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The Big Questions
Những Câu Hỏi Lớn - Vật Lý
NHỮNG CÂU HỎI LỚN đề cập đến những vấn đề cơ bản trong khoa học tự nhiên và xã hội, nhưng vẫn khiến những bộ óc vĩ đại trong lịch sử đau đầu.
Trong cuốn Những câu hỏi lớn – Vật lý, tác giả Michael Brooks đã lý giải thế giới vật lý qua những vấn đề tổng quát còn bỏ ngõ. Từ những chủ đề thân thuộc như thời gian, trọng lượng, các thể vật chất, cho đến những khái niệm trừu tượng như “con mèo của Schrödinger”, nguyên lý bất định Heisenberg, sự ngẫu nhiên của thực tại và bản chất của thực tại chúng ta đang sống, Tiến sĩ Brooks đã cho chúng ta thấy con đường phát triển của Vật lý từ thời cổ đại, đương đại, tới tương lai qua 20 câu hỏi lớn:
Ý NGHĨA CỦA VẬT LÝ LÀ GÌ?
THỜI GIAN LÀ GÌ?
CHUYỆN GÌ XẢY RA VỚI CON MÈO CỦA SCHRÖDINGER?
TẠI SAO QUẢ TÁO RƠI?
CHẤT RẮN CÓ THỰC SỰ RẮN?
TẠI SAO KHÔNG CÓ BỮA TRƯA NÀO MIỄN PHÍ?
PHẢI CHĂNG MỌI THỨ ĐỀU LÀ NGẪU NHIÊN?
HẠT CỦA CHÚA LÀ GÌ?
TÔI CÓ LÀ DUY NHẤT?
CHÚNG TA CÓ THỂ DU HÀNH XUYÊN THỜI GIAN KHÔNG?
TỪ TRƯỜNG BẢO VỆ TRÁI ĐẤT ĐANG BIẾN MẤT?
TẠI SAO E=MC 2 ?
TÔI CÓ THỂ THAY ĐỔI VŨ TRỤ CHỈ VỚI MỘT ÁNH NHÌN?
LIỆU THUYẾT HỖN ĐỘN CÓ GÂY NÊN THẢM HỌA?
ÁNH SÁNG LÀ GÌ?
LÝ THUYẾT DÂY CÓ THỰC SỰ TỒN TẠI THAY VÌ KHÔNG GÌ CẢ?
PHẢI CHĂNG CON NGƯỜI SỐNG TRONG MỘT THẾ GIỚI MÔ PHỎNG?
ĐÂU LÀ LỰC TỰ NHIÊN MẠNH NHẤT?
BẢN CHẤT CHÍNH XÁC CỦA THỰC TẠI LÀ GÌ?
Trong cuốn Những câu hỏi lớn – Vật lý, tác giả Michael Brooks đã lý giải thế giới vật lý qua những vấn đề tổng quát còn bỏ ngõ. Từ những chủ đề thân thuộc như thời gian, trọng lượng, các thể vật chất, cho đến những khái niệm trừu tượng như “con mèo của Schrödinger”, nguyên lý bất định Heisenberg, sự ngẫu nhiên của thực tại và bản chất của thực tại chúng ta đang sống, Tiến sĩ Brooks đã cho chúng ta thấy con đường phát triển của Vật lý từ thời cổ đại, đương đại, tới tương lai qua 20 câu hỏi lớn:
Ý NGHĨA CỦA VẬT LÝ LÀ GÌ?
THỜI GIAN LÀ GÌ?
CHUYỆN GÌ XẢY RA VỚI CON MÈO CỦA SCHRÖDINGER?
TẠI SAO QUẢ TÁO RƠI?
CHẤT RẮN CÓ THỰC SỰ RẮN?
TẠI SAO KHÔNG CÓ BỮA TRƯA NÀO MIỄN PHÍ?
PHẢI CHĂNG MỌI THỨ ĐỀU LÀ NGẪU NHIÊN?
HẠT CỦA CHÚA LÀ GÌ?
TÔI CÓ LÀ DUY NHẤT?
