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The Book of Universes: Exploring the Limits of the Cosmos
This is a book about universes, a story that revolves around a single unusual and unappreciated that Einstein's famous theory of relativity describes universes -- entire universes. Not many solutions of Einstein's tantalizing universe equations have ever been found, but those that have are all very remarkable. Some of them describe universes that expand in size, while others contract, some rotate like a top and others are chaotic. Some are perfectly smooth, while others are lumpy, or shaken in different directions by tides of energy; some oscillate forever, some become lifeless and cold, while others head towards a runaway future of ever-increasing expansion. Some permit time travel into the past, and others allow infinitely many things to happen in a finite amount of time. Only a few allow life to evolve within them; the rest remain unknowable to conscious minds. Some end with a bang, some with a whimper. Some don't end at all.
Our story will encounter universes where the laws of physics can change from time to time and from one region to another, universes that have extra hidden dimensions of space and time, universes that are eternal, universes that live inside black holes, universes that end without warning, colliding universes, inflationary universes, and universes that come into being from something else -- or from nothing at all.
Gradually, we will find ourselves introducing the latest and the best descriptions of the Universe we see around us today, together with the concept of the 'Multiverse' -- the universe of all possible universes -- that modern theories of physics lead us to contemplate. These are the most fantastic and far-reaching speculations in the whole of science.
Other cosmology and astronomy books focus on particular topics -- dark matter, dark energy, the beginning of the universe, inflation, life-supporting coincidences, or the end of the universe -- but this book introduces the reader to whole universes in a coherent and unified way.
Our story will encounter universes where the laws of physics can change from time to time and from one region to another, universes that have extra hidden dimensions of space and time, universes that are eternal, universes that live inside black holes, universes that end without warning, colliding universes, inflationary universes, and universes that come into being from something else -- or from nothing at all.
Gradually, we will find ourselves introducing the latest and the best descriptions of the Universe we see around us today, together with the concept of the 'Multiverse' -- the universe of all possible universes -- that modern theories of physics lead us to contemplate. These are the most fantastic and far-reaching speculations in the whole of science.
Other cosmology and astronomy books focus on particular topics -- dark matter, dark energy, the beginning of the universe, inflation, life-supporting coincidences, or the end of the universe -- but this book introduces the reader to whole universes in a coherent and unified way.
368 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2011
40 people are currently reading
658 people want to read
About the author
John D. Barrow
89 books166 followersJohn D. Barrow was a professor of mathematical sciences and director of the Millennium Mathematics Project at Cambridge University and a Fellow of the Royal Society.
He was awarded the 2006 Templeton Prize for "Progress Toward Research or Discoveries about Spiritual Realities" for his "writings about the relationship between life and the universe, and the nature of human understanding [which] have created new perspectives on questions of ultimate concern to science and religion".
He was a member of a United Reformed Church, which he described as teaching "a traditional deistic picture of the universe".
He was awarded the 2006 Templeton Prize for "Progress Toward Research or Discoveries about Spiritual Realities" for his "writings about the relationship between life and the universe, and the nature of human understanding [which] have created new perspectives on questions of ultimate concern to science and religion".
He was a member of a United Reformed Church, which he described as teaching "a traditional deistic picture of the universe".
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Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews
April 27, 2012
Incredible read. However, as a non-scientist, non-mathematician, it was often a slow read for me. I needed time to absorb and often relied on the footnotes to help me through a particularly difficult concept. But, there were many "aha" moments when Barrow simply made a concept clear that had been "fuzzy" for me prior to this book. The concepts are mind boggling. Trying to grasp one universe is overwhelming, but somehow it made great sense to put that in perspective of many possible universes. He presents a depth of information about the field of cosmology that centers the non-specialist in a way that allows the newer theories/concepts to be grasped. A distinct effort and a distinct pleasure to read.
May 5, 2013
If you pick up this book on cosmology, you've probably read a few cosmology books before. I've read a lot of them and this was a pleasant surprise. Barrow covers a lot of ground, cataloging the many models and mysteries of the universe. Along the way we discover many of the personalities in cosmology, their pet theories, and their arguments.
Books on cosmology usually fall into one of three camps; texts on observational astronomy which mostly describe the universe, explorations of the pet theories of a particular cosmologist - of which the Hawking and Penrose books are prime examples, or classical pop-sci texts that tend to get bogged down in philosophy or biography. Barrow avoids all these pitfalls, and skitters along at a great clip, delving deep into the history and idiosyncrasies of various cosmological theories, providing just enough philosophical, biographical and hard science to tie it all together. If you do know what black holes and Hawking radiation are, you won't be put off by laborious descriptions, and if you don't, there's enough concise explanation to understand what you need to know.
