List Price: $16.00Amazon.com's Price: $10.88 You Save: $5.12 (32%)as of 11/23/2009 15:52 EST
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Buy 3 Qualifying Trade Paperbacks offered by Amazon.com and get 1 of them free. Click to Display
This item ships for FREE with Super Saver Shipping.
Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 523.1
EAN: 9781400033720
ISBN: 1400033721
Label: Anchor
Manufacturer: Anchor
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 448
Publication Date: February 14, 2006
Publisher: Anchor
Release Date: February 14, 2006
Studio: Anchor
Features:
Related Items:
Alternate Versions: Click to Display
Browse for similar items by category: Click to Display
Editorial Review:
Product Description:
In this thrilling journey into the mysteries of our cosmos, bestselling author Michio Kaku takes us on a dizzying ride to explore black holes and time machines, multidimensional space and, most tantalizing of all, the possibility that parallel universes may lay alongside our own.
Kaku skillfully guides us through the latest innovations in string theory and its latest iteration, M-theory, which posits that our universe may be just one in an endless multiverse, a singular bubble floating in a sea of infinite bubble universes. If M-theory is proven correct, we may perhaps finally find answer to the question, “What happened before the big bang?” This is an exciting and unforgettable introduction into the new cutting-edge theories of physics and cosmology from one of the pre-eminent voices in the field.
Average Rating: 
Rating:  -
You may not know how to pronounce the authors name but you will recognize him from the UNIVERSE series.
For anyone who is interested in these types of subjects, Kaku has the great ability to take complex material and present it in ways for us to understand (even if we don't have a physics background).
I completed enjoyed this book and much of the questions that were brought up within it that I would never dreamed of thinking to ask.
Rating: -
For a scientist to advance such theories, he has taken a risk.
But what risk are we talking about? Academic? No. Because the fleet of scientists who believe in parallel worlds is getting bigger day by day.
Truth changes as new discoveries are brought to light.
This book is no exception.
Rating: -
As he did previously in his marvelously entertaining book HYPERSPACE, Michio Kaku demonstrates once again in PARALLEL WORLDS that he is a master of the popular science genre. This is in no way meant as a slur or left-handed compliment; to the contrary, it is intended as high praise. Rare is the individual who can be so steeped in such highly technical and mathematically sophisticated disciplines as particle physics and cosmology while simultaneously able to render those complexities in words and images understandable to the lay reader. Fifty years ago, the English scientist/novelist C.P. Snow lamented in the Rede Lecture entitled "The Two Cultures" the increasing divergence and decreasing ability to communicate between the world of scientists and that of humanists. He believed this communication gap was making it increasingly difficult to solve the world's problems. Snow might just as well have been referring in his second culture to all non-scientists, that is, the vast majority of the planet. One can well argue that not much progress has been made in the half-century since, whether with respect to the humanities or the public at large.
PARALLEL WORLDS reads like a tour of twentieth and twenty-first century cosmology, led by a friendly guide who happens to have been an integral part of that field's development. Mr. Kaku opens his three-part work with what amounts to a recap of the history of cosmology, primarily focused on the period between Einstein's theory of relativity and the more recent models of the Big Bang, inflationary theory, and the role of dark matter. This section (re-)introduces the reader not just to the great Einstein, but to Edwin Hubble, George Gamow, Fred Hoyle, and Alan Guth. Kaku closes this section with a nice timeline summarizing the history of the universe as it is currently understood.
The second section of PARALLEL WORLDS takes up the issue of parallel worlds, or multiverses, a seemingly inescapable outgrowth of string theory and its successor model, M-theory (M for membrane). In this discussion, Kaku takes the reader to the edge of current cosmological theory, dabbling in such esoterica as black holes and event horizons, wormholes, negative energy, time machines, and higher dimensions. These topics are the realm of Stephen Hawking, Ed Witten, Lisa Randall, and the author himself. He also alludes to the Darwinian universe-creation model of Lee Smolin and the ekpyrotic universe model fostered by Paul Steinhardt, Burt Ovrut, and Neil Turok (see Steinhardt's book, ENDLESS UNIVERSE: BEYOND THE BIG BANG).
These first two sections are both informative and entertaining, providing a very approachable overview of a very complex subject. In the last section, Mr. Kaku lets his fancies take flight with some bizarre speculations on how humanity can survive the death not only of our own sun, but that of the universe itself (whose continued and seemingly irreversible expansion will lead ultimately to a frozen state where the entire universe has reached a temperature of nearly absolute zero). Of course, this assumes we as a species manage not to extinguish ourselves by other means in the intervening billion or more years. This last section closes with some rather mawkish and unnecessary contemplations on the meaning of the universe and its implications for a great designer (i.e, God). For me at least, this brought a thoughtful work to a rather sillier conclusion than I would have wished; readers who elect to skim or skip Part Three will not have missed out on anything more than some Star Trek-style science fiction.
While I personally found Part Three of PARALLEL UNIVERSE to be a distracting add-on, the first 283 pages (paperback edition) are more than worth the time spent and their price of admission. When Michio Kaku confines himself to explaining complex cosmological concepts arising largely from sophisticated mathematical physics, he proves himself a master of the art. We as laymen are the direct beneficiaries of his talents in this regard. Mr. Kaku continues to play an important role in bridging the technical chasm that C.P. Snow described with dismay in 1959.
