In Search of the Multiverse - by John Gribbin

Book Synopsis

Is our universe just one of many?

The most fascinating mysteries in modern physics seem to point us in that direction. As impossible as it seems-that other universes came before ours, float alongside ours, or even mirror ours-the evidence is surprisingly convincing.

In his most mind-blowing, sweeping work since Schrödinger's Kittens and the Search for Reality, acclaimed science writer and astrophysicist John Gribbin takes readers In Search of the Multiverse, launching an extraordinary journey to the frontiers of reality. Touching on the newest research on quantum physics, thermodynamics, string theory, and even the nature of God, this brilliant tour of the current state of cosmology also goes beyond the realm of settled science to the astonishing questions theoretical physicists have only now begun to ask.

Gribbin has long been known for his ability to explain even the most bewildering and complex ideas in the simplest of terms, and that skill is fully on display here. In this new book, he reveals why even the greatest thinkers can't explain the realities of quantum physics without bumping up against the unimaginable. He explores certain anomalies in our Universe that only make sense when you incorporate ideas that were once found only in science fiction. But which fantastical notion of alternate universes is the right one?

Gribbin guides you expertly through the competing Multiverse theories, who thought them up, and what problems they were hoping to solve with such outlandish ideas. You'll visit a realm of infinite space containing an infinite number of regions separated by infinite distances and ruled by different sets of physical laws. You'll drift along an infinite time line, on which different universes are strung out, one after the other, like beads on a wire. And you'll leaf through an infinitely thick book stuffed with an infinite number of pages: each page a different universe, existing in a different dimension-tantalizingly close together, but eternally unable to communicate with each other.

If our universe is three-dimensional and infinite, how could it be inside something else? Is it possible to travel to one of these alternate universes? Are particles traveling there every moment? How can scientists prove the existence of the Multiverse if they can't travel to it? Read In Search of the Multiverse and enter a world that is more mind-bending, thought-provoking, and imagination-sparking than the fantasy worlds you'd discover in a bookstore full of science fiction novels.

Review Quotes

Critical acclaim for John Gribbin

"The master of popular science."
-Sunday Times (London)

"Gribbin explains things very well indeed, and there's not an equation in sight."
-David Goodstein, The New York Times Book Review (on Almost Everyone's Guide to Science)

"Gribbin breathes life into the core ideas of complexity science, and argues convincingly that the basic laws, even in biology, will ultimately turn out to be simple."
-Nature magazine (on Deep Simplicity)

"Gribbin takes us through the basics [of chaos theory] with his customary talent for accessibility and clarity. [His] arguments are driven not by impersonal equations but by a sense of wonder at the presence in the universe and in nature of simple, self-organizing harmonies underpinning all structures, whether they are stars or flowers."
-Sunday Times (London) (on Deep Simplicity)

"In the true quantum realm, Gribbin remains the premier expositor of the latest developments."
-Booklist (on Schrödinger's Kittens and the Search for Reality)

About the Author

JOHN GRIBBIN is one of today's greatest writers of popular science and the author of bestselling books including "In Search of Schrodinger's Cat," "Science: A History, and Deep Simplicity." He trained as an astrophysicist at Cambridge University and is currently Visiting Fellow in Astronomy at the University of Sussex.