Surfing through Hyperspace Understanding Higher Universes in Six Easy Lessons

by Pickover, Clifford A.

• ISBN13: 9780195130065
• ISBN10: 0195130065
• eBook ISBN(s): 9780199923816
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1999-09-23
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• More Book Details

Summary

Do a little armchair time-travel, rub elbows with a four-dimensional intelligent life form, or stretch your mind to the furthest corner of an uncharted universe. With this astonishing guidebook, Surfing Through Hyperspace , you need not be a mathematician or an astrophysicist to explore the all-but-unfathomable concepts of hyperspace and higher-dimensional geometry. No subject in mathematics has intrigued both children and adults as much as the idea of a fourth dimension. Philosophers and parapsychologists have meditated on this mysterious space that no one can point to but may be all around us. Yet this extra dimension has a very real, practical value to mathematicians and physicists who use it every day in their calculations. In the tradtion of Flatland , and with an infectious enthusiasm, Clifford Pickover tackles the problems inherent in our 3-D brains trying to visualize a 4-D world, muses on the religious implications of the existence of higher-dimensional consciousness, and urges all curious readers to venture into "the unexplored territory lying beyond the prison of the obvious." Pickover alternates sections that explain the science of hyperspace with sections that dramatize mind-expanding concepts through a fictional dialogue between two futuristic FBI agents who dabble in the fourth dimension as a matter of national security. This highly accessible and entertaining approach turns an intimidating subject into a scientific game open to all dreamers. Surfing Through Hyperspace concludes with a number of puzzles, computer experiments and formulas for further exploration, inviting readers to extend their minds across this inexhaustibly intriguing scientific terrain.

Author Biography

Clifford A. Pickover is a Research Staff Member at the IBM Thomas J. Watson Research Center, and is the author of many books, including Strange Brains and Genius and Time: A Traveler's Guide, (OUP). He lives in Yorktown Heights, New York.

Table of Contents

Preface	xi
Introduction	xxi
Degrees of Freedom	3	(20)
The Divinity of Higher Dimensions	23	(30)
Satan and Perpendicular Worlds	53	(28)
Hyperspheres and Tesseracts	81	(38)
Mirror Worlds	119	(22)
The Gods of Hyperspace	141	(22)
Concluding Remarks	163	(6)
Appendix A Mind-Bending Four-Dimensional Puzzles	169	(6)
Appendix B Higher Dimensions in Science Fiction	175	(10)
Appendix C Banchoff Klein Bottle	185	(3)
Appendix D Quaternions	188	(2)
Appendix E Four-Dimensional Mazes	190	(2)
Appendix F Smorgasbord for Computer Junkies	192	(4)
Appendix G Evolution of Four-Dimensional Beings	196	(3)
Appendix H Challenging Questions for Further Thought	199	(13)
Appendix I Hyperspace Titles	212	(5)
Notes	217	(13)
Further Readings	230	(3)
About the Author	233	(2)
Addendum	235	(2)
Index	237