In this, rather short and light, book Lightman explores the different perspectives when it comes to our universe. There is science as there is philosoIn this, rather short and light, book Lightman explores the different perspectives when it comes to our universe. There is science as there is philosophy and religion. The most important discoveries and the author's personal musings. I immensely enjoyed this one, especially the fact that Lightman refrained from favouring one of the 'universes'. Most of them overlap anyway. But again, the fact that he stated that it all comes down to the matter of personal belief, was probably one of the aspects I enjoyed most. A highly informative read that I'd recommend to everyone regardless of your field of interest and/or study. It's worth it. ...more
Before the review: I know that there were plenty of aspects in the movie inspired by 2001: A Space Odyssey. I know it, but I still cannot stand the "2Before the review: I know that there were plenty of aspects in the movie inspired by 2001: A Space Odyssey. I know it, but I still cannot stand the "2001" movie. Watched it four times, each time was worse than the prior. There had never been another movie in my life which I found as boring as "2001" and the Soundtrack still makes me cringe. However, I loved Interstellar. Just saying.
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The scientific insights into the movie are splendid. Not only are they accessibly written so that even a person who has never dealt with astrophysics or physics in general can understand what is happening in the movie and why, but there is also a great deal of humour and some insights into how exactly the movie came into being, which was rather interesting as well. Okay, I admit, it might take a bit to understand certain chapters, and I had to re-read one or two twice or even thrice in order to follow and connect the ideas, but it's worth it. Without any doubts.
The most exciting chapters for me were on Black Holes (haha, yeah, it takes up the biggest part of the book), their Singularities, since the last time I read about more than one Singularitie was a while ago and in a rather badly written book on physics, and Wormholes. Regardless of how unrealistic the idea of artificially produced Wormholes may be, I still love it. The idea of multiple Singularities is one I personally find mind-blowing. Totally incredible, and it was a delight to read how they were successfully used for the movie.
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Then, there are several chapters which concern themselves with the Dimensions and their probability (say nine dimensions, or five like in the movie), another brilliant topic, as well as Gravitation anomalies and the specifics of the planets of Gargantua's system. From the perspective of a normal human being I have to admit that a planet's orbit around a fast-spinning black hole blew my mind. It demanded a lot of creativity from my side to even imagine that.
Since I watched the movie for its scientific accuracy and my love for astrophysics this book was in a way even better than the movie, hardcore science explained by Kip Thorne and put into a movie by the brilliant Nolan, what more do I need? Correct, nothing. I loved it from page one and until the last one. Highly recommended if you loved the movie and want to understand the topics behind it and if you are into science/astrophysics. For the rest - think twice before reading because it really is very complex. ...more
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