Books about the Universe

Newest releases on the Universe

One click to the new releases on the Universe, Barnes and Noble.

Beyond the Quantum - Michael Talbot 1988

Amazon Synopsis: This work brings to life the ideas and experiments of some of the most brilliant scientists of our time, including Sheldrake, Sir Fre Hoyle, David Bohm and others.

Cosmic Conversations: Dialogues on the Nature of the Universe and the Search for Reality - Stephan Martin, Brian Swimme, Fred Alan Wolf and Peter Russell 2009

Amazon Synopsis: Have you ever looked up at the night sky and wondered, "What is the universe?"

In this lively and engaging collection of interviews, astronomer Stephan Martin talks with some of today's most innovative and cutting-edge thinkers on the nature of the universe and our relationship to it. Scientists, mystics, indigenous elders, and cultural creatives all share their unique voices on the nature of reality, the interplay of science and religion, the future of humanity, and the role of each person in a mysterious and evolving universe.

Filled with rich insight, dynamic discussion, and penetrating wisdom, Cosmic Conversations asks the fundamental questions about the universe that many of us have wondered about yet few have explored in-depth, questions such as:

* Do time, space, and matter really exist?

* Can the universe be inside us, outside us, or both?

* Is the universe alive, conscious, and intelligent?

* Where are we in the cosmic evolutionary picture?

A compelling journey from the farthest reaches of outer space to the innermost realms of the human heart, Cosmic Conversations will change the way you look at the universe (and yourself) forever.

Einstein's Universe - Nigel Calder 1988

Amazon Synopsis: This brilliantly written book unlocks the astounding implications of Einstein's revolutionary theories on the nature of science, time and motion. It far surpasses any previous explanation of Relativity for laymen.

The Elegant Universe: Superstrings, Hidden Dimensions, and the Quest for the Ultimate Theory - Brian Greene 2010

Amazon Synopsis: The international bestseller that inspired a major Nova special and sparked a new understanding of the universe, now with a new preface and epilogue.

Brian Greene, one of the world's leading string theorists, peels away layers of mystery to reveal a universe that consists of eleven dimensions, where the fabric of space tears and repairs itself, and all matter—from the smallest quarks to the most gargantuan supernovas—is generated by the vibrations of microscopically tiny loops of energy. The Elegant Universe makes some of the most sophisticated concepts ever contemplated accessible and thoroughly entertaining, bringing us closer than ever to understanding how the universe works.

The Fabric of the Cosmos: Space, Time, and the Texture of Reality - Brian Greene 2004

Amazon Synopsis: From Brian Greene, one of the world’s leading physicists, comes a grand tour of the universe that makes us look at reality in a completely different way.

Space and time form the very fabric of the cosmos. Yet they remain among the most mysterious of concepts. Is space an entity? Why does time have a direction? Could the universe exist without space and time? Can we travel to the past?

Greene uses these questions to guide us toward modern science’s new and deeper understanding of the universe. From Newton’s unchanging realm in which space and time are absolute, to Einstein’s fluid conception of spacetime, to quantum mechanics’ entangled arena where vastly distant objects can bridge their spatial separation to instantaneously coordinate their behavior or even undergo teleportation, Greene reveals our world to be very different from what common experience leads us to believe. Focusing on the enigma of time, Greene establishes that nothing in the laws of physics insists that it run in any particular direction and that “time’s arrow” is a relic of the universe’s condition at the moment of the big bang. And in explaining the big bang itself, Greene shows how recent cutting-edge developments in superstring and M-theory may reconcile the behavior of everything from the smallest particle to the largest black hole. This startling vision culminates in a vibrant eleven-dimensional “multiverse,” pulsating with ever-changing textures, where space and time themselves may dissolve into subtler, more fundamental entities.

Sparked by the trademark wit, humor, and brilliant use of analogy that have made The Elegant Universe a modern classic, Brian Greene takes us all, regardless of our scientific backgrounds, on an irresistible and revelatory journey to the new layers of reality that modern physics has discovered lying just beneath the surface of our everyday world.

Hidden Universe - Lars Lindberg Christensen, Robert Fosbury & Robert L. Hurt 2008

Amazon Synopsis: Our eyes are the result of an evolutionary adaptation to the sun's light. Since the sun is a G dwarf and emits most of its light in only a small part of the electromagnetic spectrum, our eyes are very limited in their capability to show us the universe. This book shows the fundamental change in our perception by covering the full spectrum of light.

The authors' unique skill in both science and science communication allows for a popular writing style, with an emphasis on what cannot be seen with our eyes. They make many comparisons with high-color images to reveal what is actually taking place behind the veil. They also make good use of their access to the most striking images in the field, creating full-color illustrations as needed. In addition, boxes and diagrams provide overviews of the instruments used.

The Holographic Universe - Michael Talbot 1992

Amazon Synopsis: Today nearly everyone is familiar with holograms, three-dimensional images projected into space with the aid of a laser. Now, two of the world's most eminent thinkers -- University of London physicists David Bohm, a former protege of Einstein's and one of the world's most respected quantum physicists, and Stanford neurophysiologist Karl Pribram, one of the architects of our modern understanding of the brain -- believe that the universe itself may be a giant hologram, quite literally a kind of image or construct created, at least in part, by the human mind.

This remarkable new way of looking at the universe explains now only many of the unsolved puzzles of physics, but also such mysterious occurrences as telepathy, out-of-body and near death experiences, "lucid" dreams, and even religious and mystical experiences such as feelings of cosmic unity and miraculous healings.

