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Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford. It furthers the University's objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide.

Print Price: $66.00

Format:
Hardback
384 pp.
42 illus., 157 mm x 236 mm

ISBN-13:
9780195085143

Publication date:
March 1994

Imprint: OUP US


Hyperspace

A Scientific Odyssey through Parallel Universes, Time Warps, and the Tenth Dimension

Michio Kaku
Illustrations by Robert O'Keefe

Are there other dimensions beyond our own? Is time travel possible? Can we change the past? Are there gateways to parallel universes? All of us have pondered such questions, but there was a time when scientists dismissed these notions as outlandish speculations. Not any more. Today, they are the focus of the most intense scientific activity in recent memory. In Hyperspace, Michio Kaku, author of the widely acclaimed Beyond Einstein and a leading theoretical physicist, offers the first book-length tour of the most exciting (and perhaps most bizarre) work in modern physics, work which includes research on the tenth dimension, time warps, black holes, and multiple universes.
The theory of hyperspace (or higher dimensional space)--and its newest wrinkle, superstring theory--stand at the center of this revolution, with adherents in every major research laboratory in the world, including several Nobel laureates. Beginning where Hawking's Brief History of Time left off, Kaku paints a vivid portrayal of the breakthroughs now rocking the physics establishment. Why all the excitement? As the author points out, for over half a century, scientists have puzzled over why the basic forces of the cosmos--gravity, electromagnetism, and the strong and weak nuclear forces--require markedly different mathematical descriptions. But if we see these forces as vibrations in a higher dimensional space, their field equations suddenly fit together like pieces in a jigsaw puzzle, perfectly snug, in an elegant, astonishingly simple form. This may thus be our leading candidate for the Theory of Everything. If so, it would be the crowning achievement of 2,000 years of scientific investigation into matter and its forces. Already, the theory has inspired several thousand research papers, and has been the focus of over 200 international conferences.
Michio Kaku is one of the leading pioneers in superstring theory and has been at the forefront of this revolution in modern physics. With Hyperspace, he has produced a book for general readers which conveys the vitality of the field and the excitement as scientists grapple with the meaning of space and time. It is an exhilarating look at physics today and an eye-opening glimpse into the ultimate nature of the universe.

Reviews

  • "Hyperspace is an approachable account for the layman of what is going on in the world of physics research. I found it the most fascinating account of developments in science since Gribbin's Chaos". Shuswap Sun, BC
  • "Mesmerizing....Succeeds marvelously by combining a little math, a little history and biography, a little science fiction and a lot of fun....The result is a sort of expository Tilt-a-Whirl in which the reader exits dizzy, elated and looking at the world in a literally revolutionary way."--Washington Post Book World
  • "[Kaku] concisely explains higher-than-higher mathematics and theoretical physics with amusing anecdotes... and such eccentric charm that it's almost easy to accept the outrageous, sometimes incomprehensible ideas he describes as he zigzags between science fact and science fiction....Kaku does for theoretical physicists what Spielberg did for archaelogists."--Voice Literary Supplement
  • "[Kaku] writes with great clarity about the most complicated facets of modern physics. Some of the concepts resist easy understanding, but Kaku's explanations make them accessible without invoking the exotic mathematics that underlies them...In recent years there have been numerous books published on mind-bending physics: cosmology, the search for a unified theory of the universe and such stuff. This is certainly one of the best."--The Providence Sunday Journal
  • "What's all the hype about hyperspace? Most of us have our hands full dealing with just one universe. But Kaku takes us confidently into another dimension, or ten, to see why physicists think that universes are parallel, plural and positively fermented with wormholes."--John Barrow, author of Theories of Everything
  • "Hyperspace is the grand unification theory of science books. Even readers with some background in science may find it difficult to get a clear picture of what's going on in the world of theoretical physics from the occasional stories that make their way out to the popular press. Hyperspace is like a message from a higher dimension, lifting the reader to a vantage point up above the fray, so that GUTs, strings, wormholes, hyperspace, and an amazingly diverse assortment of other subjects can all be seen in their proper relationship."--Neal Stephenson, author of Snow Crash
  • "Kaku is smart enough to explain some really bizarre physics without totally losing his readers. He writes broadly, mixes in a bit of mysticism with his cosmological physics and happily refers to H.G. Wells, 'Star Trek' and Picasso. To his credit, he includes lots of illustrations and not one equation."--The San Diego Union Tribune

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Michio Kaku is Professor of Theoretical Physics at the City College of the City University of New York. He graduated from Harvard and received his Ph.D. from Berkeley. He is author of Beyond Einstein (with Jennifer Trainer), Quantum Field Theory: A Modern Introduction, and Introduction to Superstrings. He has also hosted a weekly hour-long science program on radio for the past ten years.

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Special Features

  • An exhilarating tour of one of the most exciting new fields in modern physics
  • Written by a leading physicist, author of the bestselling Beyond Einstein
  • Explores such fascinating areas as time travel, ten-dimensional space, black holes, superstring theory, and much more
  • Explains how hyperspace theory may ultimately lead to the crowning achievement of two thousand years of science