Rating:  -
In giving three stars to this book I don't mean to deride Professor Kaku's abilities in any way. This is instead a reflection of what I felt I got out of it as someone more focused on ideas that are applicable to human consciousness and human behavior than theoretical physics. Even if science isn't our main interest, I think we should all try to acquire at least a general picture of the direction of current scientific thinking, because what scientists are thinking will most likely impact us personally in some way sooner or later. But there are limits to the amount of data we(or perhaps I should say I!)can assimilate on a purely abstract level before reaching a saturation point. After that, its the same principle as continuing to pour liquid into a cup which is already full. Unfortunately, Professor Kaku's book seems to show more clearly than anything else that there is a huge gulf between people who can master the advanced mathematical skills needed to understand modern physics theory and those who can't. According to Kaku, theoretical physicists advance theories by using brainbusting mathematical computations to arrive at equations of great "beauty" and symmetry. Anyone can basically understand Newton's laws intuitively because they are derived from the macro level of nature which we inhabit. After that understanding is progressively challenged by each advance. Einstein's theory of relativity, at a stretch, can be somewhat intuited by someone at my level, by visualizing space-time as a fabric that is curved. But when we get to quantum theory and the paradoxes it presents to our scale of perception, its hard for me to see how anyone could really get a grip on this theory unless they understood the workings of the mathematics which produced it. Up to this point, however, I still feel comfortable in accepting what the scientists tell us is probably true - because ,as Professor Kaku tells us, quantum theory has been empirically verified by observation. After this point seems to be where the great gulf separates us laymen from the scientists. String theory, M-theory, parallel universes, wormholes, baby universes popping into existence in hyperspace, are none of them testable by experiment. They are all constructions arrived at mathematically. The best evidence for their existence is that the equations used to derive them are "elegant". I find that personally I can form no visual concept(or any other kind of concept for that matter)for any of these hypotheses. I simply have to take the Professor's word for it that a certain beautiful equation indicates that the universe is actually composed of eleven dimensions, instead of the three spatial ones and that of time to which we are accustomed. I have a penchant for finishing books I start, so I did read the entire book. I felt that most of it was interesting to some degree. The history of physics up to string theory was a good recap and provided some entertaining anecdotes about Einstein, Bohr, and others who were in the forefront of modern physics. I also thought his philosophical musings on the meaning of science in human terms was worthwhile. He was careful, in my opinion, to present a balanced summary of the views of physicists about the philosophical and theological ramifications of their work. But I would have to say that a good third of the book was about as unfathomable to me as the dark matter which he says makes up most of the universe. This dark matter cannot be seen and can only be deduced by very indirect methods. In the same way, I felt that sometimes I got a very indirect glimpse of what he was talking about, but by no means a clear picture. I would not make the claim that other laymen might not possibly find this book more illuminating than I did. I only hope that if some of these strange theories prove to have predictive value which enhances their validity, that better metaphors or clearer explanations can be devised which will assist the less scientifically advantaged of us to at least accept them, if not understand them. Otherwise the community of scientists may find themselves an elite group cut off in their understanding of the cosmos from the bulk of humanity. It will be increasingly harder for the rest of us to wholeheartedly support such incomprehensible and esoteric research. So I am asking that my three-star rating be considered in the context of my level of understanding. From my observation of people around me, though, I am pretty sure there are a good number of others who fit into my category. So, those who feel they are beyond this level might justifiably be more influenced by the four- and five-star reviews.
Rating: -
AMERICA'S 25 BEST BOOKS ON UFOS AND EXTRATERRESTRIALS. THE LIST.
Americans love lists. A trend that has started in 1960-1965; I felt it first hand while a student in Boston. Today, there are lists of the best; lists of the worst; lists of everything.
I never thought, some could spend quality time assembling charts and lists on the best of UFOs' and extraterrestrials books. Actually there are a sizeable amount of lists pertaining to that effect. So I joined in. However, I did it my way; scholastically.
If you had a child or an elderly at home, what sort of UFO and extraterrestrials books would you give him or her for direction, or as a gift? Not an easy task, I can tell you that! Nevertheless, I have some good ideas.
BOOKS THAT HAVE DEPTH AND ORIGINALITY:
Meaning deep thoughts, and serious contents. In other words, pioneering research and new material.
Book 1: ANUNNAKI ENCYCLOPEDIA.
Author: Maximillien de Lafayette. Ph.D.
Book 2: THE LOST BOOK OF ENKI: MEMOIRS AND PROPHECIES OF AN EXTRATERRESTRIAL GOD.
Author: Zecharia Sitchin.
Book 3: BOOK OF RAMADOSH: 13 ANUNNAKI-ULEMA MIND POWER TECHNIQUES TO LIVE LONGER, HAPPIER, HEALTIER...PARANORMAL, ALIEN LIFE.
Author: Maximillien De Lafayette, Ph.D.
