Order from a Major Online Bookstore
Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine
Save Your Time And Money
| AnyBook4Less.com | Order from a Major Online Bookstore |
|
| Home | Store List | FAQ | Contact Us | | ||
| Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine Save Your Time And Money |
||
 |
Title: Other Worlds: Space, Superspace, and the Quantum Universe by P. C. W. Davies ISBN: 0-671-42227-8 Publisher: Simon & Schuster Pub. Date: April, 1981 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $11.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4 (4 reviews)
Rating: 2
Summary: It reads like your video manual...
Comment: The first thing that needs to be examined about a book such as this is to whom is it addressed to. If it's aimed towards people with a very basic knowledge in physics and it attempts to explain the quantum world to them, it has more than probably failed. A target group other than that would be a moot target assuming they'd already have a fundamental knowledge of quantum physics.
This book reads like your proverbial video manual. You suspect that its author might (and that's a major "might") know what he's talking about but you certainly won't. In the end your video recorder won't work and you'll be bored breathless.
Even though Paul Davies wants to delve into (and explain) such exciting matters such as the possibility of parallel universes and other dimensions a great many things go wrong in the process:
-first of all he's totally unreadable, unleashing pages upon pages of dull writting at you. Where illustrations, graphs and diagrams should be present to help the reader understand what it is he's saying, they are no where to be seen.
-secondly, his whole thesis is flawed because it's riddled with dogma scattered all over the book. Things become even worse because many times the scientific dogma thrown at us contradicts the author himself. Other times it seems apparent that the author is spectacularly unaware of certain facts that would make some of the theories he presents weak. Example: on pages 142-145, Davies argues that the conditions on earth are amazingly ideal for life to flourish. Earlier by the way, he's argued that life is rare in the universe exactly because you need ideal conditions. Anyhow, he goes on explaining that we live on a "relatively quiet place in the universe" without cataclysms or massive upheavals that would threaten life on earth. Sadly though, it's well known that there must have been at least 4 such massive upheavals in the earth's history which came very near to destroying all life and the conditions for it necessary (due to comet or asteroid impacts or other reasons we haven't figured out yet) and yet life survived. This actually shows that life is way more durable than the author assumes. Then anybody who's read a only little bit about asteroids and comets knows that it's only a myth that we live in a quiet corner and that we might be subject to surreal destruction any given minute. Then he goes on claiming that life cannot exist beyond temperatures of boiling water. Maybe someone should've pointed out to the author that bacteria have been found to happily live in the earth's lava of all places!!!!!
Such comical passages are not isolated in the book. In fact, most of the "Other worlds" is jam-packed with dogmatic assumptions like that. I could list several examples such as the above but then i'd need to write a small book myself.
What i found even more annoying in this book, is that while the author actually wants to present us with an unconventional view of the world and reality as we should perceive it, what he manages instead is to provide yet another bible for the clueless.
If you're going to entertain notions such as parallel universes, or if you're going to actually admit that on the subatomic level things do not make sense the way physics has been (???) making sense of our world so far, then you have to, no, no you are absolutely obliged to, leave any possibility open. In a parallel universe there's no guarantee that anything "works" the way it does here. I'm going too far, because in fact even in in THIS universe there's no guarantee that everywhere things work as they do here. But, when you reach passages where the author talks about calculating the total mass of black holes in the universe you lose all hope of unconventionality and you'reassured you're in the realm of a new religion dawning. We already have more than enough religions though, and certainly more dogmas than we can handle.
The quest for a book that deals with quantum physics in a comprehensive, and more importantly, undogmatic way, unfortunately continues...
Rating: 4
Summary: Great Read, but not one of Davies' Best...
Comment: I really enjoy reading Paul Davies' books. Davies is a nice departure from many science writers who cannot come to a non-physicist level when explaining a concept. In down-to-earth terms, he explains anti-matter and how Einstein's theories explain much about time and space.
The reason I don't give this book 5 stars is that it is one of Davies' earlier writings (originally published in 1980). I think he's improved over the years, and one of the best reads I've had from Davies is his "The Last Three Minutes." "Other Worlds" is a great read, but it never seems to achieve it's objective. At the onset, you're expecting to learn how alternate existences and parallel universes may exist or at least be explained mathematically, and if they do exist, what is their physical representation. To me, however, the whole point of the book is lost in deep explanations regarding electron paths and variances along those paths, etc. How these variances apply to "Other Worlds" is never clearly explained. At least to me.
Still, it's a Davies book, and they're very interesting to read. He puts scientific principles in layman's terms without insulting one's intelligence. Overall, I recommend this book, even though I'd recommend reading some of his later works first.
Enjoy!
Rating: 5
Summary: Quantum mechanics and the multiverse.
Comment: This book is an excellent introduction to quantum mechanics, the uncertainty principle and their consequences for spacetime and the universe: the coexistence of countless parallel worlds.
As always, Paul Davies' explanations are clear, easily understandable and intriguing.
He gives us an answer for all kind of questions.
Why are common sense and determinism illusions? What is superspace? What is an infinite-dimensional superworld?
Until he arrives at the ultimate one: why do we find ourselves living in this particular universe rather than one of the myriad others? Here he remains silent ... for the moment.
A super intriguing book. Not to be missed.
 |
Title: The FIFTH MIRACLE: The Search for the Origin and Meaning of Life by Paul Davies ISBN: 068486309X Publisher: Touchstone Books Pub. Date: 16 March, 2000 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
 |
Title: Are We Alone?: Philosophical Implications of the Discovery of Extraterrestrial Life by P. C. W. Davies ISBN: 0465004199 Publisher: Basic Books Pub. Date: August, 1996 List Price(USD): $15.00 |
 |
Title: The Ghost in the Atom : A Discussion of the Mysteries of Quantum Physics by P. C. W. Davies, Julian R. Brown ISBN: 0521457289 Publisher: Cambridge University Press Pub. Date: 30 July, 1993 List Price(USD): $17.00 |
 |
Title: MIND OF GOD: THE SCIENTIFIC BASIS FOR A RATIONAL WORLD by Paul Davies ISBN: 0671797182 Publisher: Touchstone Books Pub. Date: 05 March, 1993 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
 |
Title: GOD AND THE NEW PHYSICS by Paul Davies ISBN: 0671528068 Publisher: Touchstone Books Pub. Date: 16 October, 1984 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
Thank you for visiting www.AnyBook4Less.com and enjoy your savings!
Copyright� 2001-2021 Send your comments
