contain a single equation, but does assume that the reader has a knowledge of at least basic modern science. For instance Kaku talks reasonably glibly of concepts such as absolute zero, Maxwell's equations, Einstein's general relativity theory and of course quantum mechanics. I borrowed this book from our local library, but will definitely have buy my own copy. I will close with a quote from the book: "Physicists are made of atoms. A physicist is an attempt by an atom to understand itself".

Professor Kaku is not only a brilliant interpreter of modern physics to us lay people, but also a science fiction devotee. He quotes many science fiction authors in such a way as to enhance the beauty and majesty of his topic.

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This is a pretty darn good book.

What I really liked about this book is that it explained very advanced cutting edge theories of the universe, time and physics in such simple terms. It is amazing how well this book is written. It is said that a real genius appears to be a very common man because they can communicate on the most simplest of terms. This writer is such a person. If there is one book that you need to get to understand the nature of the universe, then this is that book. It is amazing. Just amazing.

Great book on cosmology!

This book gives a better view of cosmology and the exploration of other "worlds". The reason I gave this book a 4-star rating is that it sometimes goes into a little too technical detail, which can be a little bit confusing for the beginning reader of cosmology books. For the most part, this book explained a lot about cosmology, and gave me a greater sense of the world we could really be living in.

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Wormholes, Quarks, Symmetry and Kaku

I would have had more trouble with this book had it not been for my evil twin, Mo-Syn. He lives in a parallel universe one millimeter away, and kept whispering in my ear, "This is not science fiction; this is really what physics tells us through evidence!" Mo-Syn would have come to visit in person, but only his sound waves could make it through the wormhole between his universe and mine. If he attempted the journey himself, he would likely destablize the wormhole or die in transit.

Proofs for the fantastic theories in this book come through mathematics, the language of physics. If one does not speak the language, words have to suffice, but they are a very poor second.

The first revolution in cosmology began in the 1600's with the telescope, Copernicus, Kepler, Gallileo, and Newton, culminating in Newton's laws and the delineation of planetary motion. The second revolution came with the great telescopes of the 20th century, Einstein, Hubble, Hoyle, Gamow, and "The Big Bang." This book is about the third revolution, beginning shortly before the new century, and is about discoveries from high tech instruments, satellites, lasers, gravity wave detectors, & supercomputers. We can count on cosmology being heavily in the news during this decade and the decades to come.

I'm not a physicist, but I managed to make it through this superb book, with the help of Mo-Syn. To anticipate how much trouble you might have, I suggest you peruse the helpful 20-page glossary. If you have at least a vague idea of maybe a third of the entries, you will make it through the book.

Just an observation, but like many books of this type, the author attempts to reconcile his subject matter with God toward the end of the book. He goes back and forth before ending up with a feel-good sort of "Gaia," or universal cosmic presence. Daniel Dennett, in "Darwin's Dangerous Idea," discussed this at length. It seems that scientists (people) have lots of trouble being satisfied with the idea of "nothing," so they have to throw in "something." Dennett cleverly calls it a "Sky Hook."

Anyway, for those brave enough to briefly leave the safe world of today and travel into the world of tomorrow, this is your book. It's full of vibrating strings, worm holes and speculation. Mark Twain once said, "There is something fascinating about science. One gets such wholesale returns of conjecture out of such a trifling investment of facts." I don't know if that quote fits this book, but there are definitely too many fantastics "facts" in the Quantum world for me to fathom. Perhaps if I knew more math...

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The wonders of the universe!

This is a very enlightening and enjoyable book. Kaku discusses the universe from the smallest atoms to the vastness of the universe. The novel is really quite straight-forward, discussing the most recent developments in cosmology, particle physics and string theory. Kaku discusses the beautiful nature of the universe in terms of the possibility of 10 dimensions, a sea of multiple universes, the possibility of time travel and so on. Although not as poetic as some other books I've read, it's full of information and discussion of the universe, with some interesting discussion of the potential role of a higher being in the universe. I also like the discussion of the potential end of the universe and how advanced beings might survive by finding a path to a parallel universe.

Parallel Worlds gives a wonderful introduction to all of these strange, yet very real developments in science, which almost sound like science-fiction at times. The possibility of parallel worlds interests me greatly and I love learning about the beautiful universe we live in, so I enjoyed reading Kaku's book, which was quite informative.

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