A Universe from Nothing: Why There Is Something Rather than Nothing [Hardcover]

Lawrence M. Krauss (Author), Richard Dawkins (Afterword)

Book Description

Release date: January 10, 2012

“WHERE DID THE UNIVERSE COME FROM? WHAT WAS THERE BEFORE IT? WHAT WILL THE FUTURE BRING? AND FINALLY, WHY IS THERE SOMETHING RATHER THAN NOTHING?”

Lawrence Krauss’s provocative answers to these and other timeless questions in a wildly popular lecture now on YouTube have attracted almost a million viewers. The last of these questions in particular has been at the center of religious and philosophical debates about the existence of God, and it’s the supposed counterargument to anyone who questions the need for God. As Krauss argues, scientists have, however, historically focused on other, more pressing issues—such as figuring out how the universe actually functions, which can ultimately help us to improve the quality of our lives.

Now, in a cosmological story that rivets as it enlightens, pioneering theoretical physicist Lawrence Krauss explains the groundbreaking new scientific advances that turn the most basic philosophical questions on their heads. One of the few prominent scientists today to have actively crossed the chasm between science and popular culture, Krauss reveals that modern science is addressing the question of why there is something rather than nothing, with surprising and fascinating results. The staggeringly beautiful experimental observations and mind-bending new theories are all described accessibly in A Universe from Nothing, and they suggest that not only can something arise from nothing, something will always arise from nothing.

With his characteristic wry humor and wonderfully clear explanations, Krauss takes us back to the beginning of the beginning, presenting the most recent evidence for how our universe evolved—and the implications for how it’s going to end. It will provoke, challenge, and delight readers as it looks at the most basic underpinnings of existence in a whole new way. And this knowledge that our universe will be quite different in the future from today has profound implications and directly affects how we live in the present. As Richard Dawkins has described it: This could potentially be the most important scientific book with implications for supernaturalism since Darwin.

A fascinating antidote to outmoded philosophical and religious thinking, A Universe from Nothing is a provocative, game-changing entry into the debate about the existence of God and everything that exists. “Forget Jesus,” Krauss has argued, “the stars died so you could be born.”

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Theoretical physicist Krauss, author of several books about physics, including The Physics of Star Trek (1995), admits up front that he is not “sympathetic to the conviction that creation requires a creator.” The book isn’t exclusively an argument against divine creation, or intelligent design, but, rather, an exploration of a tantalizing question: How and why can something—the universe in which we live, for example—spring from nothing? It’s an evolutionary story, really, taking us back to the Big Bang and showing how the universe developed over billions of years into its present form. Sure to be controversial, for Krauss does not shy away from the atheistic implications of a scientifically explainable universe, the book is full of big ideas explained in simple, precise terms, making it accessible to all comers, from career physicists to the lay reader whose knowledge of the field begins and ends with a formula few understand, E=mc². --David Pitt

Review

"In A Universe from Nothing, Lawrence Krauss has written a thrilling introduction to the current state of cosmology—the branch of science that tells us about the deep past and deeper future of everything. As it turns out, everything has a lot to do with nothing—and nothing to do with God. This is a brilliant and disarming book."-- Sam Harris, author of The Moral Landscape

"Astronomers at the beginning of the twentieth century were wondering whether there was anything beyond our Milky Way Galaxy. As Lawrence Krauss lucidly explains, astronomers living two trillion years from now, will perhaps be pondering precisely the same question! Beautifully navigating through deep intellectual waters, Krauss presents the most recent ideas on the nature of our cosmos, and of our place within it. A fascinating read."

-- Mario Livio, author of Is God A Mathematician? and The Golden Ratio

"In this clear and crisply written book, Lawrence Krauss outlines the compelling evidence that our complex cosmos has evolved from a hot, dense state and how this progress has emboldened theorists to develop fascinating speculations about how things really began."

-- Martin Rees, author of Our Final Hour

“A series of brilliant insights and astonishing discoveries have rocked the Universe in recent years, and Lawrence Krauss has been in the thick of it. With his characteristic verve, and using many clever devices, he’s made that remarkable story remarkably accessible. The climax is a bold scientific answer to the great question of existence: Why is there something rather than nothing.”

