Just Six Numbers: The Deep Forces That Shape the Universe (Science Masters)

MARTIN J. REES

ISBN 10: 0297842978 / ISBN 13: 9780297842972

Published by The Softback Preview Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2000

About this Item

Published in Science Masters. How was it that a single genesis event could create billions of galaxies, black holes, stars and planets? How did atoms assemble into living beings intricate enough to ponder their origins and purpose? Written by one of the most brilliant and visionary cosmologists Martin Rees, 'Just Six Numbers' is indispensable reading for anyone wishing to understand the deep forces that shape the Universe and everything in it. This copy is in fine condition and looks to be unread.

Seller Inventory # ABE-1756769267572

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Just Six Numbers: The Deep Forces That Shape the Universe (Science Masters)
• Publisher: The Softback Preview Weidenfeld & Nicolson
• Publication Date: 2000
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0297842978
• ISBN 13: 9780297842972
• Binding: Soft cover
• Edition: 2nd Edition
• Condition: Fine
• Dimensions: 14.2W x 23.1H x 1.8D centimeters 14.2 centimeters width by 23.1 centimeters height by 1.8 centimeters depth
• Weight: 300 grams
• Seller catalogs:
  • Science
  • Astronomy

About this title

Synopsis

Just Six Numbers: The Deep Forces That Shape the Universe (Science Masters) Rees, Sir Martin

Review

Just six numbers govern the shape, size, and texture of our universe. If their values were only fractionally different, we would not exist: nor, in many cases, would matter have had a chance to form. If the numbers that govern our universe were elegant--1, say, or pi, or the Golden Mean--we would simply shrug and say that the universe was an elegant mathematical puzzle. But the numbers Martin Rees discusses are far from tidy. Was the universe "tweaked" or is it one of many universes, all run by slightly different, but equally messy, rules?

This is familiar ground, though rarely so comprehensively explored. What makes Rees's book exceptional is his conviction that cosmology is as materialistic and as conceptually simple as any of the earth sciences. Indeed,

cosmology is simpler in one important respect: once the starting point is specified, the outcome is in broad terms predictable. All large patches of the universe that start off the same way end up statistically similar. In contrast, if the Earth's history were re-run, it could end up with a quite different biosphere.

Rees demonstrates how the cosmos is full of "fossils" from which we can deduce how our universe developed as surely as we infer the earth's past from the relics found in sedimentary rocks. Rees's theme is nothing less than the colossal richness of the universe. It is an ambitious book, but if anything, it deserves to be longer. --Simon Ings, Amazon.co.uk