The book of universes asks just one big question; what is the topology of the universe and spacetime. By exploring everything this fascinating question has to offer, rather than trying to cover... well... everything, it makes for an unusual and compelling read.
Books on cosmology usually fall into one of three camps; texts on observational astronomy which mostly describe the universe, explorations of the pet theories of a particular cosmologist - of which the Hawking and Penrose books are prime examples, or classical pop-sci texts that tend to get bogged down in philosophy or biography. Barrow avoids all these pitfalls, and skitters along at a great clip, delving deep into the history and idiosyncrasies of various cosmological theories, providing just enough philosophical, biographical and hard science to tie it all together. If you do know what black holes and Hawking radiation are, you won't be put off by laborious descriptions, and if you don't, there's enough concise explanation to understand what you need to know.
The book of universes asks just one big question; what is the topology of the universe and spacetime. By exploring everything this fascinating question has to offer, rather than trying to cover... well... everything, it makes for an unusual and compelling read.
September 29, 2019
The author considers how we have thought about our universe from Copernicus to various solutions to Einstein's equations up to different incarnations of the multiverse.
There are many solutions to Einsteins equations. Each solution provides a different kind of universe with possibly different characteristics. Most of the solutions are also possible just by solving Netwon's equation (I had not realized that). Some of the solutions give interesting phenomena. Godol's solution involving a non-expanding rotating universe would give us time travel in addition to a coherent system. Everything Godol does seems interesting beyond belief. That's why it's so believable when Einstein is quoted in the book to have said he went to work at Princeton just to be able to walk home with Godol and talk about stuff.
The footnotes to the book (and the book is chock full of them) are as interesting as the text and I had to book mark both the text and the footnotes because I was constantly switching back and forth. Also, almost every other page had a figure of a graph or a chart with pictorial representation of what was being talked about in the text. DO NOT READ THIS IN KINDLE, IT WOULD BE TOO HARD TO FLIP BACK BETWEEN FOOTNOTES AND FIGURES! (Never mind, this doesn't seem to be available on Kindle).
I had bought the book in 2011 and only got around to reading it recently. The author is good at giving the metaphor and the details of what he is explaining. He doesn't delve into the long analogy that a Brian Greene would provide and therefore this book reads smoother. He's a very good writer and I would find myself rereading paragraphs because he explained it so well and I wanted to understand what he was saying.
There are two models that we use to understand reality. One the Corresponding Theory of Truth and the other Coherent Theory of Truth. The first is data dependent and the second is reason dependent. The author and the way he presents his universes seemed to appeal to the second way of understanding. He would use the systems coherence with its lack of contradictions to attest for the universes authenticity. String Theory (and he does speak of it in the end chapters) is a wonderfully coherent belief system, but it doesn't really (yet) correspond to actual data. Don't get me wrong, Ludwig Boltzman (and he and his Brains are also mentioned) had the coherence before he had the corresponding (atoms couldn't be seen in his days) and he let the naysayers drive him to suicide.
I liked this book and can recommend it. But, I would first recommend the Copernicus Complex https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2..., it covers the same kind of thinking about the universe, but provided a more even approach to the topic. Because in the end, real advancement comes with a better tool of some kind (a microscope, a telescope, detector of some kind, etc.) not just pure reason alone.
There are many solutions to Einsteins equations. Each solution provides a different kind of universe with possibly different characteristics. Most of the solutions are also possible just by solving Netwon's equation (I had not realized that). Some of the solutions give interesting phenomena. Godol's solution involving a non-expanding rotating universe would give us time travel in addition to a coherent system. Everything Godol does seems interesting beyond belief. That's why it's so believable when Einstein is quoted in the book to have said he went to work at Princeton just to be able to walk home with Godol and talk about stuff.
The footnotes to the book (and the book is chock full of them) are as interesting as the text and I had to book mark both the text and the footnotes because I was constantly switching back and forth. Also, almost every other page had a figure of a graph or a chart with pictorial representation of what was being talked about in the text. DO NOT READ THIS IN KINDLE, IT WOULD BE TOO HARD TO FLIP BACK BETWEEN FOOTNOTES AND FIGURES! (Never mind, this doesn't seem to be available on Kindle).
