What do you think?
Rate this book
Ideas in Profile
Theories of Everything: Ideas in Profile: Ideas in Profile
Ideas in Small Introductions to Big Topics
Physicist Frank Close takes the reader to the frontiers of science in a vividly told investigation of revolutionary science and enterprise from the seventeenth century to the present. He looks at what has been meant by theories of everything, explores the scientific breakthroughs they have allowed, and shows the far-reaching effects they have had on crucial aspects of life and belief. Theories of everything, he argues, can be described as those which draw on all relevant branches of knowledge to explain everything known about the universe. Such accounts may reign supreme for centuries. Then, often as a result of the advances they themselves have enabled, a new discovery is made which the current theory cannot explain. A new theory is needed which inspiration, sometimes, supplies.
Moving from Isaac Newton's work on gravity and motion in the seventeenth century to thermodynamics and James Clerk Maxwell's laws of electromagnetism in the nineteenth to Max Planck's and Paul Dirac's quantum physics in the twentieth, Professor Close turns finally to contemporary physics and the power and limitations of the current theory of everything. The cycle in which one theory of everything is first challenged and then replaced by another is continuing right now.
Physicist Frank Close takes the reader to the frontiers of science in a vividly told investigation of revolutionary science and enterprise from the seventeenth century to the present. He looks at what has been meant by theories of everything, explores the scientific breakthroughs they have allowed, and shows the far-reaching effects they have had on crucial aspects of life and belief. Theories of everything, he argues, can be described as those which draw on all relevant branches of knowledge to explain everything known about the universe. Such accounts may reign supreme for centuries. Then, often as a result of the advances they themselves have enabled, a new discovery is made which the current theory cannot explain. A new theory is needed which inspiration, sometimes, supplies.
Moving from Isaac Newton's work on gravity and motion in the seventeenth century to thermodynamics and James Clerk Maxwell's laws of electromagnetism in the nineteenth to Max Planck's and Paul Dirac's quantum physics in the twentieth, Professor Close turns finally to contemporary physics and the power and limitations of the current theory of everything. The cycle in which one theory of everything is first challenged and then replaced by another is continuing right now.
- GenresNonfictionPhysics
128 pages, Paperback
Published August 15, 2017
10 people are currently reading
177 people want to read
About the author
Frank Close
50 books192 followersFrancis Edwin Close (Arabic: فرانك كلوس)
In addition to his scientific research, he is known for his lectures and writings making science intelligible to a wider audience.
From Oxford he went to Stanford University in California for two years as a Postdoctoral Fellow on the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center. In 1973 he went to the Daresbury Laboratory in Cheshire and then to CERN in Switzerland from 1973–5. He joined the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory in Oxfordshire in 1975 as a research physicist and was latterly Head of Theoretical Physics Division from 1991. He headed the communication and public education activities at CERN from 1997 to 2000. From 2001, he was Professor of Theoretical Physics at Oxford. He was a Visiting Professor at the University of Birmingham from 1996–2002.
Close lists his recreations as writing, singing, travel, squash and Real tennis, and he is a member of Harwell Squash Club.
In addition to his scientific research, he is known for his lectures and writings making science intelligible to a wider audience.
From Oxford he went to Stanford University in California for two years as a Postdoctoral Fellow on the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center. In 1973 he went to the Daresbury Laboratory in Cheshire and then to CERN in Switzerland from 1973–5. He joined the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory in Oxfordshire in 1975 as a research physicist and was latterly Head of Theoretical Physics Division from 1991. He headed the communication and public education activities at CERN from 1997 to 2000. From 2001, he was Professor of Theoretical Physics at Oxford. He was a Visiting Professor at the University of Birmingham from 1996–2002.
Close lists his recreations as writing, singing, travel, squash and Real tennis, and he is a member of Harwell Squash Club.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
August 12, 2023
I think this is an amazing book that I will never finish reading as I will use it as a reference book for the rest of my days. All Professor Close's books are well written, informative, and provide explanations I will never truly understand - but I am not the only one.
I am almost at the end of the book and reading about supersymmetry, multiverses, and whether these theories are falsifiable. My guess is that just as Newton's Laws proved inadequate in the early 20th Century, so will Einstein's theories become inadequate in the next 20 years. Inadequate because they don't cover all the new discoveries science is constantly making in many areas.
