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Warped Passages: Unraveling the Mysteries of the Universe's Hidden Dimensions Hardcover – August 30, 2005
ANew York Times Notable Book
“An engaging and remarkably clear account of how the existence of dimension beyond the familiar three (or four if you include time) may resolve a host of comic quandaries.—New York Times Book Review
The universe has many secrets. It may hide additional dimensions of space other than the familier three we recognize. There might even be another universe adjacent to ours, invisible and unattainable . . . for now.
In this brilliantly readable and accessible account, leading theoretical physicist Lisa Randall takes us into the incredible world of warped, hidden dimensions that underpin the universe we live in, describing how we might prove their existence, while examining the questions that they still leave unanswered.Warped Passages provides an exhilarating overview that tracks the arc of discovery from early 20th–century physics to the razor’s edge of today’s particle physics and string theory, unweaving the current debates about relativity, quantum mechanics, and gravity. Randall demystifies the science and beguilingly unravels the mysteries of the myriad worlds that may exist just beyond the one we are only now beginning to know.
- Print length512 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherEcco
- Publication dateAugust 30, 2005
- Dimensions6 x 1.53 x 9 inches
- ISBN-100060531088
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Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
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FromThe New Yorker
Copyright © 2006The New Yorker
FromBooklist
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Review
“Lisa Randall, a leading theorist, has made major contributions to both particle physics and cosmology.” —Brian Greene, bestselling author of The Elegant Universe and The Fabrics of the Cosmos
“Randall is one of the most influencial and exciting young theoretical Physicists working in elementary particle physics and cosmology today.” —Lee Smolin, author of Three Roads to Quantum Gravity
“A great read. . . . I highly recommend it.” —Ira Flatow, host of National Public Radio’s Science Friday
From the Back Cover
The universe has its secrets. It may even hide extra dimensions, different from anything ever imagined. A whole raft of remarkable conceptsnow rides atop the scientific firmament, including parallel universes, warped geometry, and threedimensional sink-holes. We understand far more about the world than we did just a few short years ago -- and yet we are more uncertain about the true nature of the universe than ever before. Have wereached a point of scientific discovery so advanced that the laws of physics as we know them are simply not sufficient? Will we all soon have to acceptexplanations that previously remained in the realm of science fiction?
Lisa Randall is herself making these extraordinary breakthroughs, pushing back the boundaries of science in her research to answer some of the most fundamental questions posed by Nature. For example, why is the gravitational field from the entire Earth so defenseless against the small tug of a tiny magnet? Searching for answers to such seemingly irresolvable questions has led physicists to postulate extra dimensions, the presence of which may lead to unimaginable gains in scientific understanding. Randall takes us into the incredible world of warped, hidden dimensions that underpin the universe we live in, describing how we might prove their existence, while examining the questions that they still leave unanswered.
Warped Passages provides an exhilarating overview that tracks the arc of discovery from early twentieth-century physics to the razor's edge of today's particle physics and string theory, unweaving the current debates about relativity, quantum mechanics, and gravity. In a highly readable style sure to entertain and elucidate, Lisa Randall demystifies the science and beguilingly unravels the mysteries of the myriad worlds that may exist just beyond the one we are only now beginning to know.
About the Author
Lisa Randall studies theoretical particle physics and cosmology at Harvard University, where she is Frank B. Baird, Jr., Professor of Science. A member of the National Academy of Sciences, the American Philosophical Society, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, she is the recipient of many awards and honorary degrees. Professor Randall was included inTime magazine's "100 Most Influential People" of 2007 and was amongEsquire magazine's "75 Most Influential People of the 21st Century." Professor Randall's two books,Warped Passages (2005) andKnocking on Heaven's Door (2011) wereNew York Times bestsellers and 100 Notable Books. Her stand-alone e-book,Higgs Discovery: The Power of Empty Space, was published in 2012.
