Theories of Everything [Paperback]

John Barrow (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0449907384 | ISBN-13: 978-0449907382 | Publication Date: October 20, 1992

The Holy Grail of modern scientists is the "Theory of Everything," which will contain all that can be known about the Universe -- the magic formula that Einstein spent his life searching for and failed to find. In this elegant and exciting book, John Barrow challenges the quest for ultimate explanation.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Modern physicists believe they are getting closer to a Theory of Everything (TOE), a single, all-embracing picture of the laws of nature. Astronomer Barrow ( The World Within the World ) explores the topsy-turvy implications of current research and speculation. Some TOEs permit many possible universes to exist; in a number of creation scenarios, wormholes physically link a "Mother Universe" to simultaneously-born baby universes. Superstring theories--the most popular candidates for a viable TOE--presuppose either nine or 25 dimensions of space instead of the familiar three. Another implication is that the constants of nature--Einstein's "divine inputs"--may shift in value. A mind-boggling intellectual adventure, this thoroughgoing, often technical discussion encompasses the nature of time and current wrangling among physicists and mathematicians over whether the universe resembles a vast computer program, a kaleidoscopic pattern or neither.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

"A treasure of learning and insight...A fine analysis of the evolution of mathematical thought; indeed, the implicit role that mathematics has played in cosmology is a recurrent, finely drawn theme that adds considerably to the book's scholarly luster....Marvelous." The Kirkus Reviews

"An encyclopedia of current concerns in the philosophy of science, a clean cut through a thick birthday cake of ideas, the sort of book that an archeologist in the distant future would be delighted to have unearthed...An educational wonder." Times Literary Supplement

"[An] intellectual adventure...Encompasses the nature of time and current wrangling among physicists and mathematicians over whether the universe resembles a vast computer program, a kaleidoscopic pattern or neither."

Publishers Weekly

"Offers intelligent and informed insights into many aspects of science's efforts to understand everything."

Dallas Morning News

"Its scope is, appropriately, vast." Nature

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Ballantine Books (October 20, 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0449907384
• ISBN-13: 978-0449907382
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.1 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,069,855 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Entertaining, Educational and Not What I Expected, November 4, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: Theories of Everything (Paperback)

I expected a book that would focus on Theories of Everything that have been proposed to date-- a history of Grand Unified Theories, their proposers, to what extent they have been correct and have unified previously disparate theories, and to what extent they are not really Grand Unified Theories.

That is not what I got. I got something not necessarily better than described above, but different; certainly not worse. To highlight the difference from what you might expect, during one early chapter, I thought I had started rereading Roger Penrose's The Emperor's New Mind by mistake. And the Penrose is about consciousness and Artificial Intelligence. (Also a very good book, by the way.)

Theories of Everything is more of a cookbook. Whether you will come out with a cake at the end is doubtful, but it gives you what the necessary ingredients are to bake a successful theory of everything.

You need some universal principles or laws, some logic, some math, some chaos/complexity theory, the initial conditions of the universe (possibly quantum), some time theory, some elementary particles, a bit of gauge theory, possibly some wormholes and parallel universes, some questionable constants, some symmetries and symmetry breaking, an absence of theoretical bias (probably an impossible ingredient), and a philosophical mathematical basis. And that is exactly what you get.

Barrow seems to love philosophy as much as he loves physics, math and logic. That makes me like this book even more, as those are the fields of my concern, as well.

My one area of contention with Barrow is that he is ultimately a dualist, I am a physicalist. I disagree with him that a theory of everything could not contain music, poetry, consciousness, etc.

An alternate reading from the cookbook reading is that this book _is_ theories of everything--not a unified singular one, but it contains theories on all of the topics mentioned above and then some. Barrow is an extremely intelligent man and a very entertaining writer. Don't pass this book up.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Not so much about the ultimate theory but what it should be, February 15, 2001

By 

Kevin W. Parker (Greenbelt, MD) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Theories of Everything (Paperback)

This was not quite what I expected it to be, which was an overview of the latest ultimate theories of physics. The book does go into that topic to some extent, but it is as much about the philosophy of science as about science itself: not just the ultimate theories, but what constitutes a successful theory and what characteristics an ultimate theory should have. As such, it addresses such topics as symmetry (especially the broken symmetry believed to explain the four basic forces), compressibility (the capability of a simple theory to explain complex consequences), constants, laws, the anthropic principle, initial conditions, and much more. It's difficult going at times, and I can't pretend that I understood all of it. However, I think it's a book that will bear rereading, which I will plan on doing. Oh, and the quotes at the beginning of each section are great!

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Impossible search., September 6, 2002

By 

Luc REYNAERT (Beernem, Belgium) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Theories of Everything (Paperback)

The author believes that it is beyond the human reach to find a 'Theory of Everything', in other words an abbreviated representation - an algorithm or formula - of the logic behind the Universe's properties. A theory that unites the four fundamental forces.
His reasoning is solid, but sometimes difficult to follow. Not an easy read.
Here are a few of his arguments: (1) the world (e.g. chaotic processes) is not totally algorithmically compressible. (2) many constants of Nature got their values in the earliest stages of the universe. From the predictions emerging from the 'Theory of Everything, we should arrive at the current structure of the universe. This is nearly impossible. (3) If random elements of the Universe, inherited from its quantum origins, differ significantly from place to place, the knowledge of its global structure from our point of view will be incomplete. (4) Superstrings and its corollary 'many dimensions'. What happened with the vanished dimensions?
To the bargain, the author believes that even if we should find this theory, the factual impact on our life would be very limited.
Why then are all members of the physicists guild searching fot it? And why writes the author such a challenging book about it? It is like the quest of the Holy grail in the Middle Ages. The sheer beaty of Einstein's simple formula left everybody dumbfounded, but the person who will find a new equation 'for everything' would provoke a long lasting general silence followed by a burst of applause nearly as loud as the Big Bang.
By the way, I am not so sure that the impact on our life of this theory would be limited. The theory of general relativity and his counterpart 'quantum mechanics' had an immense impact on our daily lives, for the good and the bad.
A must read for everybody interested in the fate of the universe, or better multiverse.