CHÚNG TA CÓ THỂ DU HÀNH XUYÊN THỜI GIAN KHÔNG?
TỪ TRƯỜNG BẢO VỆ TRÁI ĐẤT ĐANG BIẾN MẤT?
TẠI SAO E=MC 2 ?
TÔI CÓ THỂ THAY ĐỔI VŨ TRỤ CHỈ VỚI MỘT ÁNH NHÌN?
LIỆU THUYẾT HỖN ĐỘN CÓ GÂY NÊN THẢM HỌA?
ÁNH SÁNG LÀ GÌ?
LÝ THUYẾT DÂY CÓ THỰC SỰ TỒN TẠI THAY VÌ KHÔNG GÌ CẢ?
PHẢI CHĂNG CON NGƯỜI SỐNG TRONG MỘT THẾ GIỚI MÔ PHỎNG?
ĐÂU LÀ LỰC TỰ NHIÊN MẠNH NHẤT?
BẢN CHẤT CHÍNH XÁC CỦA THỰC TẠI LÀ GÌ?
359 pages, Paperback
First published February 1, 2010
53 people are currently reading
362 people want to read
About the author
Michael Brooks
43 books115 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
Michael Edward Brooks is an English science writer, noted for explaining complex scientific research and findings to the general population. Brooks holds a PhD in Quantum Physics from the University of Sussex. He was previously an editor for New Scientist magazine, and currently works as a consultant for that magazine. His writing has appeared in The Guardian, The Independent, The Observer, The Times Higher Education Supplement. His first novel, Entanglement, was published in 2007. His first non-fiction book, an exploration of scientific anomalies entitled 13 Things That Don't Make Sense, was published in 2009. Brooks' next book, The Big Questions: Physics, was released in February 2010. It contains twenty 3,000-word essays addressing the most fundamental and frequently asked questions about science.
Michael Edward Brooks is an English science writer, noted for explaining complex scientific research and findings to the general population. Brooks holds a PhD in Quantum Physics from the University of Sussex. He was previously an editor for New Scientist magazine, and currently works as a consultant for that magazine. His writing has appeared in The Guardian, The Independent, The Observer, The Times Higher Education Supplement. His first novel, Entanglement, was published in 2007. His first non-fiction book, an exploration of scientific anomalies entitled 13 Things That Don't Make Sense, was published in 2009. Brooks' next book, The Big Questions: Physics, was released in February 2010. It contains twenty 3,000-word essays addressing the most fundamental and frequently asked questions about science.
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Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews
March 20, 2020
I have read 25+ books on physics, ranging from the specifics of a particular area (relativity, particle, quantum, etc.) to high-level surveys of current trends. This book falls into the later category, but is exceptional in that it does a great job balancing its breadth and depth. I don't usually buy wide-breadth physics books anymore, as they are typically targeted at readers new to physics, but I like the binding of this book in that it doesn't need a jacket because the cover is rugged and has all the info that is normally on the jacket printed on its cover. Also, it has a built-in ribbon bookmark; very cool. However, I am blown away by the quality of the writing, especially its aforementioned perfect breadth/depth ratio. It has some of the best explanations of the trickier bits of physics (quantum, holographic, Higgs, etc.) that I have ever read. I will keep this book in my library as one of my core physics references. Good for a straight-through read, but even better as a toilet book. Now that I realize that this is a book series, I will most likely try Philosophy or Mathematics next.
April 17, 2022
Страхотно добра книга, която обяснява или поне опитва да обясни модерни (и не толкова) теории във физиката на прост език.
March 28, 2019
Je ne mets pas 3/5 parce que c'est un cadeau de mon ex belle-mère. 20 questions et chapitres courts, denses, comme des touristes dans un voyage organisé de 15 jours pour découvrir l'Europe. Ça va vite, c'est intéressant, et on comprend cet ouvrage de vulgarisation si on a lu d'autres ouvrages de vulgarisation plus explicites. Mais des moments intéressants, comme ce chapitre "vivons-nous dans une simulation informatique ?" qui ne manque pas d'arguments à ma grande surprise, et toujours, de manière générale, ce doux sentiment de se perdre en soupirant "je ne comprendrai jamais rien aux bosons".