-- Frank Wilczek, Nobel Laureate and Herman Feshbach professor at MIT, author of The Lightness of Being

"With characteristic wit, eloquence and clarity Lawrence Krauss gives a wonderfully illuminating account of how science deals with one of the biggest questions of all: how the universe's existence could arise from nothing. It is a question that philosophy and theology get themselves into muddle over, but that science can offer real answers to, as Krauss's lucid explanation shows. Here is the triumph of physics over metaphysics, reason and enquiry over obfuscation and myth, made plain for all to see: Krauss gives us a treat as well as an education in fascinating style."

--A. C. Grayling, author of The Good Book

"We have been living through a revolution in cosmology as wondrous as that initiated by Copernicus. Here is the essential, engrossing and brilliant guide."

--Ian McEwan

“Nothing is not nothing. Nothing is something. That's how a cosmos can be spawned from the void -- a profound idea conveyed in A Universe From Nothing that unsettles some yet enlightens others. Meanwhile, it's just another day on the job for physicist Lawrence Krauss.”

-- Neil deGrasse Tyson, Astrophysicist, American Museum of Natural History

"Lively and humorous as well as informative… As compelling as it is intriguing.” (Publishers Weekly )

“[An] excellent guide to cutting-edge physics… It is detailed but lucid, thorough but not stodgy… [an] insightful book… Space and time can indeed come from nothing; nothing, as Krauss explains beautifully. …A Universe From Nothing is a great book: readable, informative and topical.” (New Scientist)

"Krauss possesses a rare talent for making the hardest ideas in astrophysics accessible to the layman, due in part to his sly humor… one has to hope that this book won't appeal only to the partisans of the culture wars – it's just too good and interesting for that. Krauss is genuinely in awe of the "wondrously strange" nature of our physical world, and his enthusiasm is infectious.” (San Francisco Chronicle, Huffington Post, AP)

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: Atria Books; First Edition edition (January 10, 2012)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 145162445X
• ISBN-13: 978-1451624458
• Product Dimensions: 6 x 0.9 x 9.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (429 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #27,453 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #49 in Books > Professional & Technical > Professional Science > Astronomy & Space Science > Cosmology

More About the Author

I was born in New York City and shortly afterward moved to Toronto, spending my childhood in Canada. I received undergraduate degrees in mathematics and physics from Carleton University, and his Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1982.

After a stint in the Harvard Society of Fellows, I became an assistant professor at Yale University in 1985 and Associate Professor in 1988. I moved in 1993 to become Ambrose Swasey Professor of Physics, professor of astronomy, and Chairman of the Physics Department at Case Western Reserve University In August 2008 I joined the faculty at Arizona State University as Foundation Professor in the School of Earth and Space Exploration and the Department of Physics in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, and Director of the University's Origins Initiative. In 2009 we inaugurated this this initiative with the Origins Symposium [www.origins.asu.edu] in which 80 of the world's leading scientists participated, and 3000 people attended.

I write regularly for national media, including The New York Times, the Wall St. Journal, Scientific American (for which I wrote a regular column last year), and other magazines, as well as doing extensive work on radio and television. I am strongly committed to public understanding of science, and have helped lead the national effort to preserve sound science teaching, including the teaching of evolution. I also served on Barack Obama's 2008 Presidential campaign science policy committee. In 2008 I became co-chair of the Board of Sponsors of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, and in 2010 was elected to the Board of Directors of the Federation of American Scientists.

I became a scientist in part because I read books by other scientists, such as Albert Einstein, George Gamow, Sir James Jeans, etc, when I was a child, and my popular writing returns the favor. One of my greatest joys is when a young person comes up to me and tells me that one of my books motivated them to become a scientist.

I believe science is not only a vital part of our culture, but is fun, and I try and convey that in my books and lectures. I am honored that Scientific American referred to me as a rare scientific public intellectual, and that all three three major US Physics Societies: the American Physical Society, the American Association of Physics Teachers, and the American Institute of Physics, have seen fit to honor me with their highest awards for research and writing.

My research focuses on the beginning and end of the Universe. Among my contributions to the field of cosmology, I helped lead the search for dark matter, and first proposed the existence of dark energy in 1995.

When I have the chance, I love to mountain bike, fly fish, and scuba dive. I spend a tremendous amount of time on planes now, alas, and enjoy flying, but hate airports..

