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The Fabric of the Cosmos: Space, Time and the Texture of Reality (Penguin Press Science) [Paperback]

Brian Greene
4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (73 customer reviews)
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Book Description

24 Feb 2005 Penguin Press Science

From the bestselling author of The Elegant Universe, Brian Greene's The Fabric of the Cosmos takes us on an irresistible and revelatory journey through the biggest of the big questions.

What is reality? Could we exist without space and time? Can we travel to the past? What are the limits of the universe?

Brian Greene has made the mysteries of space and time accessible to millions with his acclaimed writings and award-winning TV series. Now he reveals a world more beautiful and bizarre than we could have imagined, where 'dark matter' reigns, space warps and wiggles through eleven dimensions, minute particles dance, fizz and teleport across vast distances, everything is made of vibrating strings and, like an ant on a lily-pad, we may be floating on a sliver of spacetime.

Revealing new layers of reality that lie just beneath the surface of our everyday lives, this grand tour of the universe will make you look at the world in a completely new way.

'A must-read'
  Sunday Times

'Greene takes us to the limits of space and time'
  Guardian

'Sends the reader's imagination hurtling through the universe on an astonishing ride'
  The New York Times

Brian Greene is well known to many fans as a populariser of theoretical physics. He is the author of the bestselling books about string theory, The Elegant Universe, which was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for nonfiction, The Fabric of the Cosmos, and The Hidden Reality. Educated at Harvard and Oxford, he has taught at both Harvard and Cornell and has been Professor of Physics and Mathematics at Columbia University since 1996.


Frequently Bought Together

The Fabric of the Cosmos: Space, Time and the Texture of Reality (Penguin Press Science) + The Elegant Universe: Superstrings, Hidden Dimensions and the Quest for the Ultimate Theory + The Hidden Reality: Parallel Universes and the Deep Laws of the Cosmos
Price For All Three: £22.74

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Product details

  • Paperback: 592 pages
  • Publisher: Penguin; New Ed edition (24 Feb 2005)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0141011114
  • ISBN-13: 978-0141011110
  • Product Dimensions: 12.9 x 2.5 x 19.8 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (73 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 13,022 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Product Description

Amazon Review

Brian Greene's The Fabric of the Cosmos with its questions about the limits of space and time and the texture of reality certainly looks a bit daunting to the uninitiated. Cosmic ripples, 11 dimensions to the universe and string theory that is somehow connected to a "Theory of Everything" are all a bit alien if you never really got to grips with Newton, let alone Einstein. It might look very heavyweight, but Greene is an excellent communicator and what he's writing about is perhaps the greatest intellectual challenge we face.

There is no doubt that speculation about the nature of the heavens is very ancient. After centuries of thought "we still can only portray space and time as the most familiar of strangers". But enormous advances in understanding have been made especially over the last few decades. Whether we are high-flying city slickers or impoverished cattle-herders in the third world, speculation about space-time "takes on an almost mystical quality: we're considering the fate of the very things that dominate our sense of reality" according to Greene.

Over the last century we have become much better acquainted with previously hidden features of the Universe, especially thanks to Einstein. Greene summarises these as

"the slowing of time, the relativity of simultaneity, alternative slicings of spacetime, gravity as the warpings and curving of space and time, the probabilistic nature of reality, and long range entanglement were not on the list of things that even the best of the world's nineteenth-century physicists would have expected to find just around the corner."
And yet they are attested to by both experimental results and theoretical explanations. Greene, professor of physics and mathematics at Columbia University, is one of the foremost players in contemporary string theory and authored a bestselling book The Elegant Universe for which he won the Aventis Prize in 2000.

In The Fabric of the Cosmos Green avoids mathematical formulae, which can be an immediate turnoff for most general readers. Clearly he knows that visually we can deal with abstract and/or difficult concepts much better than when they are presented in words. Consequently, he uses a very clever selection of excellent and well designed illustrations to help get his ideas across. There is an excellent index, plenty of notes and suggestions for further reading, which will allow those more in the know to take matters further. And, there is a glossary for us ordinary mortals who need every now and again to check up on our understanding of things such as quarks, Higgs particles, braneworld scenario and M-theory. --Douglas Palmer --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

'An astonishing ride. As a popularizer of exquisitely abstract science, he is both a skilled and kindly explicator' -- the New York Times

'I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It manages to be both challenging and entertaining: it is highly recommended' -- the Independent

'The Fabric of the Cosmos is a magnificent challenge to conventional ideas' -- Financial Times --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Inside This Book (Learn More)
First Sentence
None of the books in my father's dusty old bookcase were forbidden. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews
19 of 19 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Quantum & Macro world explained, easily! 8 Dec 2004
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
Unreservedly a fantastic book. With no math but brilliant analogies you get an understanding of: quantum mechanics, big-bang, inflation, space - time, branes, strings, relativity and much more and all wonderfully explained so that you can even get a hang on multi-dimensionality (11 space/time dimensions at that!).

