The Universe Next Door: The Making of Tomorrow's Science - Softcover

Chown, Marcus

3.89

247 ratings by Goodreads

9780195168846: The Universe Next Door: The Making of Tomorrow's Science

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0195168844 ISBN 13: 9780195168846

Publisher: Oxford University Press, 2003

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The idea that an atom can be in two places at once defies logic. Yet this is now an established scientific fact. In The Universe Next Door, science writer Marcus Chown examines a dozen mind-bending new ideas that also fly in the face of reason--but that, according to eminent scientists, might just be crazy enough to be true.
Could time run backwards? Is there a fifth dimension? Does quantum theory promise immortality? To explore these questions, Chown has interviewed some of the most imaginative and courageous people working at the forefront of science, and he has come away with a smorgasbord of mind-expanding ideas. For instance, Lawrence Schulman at New York's Clarkson University believes there could be regions in our Universe where stars unexplode, eggs unbreak and living things grow younger with every passing second. Max Tegmark, at the University of Pennsylvania, believes there could be an infinity of realities stacked together like the pages of a never-ending book (with an infinite number of versions of you, living out an infinite number of different lives). And David Stevenson of Cal Tech argues that life may exist on worlds drifting in the cold, dark abyss between the stars, worlds without suns to warm them. Indeed, these worlds may be the most common sites for life in the universe.
Was our universe created by super-intelligent beings from another universe? Is there evidence of extraterrestrial life lying right beneath our feet? The Universe Next Door ponders these and many other thought-provoking questions. You may not agree with all the answers but your head will be spinning by the time you reach the last page.

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About the Author:

Marcus Chown, an award-winning writer and broadcaster, is Cosmology Consultant for the weekly science magazine New Scientist. Formerly a radio astronomer at Cal Tech, he is the author of Afterglow of Creation and The Magic Furnace (OUP). He lives in England.

From Booklist:

*Starred Review* Immortality in an alternate quantum reality? Black holes that give birth to new universes? Galactic regions where time runs backward? Mere fiction simply cannot keep up with the wild rush of contemporary science. And no writer makes it easier for general readers to come along for the dizzying ride than Chown, cosmology consultant for New Scientist. Whether assessing the latest evidence for comet-borne life or probing the implications of 10-dimensional models for space, Chown frees readers from the technical rigors of theorizing but ceaselessly challenges us to enlarge our imaginative horizons. The galaxy itself cannot contain ideas that open up onto a multiuniverse of cosmic possibilities, including invisible mirror planets and cosmic laboratories for detonating new big bangs. To be sure, Chown ventures far beyond what scientists have actually proved, delving deep into what they only wildly conjecture. But even the wildest of speculations (that, for instance, each atom is a miniature time machine) show us how brilliant scientists grapple with fundamental questions. Many of these theoretical forays will eventually be exposed as fantasies. But others are bound to revolutionize the way scientists--and ordinary humans--view our cosmos and our place in it. For sheer intellectual exhilaration, few books offer more. Bryce Christensen
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