When you read that in order to progress our knowledge, we need energies one thousand trillion times greater than can be generated at the Large Hadron Collider then you realise there's much work to be done.
I am almost at the end of the book and reading about supersymmetry, multiverses, and whether these theories are falsifiable. My guess is that just as Newton's Laws proved inadequate in the early 20th Century, so will Einstein's theories become inadequate in the next 20 years. Inadequate because they don't cover all the new discoveries science is constantly making in many areas.
When you read that in order to progress our knowledge, we need energies one thousand trillion times greater than can be generated at the Large Hadron Collider then you realise there's much work to be done.
May 9, 2021
Bu kitabı okuyarak derin bir yazar/bilim insanı olan Frank Close ile tanışmış oldum. Newton'dan Einstein'a, Heisenberg'ten Hawking'e hemen hemen tüm dahilerin teorilerini/keşiflerini harmanlayarak nihai bir her şeyin teorisinin nasıl mümkün olabileceğini ele aldığı Frank'in bu kitabını, kendinizi tamamen odaklayarak okumanızı tavsiye ediyorum.
July 19, 2017
An honest, easy to read, (almost too) concise overview of the current state of fundamental physics. Over half of the book is about the history of broad physical theories, including Newton's, thermodynamics, Maxwell's electromagnetism, and of course quantum theory and relativity. This gives a good perspective on "theories of everything", their expanding scope, and emphasizes the uncanny explanatory power and generalizability of mathematical formulations based on simple novel ideas of reality.
I have a bit of mathematical background, but not much physical except for popular books, and found the book easy to follow. There are almost no formulas, but the basic concepts are explained well, often through analogies to other physical systems. It may help to be aware of and be able to guess the underlying math on a coarse level, such as a metric tensor, or Feynman's path integrals.
The book did not leave an impression that an empirically verified TOE will be discovered any time soon. :)
I have a bit of mathematical background, but not much physical except for popular books, and found the book easy to follow. There are almost no formulas, but the basic concepts are explained well, often through analogies to other physical systems. It may help to be aware of and be able to guess the underlying math on a coarse level, such as a metric tensor, or Feynman's path integrals.
The book did not leave an impression that an empirically verified TOE will be discovered any time soon. :)
April 14, 2019
It is a book that everyone who is interested in the developments in modern physics theories. However, Modern Physics and quantum, how to remind us, Einstein, E = mc ^ 2, for the Big Bang is S. Hawking- at least for me-comes. S. Hawking is only mentioned on the first page of the book, and at the end of the book as a resource proposal. I found it astonishing that the author didn't mention the process of transition from Newton to Einstein, the concepts of dimension, the theory of everything, and never mentioned what Hawking meant to us.
Modern fizik ve sonrasındaki gelişmelere, günümüzde varılan çıkarımlara ilgili olan herkesin bir çırpıda okuyacağı bir kitap. Ancak Modern Fizik, kuantum denince nasıl akla A. Einstein, E=mc^2 geliyorsa, Big Bang ve sonrasında da S. Hawking geliyor -benim için-. S. Hawking'e sadece kitabın ilk sayfasında değinmiş ve bir de kitap sonunda ilgilisine kaynak önerisi olarak bahsedilmiş. Yazarın Newton ile Einstein'e geçiş süreci, ölçü ve boyut kavramlarını, Süpersicim gibi konuları çok iyi anlatıp, "Hawking bizlere ne demek istiyordu?"ya hiç değinmemesini şaşırtıcı buldum...
Modern fizik ve sonrasındaki gelişmelere, günümüzde varılan çıkarımlara ilgili olan herkesin bir çırpıda okuyacağı bir kitap. Ancak Modern Fizik, kuantum denince nasıl akla A. Einstein, E=mc^2 geliyorsa, Big Bang ve sonrasında da S. Hawking geliyor -benim için-. S. Hawking'e sadece kitabın ilk sayfasında değinmiş ve bir de kitap sonunda ilgilisine kaynak önerisi olarak bahsedilmiş. Yazarın Newton ile Einstein'e geçiş süreci, ölçü ve boyut kavramlarını, Süpersicim gibi konuları çok iyi anlatıp, "Hawking bizlere ne demek istiyordu?"ya hiç değinmemesini şaşırtıcı buldum...
