The Whole Shebang: A State of the Universe(s) Report - Softcover

Ferris, Timothy

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0297815180 ISBN 13: 9780297815181

Publisher: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1997

Synopsis

This is an accessible, non-mathematical guide to all the central issues of cosmology, taking the reader through recent breakthroughs, hypotheses and arguments: the inflationary universe immediately subsequent to the Big Bang; quantum cosmology and Hartle and Hawking's wave-function of the universe; the discovery and significance of large-scale galactic structure; the evolution of the universe(s) and the many-worlds hypothesis of parallel universes; the various anthropic principles; the controversies over the Big Bang and the discovery of the ripples in the microwave background radiatioon; the issues of the existence of other intelligent life-forms; and the possibility of the evidence of life on Mars.

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: Weidenfeld & Nicolson
• Publication date: 1997
• ISBN 10: 0297815180
• ISBN 13: 9780297815181
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 320