Product details
- Publisher : Ecco
- Publication date : August 30, 2005
- Edition : First Edition, Later Printing
- Language : English
- Print length : 512 pages
- ISBN-10 : 0060531088
- Item Weight : 1.8 pounds
- Dimensions : 6 x 1.53 x 9 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #1,650,644 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #196 inQuantum Theory (Books)
- #203 inAstrophysics & Space Science (Books)
- #214 inAstronomy (Books)
- Customer Reviews:
About the author
Lisa Randall studies theoretical particle physics and cosmology at Harvard University, where she is Frank B. Baird, Jr., Professor of Science. A member of the National Academy of Sciences, the American Philosophical Society, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, she is the recipient of many awards and honorary degrees. Professor Randall was included in Time magazine's "100 Most Influential People" of 2007 and was among Esquire magazine's "75 Most Influential People of the 21st Century." Professor Randall's two books, Warped Passages (2005) and Knocking on Heaven's Door (2011) were New York Times bestsellers and 100 Notable Books. Her stand-alone e-book, Higgs Discovery: The Power of Empty Space, was published in 2012.
Customer reviews
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Customers praise the book's ability to explain complex concepts and walk readers through past theories, making it an excellent introduction to string theory and quantum mechanics. The book receives positive feedback for its style, with one customer noting its superb presentation, and customers find it fascinating and enlightening. The length receives mixed reactions, with some finding the discussions interesting while others consider it too long. The narrative quality is also mixed, with several customers finding it repetitive.
Customers find the book enlightening and fascinating, with one customer noting it serves as a great introduction to complex science, while another describes it as an enjoyable snapshot of wide open possibilities.
"Interesting. Clear and understandable. Quite speculative."Read more
"...I think Dr. Randall's style is bothenlightening and charming...."Read more
"Great read!"Read more
"Highly and Abstruse, butFascinating,..."Read more
Customers appreciate the book's coverage of physics, including basic particle physics, quantum mechanics, and an overview of string theory, with one customer noting it covers relativity up to superstring theory.
"...gives equal treatment to general relativity, quantum mechanics,string theory, and particle physics...."Read more
"...what, how, whens, and wheres of the Standard Model, Supersymmetry,String Theory, and Randall's very own Warped Extra dimensions...."Read more
"...The book covers a lot of ground including relativity,quantum mechanics, and basic partical physics, but the main focus is into..."Read more
"Excellent introduction and overview of string theory,particle physics, brane theory, multiple dimensions, etc., by a theoretical physicist...."Read more
Customers appreciate the style of the book, with one noting its superb presentation and another highlighting its clear and visual approach to explaining complex concepts.
"...Not only is the subject absolutely fascinating, herstyle for presenting it is superb...."Read more
"...are walking around on the street in the West Village, and it’s abeautiful day, and this woman comes up to you and whispers, Hey, Do you want to go..."Read more
"...audiobooks to be infinitely more accessible and easy to retain,visualize and understand, when I listen to the book...."Read more
"...I think Dr. Randall's style is both enlightening andcharming...."Read more
Customers appreciate the book's focus on warped passages, with one customer expressing particular interest in the concept of warped spacetime.
"Warped Passages = Clear Vision of an Expanded Reality..."Read more
"...probability function of the graviton that is of thegreatest interest in the warped spacetime...."Read more
"Warped Passagess..."Read more
"Warped Passages, a (relatively) simple walk-through advanced theoretical physics..."Read more
Customers find the audiobook to be great, with one mentioning that it makes the content sound fun.
"...an acid trip, and she’s kind of cute and smells nice, and shesounds really smart and gets all of the lyrics to the songs right at the beginning of..."Read more
"Great audiobook! Highly recommend!..."Read more
"...She describes modelling work andmakes it sound a lot of fun, while leaving the reader with a firm message "watch this space and come back after..."Read more
Customers have mixed opinions about the book's length, with some finding the interesting discussions about dimensions engaging while others find it too long.
"...She presents here aninteresting discussion of those dimensions we can't see, and there could be an additional seven for a total of eleven...."Read more
"...And theintroductory texts to every chapter are too long, and do not give any value...."Read more
"...; it involves the potential of warped areas of space andmultiple spacial dimensions...."Read more
"...review of relevant theoretical developments in string theory,multi-dimensional models, as well as the Standard Model...."Read more
Customers have mixed opinions about the narrative quality of the book, with some finding it repetitive and confusing, while one customer describes it as a fantastic story of physical reality.