July 25, 2020
Nel complesso questo è un buon libro divulgativo sulla necessità di una "teoria del tutto" e sui vari passi fatti, dalla fine del 1800 ad oggi, per arrivare a qualcosa che gli assomiglio. Nel contempo insiste bene sulla necessità di andare oltre, perché una teoria del tutto oggi non c'è. Probabilmente non ci sarà mai, ma vale sempre la pena spingersi sempre un poco più in là.
Certo, se non avessi letto altri testi che parlano della teoria quantistica, elettromagnetica, della gravitazione e della struttura atomica, nelle stringate descizioni di Frank Close mi sarei perso un poco.
Per questo non me la sento di andare oltre le 4 stelle.
3 stelle e mezzo se volessimo essere più precisi.
Certo, se non avessi letto altri testi che parlano della teoria quantistica, elettromagnetica, della gravitazione e della struttura atomica, nelle stringate descizioni di Frank Close mi sarei perso un poco.
Per questo non me la sento di andare oltre le 4 stelle.
3 stelle e mezzo se volessimo essere più precisi.
October 18, 2023
Theories of Everything by Frank Close is as it says on the cover, “small introductions to big topics”. This is a science book about scientific understanding and the advances made in history over the past few centuries. The author writes clearly and presents well for those with not much more than a school level science understanding, but the trouble I had with it was that the subject material was all offered rather dryly and I had difficulty maintaining concentration. This is a book that I may well dip into later and occasionally as it didn’t hold my attention enough to read from cover to cover.
April 6, 2018
esaustivo, anche se forse un po' troppo stringato. dubito che, se non avessi letto altri libri più dettagliati, avrei potuto seguirlo bene
November 27, 2023
Penso di avere più domande che risposte dopo aver letto questo breve libro che riassume in modo fin troppo stringato (non voleva essere una battuta di cattivo gusto:D) concetti estremamente complessi e astratti.
In tutto il libro non c’è una mezza formula, che sicuramente è voluto in quanto libro di divulgazione, ma a mio parere invece di agevolarla rende la lettura più ostica per un lettore senza conoscenza in materia.
4 stelle perché a fine libro da consigli di bibliografia su tutti gli argomenti trattati, e quindi una possibilità di approfondire argomenti diversamente incomprensibili in questo libro.
In tutto il libro non c’è una mezza formula, che sicuramente è voluto in quanto libro di divulgazione, ma a mio parere invece di agevolarla rende la lettura più ostica per un lettore senza conoscenza in materia.
4 stelle perché a fine libro da consigli di bibliografia su tutti gli argomenti trattati, e quindi una possibilità di approfondire argomenti diversamente incomprensibili in questo libro.
January 21, 2024
A very gentle and accessible exploration of the history and state of our current understanding of physics.
Due to it's accessible nature it makes some 'leaps' in reasoning that are hard to justify if you do not at first accept them without a second thought.
Overall I enjoyed this book, but was sadly left with several points of contention. I am inclined to believe those points are a necessity when writing books for a very general audience.
(As in: not the author's fault, expect to have some unanswered questions and faithfully take several 'leaps' in reasoning)
Due to it's accessible nature it makes some 'leaps' in reasoning that are hard to justify if you do not at first accept them without a second thought.
Overall I enjoyed this book, but was sadly left with several points of contention. I am inclined to believe those points are a necessity when writing books for a very general audience.
(As in: not the author's fault, expect to have some unanswered questions and faithfully take several 'leaps' in reasoning)
June 30, 2019
Çok akıcı bir dille yazılmasına rağmen teknik bilgi gerektiriyor. Kavramlara tekrar tekrar bakmak sayfalar arası gidip gelmek zorunda kaldım. Ama bu kitaptan çok benim bilgi eksikliği problemim. Eğer kuantum ve fizik kuramlarına çok aşina değilseniz çok da kolay okunamadığını söylemeliyim. Yine de keyif aldım. Yeni okumalar için beni yüreklendirdi.
May 9, 2020
I did not read the intro carefully and thought that this would be more about what makes an idea „great“. What you get is an overview of fundamental physical principles. Not bad but nothing new and a bit short for somebody totally new to the subject
Read
December 28, 2018This guy is a professor of physics at Oxford, he knows what he's talking about, I also think he explains things very well
November 30, 2020
اين كتاب كه نگاهى به نظريات فيزيك و كوانتوم داره بشدت پيچيده ست بر خلاف حجم صفحات كمش
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews