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The Fabric of the Cosmos
The Fabric of the Cosmos: Space, Time, and the Texture of Reality (2004) is the second book on theoretical physics by Brian Greene, professor and co-director of Columbia's Institute for Strings, Cosmology, and Astroparticle Physics (ISCAP).
Greene begins with the key question: "what is reality?", or more specifically, "what is spacetime?" He sets out to describe the features he finds both exciting and essential to forming a full picture of the reality painted by modern science. In almost every chapter, Greene introduces basic concepts and then slowly builds to a climax, usually a scientific breakthrough. Greene attempts to connect with his reader by posing simple analogies to help explain the meaning of a scientific concept without oversimplifying the theory behind it.
In the preface, Greene acknowledges that some parts of the book are controversial among scientists. He discusses the leading viewpoints in the main text and points of contention in the endnotes. The endnotes contain more complete explanations of points that are simplified in the main text.
Part I focuses on space and time.
Chapter 1, "Roads to Reality" poses questions about the nature of space and time that are explored in the rest of the book. Greene recalls his youthful encounter with Albert Camus's The Myth of Sisyphus, which showed him the importance of knowledge.
Chapter 2, "The Universe and the Bucket" asks: "Is space a human abstraction or a physical entity?" The key thought experiment is a spinning bucket of water, designed to make one wonder about what creates the force felt inside the bucket when it is spinning. The ideas of Isaac Newton, Gottfried Leibniz and Ernst Mach are discussed. Newton said that the water in the bucket moves relative to absolute space; Leibniz and Mach disagreed.
Chapter 3, "Relativity and the Absolute" introduces Albert Einstein's theories of special and general relativity and asks, "Is spacetime an Einsteinian abstraction or a physical entity?"
Chapter 4, "Entangling Space" introduces quantum mechanics and asks, "What does it mean to be separate in a quantum universe?" Greene introduces spin, the double slit experiment and Heisenberg's uncertainty principle. He describes a paradox posed by Einstein, Boris Podolsky and Nathan Rosen, John Bell's theorem, and tests of it by Alain Aspect and others.
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The Fabric of the Cosmos
The Fabric of the Cosmos: Space, Time, and the Texture of Reality (2004) is the second book on theoretical physics by Brian Greene, professor and co-director of Columbia's Institute for Strings, Cosmology, and Astroparticle Physics (ISCAP).
Greene begins with the key question: "what is reality?", or more specifically, "what is spacetime?" He sets out to describe the features he finds both exciting and essential to forming a full picture of the reality painted by modern science. In almost every chapter, Greene introduces basic concepts and then slowly builds to a climax, usually a scientific breakthrough. Greene attempts to connect with his reader by posing simple analogies to help explain the meaning of a scientific concept without oversimplifying the theory behind it.
In the preface, Greene acknowledges that some parts of the book are controversial among scientists. He discusses the leading viewpoints in the main text and points of contention in the endnotes. The endnotes contain more complete explanations of points that are simplified in the main text.
Part I focuses on space and time.
Chapter 1, "Roads to Reality" poses questions about the nature of space and time that are explored in the rest of the book. Greene recalls his youthful encounter with Albert Camus's The Myth of Sisyphus, which showed him the importance of knowledge.
Chapter 2, "The Universe and the Bucket" asks: "Is space a human abstraction or a physical entity?" The key thought experiment is a spinning bucket of water, designed to make one wonder about what creates the force felt inside the bucket when it is spinning. The ideas of Isaac Newton, Gottfried Leibniz and Ernst Mach are discussed. Newton said that the water in the bucket moves relative to absolute space; Leibniz and Mach disagreed.
Chapter 3, "Relativity and the Absolute" introduces Albert Einstein's theories of special and general relativity and asks, "Is spacetime an Einsteinian abstraction or a physical entity?"
Chapter 4, "Entangling Space" introduces quantum mechanics and asks, "What does it mean to be separate in a quantum universe?" Greene introduces spin, the double slit experiment and Heisenberg's uncertainty principle. He describes a paradox posed by Einstein, Boris Podolsky and Nathan Rosen, John Bell's theorem, and tests of it by Alain Aspect and others.