Geared to the layperson, a clear, concise, non-mathematical explanation of the Theory of Everything and its profound implications is followed by transcripts of interviews with most of the physicists involved in its development.
Paul Charles William Davies AM is a British-born physicist, writer and broadcaster, currently a professor at Arizona State University as well as the Director of BEYOND: Center for Fundamental Concepts in Science. He has held previous academic appointments at the University of Cambridge, University of London, University of Newcastle upon Tyne, University of Adelaide and Macquarie University. His research interests are in the fields of cosmology, quantum field theory, and astrobiology. He has proposed that a one-way trip to Mars could be a viable option.
In 2005, he took up the chair of the SETI: Post-Detection Science and Technology Taskgroup of the International Academy of Astronautics.
لمن يريد التعرف على الفكرة الفيزيائية لنظرية الاوتار فهذا الكتاب ليس له ، يتضح الموضوع الأساسي للكتاب من عنوانه الواضح والمباشر "الأوتار الفائقة نظرية كل شيئ؟" وهو سؤال يحاول بول ديفيس الإجابة عنه عن طريق محاورات نصية مع بعض من ألمع العقول على وجه الأرض ومع الأباء الروحيين لنظرية الأوتار نفسها ، ينقسم الكتاب إلى قسمين : القسم الأول وهو سرد مختصر لتاريخ الأفكار في الفيزياء بداية من الفيزياء الكلاسيكية ومروراً بميكانيكا الكم ثم النموذج المعياري لفيزياء الجسيمات وليس إنتهاء بنظرية الأوتار الفائقة ، بالرغم من عدم التفصيل في المعنى الفيزيائي لنظرية الأوتار إلا إنه مرر الحد الأدني من المعلومات التي يمكنها الحفاظ على الإتصال المعلوماتي عند قراءة القسم الثاني من الكتاب القسم الثاني من الكتاب وهي حوارات بول ديفيس مع مؤسسي نظرية الأوتار ، منظروها ومعارضيها وعلى سبيل المثال لا الحصر هناك جون شوارتز –مؤس� نظرية الأوتار- ، ثلاثي التفاعل الكهروضعيف "ستيفن واينبرج ، محمد عبدالسلام وشيلدون جلاشو" ، ديفيد جروس � من رباعي برينستون الوتري � ومشرف رسالة الدكتوراة الخاصة بإدوراد ويتن ، ريتشارد فاينمان –غن� عن التعريف- وأخيراً إدوارد ويتن –أعظ� منظري الأوتار- ، الهدف من تلك الحوارات هو الإجابة على السؤال الذي يطرحه ديفيس في غلاف الكتاب هل الأوتار نظرية كل شيئ أم لا شيئ ، ما مستقبل النظرية في غياب الدليل التجريبي ؟ ، ما مستقبل النظرية في ظل عدم وجود إطار رياضياتي كامل للنظرية ؟ ، هل يمكننا فعلاً أن نعول على نظرية الأوتار كنظرية في الجاذبية الكمية ؟ ، كلها تساؤلات يجيب عليها منظري الأوتار بشيئ من الحيطة والحذر . أعتقد أن أهم حوارين هما الذين أجراهم الكاتب مع العظيمان ريتشارد فاينمان ، وإدوارد ويتن ، يتميز ريتشارد فاينمان بنوع نادر من التهكم ، وفي ظل ذلك التهكم يهاجم فاينمان بكثير من الموضوعية الأفكار الفلسفية التي تتضمنها نظرية الأوتار ، توفي فاينمان قبل الحدث الذي يعرف بـ"ثورة الأوتار الثانية" التي قادها المبجل إدوارد ويتن ، ربما كان ليغير فاينمان رأيه بعد ثورة ويتن إذا كان حياً في ذلك الوقت . ولمن أراد التعمق بشكل أكبر في نظرية الأوتار كعلم شعبوي ، يمكنه قراءة كتاب "الكون الأنيق" لبرايان جرين .
I believe everything by Paul Davies is immaculate. He has a firm grasp on physics while never catching himself in the bind of science vs. religion. He leaves that for the more radical/emotional counterparts in his field. His focus is richly science and his ability to explain to the layman, like myself with words rather than mathematical formula, is beyond compare. This book delves into quantum theory and I came away from it with the feeling that I had genuinely been introduced to the complexity of the theory of everything without giving up in the middle. Bravo! I should add that he is the editor of this work, not the author. His selections are what reveals his intentions of involving even the lay person to understand what can be.
