The Whole Shebang - Softcover

Ferris, Timothy

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0753804751 ISBN 13: 9780753804759

Publisher: Phoenix (an Imprint of The Orion Publishing Group Ltd ), 1998

Synopsis

A brilliant and accessibly written report on the current state of cosmology, from parallel universes to life on Mars. Cosmology has seized front page headlines remarkable regularly over the last 5 years, and the Whole Shebang provides an excellent background to the news stories, as well as to the ideas of leading scientists. The book takes the reader through all thecentral issues of the field, and the wide variety of breakthroughs of recent years: the inflationary universe immediately subsequent to the big bang, the discovery and significance of large scale galactic structure, the evolution of the universe and the many-worlds hypothesis of parallel universes.

About this title

Review

Who among us hasn't, at one time or another, lain flat on a grassy slope and stared up at the passing clouds, wondering where the sky begins and ends? Timothy Ferris, professor emeritus of journalism at the University of California, Berkeley, has written an entire book on just that subject. There was a time when cosmology was the poor stepsister to other, more glamorous sciences; then, clothed in new astronomical data (much of it obtained from the Hubble Space Telescope) and taken to their bosoms by particle physicists, the study of the cosmos has attained giddying new heights of popularity and respect. In The Whole Shebang, Ferris describes this transformation in entertaining and lucid style, beginning with the Big Bang theory and winding up with the author's own "Contrarian Theological Afterward."

In between, Ferris explicates the shape of space, black holes, the origin of the elements and the evolution of galaxies and stars. As if encapsulating the cosmos weren't enough, he plunges cheerfully into an account of quantum physics and its relationship to the study of the universe. The subtitle of The Whole Shebang is A State-of-the-Universe(s) Report, and indeed, one of the intriguing theories presented in this book is that our universe is but one of many, each with physical laws and the potential for life. The Whole Shebang is a book that even those of us who hated science in school will love.

Review

Jim Harrison Author of "Legends of the Fall""Timothy Ferris's "The Whole Shebang" is a splendid tonic for our all too worldly claustrophobia.Your consciousness will be altered to the point that you'll never look at the heavens again without stupidfied awe and wonderment."

Edition details

• Publisher: Phoenix (an Imprint of The Orion Publishing Group Ltd )
• Publication date: 1998
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0753804751
• ISBN 13: 9780753804759
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 400