The Great Beyond: Higher Dimensions, Parallel Universes and the Extraordinary Search for a Theory of Everything 1st Edition by Paul Halpern (PDF)

Description

The concept of multiple unperceived dimensions in the universe is one of the hottest topics in contemporary physics. It is essential to current attempts to explain gravity and the underlying structure of the universe. The Great Beyond begins with Einstein’s famous quarrel with Heisenberg and Bohr, whose theories of uncertainty threatened the order Einstein believed was essential to the universe, and it was his rejection of uncertainty that drove him to ponder the existence of a fifth dimension. Beginning with this famous disagreement and culminating with an explanation of the newest “brane” approach, author Paul Halpern shows how current debates about the nature of reality began as age-old controversies, and addresses how the possibility of higher dimensions has influenced culture over the past one hundred years.

User’s Reviews

Reviews from Amazon users which were colected at the time this book was published on the website:

⭐I grew up reading Crease and Mann’s “The Second Creation” and Steven Weinberg’s “First three minutes.” Despite finding other books that I also enjoyed reading, such as Nigel Henbest’s “The Exploding Universe” and Perfect Symmetry from Heinz Pagels, I had never found a good book on String theory.I had found “The Elegant Universe.” And everyone hailed the book; i never thought it was as good as the books above. I don’t know how to explain the difference. I had this Sri Lankan mathematician friend who wanted to know why I didn’t like “The Elegant Universe?” And, “are there any String theory books you like?” And, I couldn’t tell him much on either count! And, then he died in an unfortunate auto accident up in India. Well, now, I have an answer, and he’s gone now. Believe me, his a death is a major loss for Humanity . . .Once again, I don’t know how to explain why Paul Halpern’s “The Great Beyond” is a great semi-technical book on String theory(and other higher dimensional physics theories) that gives you enough of a conceptual understanding to think about the concepts.It gives you a good reference to all the big and not so well known scientists and literature, if you want to dive deeper. And, it puts it in a historical context. One of the major historical things that it addresses is Albert Einstein.The understanding of the history of ideas of particle physics that you’d get from Crease and Mann’s “The Second Creation” is that Albert Einstein soon became antiquated from the progress of Quantum Mechanics. And, maybe a little bit, but when you see that he was working on Kaluza Klein theory for decades, you see that he was not being so stupid and wasting his time and such. He was at the height of his mental powers when he died.Paul Halpern treats Super-gravity and String theory in the last two chapters of his book. And, that seems comparatively short compared to say “The Elegant Universe.” But, I would argue that his shorter treatment does allow you to see the major things and connections between a whole bunch more developments than is even treated in “The Elegant Universe.” The Elegant Universe, I remember had a few good things like showing how energy is defined by a spacetime diagram, which made the unity of spacetime particularly vivid. And, the author showed that String theory had solved a lot more precisely when the three quantum forces combine at high energies. But, I still found most of it almost to cartoonish. Paul Halpern does make a few quick cartoonish analogies; but, it for the most part uses some kind of technical definitions, if not keeping the technical definitions on a conceptual level.

⭐This is a book about the history of multidimensional theories. The focus of the book is not on the theories themselves, but on how they developed. It is very well written. It is entertaining, and has good rhythm. It was not what I expected, but anyway I enjoyed the book.Curiously, the best part of the book, in my opinion, is the one that is farthest from the own subject of the book, where the development of the Relativity and Quantum theories are explained, in the context of multidimensional theories. It is just close to having five stars, but I think that the last part of the book is weaker; too many names, in comparison with the excellent first two thirds of the book, where a hard selection of scientists is done.

⭐If you’re new to quantum physics and are interested in discovering some of its implications, then this is a good book to start with. Like most books of this ilk, much of its content is taken up with the history of this science, but the author explains it more clearly than most. Amidst all the speculations and possibilities in high physics, one fundamental principle permeates the text – not yet officially recognized as a “law” – which is that “time” can only exist as a fourth dimension when there is a fifth dimension, or multiple dimensions. Since quantum mechanics peacefully co-exist with Newton’s laws while not complying with them, it would seems that we are living simultaneously in the fifth dimension but are simply unaware of it.

⭐The condition of the book which I received was in the condition that was promised. I believe that was acceptable. It is plenty good for the price. The cover showed some wear, but that is to be expected. I have also received so much more from Amazon to read that I have not yet begun to read this book, but this encourages me to increase my pace. “The Great Beyond” is written by a good author and it is an excellent subject.

⭐This and The Theory of Everything are enjoyable reading about the exploration of alternative views of reality and perception.

⭐complicated

⭐Very good book for changing your perspective on the Universe.

⭐While the subtitle of this book should have been “The History of the Search for the Theory of Everything Through the Eyes of its Multidimensionalists”, it was a highly informative read. The biographical snippets used throughout added a dimension of humanness to the search. From the shadow caves of Plato to present day string and M theories, the author clearly describes the scientific journey that has been undertaken. Its tentative conclusion is that the four dimenesional world in which we interact is probably not the full extent of dimensional reality. The only question remains is how many other dimensions are there; 5, 11, 26 or infinite? Only time, linked with continued research, will answer this question.I clearly recommend this book and it should “…..receive wide non-specialist coverage amoung an intelligent, curious and thinking public.” (E. Sheldon)

⭐cool

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