Product Description

In this fascinating and entertaining collection of essays, acclaimed cosmologist and writer John D. Barrow addresses the many questions that we ponder in our quest to discover the universe. Key topics are: the popularity of Big Science, and physics and cosmology in particular; life on other planets; issues of time and space and quantum reality; the ancient foundations of science, mathematics and their most modern expressionDScomplexity theory; and how science relates to religion and aesthetics. Taken as a whole, these thought-provoking essays provide a rich introduction to contemporary scientific debate. 'Only John Barrow could have assembled this delightful book of diverse essays, which touches on everything from the deepest secrets of Creation to the nature of art and esthetics. Witty, whimsical, and always thought-provoking and entertaining, Barrow takes us on a wild, intellectual joy-ride through the mysteries of spacetime and the mind.' Michio Kaku

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #348939 in Books
• Published on: 2000-03-16
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 274 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
The publication over a decade ago of Stephen Hawking's soaraway best-seller A Brief History of Time triggered a flood of more or less comprehensible books about the frontiers of physics and mathematics. And to judge by most of their authors, we are on the brink of finding the Theory of Everything, or the key to the cosmos, or some other "holy grail" of science.

Altogether rarer are authors like John Barrow, professor of physics at Sussex University, a genuine expert in these fields who writes coolly and clearly about the current state of play. Between Inner Space and Outer Space is a collection of Barrow's writings about the frontiers of science dating back to 1980, and is remarkable for the number of fresh twists and insights it brings to many now-familiar debates. For example, are scientists really close to a Theory of Everything, uniting all the fundamental forces in the universe, and all the particles on which they act? Barrow shows how the quest may be stymied by fundamental limits to knowledge that have emerged from 20th-century mathematics. Are scientists really close to understanding the birth of the universe? Again, Barrow shows that a whole set of limitations--not least of which is the fact that light travels at a finite speed--forever stops us knowing for sure if our ideas are right. As in any collection, there is a modicum of repetition and a few ill-judged selections. Even so, any reader seeking thoughtful, sophisticated and above all original writing about the cutting edge of physics and mathematics need look no further. --Robert Matthews

Professor Sir Martin Rees, Astronomer Royal
"Barrow is emerging as the Stephen Jay Gould of the mathematical sciences. These fluent and erudite essays should further enhance his reputation."

Review
Barrow is emerging as the Stephen Jay Gould of the mathematical sciences. These fluent and erudite essays should further enhance his reputation. Professor Sir Martin Rees, Astronomer Royal

Customer Reviews

A review of John Barrow's past work
If you look at nature curiously and wonder about the truth of nature.This book will motivate you to be a good nature observer. The author has made good observation of the relationship between small objects (e.g. atoms, cells)and enormous objects (e.g. huge animals, galaxy). The arguments in the beginning of universe, theory of everything, thoroughly the existence of religion are discussed. However, this book summarised from the author's articles in some news papers and magazines. Some topics in this book have already appeared in his previous books. If you want to know how mathematician as John Barrow looks at the world, this book is a conclusion of all his past work.