The Allure of the Multiverse
Extra Dimensions, Other Worlds, and Parallel Universes
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4.3 • 3 Ratings
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- $18.99
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- $18.99
Publisher Description
“A rich and rewarding history of one of the most astounding ideas in physics and astronomy” (Marcia Bartusiak) – that the universe we know isn’t the only one
Our books, our movies—our imaginations—are obsessed with extra dimensions, alternate timelines, and the sense that all we see might not be all there is. In short, we can’t stop thinking about the multiverse. As it turns out, physicists are similarly captivated.
In The Allure of the Multiverse, physicist Paul Halpern tells the epic story of how science became besotted with the multiverse, and the controversies that ensued. The questions that brought scientists to this point are big and deep: Is reality such that anything can happen, must happen? How does quantum mechanics “choose” the outcomes of its apparently random processes? And why is the universe habitable? Each question quickly leads to the multiverse. Drawing on centuries of disputation and deep vision, from luminaries like Nietzsche, Einstein, and the creators of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Halpern reveals the multiplicity of multiverses that scientists have imagined to make sense of our reality. Whether we live in one of many different possible universes, or simply the only one there is, might never be certain. But Halpern shows one thing for sure: how stimulating it can be to try to find out.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Halpern (Flashes of Creation), a physics professor at Saint Joseph's University, delves into the multiverse in this thought-provoking if challenging offering. He opens with a superb introduction to the concept of the multiverse, explaining that it stems from physicist Hugh Everett's hypothesis that measuring quantum states "splits" reality, with every possible outcome constituting its own world. The idea is not without its critics, Halpern notes, observing that because there's no agreed upon method for detecting or measuring alternate universes' existence, some scientists decry the multiverse as unfalsifiable. The bulk of the book consists of a broad scientific and philosophical history of the ideas underlying the multiverse, covering Albert Einstein and Niels Bohr's disagreements over observers' role in quantum mechanics and physicist Paul Steinhardt's 1980s work suggesting the early cosmos might have been "a bubbling froth of multiple expanding universes."Halpern sometimes loses focus, however, as when he takes a lengthy detour examining Friedrich Nietzsche's belief in the "endless repetition of events throughout the eons." Though Halpern does his best to make the science accessible (he likens Everett's understanding of the multiverse to "an ever-flowing river with many persistent branches"), his valiant efforts come up short when faced with the complexity of string theory and a proposed "eleven-dimensional brane world." Still, the curious will find much to ponder. Photos.