"...they are too far from the real thing (if it is real), and areoversimplified. I only liked some ones used for symmetry breaking explanations...."Read more
"...TheAuthor's enthusiasm is fresh and inspired - it's infectious! She will have much to offer us going forward in discoveries of new realms...."Read more
"...There are a lot of them and theirinterrelationships appear complex...."Read more
"...concepts such as the nature of electromagnetism, thestrong force and the weak force, as well as why there is a speed of light...."Read more
Top reviews from the United States
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- Reviewed in the United States on March 17, 2015Format: KindleVerified PurchaseOur world apparently consists of more than the three spatial dimensions and the fourth dimension of time we are aware of according to Randall. She presents here an interesting discussion of those dimensions we can't see, and there could be an additional seven for a total of eleven.
She begins her introduction to the subject with a discussion of objects such as a hypersphere and hypercube - objects of the fourth dimension. We learn about gravity and "curled-up" dimensions, braneworlds, and something called the bulk in which these branes exist. We learn what dimensions are and how they can escape our notice. There are two main approaches to learning about these phenomena: one is model building (a bottom-up approach), and the other is string theory (a top-down approach). Randall emphasizes the model building approach in this text, but she thinks that it's most likely that we will make advances by combining the best of both approaches.
We are introduced to special and general relativity, time dilation, acceleration, equivalence principle, types of mass, non-Euclidean geometry and curved spacetime, blackbodies, photoelectric effect, Compton scattering, Schrodinger's wave equation, Planck and weak scale energies, fermions, bosons, the weak force, and quantum field theory. Oh but wait, there's more. We need to be informed about the nature of the standard model and something important called symmetry breaking and the Higgs mechanism. Randall thus completes our introduction to the fundamentals of quantum mechanics - information we need to be aware of to understand what follows.
As we move beyond the Standard Model, Randall delves into supersymmetry and how this is important to our understanding of the universe in which we live. It helps explain things such as the hierarchy problem (explained in the text), but it has some problems such as something called the flavor problem. We then segue into the world of string theory. This may be the theory that explains it all, but again, there are some problems, which are thoroughly discussed in the book. We get into a facet of string theory dealing with branes as well.
We now get into what Randall has been leading up to. There is discussion of the various "braneworld" theories of how the universe might be constructed. We have the Horava-Witten theory with eleven-dimensions and two parallel branes, the sequestering of particles on different branes, large extra dimensions and the ADD model, and finally, we learn about warped spacetime as it relates to branes and the bulk dimension between them. The warped spacetime between the branes in this last theory can explain the hierarchy problem and why gravity is so weak in our world. Importantly, the veracity of these theories can be tested in the Large Hadron Collider experiments. Only time will tell which theory will prove to be the real deal - if any.
I've read numerous books on this topic of physics before, but I must say that Randall has done a remarkable job of explaining the various concepts. Randall sums it up quite nicely: "Even if we have yet to understand the ultimate origin of matter at the deepest level, I hope I've convinced you that we do understand many aspects of its fundamental nature on the distance scales we have experimentally studied. [...] Secrets of the cosmos will begin to unravel. I for one, can't wait." Me neither. - Reviewed in the United States on November 13, 2005Format: HardcoverVerified PurchaseThe hierarchy problem has for quite some time been a burning issue in elementary particle physics. There have been many proposals for solving this problem, some of which are quite exotic if viewed from a commonsense viewpoint. But the interactions of elementary particles are described by quantum physics, the latter of which has never been a theory that conformed to any notion of commonsense. Therefore one should not discount a proposal if it seems strange or alien to customary ways of thinking. The physicists of fifty years ago might be shocked at some of these proposals, but the physicists of the twenty-first century are very comfortable with them. Of course, any idea in physics, to be considered viable, must be confirmed by experiment. When a physical theory does, it does not matter at all how seemingly strange it is.