And the thorny problem of light speed comes over well together with the nature of time's arrow. What more can you ask? You know I feel that mathematicians also need good analogies - how on earth can you get a grip on reality (even quantum reality) solely from equations?

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60 of 62 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars A great intro to physics 2 Jan 2006
Format:Paperback
After having read other (shorter) books on quantum physics etc. I decided to go for something a bit more dense. And what a book I chose! Not only does it cover the main areas of the history of the development of Physics, but it does so in an easy to understand way.
Greene uses lots of fun analogies and examples to put across complex ideas, making Physics an accessible subject for even an AS student (as I am). A great book to pick up facts to confuse your parents and even better- your teachers!
He soars from chapter to chapter, sweeping over Newton's laws, Einstein's theories of relativity, quantum theory, the quantum measurement problem, Higgs fields, string theory....the list goes on! And all very readable, with lots of subtle repetitions which are good for me as I usually read it at 11.30pm and my brain needs them in order to take it in!
A great book, I just cannot praise it enough! Buy it, buy it, buy it! if you are at all interested in science. I promise you you will not regret it!
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81 of 85 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Blows Hawking out of the Water 14 Mar 2006
By DKN
Format:Paperback
Just before reading this book I finished reading Stephen Hawking's A Brief History of Time, and, though I found it fascinating, it left me feeling unsatisfied - too many topics touched upon and not expanded; too many questions I already had not touched upon at all. All the questions that book left me with, this book answered...and that was before I'd made it half-way. This book opened the world of physics up for me imaginatively, authoritatively and simply, clearly explaining concepts that should be far beyond me. I can not reccommend it enough. Just got to get my girlfriend interested now.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
3.0 out of 5 stars Book on space
Read a copy while sitting in for a colleague at school, and right up my street. Bought this secondhand copy as the printed word doesn't fade. Read more
Published 28 days ago by Interceptor
5.0 out of 5 stars solid
The Fabric of the Cosmos is one of the best books I've ever read. Fascinating stuff. I still sometimes carry a paperback copy of The Fabric in my coat pocket or backpack.
Published 1 month ago by Rick Deckard
4.0 out of 5 stars Required as university physics reading material.
Required purchase for university physics degree reading material. An interesting read. Many thanks for a good price on this book. Read more
Published 4 months ago by Georgio Zorbas
5.0 out of 5 stars not a light read
but excellent entertainment and lots of thought provoking material. A good read for those of us who haven't got a science degree but still enjoy reading at a fairly high level. Read more
Published 4 months ago by Ophelia's Robin
5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic book
Greene is brilliant at explaining complex current ideas and theories of Quantum Mechanics and the universe in a way at that the lay reader can understand. Read more
Published 6 months ago by Dr N
2.0 out of 5 stars A little disapointing
I was a bit disappointed with this. I expected a more serious exposition of the concepts. I was really put off but the tiring Simpsons references and metaphors. Read more
Published 7 months ago by Carmarandus
5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic!
Mind blowing stuff! Thought I had read a bit about Einstein's theories on space and time but this goes much deeper. Read more
Published 7 months ago by michael h.
4.0 out of 5 stars really interesting
This is the second book I have read by this author and I feel he explains everything in "every day normal language"
I thoroughly enjoyed this book (even the most difficult... Read more
Published 14 months ago by brian
5.0 out of 5 stars One of the best popular science books I've read
I read some recommendations for this and bought it as my first book by Brian Greene, and although I had high expectations I was impressed by them being surpassed throughout. Read more
Published 17 months ago by Sean Atkinson
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent
Very fast delivery and product arrived in exactly the new condition specified in the description. No idea what else to write, so this is to take up the word count
Published 19 months ago by J. Veitch
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