The Universe - Paperback

by John Brockman (Author)

John Brockman brings together the world's best-known physicists and science writers--including Brian Greene, Walter Isaacson, Nobel Prize-winner Frank Wilczek, Benoit Mandelbrot, and Martin Rees--to explain the universe and the latest theories in cosmology in all its wondrous splendor.

In The Universe, today's most influential science writers explain the science behind our evolving understanding of the universe and everything in it, including the cutting edge research on quantum mechanics and discoveries that are shaping our knowledge.

Lee Smolin reveals how math and cosmology are helping us create a theory of the whole universe. Benoit Mandelbrot looks back on a career devoted to fractal geometry. Neil Turok analyzes the fundamental laws of nature, what came before the big bang, and the possibility of a unified theory.

Seth Lloyd investigates the impact of computational revolutions and the informational revolution. Lawrence Krauss provides fresh insight into gravity, dark matter, and the mysterious dark energy of empty space. Brian Greene and Walter Isaacson illuminate the genius who revolutionized modern science: Albert Einstein. And much more.

Explore the universe with some of today's greatest minds: what it is, how it came into being, and what may happen next.

This collection of essays from the leading minds in physics tackles the biggest questions in cosmology:

• The Big Bang and Beyond: Explore the fundamental laws of nature and ask what might have come before the beginning of time with leading thinkers like Neil Turok and Alan Guth.
• String Theory and Branes: Delve into the mind-bending concepts of extra dimensions and brane theories with pioneers like Lisa Randall and Leonard Susskind.
• Einstein's Legacy: Re-examine the genius of Albert Einstein as writers like Brian Greene and Walter Isaacson discuss how he revolutionized modern science and the quest for a unified theory.
• The Anthropic Principle: Confront one of the most controversial ideas in modern physics--the suggestion that the universe is fine-tuned for our own existence--in a debate between Lee Smolin and Leonard Susskind.
• A Golden Age of Cosmology: Join a thrilling colloquium of today's top science writers as they render visible the deeper meanings of our lives and redefine who and what we are.

Front Jacket

Explore the universe with today's greatest physicists.

In the wake of one of the most groundbreaking scientific breakthroughs in modern times, the March 2014 discovery of gravitational ripples from the Big Bang--an apparent confirmation of Alan Guth and Andrei Linde's theory of cosmic inflation--John Brockman of Edge.org has gathered together some of the world's best minds to explain the universe as we currently know it. The contributors--many pioneering theoretical physicists and cosmologists, including Guth and Linde--provide an extraordinary picture of cosmology as it has developed over the past three decades.

• Alan Guth and Andrei Linde explain the Inflationary Universe theory.
• Lee Smolin discusses the nature of time.
• Lisa Randall and Neil Turok elaborate on the theory of branes, two-dimensional structures arising from string theory--whose existence is central to the cyclic universe.
• Seth Lloyd investigates how the universe behaves like a self-programming computer.
• Lawrence Krauss provides fresh insight into gravity, dark matter, and the energy of empty space.
• Brian Greene and Einstein biographer Walter Isaacson speculate on how Albert Einstein might view the theoretical physics of the twenty-first century.
• The late Benoit Mandelbrot looks back on a long career devoted to fractal geometry.
• Plus Nobel Prize winner Frank Wilczek, Astronomer Royal MaRtin Rees, Caltech physicist Sean Carroll, Stanford's Leonard Susskind, Oxford's David Deutsch, Cornell's Steven Strogatz, Albert Einstein Professor in Science at Princeton Paul Steinhardt, and more!

Back Jacket

Explore the universe with today's greatest physicists.

In the wake of one of the most groundbreaking scientific breakthroughs in modern times, the March 2014 discovery of gravitational ripples from the Big Bang--an apparent confirmation of Alan Guth and Andrei Linde's theory of cosmic inflation--John Brockman of Edge.org has gathered together some of the world's best minds to explain the universe as we currently know it. The contributors--many pioneering theoretical physicists and cosmologists, including Guth and Linde--provide an extraordinary picture of cosmology as it has developed over the past three decades.

• Alan Guth and Andrei Linde explain the Inflationary Universe theory.
• Lee Smolin discusses the nature of time.
• Lisa Randall and Neil Turok elaborate on the theory of branes, two-dimensional structures arising from string theory--whose existence is central to the cyclic universe.
• Seth Lloyd investigates how the universe behaves like a self-programming computer.
• Lawrence Krauss provides fresh insight into gravity, dark matter, and the energy of empty space.
• Brian Greene and Einstein biographer Walter Isaacson speculate on how Albert Einstein might view the theoretical physics of the twenty-first century.
• The late Benoit Mandelbrot looks back on a long career devoted to fractal geometry.
• Plus Nobel Prize winner Frank Wilczek, Astronomer Royal MaRtin Rees, Caltech physicist Sean Carroll, Stanford's Leonard Susskind, Oxford's David Deutsch, Cornell's Steven Strogatz, Albert Einstein Professor in Science at Princeton Paul Steinhardt, and more!