January 19, 2021
Inspiring!
October 20, 2012
It can be something of a struggle to make a book stand out, to make it different from the crowd. In this case, Quercus Books has achieved the different feel by giving The Big Questions: Physics the appearance of a notebook. It’s a hardback with an elastic closure (the black stripe in the picture), just like many notebooks. I’ve a suspicion it’s one of those novelties that seemed a good idea at the time – all it does for the reader is get in the way a bit, though you can use it as a bookmark, but it does at least make the book, or rather the series, distinctive.
My suspicion is that the whole approach didn’t work, as the paperback is a conventional design and has been retitled to pull out just one of the questions – Can We Travel Through Time (a question that isn’t really answered in the book – for that you need my How to Build a Time Machine).
Although the book is an individual one by Michael Brooks, the series is a significant one in getting a feel for this title. Edited by professor of philosophy Simon Blackburn, it ‘confronts the fundamental problems of science and philosophy.’ Because of this context, it has quite a different feel to many popular science books.
One impact is an undesirable one. There is considerably less historical and human context than there is in a normal popular science book. Although it contains most of the key aspects of physics, it does so always from the point of view of the science, rather than the people involved and how the scientific ideas were developed. This is a shame, because it’s a big part of the appeal of popular science. That’s what is taken away. What is added is (not surprisingly) more of a philisophical slant. So, for instance, we have considerably more on the possible interpretations of quantum theory than you would normally find in such a book. This was an interesting addition.
Overall it’s always a difficult challenge, trying to take on all of a subject as wide as physics. I recently did this with Egghead Physics, and I respect anyone who can get good coverage. Brooks is strong on twentieth century physics – relativity, quantum theory, particle theory, modern cosmology and the understanding of existence that has emerged from these fields. There is significantly less on areas that were developed sooner but are still important, from mechanics to electricity and magnetism.
The level of the writing was generally quite breezy, readily comprehensible by a non-technical reader, though occasionally the focus on the science with non of the context made it a trifle dull.
On the whole, Brooks gets his contents right, though the chapters feel rather arbitrary and unstructured. Perhaps the only point things go a little astray is when talking about the implications of having an infinite universe. ‘Though it would contain infinite numbers of worlds, and thus infinite numbers of worlds with Earth-like life,’ it begins. Whoa there. You can have an infinite universe with just one world in it. Or with infinite worlds of which only one is capable of supporting Earth-like life. Similarly, even if you had an infinite set of worlds all capable of supporting Earth-like life, there wouldn’t have to be many worlds with a replica of you on them, as Brooks suggests. You could have infinite worlds all of which only developed bacterial life, or that never developed mammals. It’s a misunderstanding of infinity to think that as soon as you have an infinite set, you have a set which contains all possible entities.
That apart, it’s a sound book, I’m just not quite sure who it’s aimed at. It’s too lightweight to be a book for physics students, but lacks context for popular science. It’s probably best as a guide to physics for philosophy students, which may have been the intention in the first place.
Review first published on www.popularscience.co.uk and reproduced with permission
My suspicion is that the whole approach didn’t work, as the paperback is a conventional design and has been retitled to pull out just one of the questions – Can We Travel Through Time (a question that isn’t really answered in the book – for that you need my How to Build a Time Machine).
Although the book is an individual one by Michael Brooks, the series is a significant one in getting a feel for this title. Edited by professor of philosophy Simon Blackburn, it ‘confronts the fundamental problems of science and philosophy.’ Because of this context, it has quite a different feel to many popular science books.
One impact is an undesirable one. There is considerably less historical and human context than there is in a normal popular science book. Although it contains most of the key aspects of physics, it does so always from the point of view of the science, rather than the people involved and how the scientific ideas were developed. This is a shame, because it’s a big part of the appeal of popular science. That’s what is taken away. What is added is (not surprisingly) more of a philisophical slant. So, for instance, we have considerably more on the possible interpretations of quantum theory than you would normally find in such a book. This was an interesting addition.