The author of this book has given an interesting discussion of the hierarchy problem for the general reader, and has included the necessary background in elementary particle physics that puts the problem in context. Since the book is written for a general reader, the author refrains from using mathematical language. The conceptual compression involved in using mathematics is therefore lost in the book, but the author tries very hard, and succeeds, in explaining difficult concepts in physics to readers who have a real thirst for understanding them (there are however "math notes" at the end of the book). The author has made original contributions to the understanding the hierarchy problem, and so a good portion of the book is devoted to explaining her ideas on this problem, and those of her collaborators. Her proposals are interesting not only from a theoretical perspective but also because they may be amenable to experimental verification in the next few years. They therefore should not be described as `science fiction' as was the case in the inside jacket of the book.
The author's solution to the hierarchy problem takes place in the context of brane theory, which is an extension of string theory and which she explains in some detail in the first part of the book. Central to her solution is the existence of a `warped geometry', which is a particular type of five-dimensional curved geometry that is bounded by two (three-dimensional) branes. On one of these branes, called the `weak brane', lies the particles of the Standard Model. This geometry is obtained by solving the Einstein field equations with the assumption that there was energy (tension) on the branes and in the bulk. The geometry is anti de Sitter space, a solution of that is well known to those familiar with general relativity. The author also discusses why this spacetime is designated as "warped". At first glance this may seem an unlikely way of generating the mass hierarchy between the Planck and weak scales, but the author explains how the hierarchy problem can be "automatically solved" by this geometry.
It is the probability function of the graviton that is of the greatest interest in the warped spacetime. The shape of this function indicates where the gravitational field is strongest. This is called the `shape of gravity' by the author, and varies only along the fifth dimension of this spacetime. The probability function of the graviton decreases exponentially as one leaves the `gravity brane' and heads toward the `weak brane.' The probability that the graviton is found near the weak brane is thus small, and so its interactions with the particles on the weak brane are suppressed. There is therefore a hierarchy between the observed masses and the Planck scale mass in this spacetime and explains why the gravitational interaction is so weak in the real world (which lies in the weak brane).
Interestingly, and this follows from the author's constructions, the mass of an object will be different depending on where it is along the fifth dimension. Energy and momentum decreases and therefore time and distance increase as one goes from the gravity brane to the weak brane. The mass and energy are rescaled, the amount of rescaling being proportional to the amplitude of the graviton. And as if anticipating objections by an astute reader that such rescalings are arbitrary (objections that would seem appropriate given the fine-tuning that has taken placed in attempting to resolve the hierarchy problem), the author argues that it is simply an issue of the rescaling of the units that are used to measure energy. This rescaling, she argues, solves the hierarchy problem, and even more importantly, predicts observable consequences on energy scales of TeV.
But one can object that the author's solution to the hierarchy problem, based as it is on having two branes that are essentially a fixed distance apart, is a somewhat contrived solution. At first glance it seems to be no better than the elaborate fine-tuning that takes place in the usual strategy on the hierarchy problem. In addition, it might seem improbable that having the branes arranged in this way would survive cosmological evolution. The author counters these objections by pointing out a idea that was proposed by two other researchers. This proposal involved introducing another massive particle in the five-dimensional volume that acts essentially as a spring. The net result was to obtain an equilibrium configuration for the two branes whose separation had the properties asserted by the author. This stable configuration prevented it from being jostled around under cosmological evolution.
The author's proposal up to his point was not really too radical, if one considers the history of higher-dimensional theories. But in the last few pages of the book she does have her Bastille day, proposing for example that the fifth dimension can actually extend indefinitely and a notion of `locally localized gravity.' In these same pages she even calls into question the utility of the notion of dimension. As evidence, she cites T-duality, mirror symmetry, and matrix theory. In using these examples, she inadvertently beckons the reader to take on some beautiful but esoteric mathematics. - Reviewed in the United States on June 19, 2014Format: PaperbackVerified PurchaseThis text presents a lot of advanced topics in particle physics and cosmology in easy to understand text. While it is a little wordy at times, it's rightfully so. The book attempts to describe a lot of abstract topics that would really make more sense as equations.