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

382 of 429 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars This Book Is Really Something! January 11, 2012

By J. Gomez TOP 500 REVIEWER

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

A Universe from Nothing by Lawrence M. Krauss

"A Universe from Nothing" is the fascinating book about how our universe came from nothing. Using the latest in scientific knowledge, his expertise and the innate ability to explain very complex topics in accessible manner earns this book five stars. Lawrence Krauss takes us on an exciting voyage of discovery that helps us understand the universe and further whets our appetite for more knowledge. This 224-page book is composed of the following eleven chapters: 1. A Cosmic Mystery Story: Beginnings, 2. A Cosmic Mystery Story: Weighing the Universe, 3. Light from the Beginning of Time, 4. Much Ado About Nothing, 5. The Runaway Universe, 6. The Free Lunch at the End of the Universe, 7. Our Miserable Future, 8. A Grand Accident?, 9. Nothing Is Something, 10. Nothing Is Unstable, and 11. Brave New Worlds.

Positives:
1. This book is truly something! A page turner.
2. A thought-provoking, inspirational quest for knowledge...I loved it!
3. A profound book that is intelligible. An achievement in its own right. Very complex topics accessible to the masses. Thank you.
4. Elegant prose with conviction. Lucid and clarity in a world of dark matter.
5. A journey of cosmological discoveries.
6. Effective use of charts and illustrations.
7. I have a much better understanding of our universe as a result of this book and most importantly it has only whet my appetite for even more knowledge...and that's why I read.
8. A love affair with science and for good reason. The three key principles of scientific ethos.
9. Startling conclusions are presented. The author does a wonderful job of letting us know what we do know versus what we don't know.
10. Some of the greatest discoveries presented.
11. I finally have a reasonable grasp of the Big Bang, Bazinga! The three main observational pillars.
12. Of course you will get to hear about the greats of science but I really appreciate the stories of the lesser known scientists who provided vital knowledge, such as, the story of Henrietta Swan Leavitt and Vera Rubin. Bravo!
13. Great facts spruced throughout the book and some jaw-dropping insight. One scientist was able to defend his mother in a witchcraft trial...find out whom.
14. What general relativity tells us.
15. The uses for gravitational lensing. Let's get Zwicky with it.
16. Dark matter and dark energy...enlighten me. Or at least try.
17. Quantum mechanics, I will never understand it but I can appreciate it what it provides.
18. The author does a good job of telling us what scientific progress has been made and how that applies to cosmology.
19. A flat universe?? Find out.
20. An explanation of nothing that means something to me. Can you say quantum fluctuations?
21. A "creator" in proper perspective. The requirement of some externality. Read it and you will understand.
22. Multiverses...oh my.
23. String theory a critical view.
24. A little bit of philosophy for good measure.
25. The best explanation for how something can come out of nothing to best current knowledge available.
26. Key concepts will now become part of your understanding..."the existence of energy in empty space".
27. Black holes under the light and some very interesting takes.
28. Spoiler alert...one of the most profound questions, "What I want to know is whether God had any choice in the creation of the universe." Thank you, Mr. Einstein.
29. An interesting look at Aristotle and the First Cause in the light of new knowledge.
30. The book ends with a bang of reality.

Negatives:
1. No links or bibliography.
2. A lot of the concepts of this book are hard to grasp. Some readers may not have the patience and inclination to take the time to properly digest what is being offered. That being said, the author does wonders in making such difficult concepts accessible.

In summary, this is a fantastic book, a real treat. I learned so much and admire the author for providing a book that is accessible and enjoyable to the masses. This book lived up to my expectations. Fascinating topics in the hands of a master results in a captivating book. This is how science books should be written. I can't recommend this book enough!

Further suggestions: "The Quantum Universe: (And Why Anything That Can Happen, Does)" and "Why Does E=mc2?: (And Why Should We Care?)" by Brian Cox, "Quantum Man: Richard Feynman's Life in Science (Great Discoveries)" also by Lawrence Krauss, "Nothing: A Very Short Introduction (Very Short Introductions)" by Frank Close, "Knocking on Heaven's Door: How Physics and Scientific Thinking Illuminate the Universe and the Modern World" by Lisa Randall, and "The Grand Design" by Stephen Hawking.