Overall it’s always a difficult challenge, trying to take on all of a subject as wide as physics. I recently did this with Egghead Physics, and I respect anyone who can get good coverage. Brooks is strong on twentieth century physics – relativity, quantum theory, particle theory, modern cosmology and the understanding of existence that has emerged from these fields. There is significantly less on areas that were developed sooner but are still important, from mechanics to electricity and magnetism.
The level of the writing was generally quite breezy, readily comprehensible by a non-technical reader, though occasionally the focus on the science with non of the context made it a trifle dull.
On the whole, Brooks gets his contents right, though the chapters feel rather arbitrary and unstructured. Perhaps the only point things go a little astray is when talking about the implications of having an infinite universe. ‘Though it would contain infinite numbers of worlds, and thus infinite numbers of worlds with Earth-like life,’ it begins. Whoa there. You can have an infinite universe with just one world in it. Or with infinite worlds of which only one is capable of supporting Earth-like life. Similarly, even if you had an infinite set of worlds all capable of supporting Earth-like life, there wouldn’t have to be many worlds with a replica of you on them, as Brooks suggests. You could have infinite worlds all of which only developed bacterial life, or that never developed mammals. It’s a misunderstanding of infinity to think that as soon as you have an infinite set, you have a set which contains all possible entities.
That apart, it’s a sound book, I’m just not quite sure who it’s aimed at. It’s too lightweight to be a book for physics students, but lacks context for popular science. It’s probably best as a guide to physics for philosophy students, which may have been the intention in the first place.
Review first published on www.popularscience.co.uk and reproduced with permission
February 16, 2022
Quyển sách viết khá nhiều điều thú vị về những chủ đề vật lý lớn và nổi tiếng. Nếu một người chưa biết gì thì sẽ khá là khó đọc, còn nếu từng nghe qua các khái niệm vật lý như vật lý lượng tử, lý thuyết dây... thì sẽ dễ hơn nhiều. Sách cũng có cách tiếp cận hơi khác một chút so với những gì tôi từng đọc, giúp tôi hiểu thêm một số kiến thức và biết thêm nhiều kiến thức mới. Tuy nhiên tôi các chủ đề sắp xếp hơi lộn xộn, hoặc do tầm hiểu biết của tôi chưa đủ nên không liên kết được các chủ đề theo một cách logic. cũng như sách xuất bản 10 năm trước nên một số thông tin chưa cập nhật.
August 6, 2022
Does not deep dive into a lot of detail or technical details.
Gives some new perspectives on some of the topics.
Good for learning some basic principles of physics in a relatively entertaining way and luckily did not push hard to make it entertaining.
Although I am familiar with all of the topics in all chapters I finished the book without getting bored and took notes.
Each and every topic is grossly simplified but it is necessary considering the length and target audience of the book.
Good for learning, and refreshing your knowledge.
Gives some new perspectives on some of the topics.
Good for learning some basic principles of physics in a relatively entertaining way and luckily did not push hard to make it entertaining.
Although I am familiar with all of the topics in all chapters I finished the book without getting bored and took notes.
Each and every topic is grossly simplified but it is necessary considering the length and target audience of the book.
Good for learning, and refreshing your knowledge.
August 24, 2024
Изключително добра книга, която запленява с отговори на въпроси, които наистина вълнуват човечеството. Ако искате да научите повече за квантовата теория, Хигс бозона, струнната теория, възможно ли е да пътуваме във времето и още и още, тази книга е за вас. Прекрасна работа и на издателството - твърди корици, хубава хартия и шрифт, това допринася допълнително да се насладиш на четенето. Нямам търпение да прочета и другите книги от поредицата "Големите въпроси" - сигурна съм, че ще бъде вдъхновяващо литературно пътешествие.
