Hyperspace
Are there other dimensions beyond our own? Is time travel possible? Can we change the past? Are there gateways to parallel universes? All of us have pondered such questions, but there was a time when scientists dismissed these notions as outlandish speculations. Not any more. Today, they are the focus of the most intense scientific activity in recent memory. In Hyperspace, Michio Kaku, author of the widely acclaimed Beyond Einstein and a leading theoretical physicist, offers the first book-length tour of the most exciting (and perhaps most bizarre) work in modern physics, work which includes research on the tenth dimension, time warps, black holes, and multiple universes. The theory of hyperspace (or higher dimensional space) - and its newest wrinkle, superstring theory - stand at the center of this revolution, with adherents in every major research laboratory in the world, including several Nobel laureates. Beginning where Hawking's Brief History of Time left off, Kaku paints a vivid portrayal of the breakthroughs now rocking the physics establishment. Why all the excitement? As the author points out, for over half a century, scientists have puzzled over why the basic forces of the cosmos - gravity, electromagnetism, and the strong and weak nuclear forces - require markedly different mathematical descriptions.
Stats for nerds
4recommend
7mentions
6people
2009–2022years
71% recommend29% neutral
Mentions per year
What Hacker News says
- That would be a long list, given that I read a lot of books and would generally say that most of the books I've read were worth investing time in to some extent. But for what it's worth, here's a subset, cribbed from my previous HN comments:
Something Deeply Hidden - Sean Carroll
The Universe Speaks in Numbers: How Modern Math Reveals Nature's Deepest Secrets - Graham Farmelo
The Man Who Loved Only Numbers: The Story of Paul Erdos and the Search for Mathematical Truth - Paul Hoffman
The Man Who Knew Infinity: A Life of the Genius Ramanujan - Robert Kanigel
Lost in Math - Sabine Hossenfelder
The First Three Minutes - Steven Weinberg
Hyperspace - Michio Kaku
Not Even Wrong - Peter Woit
The Trouble With Physics - Lee Smolin
About Time - Paul Davies
Time Reborn - Lee Smolin
The Elegant Universe - Brian Greene
The Hidden Reality - Brian Greene
The Fabric of the Cosmos - Brian Greene
Quantum Space: Loop Quantum Gravity and the Search for the Structure of Space, Time, and the Universe - Jim Baggott
The Universe Speaks in Numbers: How Modern Math Reveals Nature's Deepest Secrets - Graham Farmelo
Three Roads To Quantum Gravity - Lee Smolin
Programming the Universe: A Quantum Computer Scientist Takes on the Cosmos - Seth Lloyd
Higgs - The invention and discovery of the 'God Particle' - Jim Baggott
Analogy Making As Perception - Melanie Mitchell
Society of Mind - Marvin Minsky
Engineering General Intelligence, Part 1 - Ben Goertzel
Engineering General Intelligence, Part 2 - Ben Goertzel
The AGI Revolution - Ben Goertzel
Hackers & Painters by our very own Paul "pg" Graham
Hackers: Heroes of the Computer Revolution - Steven Levy
The Soul of a New Machine - Tracy Kidder
Cyberpunk: Outlaws and Hackers on the Computer Frontier - Katie Hafner & John Markoff
Artificial Life: A Report from the Frontier Where Computers Meet Biology - Steven Levy
Ghost In The Wires - Kevin Mitnick
The Art of Deception - Kevin Mitnick
The Art of Intrusion - Kevin Mitnick
Godel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid by Douglas Hofstadter
The Fountainhead - Ayn Rand
It's Not About The Bike - Lance Armstrong
Ultramarathon Man - Dean Karnazes
Charles Proteus Steinmetz: The Electrical Wizard of Schenectady - Robert Bly
Report From Engine Co 82 - Dennis Smith
Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind - Al Ries, Jack Trout and Philip Kotler
The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing: Violate Them at Your Own Risk! - Al Ries and Jack Trout
Re-Positioning: Marketing in an Era of Competition, Change and Crisis by Jack Trout and Steve Rivkin
The 22 Immutable Laws of Branding - Al Ries and Laura Ries
Differentiate or Die: Survival in Our Era of Killer Competition - Jack Trout and Steve Rivkin
Marketing High Technology - William H. Davidow
Marketing Warfare - Al Ries
The Discipline of Market Leaders - Michael Treacy and Fred Wiersema
Crossing The Chasm - Geoffrey Moore
How to Measure Anything - Douglas Hubbard
Fooled by Randomness - Nassim Nicholas Taleb
The Black Swan - Nassim Nicholas Taleb
- Something Deeply Hidden - Sean Carroll[1]
Lost in Math - Sabine Hossenfelder[2]
The First Three Minutes - Steven Weinberg[3]
Hyperspace - Michio Kaku[4]
Not Even Wrong - Peter Woit[5]
The Trouble With Physics - Lee Smolin[6]
About Time - Paul Davies[7]
Time Reborn - Lee Smolin[8]
The Elegant Universe - Brian Greene[9]
The Hidden Reality - Brian Greene[10]
The Fabric of the Cosmos - Brian Greene[11]
Quantum Space: Loop Quantum Gravity and the Search for the Structure of Space, Time, and the Universe - Jim Baggott[12]
The Universe Speaks in Numbers: How Modern Math Reveals Nature's Deepest Secrets - Graham Farmelo[13]
Three Roads To Quantum Gravity - Lee Smolin[14]
Programming the Universe: A Quantum Computer Scientist Takes on the Cosmos - Seth Lloyd[15]
Higgs - The invention and discovery of the 'God Particle' - Jim Baggott[16]
[1]: https://www.amazon.com/Something-Deeply-Hidden-Emergence-Spa...