I had bought the book in 2011 and only got around to reading it recently. The author is good at giving the metaphor and the details of what he is explaining. He doesn't delve into the long analogy that a Brian Greene would provide and therefore this book reads smoother. He's a very good writer and I would find myself rereading paragraphs because he explained it so well and I wanted to understand what he was saying.
There are two models that we use to understand reality. One the Corresponding Theory of Truth and the other Coherent Theory of Truth. The first is data dependent and the second is reason dependent. The author and the way he presents his universes seemed to appeal to the second way of understanding. He would use the systems coherence with its lack of contradictions to attest for the universes authenticity. String Theory (and he does speak of it in the end chapters) is a wonderfully coherent belief system, but it doesn't really (yet) correspond to actual data. Don't get me wrong, Ludwig Boltzman (and he and his Brains are also mentioned) had the coherence before he had the corresponding (atoms couldn't be seen in his days) and he let the naysayers drive him to suicide.
I liked this book and can recommend it. But, I would first recommend the Copernicus Complex https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2..., it covers the same kind of thinking about the universe, but provided a more even approach to the topic. Because in the end, real advancement comes with a better tool of some kind (a microscope, a telescope, detector of some kind, etc.) not just pure reason alone.
August 11, 2013
When I learned about the theories about the origins of the universe as a middle schooler, I just assumed that one day someone looked at Newton's (and/or Einstein's) equations and said "Eureka!" and they just figured it all out, Big Bang, expanding universe, etc. In contrast, Barrow, takes us through the mostly congenial process of the painstaking incremental discoveries after Einstein proposed General Relativity. Most interesting is Einstein's own reaction and disbelief that the universe was not steady-state. And many of the scientists and mathematicians who were willing, even decades after their discoveries, to admit they were wrong, even as their work (relegated to the dustbin of intellectual history) was an important building block of our understanding. What is more disconcerting is that, where I stand is simply a moment in history, like any other, and our understanding, being more complete is NOT complete. Science is not a bolt of lightning, but a delicate piece of wood on a lathe.
February 14, 2013
John D. Barrow's THE BOOK OF UNIVERSES is not a rollicking good read, but a book like this couldn't be. History only comes alive when you have characters that you care about, whom you can follow through various reversals - basically what makes a good novel a good novel. THE BOOK OF UNIVERSES is a history book, a survey of the development of physicists' theories about the universe. There is no plot, and instead of reversals there is evolution -- a much slower phenomenon.
Depending on what you are seeking, histories can either be dull or rewarding. For fast-paced gee-whiz physics, look elsewhere. If you want to learn something, this book can be immensely rewarding. Barrow is not a flashy writer, but he has an enviable clarity of mind and objectivity with which he presents intelligibly the thoughts of some of the greatest scientific minds as they built upon one another over centuries and in light of continually developing technological evidence. He doesn't resort to language that only physicists can understand unless he has absolutely has to -- and then only briefly.
I came away from this book with a vastly better understanding of not only what the best minds in the world believed the Universe to be a few thousand years ago and what they think they think they know right now, but also a knowledge of some of the key thinkers and an inkling of how science itself works.
Barrow, an English cosmologist, physicist and mathematician, is actually one of the scientists who is a player in the history that he recounts. I, for one, appreciated the quiet modesty and effortless-looking writing skill he brings to this impossibly difficult subject -- he doesn't make it all look easy, but he can take you all the way if you'll let him. (
Depending on what you are seeking, histories can either be dull or rewarding. For fast-paced gee-whiz physics, look elsewhere. If you want to learn something, this book can be immensely rewarding. Barrow is not a flashy writer, but he has an enviable clarity of mind and objectivity with which he presents intelligibly the thoughts of some of the greatest scientific minds as they built upon one another over centuries and in light of continually developing technological evidence. He doesn't resort to language that only physicists can understand unless he has absolutely has to -- and then only briefly.
I came away from this book with a vastly better understanding of not only what the best minds in the world believed the Universe to be a few thousand years ago and what they think they think they know right now, but also a knowledge of some of the key thinkers and an inkling of how science itself works.
Barrow, an English cosmologist, physicist and mathematician, is actually one of the scientists who is a player in the history that he recounts. I, for one, appreciated the quiet modesty and effortless-looking writing skill he brings to this impossibly difficult subject -- he doesn't make it all look easy, but he can take you all the way if you'll let him. (
January 16, 2012
This is a nice summary of modern cosmology by a very talented writer. It is well written and well organized. My only qualms about this book is that the topics covered are also covered in several other books out at the present time.
