The Hidden Reality: Parallel Universes and the Deep Laws of the Cosmos

Brian Greene

Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, Jan 25, 2011 - Science - 384 pages

The bestselling author of The Elegant Universe and The Fabric of the Cosmos tackles perhaps the most mind-bending question in modern physics and cosmology: Is our universe the only universe?

There was a time when "universe" meant all there is. Everything. Yet, a number of theories are converging on the possibility that our universe may be but one among many parallel universes populating a vast multiverse. Here, Briane Greene, one of our foremost physicists and science writers, takes us on a breathtaking journey to a multiverse comprising an endless series of big bangs, a multiverse with duplicates of every one of us, a multiverse populated by vast sheets of spacetime, a multiverse in which all we consider real are holographic illusions, and even a multiverse made purely of math--and reveals the reality hidden within each.

Using his trademark wit and precision, Greene presents a thrilling survey of cutting-edge physics and confronts the inevitable question: How can fundamental science progress if great swaths of reality lie beyond our reach? The Hidden Reality is a remarkable adventure through a world more vast and strange than anything we could have imagined.

Contents

• Endless Doppelgängers: 11
• Eternity and Infinity: 43
• Unifying Natures Laws: 83
• Hovering Universes in Nearby Dimensions: 119
• New Thinking About an Old Constant: 146
• Science and the Multiverse: 188
• The Many Worlds of Quantum Measurement: 217
• Black Holes and Holograms: 272
• Universes Computers and Mathematical Reality: 314
• The Limits of Inquiry: 353
• Notes: 371
• Suggestions for Further Reading: 417

About the author

Brian Greene received his undergraduate degree from Harvard University and his doctorate from Oxford University, where he was a Rhodes Scholar. He joined the physics faculty of Cornell University in 1990, was appointed to a full professorship in 1995, and in 1996 joined Columbia University, where he is professor of physics and mathematics. He has lectured at both a general and a technical level in more than thirty countries, and on all seven continents, and is widely regarded for a number of groundbreaking discoveries in superstring theory. His first book, The Elegant Universe, was a national best seller and a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. His most recent book, The Fabric of the Cosmos, was also a best seller. He lives in Andes, New York, and New York City.

Bibliographic information

• Title: The Hidden Reality: Parallel Universes and the Deep Laws of the Cosmos
• Author: Brian Greene
• Edition: unabridged
• Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, 2011
• ISBN: 0307595250, 9780307595256
• Length: 384 pages
• Subjects: Science / Physics / Astrophysics; Science / Physics / Quantum Theory; Science / Space Science / Cosmology