[2]: https://www.amazon.com/Lost-Math-Beauty-Physics-Astray/dp/15...
[3]: https://www.amazon.com/First-Three-Minutes-Modern-Universe/d...
[4]: https://www.amazon.com/Hyperspace-Scientific-Parallel-Univer...
[5]: https://www.amazon.com/Not-Even-Wrong-Failure-Physical/dp/04...
[6]: https://www.amazon.com/Trouble-Physics-String-Theory-Science...
[7]: https://www.amazon.com/About-Time-Einsteins-Unfinished-Revol...
[8]: https://www.amazon.com/Time-Reborn-Lee-Smolin/dp/0544245598/
[9]: https://www.amazon.com/Elegant-Universe-Superstrings-Dimensi...
[10]: https://www.amazon.com/Hidden-Reality-Parallel-Universes-Cos...
[11]: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0375412883/ref=dbs_a_def_r...
[12]: https://www.amazon.com/Quantum-Space-Gravity-Structure-Unive...
[13]: https://www.amazon.com/Universe-Speaks-Numbers-Reveals-Natur...
[14]: https://www.amazon.com/Three-Roads-Quantum-Gravity-Smolin/dp...
[15]: https://www.amazon.com/Programming-Universe-Quantum-Computer...
[16]: https://www.amazon.com/Higgs-invention-discovery-God-Particl...
- A few of the best were:
What Technology Wants by Kevin Kelly. A really profound and interesting look into what technology is. Technology evolves through the same sort of Darwinian process that life evolves. Technology is in some sense alive, and Kelly's perspective on it is wonderfully refreshing. I also read his book Out of Control, which is fantastic.
Sapiens by Yuval Harari. Enough people are talking about this one that I don't have to say much, suffice it to say it's a fascinating look into human history a la Guns, Germs, and Steel.
The Lucifer Principle by Howard Bloom. If you're a fan of Harari you'll love this one. It's an alternative scientific look at evil, and how evil appears to be encoded into our species.
Hyperspace by Michio Kaku. Kaku is an amazing popular science writer bar none and this is his exploration of modern physics and string theory. The most concise and understandable explanation of modern physics I've read, which is part for the course with Kaku.
Red Queen by Matt Ridley. A fascinating look at sex, and why the human sex drive, and therefore human nature, is the way it is.
- Atlas Shrugged (Ayn Rand)
Second is a tossup between Hyperspace (Michio Kaku) and Made to Stick (Chip & Dan Heath)
- I have not read this before. But I heard this story told by a college professor Michio Kaku when I was in his astronomy 101 class. Yes, he is the author of the book, Hypersapce.(http://www.amazon.com/Hyperspace-Scientific-Odyssey-Parallel...) It's a good book to read if you're interested in those things.
- Kaku mostly tells stories with cosmology and futuristic buzzwords these days. If you want to excite the imagination of a child and foster interest in science, I find his stuff potentially useful. However, the actual educational content is pretty poor.
I used to love Kaku as a kid. I read his book Hyperspace several times in elementary school and even ended up buying a string theory graduate text out of the induced enthusiasm. That book was scary impenetrable to me at the time. Lol
Now Kaku's videos and stuff just leave a bad taste in my mouth. It fells like he mostly sells science as some magical mysterious thing that is only accessible to the intelligentsia elite.
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