Possibilities in Parallel: Seeking the Multiverse

by Scientific American

Genres: Physics, Science, Nonfiction

191 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 20, 2013

About the author

Scientific American , as an institutional author, is a popular science magazine founded by Rufus M. Porter and controlled by Nature Publishing Group since autumn, 2008. Mariette DiChristina has been editor-in-chief since December, 2009.

Reviews

[David Schwan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book gives an overview of thoughts about the multiverse--the notion that there are many other parallel universes existent in dimensions we cannot interact with. I decided to read this based on the observation this year that the Higgs Boson that was found has an energy that implies that we may live in a multiverse.

Overall the essays in this book show how little we know. A great deal of the book deals with string theory which remains an untested theory. It math behind much of string theory and the multiverse seems contrived. We found formulas that explain things by adding things we may never be able to measure.

[Jimmy In]

I wish I could have understood this book. I have no background in physics.

[Jovany Agathe · Rating 5 out of 5]

We don't know what the shape of space-time is exactly. One prominent theory is that it is flat and goes on forever. This would present the possibility of many universes being out there. But with that topic in mind, it's possible that universes can start repeating themselves. That's because particles can only be put together in so many ways. More about that in a moment.

[Mark Abrams · Rating 4 out of 5]

Certainly, a mind-boggling exercise in what if! As a historical reference of the many great thoughts that led up to the serious study of the multi-verse, this book was great. The thoughts of past and current geniuses in theoretical physics, is a very interesting read. Because of the explosion of information in recent years, the information presented is not as up to date as we might hope.

I would recommend this book to people with a serious interest in theoretical physics who wish to find out where the fundamental ideas of this fascinating field were born!

[Steve Goble · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a collection of Scientific American articles, unified around the theme of multi se cosmology. Scientific American produces such e-books on many themes and sells them for $3.99. This was my first experience with their e-books, and it was cool enough to make me want more.

This book explored the possibilities of multiple universes, and as such the math and physics get pretty weird, beyond this layman, anyway. Still, it is very interesting stuff and for the most part comprehensible.

[Rod Haper · Rating 4 out of 5]

A survey of cosmological models.

A survey of articles appearing in Scientific American of the last 15-18 year's discussing various cosmological models and data. Some are now becoming dated but still useful as background.