Life in the Universe: A Beginner's Guide - Lewis Dartnell 2007

Amazon Synopsis: Astrobiology, the study of life and its existence in the universe, is one of the hottest areas of scientific research. Lewis Dartnell considers some of the fascinating questions facing researchers today. Could life exist anywhere else in the universe? What might aliens really look like? Dartnell explains why Earth is uniquely suited for life and reveals our profound connection to the cosmos.

Mysticism and the New Physics - Michael Talbot 1993

Amazon Synopsis: This is an account of how quantum physics is putting forward ideas that confirm the perceived beliefs of mystics who think the world is an illusion.

The New Quantum Universe - A. J. G. Hey 2003

Amazon Synopsis: The principles of quantum mechanics are the basis of everything in the physical world--from atoms to stars, from nuclei to lasers. Quantum paradoxes and the eventful life of Schroedinger's Cat are explained, along with the Many Universe explanation of quantum measurement in this newly revised edition. Updated throughout, the book also looks ahead to the nanotechnology revolution and describes quantum cryptography, computing and teleportation.

Including an account of quantum mechanics and science fiction, this accessible book is geared to the general reader. Anthony Hey teaches at the University of Southampton, UK, and is the co-author of several books, including two with Patrick Walters, The Quantum Universe (Cambridge, 1987), and Einstein's Mirror (Cambridge , 1997). Patrick Walters is a Lecturer in Continuing Education at the University of Wales at Swansea. He co-ordinates the Physical Science Programme in DACE which includes the Astronomy Programme. His research interests include science education, and he also writes non-technical books on science for the general reader and beginning undergraduates.

The Quantum World: Quantum Physics for Everyone - Kenneth William Ford

Amazon Synopsis: Common sense tells us that matter doesn't vanish into thin air, a particle and a wave have little in common, and good knowledge leads to good prediction. Yet when we move beyond the range of everyday experience and into the world of quantum physics, things prove to be very different: particles of matter can be annihilated, waves and particles are two faces of matter, and the outcome of some experiments is completely unpredictable.

As Kenneth W. Ford shows us in The Quantum World, the laws governing the very small and the very swift defy common sense and stretch our minds to the limit. Drawing on a deep familiarity with the discoveries of the twentieth century, Ford gives an appealing account of quantum physics that will help the serious reader make sense of a science that, for all its successes, remains mysterious.

He tells a good story while depicting both the subatomic world and the world of physics research as lively places populated by highly interesting characters. At the core of this book are the "big ideas" of quantum physics, including granularity (matter and some of its properties, like energy, are "lumpy"), wave-particle duality, the uncertainty principle, the nature of bosons and fermions, and superposition and entanglement (an atom can be in two or more states of motion at once).

With strikingly clear writing, and with engaging illustrations by Paul Hewitt, The Quantum World imparts a sense of wonder and a knowledge of the strange laws governing the atoms, nuclei, and fundamental particles that inhabit the quantum world.

Quasars, Pulsars, and Black Holes - Frederic Golden 1985

Book Jacket: A detective adventure of our universe - and beyond! With many photographs.

Relativity: The Special and the General Theory - Albert Einstein 1995

Amazon Synopsis: Redesigned inside and out to have a fresh, appealing look, this new edition of a classic Crown Trade Paperback is a collection of Einstein's own popular writings on his work and describes the meaning of his main theories in a way virtually everyone can understand.

The Spiritual Universe: One Physicist's Vision of Spirit, Soul, Matter, and Self - Fred Alan Wolf 1998

Amazon Synopsis: Why do we believe in the soul? Does it actually exist? If so, what is it? Does it differ from the self? Is it part of the material world? Does it survive the body after death? In The Spiritual Universe, Fred Alan Wolf brings the most modern perspective of quantum physics to the most ancient questions of religion and philosophy.

Taking the reader on a fascinating tour of both Western and Eastern thought, Wolf explains the differing view of the soul in the works of Plato, Aristotle, and St. Thomas; the ancient Egyptian's believe in the nine forms of the soul; the Qabalistic idea of the soul acting in secret to bring spiritual order to a chaotic universe of matter and energy; and the Buddhist vision of a "nonsoul." And, Wolf mounts a defense of the soul against its modern critics who see it as nothing more than the physical body.

The Universe in a Nutshell - Stephen Hawking 2001

Amazon Synopsis: One of the most influential thinkers of our time, Stephen Hawking is an intellectual icon, known not only for the adventurousness of his ideas but for the clarity and wit with which he expresses them. In this new book Hawking takes us to the cutting edge of theoretical physics, where truth is often stranger than fiction, to explain in laymen’s terms the principles that control our universe.

Like many in the community of theoretical physicists, Professor Hawking is seeking to uncover the grail of science — the elusive Theory of Everything that lies at the heart of the cosmos. In his accessible and often playful style, he guides us on his search to uncover the secrets of the universe — from supergravity to supersymmetry, from quantum theory to M-theory, from holography to duality.

He takes us to the wild frontiers of science, where superstring theory and p-branes may hold the final clue to the puzzle. And he lets us behind the scenes of one of his most exciting intellectual adventures as he seeks “to combine Einstein’s General Theory of Relativity and Richard Feynman’s idea of multiple histories into one complete unified theory that will describe everything that happens in the universe.”

With characteristic exuberance, Professor Hawking invites us to be fellow travelers on this extraordinary voyage through space-time. Copious four-color illustrations help clarify this journey into a surreal wonderland where particles, sheets, and strings move in eleven dimensions; where black holes evaporate and disappear, taking their secret with them; and where the original cosmic seed from which our own universe sprang was a tiny nut.

The Universe in a Nutshell is essential reading for all of us who want to understand the universe in which we live. Like its companion volume, A Brief History of Time, it conveys the excitement felt within the scientific community as the secrets of the cosmos reveal themselves.

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