October 8, 2012
The book traces the theories related to possible universes through history. As a non-scientist, I found it did a nice job of making the math and science approachable.
It starts out as a compelling read but gets bogged down in the latter half.
It starts out as a compelling read but gets bogged down in the latter half.
October 31, 2022
History of exploring and creating models for our Universe throughout the ages.
POSTED AT AMAZON 2012
I admire John Barrow. He always comes up with the new central concept that he uses as a foundation for educating lay person about cosmology. For example he uses constants of nature, vacuum's 'nothing', or infinity dilemma in his consecutive older books (written 12 years ago The Book of Nothing: Vacuums, Voids, and the Latest Ideas about the Origins of the Universe is a strong if not better alternative to recent, sensationalised Lawrence Krauss' A Universe from Nothing: Why There Is Something Rather than Nothing).
BTW, as we can see, nothing much has changed during the last decade, as to how we speculate about Cosmos.
This time John Barrow wrapped his book around many models of the Universe (some of them truly bizarre, which one is correct?), showing how difficult it is to arrive at the correct description of the Universe from observation alone, from general philosophical principles, and also when applying abstract mathematics. John Barrow is a mathematician, so he excels in showing us how latest models have arrived at the scene (Einstein is not forgotten, but how any cosmology book can be produced without mentioning him and his equations that can produce so many solutions/models?), Text includes author's proposals/corrections and models: 1)Matzner-Barrow claim about lack of cosmic irregularities in the far past (1977; based on Minsner's model, 2)Barrow-Dabrowski oscillating model (1995), 3) Sandvick, Barrow, Magueijo cosmological theory of changing 'fine structure' constant (2002. All three papers use 'Einstein's equations' of course. More about the third one can be find in very good The Constants of Nature: The Numbers That Encode the Deepest Secrets of the Universe.
Reading "The Book of Universes" will make unnecessary to peruse separate (but excellent on its own) model-books by Alexander Vilenkin, Paul Steinhardt/Neil Turok, Roger Penrose or Jean-Pierre Luminet . The only missing is string-theory interpretation of 'holographic universe' by Leonard Susskind.
In some parts of the book auhtor goes beyond the models. He arrives at several very fascinating topics, like for example: 1)'observers' in infinite replicating multiverse; 2) 'simulated virtual reality' that we possibly experience; 3) universe from 'nothing'. You will find writing him about philosophers David Hume, Friedrich Nietzsche as well.
All these models (old and new) are here and explained nice and easy in this super popular summary...highly recommended to high school students and to all who want to start digging into physics of space (theists, atheists and agnostics will not be irritated, John Barrow is a master of compromise).
POSTED AT AMAZON 2012
I admire John Barrow. He always comes up with the new central concept that he uses as a foundation for educating lay person about cosmology. For example he uses constants of nature, vacuum's 'nothing', or infinity dilemma in his consecutive older books (written 12 years ago The Book of Nothing: Vacuums, Voids, and the Latest Ideas about the Origins of the Universe is a strong if not better alternative to recent, sensationalised Lawrence Krauss' A Universe from Nothing: Why There Is Something Rather than Nothing).
BTW, as we can see, nothing much has changed during the last decade, as to how we speculate about Cosmos.
This time John Barrow wrapped his book around many models of the Universe (some of them truly bizarre, which one is correct?), showing how difficult it is to arrive at the correct description of the Universe from observation alone, from general philosophical principles, and also when applying abstract mathematics. John Barrow is a mathematician, so he excels in showing us how latest models have arrived at the scene (Einstein is not forgotten, but how any cosmology book can be produced without mentioning him and his equations that can produce so many solutions/models?), Text includes author's proposals/corrections and models: 1)Matzner-Barrow claim about lack of cosmic irregularities in the far past (1977; based on Minsner's model, 2)Barrow-Dabrowski oscillating model (1995), 3) Sandvick, Barrow, Magueijo cosmological theory of changing 'fine structure' constant (2002. All three papers use 'Einstein's equations' of course. More about the third one can be find in very good The Constants of Nature: The Numbers That Encode the Deepest Secrets of the Universe.
Reading "The Book of Universes" will make unnecessary to peruse separate (but excellent on its own) model-books by Alexander Vilenkin, Paul Steinhardt/Neil Turok, Roger Penrose or Jean-Pierre Luminet . The only missing is string-theory interpretation of 'holographic universe' by Leonard Susskind.
