The Lightness of Being; Mass, Ether, and the Unification of Forces

Wilczek, Frank

ISBN 10: 0465003214 / ISBN 13: 9780465003211

Published by Basic Books/Perseus Book Group 978-0-465-00321-1, New York

About this Item

[978-0-465-00321-1] 2010. (Mass market paperback) Very good. xi, 270pp. 8vo. Explores new perspectives about, as well as the implications of, radical new theories about mass, energy, our universe, and the nature of space, as written by the winner (for work the author had done when he was 21 years old) of the 2004 Nobel Prize for Physics. Clean, tight, bright, solid copy, with colour photographs. Full number line.

Seller Inventory # 126908

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Lightness of Being; Mass, Ether, and the Unification of Forces
• Publisher: Basic Books/Perseus Book Group 978-0-465-00321-1, New York
• ISBN 10: 0465003214
• ISBN 13: 9780465003211
• Binding: Soft cover
• Seller catalogs:
  • Sciences

About this title

Synopsis

Physicist understanding of the essential nature of reality changed radically over the past quarter century. Frank Wilczek has played a lead role in establishing the new paradigms. Transcending the clash and mismatch of older ideas about what matter is, and what space is, Wilczek presents here some brilliant and clear syntheses. Space is a dynamic material, the engine of reality; matter is a subtle pattern of disturbance in that material. Extraordinarily readable and authoritative, The Lightness of Being is the first book to unwrap these exciting new ideas for the general public. It explores their implications for basic questions about space, mass, energy, and the longed-for possibility of a fully unified theory of Nature. Along the way, Wilczek presents new perspectives on many strange aspects of our fantastic universe. Pointing toward new directions where the great discoveries in fundamental physics are likely to come, he envisions a new Golden Age in physics.

About the Author

Frank Wilczek won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2004 for work that he did as a twenty-one-year-old graduate student. His 1989 book, Longing for the Harmonies, was a New York Times Notable Book of the Year. Wilczek’s work has been anthologized in Best American Science Writing and The Norton Anthology of Light Verse. He lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where he is currently the Herman Feshbach Professor of Physics at MIT.