The Nature of Space and Time (Isaac Newton Institute Series of Lectures) |
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Stephen Hawking, Roger Penrose
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Pages: 142 (Paperback)
ISBN: 0691050848
Pub: Princeton University Press
Pub date: 2000-09-18
Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 140470
Editorial Review:
Who doesn't love a good argument? When physics heavyweights Stephen Hawking and Roger Penrose delivered three sets of back-and-forth lectures capped by a final debate at Cambridge's Isaac Newton Institute, the course of modern cosmological thinking was at stake. As it happens, The Nature of Space and Time, which collects these remarks, suggests that little has changed from the days when Einstein challenged Bohr by refusing to believe that God plays dice. The maths is more abstruse, the arguments more refined, but the argument still hinges on whether our physical theories should be expected to model reality or merely predict measurements.
Hawking, clever and playful as usual, sides with Bohr and the Copenhagen interpretation, and builds a strong case for quantum gravity. Penrose, inevitably a bit dry in comparison, shares Einstein's horror at such intuition-blasting thought experiments as Schrödinger's long-suffering cat--and scores just as many points for general relativity. The maths is tough going for lay readers, but a few leaps of faith will carry them through to some deeply thought-provoking rhetoric. Though no questions find final answers in The Nature of Space and Time, the quality of discourse should be enough to satisfy the scientifically curious. --Rob Lightner
Reader Reviews:
Very difficult to read (0/0 people found this helpful)
The introduction to each of the chapters have some very interesting ideas. However, this book would be very difficult for even an intelligent layman who has not had a background in Physics. Therefore, not really for the general reader.
Well worth reading (5/11 people found this helpful)
...This book strives to answer "unanswerable" questions, and succeeds admirably. This is NOT a textbook, but fascinating fodder for the intelligent layman. I enjoyed it thoroughly, and would recommend it highly.
A possibly interesting debate, spoilt by inaccuracies. (27/40 people found this helpful)
Any popular science book MUST be accurate and not hide serious scientific controversies; if this rule is not followed the book-buying public is being misled. Apart from the elementary, undergraduate level errors in thermodynamics,(e.g. the first law of thermodynamics on page 24 is NOT the first law, nor is it a combination of the first and second laws due to a sign error; the Helmholtz free energy on page 50 is NOT the Helmholtz free energy again due to a sign error),the statement on page 135 that all Einstein needed not to go fishing after 1925 was 'Stephen's discovery, fifty-five years later, of black hole radiation', might be felt by some offensive! Hawking's great surprise, on page 43, that black hole radiation emission was exactly thermal with a temperature derived from the Bekenstein-Hawking expression for black hole entropy in terms of the area of the horizon is dubious because it has to correspond to the entropy of black body radiation, which it doesn't. It should be noted also that, as has been pointed out on several occasions, the above-mentioned Bekenstein-Hawking entropy expression is itself dubious because it leads to possible violations of the second law of thermodynamics. The above are merely examples which certainly raise grave doubts concerning the worth of this book as a serious contribution to popular scientific literature.
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Books -> Subjects -> Science & Nature -> Astronomy & Cosmology -> Astronomy -> General AAS
Books -> Subjects -> Science & Nature -> Physics -> Applied Physics -> Astrophysics
Books -> Subjects -> Science & Nature -> Physics -> Quantum Physics -> Relativistic Quantum Mechanics
Books -> Subjects -> Science & Nature -> Physics -> General AAS
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