96 of 108 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars pleasurable, rewarding and complete January 22, 2012

By Nigel Kirk

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

This shorter volume from Krauss marks his transition from talented science expositor to science champion. His crisp, clear and thorough discussion combines with a strong problem-focussed narrative to make this book a deserving popular science landmark. Some discussion retraces developments in physics that Krauss meticulously covers in previous longer books but this is necessary for a one-stop treatise on one of the most important topics in modern physics. Notes and references are omitted, acceptably in my opinion considering the briefer nature of this book. The development of the topic, the provision of a context through his intimate familiarity with the work of earlier physicists, and Krauss's offhand capacity to reduce complexity and hyperbole to a well rounded paragraph make this book pleasurable, rewarding and complete.

Krauss charts the development of theories regarding the universe's dimensions, mass, energy, inflation and homogeneity, touching on the importance of quantum fluctuations, dark energy and related phenomena. With this background, he explains Perlmutter's challenge, in 1996, to Krauss's statement that empty space might contain energy. With perfect timing, this book arrives just as Perlmutter, Reis and Schmidt gain their Nobel Prizes for confirming the accelerating expansion of the universe and as WMAP experiments hint at dark photons, all grist for the mill in the universe from nothing theory.

The treat at the end of this exposition is Krauss's scenario that humanity now enjoys the best opportunity, in terms of available evidence, to understand the universe's origin, evolution and fate. During this period, albeit billions of years long, we are able to still detect cosmic background radiation and view receding galaxies before they red-shift out of existence. We live at a good time and I am pleased that Hitch got to savour this scenario. Characteristically, Krauss then takes a sweep through and at the anthropic cosmological principal and string theory to frame the scientific method as a sometimes fuzzy, sometimes chicken and egg, but always logical way to investigate our existence. He logically extends this thinking in the `Brave New Worlds' chapter to collate some existing ideas and advance an analysis which is powerful and positive for science. His Epilogue comment from Camus, that "Sisyphus is smiling", appeals. Dawkins's quote from Carlyle in the afterword caps off the good humour with which Krauss has explored this topic.

Clearly Krauss has some fun with this book - the reader is left in no doubt of this plan after the first line in Chapter 1. The burst of early snipes at lazy thinkers and obfuscators risked the book taking a combative edge but readers can rest assured these remarks remained measured, valid and totally justified given the damage some obscurantists wilfully cause to scientific progress, increasingly to the future peril of humanity and the planet. Krauss introduces an allegory about his wallet card which diagrammatically explains how the abundance of different elements in the universe verifies the Big Bang Theory. He notes that the card has little value because the usual kind of challenger of his proposition has usually made up his or her mind. Herein lays the challenge and, no doubt, fate of this book.

161 of 199 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars A half-book and a half-pamphlet February 12, 2012

By Henri C. Ransford

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

A slim volume that mostly covers well-trodden ground.

On the plus side, the author's compelling demonstration that, if they are around then, cosmologists of the far future applying impeccable science will inescapably draw all the wrong conclusions about the birth and genesis of the Universe, is fascinating.
Because by then they'll be unable to observe a number of things, such as any erstwhile neighbouring galaxies which will have firmly drifted out of sight, or to perceive, let alone measure, things like the residual cosmic radiation background, or dark energy. Even if some of these cosmologists somehow stumbled upon the right, seemingly far-out ideas, applying Occam's razor rules would firmly relegate the correct scenario to the kook fringe.

A very sobering thought.

On the minus side, the author insists throughout, without providing a shred of evidence or even without really envisioning alternatives, that dark matter comes from hitherto undiscovered particles - there are however many other, exotic possible scenarios for how dark matter arises (such as, amongst other possibilities, the nearby presence of other universes from our own, within a larger multiverse) but all these other possible sources are given short shrift. Positing an a priori scenario somehow does not look like very good science.....

As a review of how matter can arise from nothingness, this book is far too slim to be comprehensive - there is, for instance, only scant treatment of the 'quantum fluctuation' scenario first championed by Trion, or of the 'colliding membranes' scenario, or for that matter of Roger Penrose's interesting recent ideas, which remain largely ignored.

In brief, an interesting book which leaves an aftertaste of somehow having an ulterior agenda, perhaps a pamphlet against mindless religiosity rather than a bona fide, purely science book.