In some parts of the book auhtor goes beyond the models. He arrives at several very fascinating topics, like for example: 1)'observers' in infinite replicating multiverse; 2) 'simulated virtual reality' that we possibly experience; 3) universe from 'nothing'. You will find writing him about philosophers David Hume, Friedrich Nietzsche as well.
All these models (old and new) are here and explained nice and easy in this super popular summary...highly recommended to high school students and to all who want to start digging into physics of space (theists, atheists and agnostics will not be irritated, John Barrow is a master of compromise).
February 17, 2013
First of all the setting of this book is awesome: How can we define universes, what is our own universe like and how it came to be? And on top of that Barrow tries to explain things as uncomplicated as possible. The problem is, for me at least, that the things are so complicated to start with it's immensely hard to make them understandable. Most of the graphs, for example, made very little sense to me. On the other hand Barrow has an interesting viewpoint, telling everything from the point of view of the cosmologists and physicists, making it down-to-earth in that sense.
Summa summarum; understood very little of the physics but enjoyed the writing, the history of studying universes and the questions it made me think about.
Summa summarum; understood very little of the physics but enjoyed the writing, the history of studying universes and the questions it made me think about.
March 18, 2016
Ooof, this was a slog. Now it's not the author's fault. I thought this was going to be a lot more general-reader friendly, but it turns out that I needed to understand a good deal more physics to get through this successfully. I did get through it, though, and I am proud of that fact--and I would say I did learn some things, particularly that cosmologists today are making discoveries that are not only absolutely mind-blowing but also raise philosophical questions of real import for how we understand our lived reality.
April 22, 2016
A very thorough history of mankind's understanding of the universe around us, this book contains a lot of interesting information and guides the reader through the logic of the times that attended the various states of understanding. Unfortunately, I felt that the book was a bit dry at times, with some of the concepts introduced in a very stiff and formal manner.
Overall, it was a good read, but I prefer the humor and accessibility of Brian Greene's writing.
Overall, it was a good read, but I prefer the humor and accessibility of Brian Greene's writing.
February 27, 2016
A disappointing take on a fascinating topic. The writing is incredibly uneven in tone, alternating between dense physics, quirky biography, and weakly pedestrian explanation. It is frequently interrupted by epigraphs (every couple of pages or so), which quickly become more annoying than entertaining. The most interesting material is in the last quarter of the book, but it's a slog to get to that point. Two stars.
June 19, 2016
This is the most special experience in the history of reading books in my life. Ofcourse the content of the book is special for me which sets my life going and while reading I had a doubt for which I wrote to Prof John.D.Barrow, the author and it was so special a feeling when he replied back with the answer. I think along with superb intellect and curiosity, these kindness and gestures make such great scientists like Barrow. Thank you for this book, Sir. #respect
October 20, 2019
Difficile trovare un libro che risulti più completo e allo stesso tempo comprensibile senza bisogno di particolari conoscenze quanto questo. Dalla scoperta della relatività generale ad inizio '900 fino agli inizi del 2000, il libro prende in esame tutti i modelli di universo proposti per spiegare quello in cui ci troviamo, seguendo il percorso storico che li ha visti formulare e spiegando di ognuno le implicazioni e le predizioni.
October 23, 2015
Beautiful book by the director of the Millennium Mathematics Project at Cambridge University. The book was written more than a decade ago, but the summary of eternal inflation and bubble universes, varying constants and the question is still science to speculate about something that's unobservable is timely, Lee Smolin's cosmological natural selection also makes an appearance!
February 23, 2015
Can be read quickly and slowly and gives a rigorous history of ideas leading up to the multiverse and dark matter. In some ways much more satisfying than Brian Greene and Michio Kaku, because he gets a little more technical in his focus.
October 21, 2011
Universes happen? The anthropic principle. Cosmological constant. Dark matter & dark energy. The Universe, multiverse, universe hierarchy. It's quite an adventure.
January 27, 2020
Upgraded to 4 on the second pass. I'm sure I'll appreciate it even more the next time I pick it up.
July 14, 2023
A parte i primi due capitoli, che raccontano gli antichi modelli dell'universo (interessanti e ben scritti), i capitoli dal terzo fino ad oltre metà libro sono un po' noiosi, ma soprattutto sono mal strutturati. L'autore descrive in modo chiaro e minuzioso tutti i tipi di universo permessi della equazioni di campo della Relatività Generale, con grafici e tabelle molto chiare (esempio: lo schema degli universi di Friedmann-Lamaitre) e fin qui tutto bene (a parte un po' di noia). Il problema è che quando la lettura si fa interessante, circa un centinaio di pagine dopo, l'autore inizia a citare questi universi con frasi del tipo:
"Quindi l'ipotesi di un universo Z, a metà strada tra quello di tipo A e B, assomiglia più ad un ibrido tra il modello C e D."
