Hyperspace: A Scientific Odyssey Through Parallel Universes, Time Warps, and the 10th Dimens ion (Paperback)

by Michio Kaku (Author) "TWO incidents from my childhood greatly enriched my understanding of the world and sent me on course to become a theoretical physicist..." (more)
Key Phrases: quantum heresy, belligerent science, hyperspace theory, Standard Model, Big Bang, The Secret of Light (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review
How many dimensions do you live in? Three? Maybe that's all your commonsense sense perception perceives, but there is growing and compelling evidence to suggest that we actually live in a universe of ten real dimensions. Kaku has written an extraordinarily lucid and thought-provoking exploration of the theoretical and empirical bases of a ten-dimensional universe and even goes so far as to discuss possible practical implications--such as being able to escape the collapse of the universe. Yikes. Highly Recommended.

From Publishers Weekly
Since ingesting Einstein's relativity theory 50 years ago, physics fell down a quantum rabbit hole and, ever since, physicists' reports to the world of popular science have been curiouser and curiouser. This version, from the author of the graduate text Quantum Field Theory , is very curious as he delineates the "delicious contradictions" of the quantum revolution: that the new paradigms of subatomic matter require the existence of "hyperspace," an ultimate universe of many dimensions, to accomodate their mostly mathematical behaviors. Unified field theory as it is currently understood does not preclude any of the hypotheses that Kaku invites to this Mad Hatter's Theory Party: superstrings, parallel universes and, his centerpiece, time travel. Although occasionally facile, Kaku remains on solid theoretical ground up to the point of his untestable hypotheses, which lead to his more abstract arguments. In the past decade particle physics has lurched to astonishing contradictions and Kaku's adventurous, tantalizing book should not be penalized for promising more than present technology can test. His intellectual perceptions will thrill lay readers, SF fans and the physics-literate. Illustrations.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 359 pages
• Publisher: Anchor (February 1, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0385477058
• ISBN-13: 978-0385477055
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.1 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (213 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #14,501 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

140 of 142 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Outlines a leading candidate for the Theory of Everything, October 13, 2000

By	Spiff (Europe) - See all my reviews

Hyperspace is a book strongly focused on higher-dimensional space-time theories such as superstring and Kaluza-Klein-type. The 10 dimensional theory promises to vastly simplify the laws of nature and end our view of a three dimension universe. Kaku manages to compile lots of information in a very readable and fascinating book. You will understand how 10-D theories are basically simple and geometric, despite their mathematical complexity (which actually opened up new areas of mathematics).

Higher dimension theories allow us to reduce enormous amounts of information into a concise, elegant fashion that unites the two greatest theories of the 20th century: Quantum Theory and General Relativity.

Michio covers the basics of the theory, and its future implications for the future of physics and science, and even writes a few pages on the debate between the reductionism and holism in nature, and the aesthetic relation among physics, mathematics, religion and philosophy. The book flows very smoothly, never burying the reader under too many technical facts. It introduces higher dimension concepts, its relationship with currently accepted theories and the unification of all forces in ten dimensions.

Part 3 of the book starts getting heavier on astrophysics, covers Wormholes and potential gateways to other universes, black holes, parallel universes, time travel and colliding universes. Never Hollywood material, but the typical Stargate fan will probably still love this part. :-) Part 4 ends the book with thoughts on how mankind would can rule the universe if Hyperspace can be mastered, discussing the fate of the universe and its civilizations. Subjects like Entropy death, escape thru hyperspace and universal colonization are covered. Interesting, but lots of early speculation.

It is true that superstring theories currently appear impossible to test experimentally and may end up in the trash bin, but I don't think that limits this title's interest or renders it worthless. Michio's book is very well written and organized, making extremely difficult higher physics sound almost easy. Beware however, that this isn't really a good title for a complete beginner, and far from complex enough to leave some other readers satisfied. If you have some knowledge of the basics, you will be left with the impression that the ideas covered are simple, but it will only be an illusion; Very few people in the world fully master all the subjects covered. If having to understand the Riemann Metric Tensor is enough to make you run, you better keep away from this title. No knowledge in math is necessary, but of course, if you know your college math, you'll know what's happening, in some parts instead of having to just believe Kaku's word. :) Just being able to grasp the general beauty of hyperspace science is still well worth the time.

In parallel, you will hear some stories about mathematicians, events, and many curious episodes that have influenced modern science; Kaku sometimes diverges a bit from the main subject, and ends up telling stories, some about his childhood, and many about famous scientists (For instance, when dealing with Hilton's cubes, Kaku spends a few paragraphs telling us about Hilton's habits and the fact that he was a bigamist, the scandals, etc). This isn't really a problem, as the stories are usually interesting and directly or indirectly related to the subjects.

Kaku did manage to write a great laymen's (well, almost) book about higher dimensional physics and cosmology. Not many do it as well. Everybody remembers Hawkin's "A Brief History of Time" and also the now classic "The Elegant Universe". Hyperspace has its place next to these.

The discussion about God grasped my interest, but that didn't last long. I would have dropped the subject, as Michio is definitely not qualified to get into it, and I did not get the book to read a version of Kant's arguments that have been refuted to exhaustion. Note that I'm not questioning Michio's conclusions, just saying that there are far better titles on these matters and that the author should have focused on what's he's good at.

But, that little stain is no major problem, In general, very enjoyable title, also complete in notes, references, suggested readings and has a good index.

Highly recommended.

31 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A jouney into higher dimensional reality, January 1, 2001

By	David J. Kreiter (Iowa City, Iowa USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Though it is impossible to visualize higher dimensions and difficult for most of us to understand the equations involved in this technical field, Michio Kaku, who has become the "Carl Sagan" of our time, does an excellent job of helping lay readers comprehend hyperspace. The concept of higher dimensions, which was formerly introduced in 1854 by Geog Riemann, was not taken seriously because it was an untestable theory and lost credibility upon the introduction of quantum theory in the early twentieth century. Reinman believed that the forces of nature such as electricity, magnetism, and gravity were just effects caused by the crumpling or warping of hyperspace, an idea that Albert Eisntein revived in his theory of general relativity. In this comprehensive and often humouous work, Kaku takes the reader from the fictional characters of Charles Hinton to Relativity and String theories; both of which have revived interest in higher dimensional reality. If you thought, like me, that you could never come close to understanding the concepts of hyperspace, this book will surely bring you within reach of this understanding, while providing a sound background in the history and development of higher dimensions.

29 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Beyond the Third Dimension, August 7, 2000

By	"ultraman_zero" (Hong Kong) - See all my reviews

Everyone of us were born to comprehend the 3-dimensional world that we live in, and most of us would view time as the forth. In "Hyperspace", Kaku introduces the concept of dimensions beyond the third, and what these dimensions mean to us. Apart from talking about the possibilities of deriving a unified theory of all physical laws in higher dimensions, wormholes were also described in details as to how they could be used for travelling between different dimensions and universes, and more interestingly, how they could be used to travel through time. Most of the concepts were backed by examples and stories (including those of Kaku's childhood memories) which, not only allows the readers to easily grasp them, but also makes them more interesting to follow. However, one may start to wonder how on earth could Kaku's parents allow (and assist) their child to perform such horrific experiments!

This book was written primarily for the general public. Having said this, some moderate background and interests in physics are necessary, but then again you probably wouldn't be reading this review to start with if you weren't interested in "Hyperspace", right?

To sum up, I would definitely recommend this book for anyone who wants to find out more about the higher dimensions. Although there were occasions when I felt that Kaku has gone into too much details on the stories he quoted, which themselves could have been another interesting read if I wasn't told of the endings...