Customer Reviews

Achilles in the Quantum Universe: The Definitive History of Infinity

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When I picked up "Achilles in the Quantam Universe" it was soley for a school project. We were assigned to read a physics related book and "A Brief History of Time" wasn't at the library. I found, though, that once I picked it up I couldn't stop reading. Not only is it written so that anyone can understand it, Morris adds humor, anecdotes and footnotes that keep the reader immersed in the amazing accounts of historical events. Starting with Cantor, Plato and Zeno, the book moves through the discoveries of some of the world's greatest physicists. It focuses on the history of the concept of infinity, but while doing so, explains such things as the development of the idea of an electron and the charting of our solar system. He makes Galileo, Newton and Einstein seem real, as if he was a friend telling of thier experiments. The book is informative, fun and an amazing account of the history of "infinity", and I would recommend it to anyone.

Where other science writers leave many ideas murky and impenetrable, Morris has a knack for making everything clear. As the review excerpt on one of his previous books said, he can explain Stephen Hawking better than Hawking does. In this book, he explains the concept of infinity, beginning with Zeno's paradox of Achilles and the Tortoise, and concluding with black holes and the possibility of an infinite number of universe. When I looked at the table ot contents, I thought, "I'll never be able to understand all this." But I did.

As a lay reader who's interest in math and quantum physics is limited to the "gee whiz" aspects of science, this book is a must read. There are great mind twisters and insights into the reality of math and physics. I was blown away by the discussion about calculus. Wish I had the insights when I flunked the class....may have helped!

Achilles in the quantum universe, was one of the best books I've read. It approached the concept of infinity in a way that the common reader could understand.

The subtitle is completely misleading, it's not "the definitive history of infinity" at all, indeed it's not even a history of infinity (actually, it only has two chapters on this subject).

The book is just another (very well written, by the way) popular science book which talks about general relativity, quantum mechanics, time-travel, big-bang, worm holes, etc. So if you have already read others books on this subject (as the ones of Kaku, Hawking, etc.) you won't find much new information.

But, in case you are really interested in a "History of Infinity", get the marvelous Rudy Rucker's book "Infinity and the Mind".

Estoy iniciando la lectura del libro, por lo que no puedo todavía emitir una opinión global. Pero he hallado una afirmación tan errónea, que no puedo evitar comentarla. En la página 52 de la edición en español (Ediciones B, ISBN: 84-406-9582-9)dice que el Sol, "más próximo a la Tierra en verano que en invierno"... ¿Cómo?¿Desde cuándo las estaciones se relacionan con la proximidad al Sol? Como que dudo de que el Sr. Morris, todo un doctor en Física, según los créditos del libro, cometa un error tan flagrante, pienso que quizá se trate de un error de traducción. ¿O es que estoy equivocado y el Sol sí está más proximo a la Tierra en verano que en invierno?