Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2004 in Books
• Published on: 2007-09-20
• Binding: Paperback
• 336 pages

Sunday Herald
'Chown, a scientist with a friendly prose style, investigates and clarifies the nature of the universe ... [it] fascinates.'

Guardian, January 27, 2007
A limousine among popular-science vehicles ... Superb.

Independent on Sunday, January 21, 2007
Reading this book is a little like being at a party with an almost perfect DJ.

Customer Reviews

The 8 Amazon reader reviews of the hardback
13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
*****
Big questions, even bigger answers, 13 Aug 2007
By Toby Briggs "Toby Briggs" (Bath, UK)
Big questions. Brave people with even bigger answers which, even if they turn out to be wrong, illuminate vast areas of modern science. Chow takes you by the hand and leads you to the frontier of knowledge - literally, since one of his big questions is: What is the limit of what we can know? What IBM mathematician Gregory Chatin has to say about this will leave your brain reeling, but it has implications for everything from the limits of computers to the origin of human intuition, imagination and creativity. Elsewhere Chow asks: What happened before the Big Bang explosion? Where does the everyday world come from? Can life survive into the infinite future of the Universe? Why do we experience a common past, present and future when none of these concepts appear in our basic description of space and time (remarkably, it may be due to our biology rather than to physics)? And why are fridges hard to shove about?! (because empty space is "sticky"!) This is a very stimulating book which I have raved about to all my friends.

22 of 25 people found the following review helpful:
*****
Truly mind-boggling, 30 Jan 2007
By B. M. Clegg (Wiltshire, England)
This book is really approachable, yet it covers some of the most amazing scientific theories and speculations around. At times you'll be hard pushed to believe this is real science, not science fiction - but it is. A really excellent read - much better than those silly science questions books about penguins feet freezing that the cover seems to be copying.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
*****
breathtaking speculation, 11 Sep 2007
By Simon Laub (Aarhus, Denmark, Europe)
Once in a while comes along a book with breathtaking speculation. Marcus Chowns latest "Dispatches from the frontline of science" certainly fits the description of being "breathtaking". In the words of Brian May (Queen guitarist): "Marcus Chown rocks". We sometimes forget how big and how weird the universe really is. And then it is nice that we have Marcus Chown around to remind us. There is only a finite number of ways of arranging protons in a given volumen of space. Just as it is possible to estimate how many oranges that can be stacked together in a box, it it possible to estimate how many protons you can have in a given volume of space. Because of its quantum graininess, the obervable universe has "only" 10^118 locations where a proton can be. When we further assume that the distribution of galaxies in the observable universe and beyond is the result of random processes that went on the first split seconds of the Universe existence. It follows: Try out enough places in the universe and eventually you come to a part that looks exactly like our observable universe, but is somewhere else. Somewhere out there a copy of you is walking around reading a book that also looks like your book. - Infinite turns out to be a pretty weird thing. It gets worse - or better - with Nick Bostroms simulation argument, which suggest that our universe is really some experiment set up by some super advanced civisisation. And with Frank Tiplers resurrection of all humans in the big crunch at the of time (in the universe) - things gets really weird. Surely, you don't wanna miss the ride. Pick up the book asap. -Simon

16 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
*****
Exhilarating!, 14 Feb 2007
By Mandy Roberts (Birmingham, England)
This is the most exhilarating popular science book I have read since Carl Sagan's 'The Cosmic Connection', and I must have read that 30-odd years ago. Sagan's book opened my eyes to truly cosmic vistas and enriched my life. I think this book will do the same for today's generation. I've already started reading it again!

0 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
*****
Confusing (in a good way), 1 Oct 2007
By Mr. C. Johnson "capoeirafreak" (Cambridge)
A good introduction to Quantum Theory for beginners - easy to read, yet fundamentally confusing. I really liked the book, but my nearest doppelganger wasn't so impressed.

24 of 26 people found the following review helpful:
*****
The never ending days of trying not to get lost in this book, 26 Jan 2007
By Mr. R. Bradley "Tearmatt" (Plymouth UK)
As soon as I took it off the shelf I was hooked. You get tucked into the pages after the heading of the first chapter. The words begin to flow and you're taken on a smooth ride into the heart of all the really interesting bits of science, the ones that have the most extreme of theories and questions. All the information is explained in true layman's terms Which is a big help to non degree level people like myself, and is broken down in quick night time session chapters, yet don't expect to sleep easy, some of the information and facts about quantum theory are somewhat upsetting and take away most, or any individual belief that we are unique and more than just lucky animals. All and all a great read for the open minded.

8 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
****
very interesting, from start to finish, 20 Jun 2007
By Hambletta-Maud "hamble" (sunny ireland) - See all my reviews
i really enjoy books about speculative cosmology, and this one hits all the right buttons. by the end of it you will be wondering whether we are just a lot of lucky self-replicating molecules inhabiting a universe that is just right for life or whether there are infinitely similar copies of ourselves spread out in multiverses throughout the cosmos. i know which, but i'm not telling.

8 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
***
Average ........, 8 Aug 2007
By smashing (Yorkshire)
Yes its true - its easy to follow with no mind blowing mathematics and equations to understand. However, where's the evidence for all of the theories in this book ? It ok to say this scientist believes this and that physicist believes that but for me there wasn't enough of the next line - "because....... etc" !! It desperately needs more step by step discussion as to how these fabulous ideas were arrived at, and the sound logical steps in thinking from which they are derived. Too close to science fiction & too far from science fact for me.

Confusing (in a good way)
A good introduction to Quantum Theory for beginners - easy to read, yet fundamentally confusing. I really liked the book, but my nearest doppelganger wasn't so impressed.

breathtaking speculation
Once in a while comes along a book with breathtaking speculation. Marcus Chowns latest "Dispatches from the frontline of science" certainly fits the description of being "breathtaking". In the words of Brian May (Queen guitarist): "Marcus Chown rocks".

We sometimes forget how big and how weird the universe really is. And then it is nice that we have Marcus Chown around to remind us.

There is only a finite number of ways of arranging protons in a given volumen of space. Just as it is possible to estimate how many oranges that can be stacked together in a box, it it possible to estimate how many protons you can have in a given volume of space. Because of its quantum graininess, the obervable universe has "only" 10^118 locations where a proton can be. When we further assume that the distribution of galaxies in the observable universe and beyond is the result of random processes that went on the first split seconds of the Universe existence.
It follows: Try out enough places in the universe and eventually you come to a part that looks exactly like our observable universe, but is somewhere else. Somewhere out there a copy of you is walking around reading a book that also looks like your book.
- Infinite turns out to be a pretty weird thing.

It gets worse - or better - with Nick Bostroms simulation argument, which suggest that our universe is really some experiment set up by some super advanced civisisation. And with Frank Tiplers resurrection of all humans in the big crunch at the of time (in the universe) - things gets really weird.

Surely, you don't wanna miss the ride. Pick up the book asap.

-Simon