Impossibility
and over one million other books are available for Amazon Kindle .
Learn more
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Did you know you can trade in your old books for an Amazon.co.uk Gift Card to spend on the things you want? Plus, get an extra £5 Gift Certificate when you trade in books worth £10 or more before June 30, 2012. Visit the Books Trade-In Store for more details. |
Product details
|
More About the Author
Product Description
Review
"[An] illuminating, well-written account....One can only wonder how Barrow can possibly make all these [concepts] fit together into a coherent story about the limits to science. Well, contrary to all expectations, he does make them fit, and in only 250 pages! So for about as good an account as youre going to get of where science stops, read this book."--Nature
"Delightful and fascinating....Impossibility is a thoughtful, careful, and insightful book that is presented in a skillfully woven narrative, guiding the reader gently through the thicket of logic, physics, and mathematics.... If you are fascinated by the limits of knowledge, you will be richly rewarded by this book."--Michio Kaku, New Scientist
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Book Description
'If you are fascinated by the limits of knowledge, you will be richly rewarded by this book' New Scientist
--This text refers to the
Paperback
edition.
Inside This Book
(Learn More)
Suggested Tags from Similar Products(What's this?)Be the first one to add a relevant tag (keyword that's strongly related to this product)
|
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
14 of 14 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Who would have guessed that it could be so hard to work out what is and isn't possible? And how astonishing that some people imagine that nothing is impossible and will rail against the notion or sink into depression at the realisation that not everything is knowable. John Barrow prods at all sorts of limits in this book, in order to show us where they are and how to recognise them. He discusses the limits imposed by size (the itsy-bitsy to the astronomical), time and space (they might be two separate things after all, apparently), speed, complexity, our assumptions about the 'constants' of nature, linguistic and mathematical paradoxes, technological limits and the limits of the human mind. He considers what the universe might be like beyond what is visible to astronomers today: is it just more of the same or might it be an eternal, self-reproducing inflationary universe where the laws of nature differ from one area to another, for example? Is time travel possible? What other sorts of extraterrestrial intelligences could exist? There are limits in every direction and area of study. Without them, science would not be possible.
I'm pleased to be able to report that this book is not impossible to understand. It's well written, entertaining and enlightening. There are lots of pithy quotes including a few from some of my favourite authors (eg Douglas Adams and Terry Pratchett). I thoroughly enjoyed it and feel a little less dim than I did before I started the book.
Recommended.
23 of 24 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
If you like reading books about codes, navigation, E=mc2, black holes then you will find Impossibility is up your street. But unlike most popular science books that you will read, absorb and then file, you will find Impossibility a mental challenge. It's the sort of book that you will read, skim through a bit then decide that you will keep it handy so you can come back to it when you have had a chance to get your head round it a bit more.
It covers an area that is essential for any intellectual to know about, that is not just the edges of human knowledge, but those areas where we can prove that we will not know everything. When you get over the disappointment about this, you want to know what those areas are and the book is very good at summarising them. It is very well written and the fact that you have to concentrate on the ideas inside is what makes reading it ultimately a very worthwhile and mind-expanding experience.
In the best tradition of popular science the explanations are logical, understandable and flow from one to the other. If I was on a desert island I would take this book rather than any other popular science text, precisely because it would be a daily mental workout.
14 of 18 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
The first hurdle any reader has to overcome when reading this book is the half-title collophon. It reads thus: "John D. Barrow is Professor of Asronomy at hte university of Sussex. He is the authir of several bestselling books, including 'Theories of Everythind' and 'The Bookof Nothing'." Duhhh! - Someone didn't use a spell checker - four error in two sentences is an inauspicious start.
Fortunately for his readers, this seems to be the only editorial contribution made by Vintage Press - the rest of the book is error-free.
Barrow charts a careful course somewhere between the impenetrable, accesible only to those well-versed in science, and the vulgar, readily accessible to interested lay reader. I think he has hit a happy medium that is acceptable to both camps.
The idea of the "end of science" is a scary one and not readily accessible to anyone's intuition. Notions of unknowability and inaccessibility do not immediately appeal to scientists who consider that nature is their oyster - ripe to be prised open.
Barrow does an excellent job of laying out the theoretical limits of knowledge and understanding. His narrative is accessible to the interested lay reader but is not too condescending as to frighten away the professionals.
I found the book an engaging and stimulating read. The illustrations are well chosen to assist the lay reader. I was well entertained for the modest outlay of buying it.
Would you like to see more reviews about this item?
Were these reviews helpful?
Let us know
Most Recent Customer Reviews
The Impossible Task
I was not enamoured of this book. John Barrow also wrote The Infinite Book which I think is more entertaining. Read more
Published on 17 Feb 2010 by demola
Not Impossible to Understand
I am a 16 year old who has just finished their GCSE's, and with 10 long weeks of nothing to do i decided i may as well buy some books to keep me entertained :D! Read more
Published on 24 July 2006 by Mr. T. G. Arnold
Art and Science are so closed together
The author has made amazing correlation between art and science. The symmetry of objects implies the beautiful of art !!! Read more
Published on 10 April 2001 by khqa1494@kcl.ac.uk
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
|
|
Look for similar items by category
- Books > Poetry, Drama & Criticism > Poetry > Anthologies
- Books > Science & Nature > Astronomy & Cosmology > Astronomy
- Books > Science & Nature > Astronomy & Cosmology > Cosmology
- Books > Science & Nature > Astronomy & Cosmology > Reference
- Books > Science & Nature > History & Philosophy > Reference
- Books > Science & Nature > Physics
- Books > Science & Nature > Popular Science > Physics
- Books > Scientific, Technical & Medical > Astronomy & Cosmology > Cosmology
- Books > Society, Politics & Philosophy > Philosophy
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
