Parallel Universes: The Search for Other Worlds ANNOTATION
The author of the American Book Award-winning Taking the Quantum Leap explains the mind-boggling theory of parallel universes.
FROM THE PUBLISHER
Is science fact stranger than science fiction? In an "outrageous ride along the frontiers of science" (New Age Journal), physicist Fred Alan Wolf explores the startling concept of parallel universes - worlds that resemble and perhaps even duplicate our own - and puts a refreshing and illuminating spin on the complex theories challenging our perceptions of the universe. Through such lively examples as a superspace theater and zero-time ghosts, Wolf deftly guides the reader through the paradoxes of today's physics to explore a realm of scientific speculation in which black holes are gateways of information between universes, and alter egos spring into existence at the flip of a coin. Wolf explores a future when time travelers will make history - and alter the past - while testing Earth's first time machine; when lucid dreaming and schizophrenia may mark the overlap of parallel universes; when quantum computers may predict the stock market.
FROM THE CRITICS
Publishers Weekly
Wolf's readers should get ready for a wild intellectual ride through the convoluted realms of quantum mechanics, relativity, black holes and imaginary time. The physicist ( Starwave ) is a strong proponent of the ``many-worlds'' interpretation of quantum mechanics, and he launches a ferocious assault on conservative scientists who espouse the ``Copenhagen'' interpretation. Essentially, the debate hinges on the role of consciousness in measuring quantum events: Copenhagenists argue that a quantum measurement causes the ``collapse'' of a particle's probability wave, while Wolf claims the act of measuring actually causes the universe to split in two. The equations of relativity and quantum physics support both interpretations. Wolf describes what it would be like to travel through a black hole to a parallel universe; claims that the future must communicate with the present; answers the question of whether the universe had a radius before we started to measure it; and argues that schizophrenics may be in touch with parallel universes. Physics is becoming metaphysics. An enthralling, if somewhat wacky, read. (Mar.)
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