December 12, 2016
Super! Pri cteni je dovoleno dospelemu stat se ditetem a pokladat zdanlive proste otazky, na nez ovsem existuji neskutecne slozite odpovedi...nekdy se da rict, ze nekdy ani odpovedi zatim nemame. Kniha je slozita tak akorat a zajistila mi spoustu "premyslecich veceru" :)
December 30, 2019
Although I don't understand all the concepts in the books, it gave me a great review of what I'd learned in school and expand my Physics knowledge to a new level. It's great to view the world and its invisible abstract materials - time, empty space,..., through the prism of Physics.
October 13, 2017
Simple, easy to understand, and overall a great book.
May 27, 2019
One of the main reasons il studying physics now
January 30, 2020
Preguntas frecuentes dentro de la Física, explicadas de forma clara
December 6, 2020
Geleend van de bibliotheek. Uitgelezen. Gekocht om het in mijn boekenkast een plaats te geven.. Topboek!
May 5, 2022
Super poutavé čtení, přestože kniha už je přes 10 let stará a ne vše je tedy úplně aktuální.
May 17, 2022
Hier en daar een typfoutje.
Het was enorm interessant, soms moeilijk maar dat is te verwachten. Gelukkig werd sommige zaken opnieuw herhaald en was duidelijk uitgelegd.
Het was enorm interessant, soms moeilijk maar dat is te verwachten. Gelukkig werd sommige zaken opnieuw herhaald en was duidelijk uitgelegd.
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February 27, 2024Sách Vật lý 12 revisited 😃
September 6, 2024
Nội dung ngắn gọn, súc tích. Thích hợp cho mọi đối tượng.
Cùng với cuốn này bộ sách NHỮNG CÂU HỎI LỚN đều rất đáng đọc.
Cùng với cuốn này bộ sách NHỮNG CÂU HỎI LỚN đều rất đáng đọc.
February 14, 2013
Η σειρά The Big Questions περιλαμβάνει τα βιβλία Philosophy, Physics, Universe και Mathematics. Καθένα από αυτά αποτελεί μια σύνοψη των μεγαλύτερων ιδεών του ανθρώπινου πνεύματος.
Μεγάλα ερωτήματα που ταλανίζουν την επιστήμη, αλλά και οι πιθανότερες απαντήσεις παρατίθενται απλά και με χιούμορ σε αυτό το βιβλίο εκλαϊκευμένης επιστήμης που διαβάζεται εύκολα και ευχάριστα.
Μεγάλα ερωτήματα που ταλανίζουν την επιστήμη, αλλά και οι πιθανότερες απαντήσεις παρατίθενται απλά και με χιούμορ σε αυτό το βιβλίο εκλαϊκευμένης επιστήμης που διαβάζεται εύκολα και ευχάριστα.
May 9, 2013
As a teenager (doing physics currently at A-level), I not only found this book useful for (slightly gratuitous) knowledge; but also found it very enjoyable to read. Would give it a read, even if you're just curious about why everything is like it is.
August 24, 2016
Concise explanation about the nature of physics studies. Open up mind and thought about how world works through the eyes and perspectives of physicists, even though quite hard for layman to comprehend some of the terms used, however, a good start for people who fancy physics.
October 9, 2011
Clearly written, up-to-date, with some humor thrown in to make for an enjoyable and enlightening read.
August 6, 2012
Terrific coverage of physics concepts, and a nice read to boot. I love the 'packaging' of the book with the cover/strap combination as well.
February 12, 2013
Loved it. Explained so well that even I, a lay person, understood.... Well nearly.. quantum physics is still difficult to understand
March 12, 2014
Invited me to the Physics world.
March 21, 2015
Well written but some parts on particles needs updating
April 5, 2017
Good coverage of physics concepts. Goes back to the fundamental objective of physics, which is asking WHY? The author has connected classical and modern physics to give a brief timeline on the progress that have been made but also to acknowledge the limitations that currently exists. I would highly recommend this book to readers who have a basic understanding in physics, but feel too intimidated by the calculations and quantitative approach that is often associated with physics. The author does a great job in simplifying and explaining concepts without referring to blocks of equations and calculations that is simply over the heads of most people including me.
Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews