Nothing: A Very Short Introduction 1st Edition

by Frank Close (Author)

58 customer reviews

ISBN-13: 978-0199225866

ISBN-10: 0199225869

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This short, smart book tells you everything you need to know about "nothing." What remains when you take all the matter away? Can empty space--"nothing"--exist? To answer these questions, eminent scientist Frank Close takes us on a lively and accessible journey that ranges from ancient ideas and cultural superstitions to the frontiers of current research, illuminating the story of how scientists have explored the void and the rich discoveries they have made there. Readers will find an enlightening history of the vacuum: how the efforts to make a better vacuum led to the discovery of the electron; the ideas of Newton, Mach, and Einstein on the nature of space and time; the mysterious aether and how Einstein did away with it; and the latest ideas that the vacuum is filled with the Higgs field. The story ranges from the absolute zero of temperature and the seething vacuum of virtual particles and anti-particles that fills space, to the extreme heat and energy of the early universe.

About the Series: Combining authority with wit, accessibility, and style, Very Short Introductions offer an introduction to some of life's most interesting topics. Written by experts for the newcomer, they demonstrate the finest contemporary thinking about the central problems and issues in hundreds of key topics, from philosophy to Freud, quantum theory to Islam.

Nothing: A Very Short Introduction

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Editorial Reviews

Review

`Review from previous edition: All in all, this book makes for some fascinating reading.' Chemistry World, Dennis Rouvray.

`An accessible and entertaining read for layperson and scientist alike.' Physics World

`The Void is well worth reading.' Robert Cailliau. CERN Courier.

`It covers very complicated concepts in a mostly accessible way.' Lawrence Rudnick, Nature

`A fascinating subject covered by a fascinating book.' Marcus Chown, Focus

About the Author

Frank Close, OBE, is Professor of Physics at Oxford University and a Fellow of Exeter College and was formerly vice president of the British Association for Advancement of Science.

Paperback: 176 pages
Publisher: Oxford University Press; 1 edition (July 26, 2009)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0199225869
ISBN-13: 978-0199225866
Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 0.5 x 4.4 inches
Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 58 customer reviews
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #78,884 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #9 in Books > Textbooks > Humanities > Philosophy > Metaphysics
- #32 in Books > Politics & Social Sciences > Philosophy > Movements > Existentialism
- #83 in Books > Politics & Social Sciences > Philosophy > Metaphysics

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Too much in too little space.

March 16, 2015

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

It's a very ambitious book that suffers slightly from the Very Short Introduction format. It begins with an interesting history of what people thought could exist in vacuum. It then goes on with a history of how science progressed towards the view of vacuum, and with dispensing theories of ether. The book then spends some time explaining relativity and quantum theory, before giving a quantum view of the vacuum. While the beginning of the book was interesting historically, and some of the points near the end were also interesting, the book was rushed and didn't really have time to build to a comprehensible conclusion. The middle third of the book felt like a whirwind tour of Feynman's Six Easy Pieces and Six Not So Easy Pieces books on popular science. However, the author relied only on analogy and not on math to communicate his concepts. This made the book a significantly faster read at the cost of becoming significantly harder to comprehend once the physics reached a level where analogies failed to come easily. Overall, I don't regret buying or reading the book, but I would probably recommend anyone interested in it starting with Feynman's popular science books before finding a meatier look at this subject.

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Mary Echternacht

This book will expand your thinking into unknown realms

August 13, 2014

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

As the name implies, this is a short book easily read, that makes you think about many concepts and what they really mean, it is very thought provoking and takes you beyond the universe and reality and expands your thinking into unknown realms and really gets you thinking

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StarSearcher

Very interesting

April 19, 2013

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

This excellent book by Frank Close essentially answers the question: Is there a vacuum in nature? And if so, what are the implications? And if not, what *is* inside this closed off system? The answer is (as is often the case) it depends. It depends on what you consider a vacuum, but basically there is really no true "empty" space in the Universe as far as we know, and the book basically sets out to describe what this means and what is inside something if there are no atoms or other substances inside a closed system. The audience of this book is the curious non-physicist who might look at the night sky and wonder what is really out there. I enjoyed this book immensely and will be looking for other books by this author. Thank you for reading my review.