This is really a group of essays that was compiled and edited by Paul DAvies and Julian Brown. It isn't really organized into an informational line of concepts at all. It is a more scattered array of different authors tackling different aspects of physics. Some of my favorite pieces within this book are:
~ The 70 page introduction (best intro I have ever read) ~ Michael Green because he brings in the undeniable factor of chemistry into physics ~ Steven Weinberg's account of superstrings.
This book begins by outlining the incompatibility of quantum theory and gravitation. It then gives a breif explanation of string theory. The rest of the book is interviews with leading physicists; some who developed and contributed to the theory, and some are less convinced by the theory (Richard Feynmann among them). The interviews give interesting discussions, such as some of the interesting results string theory may give, how it can be tested, and where the future of theoretical physics should go.
In this collection of interviews, Davies and Brown show the reader (the specialist as well as the layman) that superstring theory has both its admirers and opposers. That is a rare shift in the long-standing tradition of pop-sci books, which have always been pedagogical in nature and entirely one-sided. An above-average work of good style and thoughtful content.
This book is a nice collection of interview essays where the authors discussed superstring theory as it gained new interest around that time of the late 80’s when predicting gravity’s spin 2 boson and anomaly cancellations in gauge theories. There is a short introduction in the beginning which nicely introduces the state of affairs as to why quantizing gravity as well as unifying all the fundamental forces are the challenges that they are. Interviews were held with some of the prominent figures in the developments of the field (such as Michael Green, John Schwarz, and Edward Witten), as well as people who already had made large progress in understanding the standard model of particle physics (such as Abdus Salam, Richard Feynman, and Steven Weinberg).
There are no cons I could think of with this book. It’s concise, and captures a great deal of the state of superstring theory up till the early 90’s without any equations (though important technical concepts are discussed). My favorite interviews (in order of ones I liked to ones I really liked) were: Richard Feynman, Abdus Salam, Steven Weinberg, and Michael Green.
Would definitely encourage anyone interested in the conversation of quantum gravity to give this one a try. I am eager to read the modern equivalent to this called Conversations on Quantum Gravity (published in 2021). Especially as it explores other approaches to quantizing gravity aside from string theory.
Here is a fascinating book wherein a group of extremely well educated, muchly awarded men (note that, no women included in here) demonstrate that if they don't understand something, they're going to make their description so complicated you won't understand it either. Seriously, this book is a great example of "If you truly understand something, you'll be able to explain it to a four-year-old." They couldn't. Seriously^2, it's also an example of how egos and emotions can get in the way of good, solid research.
وصلت للصفحه ١٥ و ماقدرتش أكمله، ترجمه حرفية متعبه و مصطلحات عجيبه و كأن المترجم أستعان بترجمة جوجل، و للأسف دي النسخه العربيه اللي قدرت ألاقيها -_- .. القوى الكهرومغناطيسية ترجمها المترجم بالقوى الكهرطيسية، قوة الجاذبيه ترجمها القوة الثقاليه، و جمل غير متناسقه و كلام مرصوص جنب بعضه .. دي اسوء ترجمه قابلتها الى الآن
The impression I came away with is that Superstrings sounded like a good idea when originally conceived, but now they've gotten so complicated as to be unwieldy. Which isn't to say that on a fundamental level the universe can't be extremely messy, but somehow it doesn't seem very logical. I'm interested in reading Lee Smolin's much newer since he seems to agree.
Great reference book for all things physics. Whoever came up with the title should take a marketing class though! I accidentally got sent this book through a book club, and never would have purchased it, but I am glad it was sent to me! Very understandable explanations of all the major ideas in introductory physics.
اشرفتا على نهايه الفيزياء النظريه هكذا يعتقد العديد من علماء الفيزياء النظريه فقريبا سيصلون الى النظريه التى توحد كل قوى الطبيعه نظريه كل شئ او ما يسمى حال��ا m theory او نظريه الاوتار لكن مازال هناك بعض المشاكل الرياضيه فى التظريه
الكتاب كأنه فيلم وثائقى يعرض موجز للنظريه وبعد ذلك يعرض حوارات مع مجموعه من الفيزيائين المشتغلين بهذا الموضوع