Stephen Hawking - The Universe in a Nutshell

[G1ZmO]

Has anyone read Stephen Hawking - The Universe in a Nutshell?

I've managed to get to page 98 but am now completely lost!

Imaginary time? supersymmetry? ground state energy? what the.....?

Surprised I actually got this far lol

....

Skipped a few pages and got back into it but he keeps going back to imaginary time etc

Odd thing is that nobody at work wonders or asks about what you're reading! Everyone else seems happy to read the back pages of the Daily Record, The Sun or Daily Star!

Yes! I'm a freak! lol

[Ant]

I've read it several times, there are whole chunks that make no sense to me .

Stephen Hawking makes a point of saying at the beginning that each chapter is stand alone - well that's lucky then

Ant

[GazOC]

Brian Greene is MUCH better at writng this sort of stuff IMHO,

[barkis]

I think these terms and descriptions SH uses, are merely filling in the gaps in the gigantic mathematical equasion that the universe is.

Now I know what I have just said may well be ridiculed, but I confess to a miniscule amount of knowledge regarding this subject. Therefore, please treat it as a feeling, rather than a constructive input.

Ron.

[G1ZmO]

Shall look for Brian Greene in my local library online, Thanks Gaz

Ant: Yes the later parts of the chapters seem to be just bizarre lol

I'm determined to finish it before I take it back to the library though. (My new-found source of free reading and the return dates encourage me to finish them)

Read a couple of good sci-fi novels by Alastair Reynolds recently too. Pushing Ice and Century Rain

[The Warthog]

I'll have to have a look. I enjoyed, and followed pretty well, A Brief History of Time. I even wrote some poetry on the ideas.

[GazOC]

It might just me, but Hawking relies too much on glossy images. Greenes books are pulp paperbacks but the sketches are explained with (sometimes several) analogies. It works for me....

[beamer3.6m]

I tried it and got to page 58 I think.

It is not readable at all, its basically a text book.

I was really disappointed.

[GazOC]

Trust me guys. Try Brian Greenes two books, they're a ~fiver each off Amazon.

[Talitha]

The public television stations here (US) showed Brian Greene's The Elegant Universe a while ago. Can't say I understood all of it, but the broadcast was definitely more brain-friendly than the book was.

[Sam]

I liked Brian Greene's books. I could just follow them - though had to read a few chapters again and I intend to read both books again very soon (there's some very heady stuff for a non physicist.)

[dogfish]

I tried reading The Elegant Universe, but had to stop about half way through as my brain was aching. If he's the producer of 'dumbed down' cosmology books, I hate to think what would have happened if I tried to read the universe in a nutshell (brain explosion?).

Thanks for the warning Paul

Cheers, Martin

[The Warthog]

Try diggin up Gary Zukav's The DAncing Wu Li Masters. It's a good introduction to the concepts, and easier than Hawking, but makes a good starting point for reading Hawkins. It's a bit old by now, but still relevant.

[Talitha]

WH, I tried that one about 5 months ago..

it flew over my head like the Shuttle.

[Cloudwatcher]

For something a lot less heavy but a jolly good read and very informative (even I can understand most of it) try Michio Kaku's Parallel Worlds.

It has interesting chapters such as,Is The Universe A Computer Program? A Universe in Your Bedroom and a personal favourite, Bird Droppings and The Big Bang!

Cheers

CW

[G1ZmO]

My local library has both the "Elegant Universe" (2000) and "The Fabric of the cosmos" (2004)

I'll reserve them online (handy eh?)

Any recommendations as which to read first? My assumption is EU first.

[GazOC]

Yep, EU first its a more general book.

[G1ZmO]

Thanks Gaz

Need to try to plough my way through the rest of Hawkings book first

[S2]

If you are lucky enough to track down a copy, then I would heartily recommend "The Cartoon History of Time" by Kate Charlesworth and John Gribbin, starring "Junior Chicken" and "Alexis the Quantum Cat".

It's the best (and certainly the funniest) introduction to time and space that I've read to date.

Where particle sheep safely wave, Terry Pratchett's review of the book in New Scientist.

[Ajohn]

Try this http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supersymmetry. I find the wikipedia pages useful but in this case remember the word "spin". It's apt when reading about particle physics. They also use the terms color and flavor - more spin :? the words don't mean what we think they mean and I sometimes wonder if they know what they mean too.

Also note the words "never been proved"

Probably find a reasonable explanation of the other terms too.

Just think - Pigeon sh### gave the big bang theory credibility.

(Sorry mods but surely that's the best way to put it. )

John

[GazOC]

How are you finding Greenes books Gizmo?

[G1ZmO]

I'm round about page 110 - talking about Freymans theories that a single electron follows infinite paths to reach a destination simultaneously!!!!

That said, yes Greene is a LOT easier to read than Hawking.

It's still going to take me a long time to get through it I think lol

Paul

[beamer3.6m]

I am enjoying Greene's book 'Fabric ofthe Cosmos'.

Far superior to Hawkins.

Still tricky but at least you can use your imagination with Greene, with Hawkins all I do is use my imagination to try and work out what the words mean.

[G1ZmO]

Well it took me over 2 months to get to page 150ish of Greene's Elegant Universe. My brain keeled over when trying to get my head round string tension etc. I'll go back to it but need a bit of light reading for a while (War and Peace looks like a toddlers picture book now lol)

One thing though, the copy I had from the library was published in 2000 and I see there are later versions of the book. Have there been significant breakthroughs since 2000? Is it worth starting from the beginning again with a newer version?

Paul

[narrowbandpaul]

there have been developments in string theory...its a very topical theory. The bit that got me was when he started talking about calabi-yau spaces. The fabric of the cosmos is a very good book. It discusses philosophical arguements in a very physical way.

If you really want a book that will cover all the physics in the world, then you can look no further than Roger Penrose's A complete guide to the laws of the universe. It is intended for the layperson, but believe me, with topics like hypercomplex numbers, fourier decomposition, and calculus on n-manifolds...you'll need a degree in mathematics to understand it. am trying to stuggle through, but its truly a difficult text. And thats just the pre-requisite maths before discussing around 20 chapters of physics, including quantum field theory and twistor theory. To understand which you will require a degree in physics.

But if youre after a complete text, you cant lokk further...help ;-)

Paul