Book 4: PARALLEL WORLDS: A JOURNEY THROUGH CREATION, HIGHER DIMENSIONS, AND THE FUTURE OF THE COSMOS.
Author: Michio Kaku, Ph.D.
Book 5: ANUNNAKI, UFOS, EXTRATERRESTRIALS & AFTERLIFE GREATEST INFORMATION AS REVEALED BY DE LAFAYETTE: SELECTIONS FROM HIS 50 YEARS OF STUDYING WITH ANUNNAKI ULEMA, HIS SECRET FINDINGS & HIS WRITINGS.
Author: Maximillien De Lafayette, Ph.D.
Book 6: DE LAFAYETTE MEGA ENCYCLOPEDIA OF UFOS, EXTRATERRESTRIALS, ALIENS ENCOUNTERS & GALACTIC RACES: UFOLOGY FROM A TO Z: TIME-SPACE, TRAVEL, ANUNNAKI, GRAYS, HYBRIDS, ABDUCTIONS, PARALLEL UNIVERSES. Author: Maximillien De Lafayette, Ph.D.
Book 7: THE UFO ENIGMA: A NEW REVIEW OF THE PHYSICAL EVIDENCE.
Author: Peter A. Sturrock, Ph.D.
Book 8: UFOS AND THE NATIONAL SECURITY STATE: CHRONOLOGY OF A COVERUP, 1941-1973.
Authors: Richard M. Dolan and Jacques F. Vallee, Ph.D.
Book 9: ON THE ROAD TO ULTIMATE KNOWLEDGE:
Authors: Maximillien de Lafayette, Ph.D., and Ilil Arbel, Ph.D.
Book 10: CAPTURED! THE BETTY AND BARNEY HILL UFO EXPERIENCE: THE TRUE STORY OF THE WORLD'S FIRST DOCUMENTED ALIEN ABDUCTION. Authors: Stanton T. Friedman, and Kathleen Marden.
Book 11: FLYING SAUCERS AND SCIENCE: A SCIENTIST INVESTIGATES THE MYSTERIES OF UFOS: INTERSTELLAR TRAVEL, CRASHES, AND GOVERNMENT COVER-UPS.
Authors: Stanton T. Friedman, Edgar Mitchell, Ph.D. and Bruce Maccabee, Ph.D.
Book 12: NEED TO KNOW: UFOS, THE MILITARY, AND INTELLIGENCE.
Author: Timothy Good.
Book 13: THE DAY AFTER ROSWELL.
Authors: Late Colonel Philip J. Corso and William J. Birnes, Ph.D.
Book 14: TWELFTH PLANET: BOOK I OF THE EARTH CHRONICLES (THE EARTH CHRONICLES).
Author: Zecharia Sitchin.
Book 15: GENESIS REVISITED: IS MODERN SCIENCE CATCHING UP WITH ANCIENT KNOWLEDGE?
Author: Zecharia Sitchin.
Book 16: EXTRATERRESTRIALS, UFO, NASA-CIA-ALIENS MIND BOGGLING THEORIES, STORIES AND REPORTS: Anunnaki, Zeta Reticuli, Area 51, Abductees, Whistleblowers, Conspirators. The Real & THE FAKE.
Author: Maximillien De Lafayette, Ph.D.
Book 17: THE ANUNNAKI'S GENETIC CREATION OF THE HUMAN RACE.: UFOS, ALIENS AND GOD, THEN AND NOW.
Author: Maximillien De Lafayette, Ph.D.
Book 18: ALIEN AGENDA: INVESTIGATING THE EXTRATERRESTRIAL PRESENCE AMONG US.
Author: Jim Marrs.
Book 19: STRANGE SKIES: PILOT ENCOUNTERS WITH UFOS.
Author: Jerome Clark.
Book 20: 460,000 YEARS OF UFO-EXTRATERRESTRIALS BIGGEST EVENTS AND SECRETS FROM PHOENICIA TO THE WHITE HOUSE: FROM NIBIRU, ZETAS, ANUNNAKI, SUMER TO EISENHOWER, MJ12, CIA, MILITARY ABDUCTEES, MIND CONTROL.
Author: Maximillien De Lafayette, Ph.D.
Book 21: THE ROSWELL LEGACY: THE UNTOLD STORY OF THE FIRST MILITARY OFFICER AT THE 1947 CRASH SITE.
Authors: Jesse, Jr. Marcel, Linda Marcel, and Stanton T. Friedman.
Book 22: DARK MISSION: THE SECRET HISTORY OF NASA.
Authors: Richard C. Hoagland and Mike Bara.
Book 23: TOP SECRET/MAJIC: OPERATION MAJESTIC-12 AND THE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT'S UFO COVER-UP.
Authors: Stanton T. Friedman, and Whitley Strieber.
Book 24: DISCLOSURE : MILITARY AND GOVERNMENT WITNESSES REVEAL THE GREATEST SECRETS IN MODERN HISTORY.
Author: Steven M. Greer.
Book 25: ABOVE TOP SECRET: THE WORLDWIDE UFO COVER-UP.
Author: Timothy Good.
List compiled by Zaki Abaza, Ph.D.
Date: 10 March 2009.
|