For other books, you might check out Magnetism: A Very Short Introduction and Quantum Theory: A Very Short Introduction (also in the VSI series) to get an idea of how the physics in "the nothing" really work.

Rian Davis, author of Mi-hyun and Credit Check

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curmudgeon

Wide eyed kid at seventy five

December 30, 2010

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

I wish I had read this book sixty years ago; unfortunately it wasn't available back then and today the lessons in this book are not new but Professor Close takes a step sideways and gives those like me another view of what is to science is "a partially reveled masterpiece".
This little book wasn't easy for me to read but it was worth every minute spent doing it.

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Ira

Nothing as an absence of everything exists only in theory

December 10, 2014

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

I was rereading the 1958 book on existentialism, Irrational Man, when I came across this book by Frank Close. I downloaded the sample, thinking it was about metaphysical nothing (maybe the physical and the metaphysical are not all that different??). I found the book so readable and fascinating that I bought the whole thing. I guess the overall lesson from Close is that nothing does not exist (quantum vacua are seething) and the entire universe is as close to nothing (on a zero-sum basis) as we can find. I have since moved on to The Elegant Universe by Brian Greene at Close's recommendation. It is not quite as readable, but I feel more conversant with String Theory now.

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Yehezkel Dror

DEALS WITH THE PHYSICS OF EMPTYNESS, NOT "NOTHING"

April 11, 2015

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

Avant-Garde Politician: Leaders for a New Epoch

This short book well discusses the physics of "emptiness," though neglecting its psychological and phenomenological problematics. Towards the end it winds up with some speculations on why is there anything, such as "the compact universe emerged from the era of quantum gravity, which is when time took over from imaginary time" (p. 143). However, the real issue of "nothing" is why there exists anything at all. This is a matter for metaphysics and philosophy of the mind to ponder, not for physics - which has more than enough to do to try and understand what is, such as the nature of black energy and material.

To the credit of the author, he mentions that our view of reality is "based on our macroscopic sense of time and three space dimensions" (ibid), to which should be added the amazing ability of some humans to think in terms of imaginary concepts put into symbolic, usually mathematical language, such as multi-dimensionality and multiverses, as well as explaining reality in terms that seem "magic" for most of us, such as quantum physics. He also, wisely, refers to what is "far beyond our conceptual ability" (ibid).

But this is not enough. The idea of "nothing" is far beyond the domains of science. It requires exploration as part of metaphysics and of the philosophy of the embodies mind, which leads to recognition of inbuilt limits of maximal human understanding, including of "nothingness," however our specie dislikes this line of thinking (as in part taken up in my recent book).

This issue, put differently, also faces religions. No theology presumes to take up the question how God was created, discussing instead the transcendental in terms of negative theology and God as "eternal," beyond human understanding, and to be taken on faith based on revelation.

Accordingly, the book is mistitled: it should have been named "emptiness," with the distinction between it and "nothing" being explained in the introduction. A short introduction on "nothing" in its real enigmatic sense, even if there may not be much to say on it, is still waiting to be written for the Oxford Short Introduction Series.

Professor Yehezkel Dror
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem

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Most recent customer reviews

Very Good.

Item was as advertised and delivered on time. Very Good.

Published 5 months ago by Rod L. Wood

Five Stars

love this one in the series great book

Published 8 months ago by Ivy

Five Stars

good book for amateurs of advanced physics.

Published 10 months ago by D.Liteanu

Careful who you gift this too

I gifted this to my coworker and he said he really enjoyed it and got much more out of it than he thought he would.Read more

Published 10 months ago by Amazon Customer

A whole lot of nothing

I enjoyed it.

Published 1 year ago by John

Five Stars

Any number divided by zero is infinitr

Published 1 year ago by Amazon Customer

Something out of nothing................

Gosh, a book about nothing! When I was making an unnecessary fuss, my late Mum used to say in exasperation, "You are making something out of nothing!Read more

Published 1 year ago by John H. Wilson

Uh, no.

boring. Save your money.

Published 1 year ago by Stephen Waller

Four Stars

As advertised

Published 1 year ago by ThomasB Henderson

Five Stars

well done

Published 1 year ago by david potter

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