This book was recommended to me by my undergraduate research adviser at my university. I participate in the ATLAS collaboration at CERN and I've found that this book has helped to enlighten me a lot on the concepts behind what I do. Lisa Randall's theory, which she worked on in collaboration with Raman Sundrum, is currently being tested at the Large Hadron Collider, which ATLAS is a part of. Particle physics is full of surprises to someone diving into it with no prior experience. Sometimes it even seems to throw logic out the window. Of course, this isn't actually the case. What I really mean to say is that in terms of everyday experience, particle physics is very abstract, but it ultimately makes perfect sense if you take the time to understand it. It gives a conceptual introduction of the why, what, how, whens, and wheres of the Standard Model, Supersymmetry, String Theory, and Randall's very own Warped Extra dimensions. I find that it's helpful to read certain excerpts over an over again to get a reasonable grasp of what's being written about. But despite that, it has still proven to be a page turner for me.
The only criticism I have is that I wish there were more diagrams! (or even equations, but since this isn't meant as a technical introduction, I can't really criticize it for that).
Overall, I would give it 4 and a half stars, so I decided to round up instead of truncating my rating.
Top reviews from other countries
- Non-MaterialistReviewed in Japan on November 19, 2007
5.0 out of 5 starsViolation of the Law of Conservation of Energy?
This is a very educational book for lay readers interested in science, particularly in physics, to know the current scientific understanding of particle-physics and our universe. The author, a Harvard professor of physics, writes at the end of the book: “If, instead, other extra-dimensional models describe the universe, energy will disappear into extra dimensions and we’ll ultimately detect these dimensions through the resulting unbalanced energy accounting.” I am sure, however, that the author knows the tale of “the missing 21 grams” (which has been also an unaccountable energy loss from “our brain?”) of Dr. Duncan MacDougall published in 1907, but just does not take it seriously, maybe because it is too big a loss for her to be true, compared with the loss of gravitons from “our brane.” - FabioReviewed in Brazil on March 4, 2019
5.0 out of 5 starsUm livro que não traz dificuldades na leitura
Format: KindleVerified PurchaseNesse livro, Lisa Randall traça desde o início algumas das principais teorias e modelos da física, como relatividade geral, mecânica quântica, física de partículas e teoria das cordas, buscando explicar alguns dos principais mistérios da física atual, como o motivo porquê a gravidade é tão fraca quando comparada às outras forças da natureza. A linguagem é acessível mesmo a leigos, usando de exemplos para tornar a leitura mais fácil. Um livro recomendado para quem deseja ter um contato inicial com a física moderna e alguns dos seus conceitos atuais. - Dr. Gebhard GreiterReviewed in Germany on December 28, 2012
5.0 out of 5 starsEin ganz ausgezeichnetes Buch für jeden, der an Fragestellungen moderner Theoretischer Physik interessiert ist
Format: PaperbackVerified PurchaseVon Zielstellung und Qualität her ist Lisa Randalls Buch gut vergleichbar mit den Büchern von Brian Greene – wird durch sie aber keineswegs überflüssig. Ich fand darin einiges, was ich bei Greene so nicht gesagt bekam. - Imma_MermaidReviewed in Canada on October 28, 2024
5.0 out of 5 starsI still think about it.
Format: PaperbackVerified PurchaseI read this years ago and still think about it so I had to get a copy and reread. Its fascinating. - SamirReviewed in France on June 27, 2015
5.0 out of 5 starsWarped passages de Lisa Randall
Format: PaperbackVerified PurchaseEcrit pas une physicienne mondialement connue, le livre présente des thèmes très raffinés de physique théorique rendus parfaitement accessibles au grand public pourvu que le lecteur soit intéressé par la science. Le livre est très intéressant et sa lecture est très agréable. Si l'existence de dimensions d'espace au delà des quatres dimensions connues dans la théorie de la relativité générale est prouvée (à l'aide des expérimentations en cours au LHC au CERN), alors notre vision du monde du 21ième siècle risque de changer profondément de la même manière qu'elle l'a été il y a un siècle avec la théorie de la relativité générale.
