In Search of the Multiverse
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Summary
Editor's review
Who it's for
A good fit for
- General readers curious about cosmology and the multiverse but without a professional background
- Popular-science enthusiasts who want to understand how general relativity and quantum theory shape our view of the universe
- Teachers, students, and book-club members looking for material for discussions in the philosophy of science
Not a good fit for
- Physics students seeking systematic study of cosmological formulas and calculations
- Readers who want definite conclusions and are unwilling to accept hypotheses and speculation
- People with fragmented reading time who find it hard to follow a multi-threaded theoretical narrative
Reading tips
- Start with the table of contents and introduction to build the overall framework of the seven chapters, then read selectively according to interest.
- After each chapter, restate the core argument in a few sentences, distinguishing fact, hypothesis, and metaphor.
- When encountering unfamiliar theoretical terms, mark them first and revisit them in context after finishing the chapter.
Contents
- 版权信息
- 致谢
- 序言 探索
- 导言 在广袤无垠的宇宙中，一切皆有可能
- chapter 1 即将到来的量子猫
- 既不是波也不是粒子
- 量子的不确定性
- 唯一的谜
- 解读不可思议的事物
- 量子猫之母
- 休·埃弗莱特的多世界诠释
- 历史的分支树
- 埃弗莱特从无人问津到炙手可热
- chapter 2 再看宇宙巧合
- 碳巧合
- 宇宙为何如此广阔？
- 核效率
- 引力太小了，令人难以置信！
- 宇宙学常数的巧合
- 平滑的宇宙海中的涟漪
- 三维适合人类生存，多维不适合
- 生命的抽奖
- chapter 3 量子位元和时间流逝
- 拥有两个大脑
- 量子计算机探索
- 杀手级应用
- 实用性
- 这一切发生在何处？
- 多重宇宙的比喻
- 这一切发生在何时？
- 时间流逝
- 更广阔的天地
- chapter 4 在所有方向上的无限
- 时间之箭
- 宇宙的热死亡
- 每个可能的意外
- 时间和距离
- 时间和热力学
- 宇宙之箭和引力下降
- 反弹？
- 回到未来
- chapter 5 （就像）重新开始
- 粒子连接
- 无中不能生有
- 让宇宙膨胀
- 回到恒稳态？
- 时间之河中的泡泡
- 永恒的暴涨和简单的开始
- 玻尔兹曼的大脑、时间之箭和因果补丁物理
- 到无限——并且超越无限！
- chapter 6 弦理论的多重宇宙
- 引力备受关注
- 两种方法加上第三种途径
- 紧致但完美地形成
- M的魔力
- 重新审视令人难以置信的微弱引力
- 当世界碰撞时
- 依靠自身的力量
- 无底洞
- 有很多像家一样的地方
- 探索宇宙景观
- 薛定谔的猫归来
- chapter 7 伪造它？还是制造它？
- 它是科学吗？
- 内在的信息
- 伪造者
- 黑洞和婴儿宇宙
- 自然地选择宇宙
- 一个新的视角
- 宇宙的创造者
- 设计宇宙的进化
- 设计的宇宙
- 译者后记
- 附录 专有名词中英对照索引
FAQ
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About the author
John Gribbin is a British science writer and astrophysicist, born in 1946 in Maidstone, Kent. He earned a PhD in astrophysics from the University of Cambridge, has worked as an editor at Nature and New Scientist, and is currently a visiting fellow in astronomy at the University of Sussex. His writing spans cosmology, quantum physics and scientist biographies, with representative works including In Search of Schrödinger's Cat, The Universe: A Biography and a biography of Feynman; the library holds 10 of his titles. He is known for making profound scientific ideas clear and readable. The author of more than a hundred books translated into over 30 languages, he received the Association of British Science Writers' lifetime achievement award in 2009.
Chang Ning is an author about whom limited public information is available. The Chinese book database currently holds two works under this name: In Search of the Multiverse and How to Ask a Good Question. Judging from their subjects, Chang Ning's writing spans two directions: popular science and inspirational personal growth. The former deals with frontier scientific topics such as cosmology and the multiverse, while the latter focuses on cultivating questioning skills and habits of thought. This combination suggests an author who can handle fairly specialized scientific material while also attending to the practical needs of ordinary readers in learning and personal development. The popular-science writing tends to translate complex concepts into accessible narrative, while the inspirational works center on methodology and emphasize practical thinking training. Because details such as dates of birth and death, nationality, educational background, and professional experience are not clearly recorded, no further account of the author's life can be given; the existing works nonetheless reflect a dual interest in knowledge popularization and personal-growth writing.
He Yujing is an author about whom limited public information is currently available; her nationality, dates of birth and death, and educational background have not been clearly recorded. Based on the holdings in the library, she is associated with popular science writing, and her representative work, In Search of the Multiverse, is classified as a science popularization title. The multiverse is a controversial yet widely discussed frontier topic in contemporary physics and cosmology, involving cosmic inflation, interpretations of quantum mechanics, and string theory, among other directions. To present such a highly specialized subject to general readers, an author must balance scientific accuracy with readability, explaining the conceptual context while also showing the support for and doubts about the relevant theories. That this book has a place in the popular science category suggests the author's approach of translating complex scientific questions into accessible narrative. Because verifiable personal information is scarce, this introduction relies mainly on the subject matter and classification of the work, and further public materials are needed to fill in biographical details.
