Product Description

Getting a grip on the creation and ultimate fate of the universe is one of the great scientific stories of the twentieth century. In the twenty-first, the story is expanding to enfold many universes. Michio Kaku’s dazzling book tells that new story. Using the latest astronomical data, he explores the Big Bang, theories of everything, and our cosmic future. His wonderfully clear scientific account leads to some mind-boggling speculations about the human implications of this story. Are we condemned to watch a single universe slowly run down, becoming a dark, cold wasteland? Or can we dream of escaping into one of many parallel universes, each born of a new Big Bang, or even existing in another dimension? Kaku shows how the new cosmology points to these and other astonishing possibilities.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #6268 in Books
• Published on: 2006-01-26
• Released on: 2006-01-26
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 448 pages

Review
Cutting-edge physics for a popular audience. This time out, Kaku (Physics, CUNY; Hyperspace, 1994, etc.) takes us through the broad outlines of what physicists call "Theories of Everything." The hottest new flavor here is M-Theory, a derivative of string theory in which our universe is considered to be one of innumerable parallel universes separated by tiny distances in eleven-dimensional space. While apparently counterintuitive, such theories arise from the solid twin pillars of modern physics: quantum theory and general relativity. Kaku dutifully steers the reader through the key formulations of physics, with brief glimpses of the scientists behind the big ideas: not only Newton, Einstein and Hawking, but the playful George Gamow, who did as much as anyone to make the Big Bang respectable, and the wisecracking Richard Feynman, who cheerfully admitted that nobody really understands quantum theory. We also get a look at the hardware of today's science, from the atom-smashers that generate new particles to the giant telescopes that peer back toward the origins of the universe. Kaku clearly enjoys speculating about the broader implications of his subject, and he cites several SF novels with obvious familiarity. His concluding chapters offer a discussion of some ways an advanced civilization might escape the heat death of the universe by tunneling into a parallel universe where the stars still shine. Unfortunately, though, Kaku sometimes stumbles when he strays beyond physics. Errors creep into his historical summaries (Copernicus wrote his astronomical treatise well before his deathbed), and analogies sometimes fall flat: he states that plucking a musical string harder produces a different note (it just becomes louder). His final chapter looks for meaning in the structure of the cosmos, seeking a compromise between the Copernican principle (we are not special) and the anthropic principle (we can hardly be accidental). Ambitious and thought-provoking. (Kirkus Reviews)

About the Author
Michio Kaku is the co-founder of String Field Theory and is the author of international best-selling books such as Hyperspace, Visions, and Beyond Einstein. Michio Kaku is the Henry Semat Professor in Theoretical Physics at the City University of New York.

Customer Reviews

Fascinating but heavy going
The topics covered are profound, mind bending and require a fundamental shift in thinking from what we are accustomed to regard as normal. Kaku has set himself a difficult task in attempting to explain them to a general readership. Some of his explanations are good, but I found parts of book heavy going, especially string theory which is his specialism.

The book falls between two stools, being too hard for the amateur but not a textbook for physics students.

KAKU IS GOD
If your already a physicist: buy this, but dont expect TOO much
if your not: expect TOO much


in terms of knowledge etc, kaku has the wisdom of a 16,000 year old tortoise. but this book focuses on the "fun" part of physics. its more of an introduction to everything.

it goes through the simpler side of black holes, higher dimentional space, wave functions etc. it also gives some backgrounds about himself and other physicists.

when i say it focuses on the fun part, i mean it explains in a casual sense, no equations, or anything like that.
so if you want to get into physics, or just wanna know everything, then deffinitely buy this book.
and if your going to read any more kaku books, get this one FIRST, because the others focus on a point in-depth, whereas this gives a simpler knowledge of EVERYTHING. so its good to use Parallel worlds as a "foundation" for future knowledge.

5 stars!

Life, the universe and everything
I love documentaries that start talking about the quantum world. Of course there is part of your mind that is shouting "this makes no sense" but instead I listen to the bit that says "I must know more". If you are turned off by phrases like M-theory or cosmological constant then this is obviously not the book for you.

If, like me, you love popular science and want to push things a little further without getting bogged down in mathematical formulae which mean NOTHING to me then this is the book for you. Kaku is a great guide through the physics of the very big like red dwarfs and black holes to the subatomic world of gluons and string theory. Whenever there's a danger of losing the reader he uses a simple analogy to help the information make sense. His style is light but serious and his ability to pack so much in without losing a layman like me is impressive.

This is a fabulous book about science for the casual adult reader which will get you to look at the world in a very different way. Enjoy the ride.