In Search of the Multiverse Parallel Worlds, Hidden Dimensions, and the Ultimate Quest for the Frontiers of Reality

by Gribbin, John

• ISBN13: 9780470613528
• ISBN10: 0470613521
• Edition: Reprint
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2010-08-24
• Publisher: Wiley

Summary

Critical acclaim for John Gribbin"The master of popular science." -Sunday Times (London)"Gribbin explains things very well indeed, and there's not an equation in sight." -David Goodstein, The New York Times Book Review (on Almost Everyone's Guide to Science)"Gribbin breathes life into the core ideas of complexity science, and argues convincingly that the basic laws, even in biology, will ultimately turn out to be simple." -Nature magazine (on Deep Simplicity)"Gribbin takes us through the basics [of chaos theory] with his customary talent for accessibility and clarity. [His] arguments are driven not by impersonal equations but by a sense of wonder at the presence in the universe and in nature of simple, self-organizing harmonies underpinning all structures, whether they are stars or flowers." -Sunday Times (London) (on Deep Simplicity)"In the true quantum realm, Gribbin remains the premier expositor of the latest developments." -Booklist (on Schr_dinger's Kittens and the Search for Reality)

Author Biography

JOHN GRIBBIN is one of today's greatest writers of popular science and the author of bestselling books including In Search of Schrödinger's Cat, Science: A History, and Deep Simplicity. He trained as an astrophysicist at Cambridge University and is currently Visiting Fellow in Astronomy at the University of Sussex.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements	p. ix
Preface: The Search	p. xi
Introduction: In an Infinite Universe, Anything is Possible	p. 1
The Coming of the Quantum Cats	p. 13
Neither wave nor particle
A quantum of uncertainty
The only mystery
Interpreting the unimaginable
The mother of all quantum cats
The many worlds of Hugh Everett
The branching tree of history
Everett comes in from the cold
Cosmic Coincidences Revisited	p. 36
The carbon coincidence
Why is the Universe so big?
Nuclear efficiency
The incredible lightness of gravity
Cosmology's coincidental constant
Ripples in a smooth cosmic sea
Three dimensions good, more dimensions bad
The lottery of life
Quantum Bits and Time Slips	p. 62
Being in two minds
In search of the quantum computer
The killer application
Practicalities
Where does it all happen?
A metaphor for the Multiverse
When does it all happen?
Timeslips
Broader horizons
Infinite in All Directions	p. 88
Arrows of time
The heat death of the Universe
Every conceivable accident
Time and distance
Time and thermodynamics
The cosmic arrow and the gravitational sink
Bouncing back?
Back to the future
(Just Like) Starting Over
The particle connection
Nothing comes from nothing
Inflating the Universe
The return of the Steady State?
Bubbles on the River of Time
Eternal inflation and simple beginnings
Boltzmann's brain, the arrow of time, and causal patch physics
To infinity - and beyond!
The String's the Thing	p. 144
Gravity grabs attention
Two approaches plus a third way
Compact but perfectly formed
The magic of M
Revisiting the incredible weakness of gravity
When worlds collide
By its bootstraps
The bottomless pit
There's lots of places like home
Exploring the cosmic landscape
The return of Schrödinger's cat
Faking It? Or Making It?	p. 173
Is it science?
Inside information
The fakers
Black holes and baby universes
Selecting universes naturally
A new perspective
Makers of universes
Evolution in designer universes
Universes by design
Further Reading	p. 201
Glossary	p. 206
Index	p. 219
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