Ma siccome questi universi sono stati descritti un centinaio di pagine prima, per decifrare la frase il lettore deve 1) Avere buona memoria oppure 2) Tornare indietro ogni volta a cercarsi la figura di cui si parla, e rileggere quella pagina. Quindi, la buona volontà e le competenze ci sono, ma questa struttura rende ardua la lettura. Sarebbe bastata una bella tabella in appendice, di facile consultazione, con un'infografica moderna, per risolvere il problema. Peccato, davvero peccato.
Superato questo scoglio, gli ardimentosi che giungono fino agli ultimi capitoli verranno ricompensati: è qui che finalmente l'autore ci spiega le ultime teorie cosmologiche e affronta il principio antropico. Questi argomenti sono trattati in modo completo, chiaro, esaustivo e profondo. Se fosse solo per loro, la lettura meriterebbe almeno 4 stelle ... che non assegno per il problema menzionato sopra.
"Quindi l'ipotesi di un universo Z, a metà strada tra quello di tipo A e B, assomiglia più ad un ibrido tra il modello C e D."
Ma siccome questi universi sono stati descritti un centinaio di pagine prima, per decifrare la frase il lettore deve 1) Avere buona memoria oppure 2) Tornare indietro ogni volta a cercarsi la figura di cui si parla, e rileggere quella pagina. Quindi, la buona volontà e le competenze ci sono, ma questa struttura rende ardua la lettura. Sarebbe bastata una bella tabella in appendice, di facile consultazione, con un'infografica moderna, per risolvere il problema. Peccato, davvero peccato.
Superato questo scoglio, gli ardimentosi che giungono fino agli ultimi capitoli verranno ricompensati: è qui che finalmente l'autore ci spiega le ultime teorie cosmologiche e affronta il principio antropico. Questi argomenti sono trattati in modo completo, chiaro, esaustivo e profondo. Se fosse solo per loro, la lettura meriterebbe almeno 4 stelle ... che non assegno per il problema menzionato sopra.
August 3, 2025
Wow. This guy is great. He went through all the types of universes that science has considered over the years. Real nice look at just about everything without getting too far down in the details like "The Anthropic Cosmological Principle" did. (FYI, I'm willing to bet that if you read this book you will say that the author got into plenty of detail but compared to "The Anthropic Cosmological Principle", the author is just flying through this stuff.)
This book stands on its own but I found it was helpful that I had just read his earlier book, "The Constants of Nature: The Numbers That Encode the Deepest Secrets of the Universe". He handles in whole chapters what he covers in a sentence or two in "The Book of Universes".
These are library books that I need to return so I read them first. I own the Anthropic Cosmological Principle so I can take my time with that one. It is so detailed that I will need to take my time.
This book stands on its own but I found it was helpful that I had just read his earlier book, "The Constants of Nature: The Numbers That Encode the Deepest Secrets of the Universe". He handles in whole chapters what he covers in a sentence or two in "The Book of Universes".
These are library books that I need to return so I read them first. I own the Anthropic Cosmological Principle so I can take my time with that one. It is so detailed that I will need to take my time.
March 1, 2020
A bit dry but some interesting thoughts
April 1, 2022
4.25 / 5
June 3, 2022
The book was about different scientists and their interpretations of the universe.
April 23, 2023
相比于10^500种可能的宇宙，蓝色小球上的重大世界时事显得如此无聊琐碎。看看物理学家们狂飙突进的想象力！太精彩了！
September 18, 2014
An amazing book if you are interested in knowing more about cosmology and plausible universes. The best book I have ever read in this category.
SPOILER -
here are some notes that I took
1) the sky is dark at night because of the great age of the universe
2) the scientific method depends on observation. but what if we cannot observe (like parallel universes)?
3) Baby universe; create universe conducive to life
Maybe our universe was also created by someone else!
SPOILER -
here are some notes that I took
1) the sky is dark at night because of the great age of the universe
2) the scientific method depends on observation. but what if we cannot observe (like parallel universes)?
3) Baby universe; create universe conducive to life
Maybe our universe was also created by someone else!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Read
July 6, 2017Didn't real all of this just parts
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