Our Cosmic Habitat (ebook)

Argumento de Our Cosmic Habitat (ebook)

"[An] awe-inspiring survey. . . . Rees is not only a world-class cosmologist but one of our best living science writers."--John Cornwell, Sunday Times

"There is a lot of stuff in the universe--the estimated number of stars is 10 followed by 22 zeros. But as to whether there are other planets with life like Earth's, Rees says the chance of two similar ecologies is less than the chance of two randomly typing monkeys producing the same Shakespearean play."--George F. Will, The Washington Post

"This book is original, stimulating, and charmingly modest while sketching some grand ideas. There may be better guides to thinking about the universe than Martin Rees, but not on our planet!"--Robert P. Kirshner, Harvard University and Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics

"Our Cosmic Habitat is certain to be widely quoted and widely read. It is beautifully written, using inspiring and stimulating analogies. While the book is intended for the nonscientist, it provides an accurate guide to the best current thinking about the nature and constitution of our universe. If I wanted to give a gift to a person I would like to become a close friend, this is the book I would choose."--John N. Bahcall, Institute for Advanced Study

"In this book, Martin Rees, one of the leading figures in theoretical astrophysics, offers the reader his unique perspective on the field and introduces many of the most exciting new results and ideas in astronomy."--David N. Spergel, Princeton University

"Ample in scope, this explicit, confident, helpful, modest and good-humored book arises from a recent lecture series spanning astrophysics and cosmology. Using not one full-fledged equation only fresh diagrams and clear, personal prose--Rees, a masterful theorist, brings readers a sheaf of insights."--American Scientist

"In the crowded field of popular writing about the universe, Rees is genuinely in the forefront--an accomplished scientist with the superior writing skills. . . . He exudes the instinctual curiosity we all possess when looking upward, and he focuses that wonderment on the narrow range of cosmological numbers that allow us to ruminate about it all. A wonderfully appealing presentation."--Booklist

Winner of the 2001 Peter Gruber Foundation Cosmology Prize
Winner of the 2002 New York Book Show Award

"[This book] has an informal style and breadth of coverage that make it a joy to read. . . . Rees's explanations are exactly right."--William G. Unruh, Science

"Probably the clearest and most easily understandable account of our Universe available."--Ian Morison, New Scientist

"As books encompassing the realm of everything in the universe (universes?) go, this one is relatively short. Its brevity, however . . . its elaborate index (a point I find refreshing), and the fact that it was written by someone so esteemed in the astronomical community, begs the reader to ask why this couldn't be used as a one-semester introductory text. Well-written, clear visuals, great author: a good combination for a first book on the subject."--April S. Whitt, Planetarian

"Rees provides a nice summary of how we got here, how the universe began and how it might end. . . . Lay readers will appreciate Rees' clear, uncomplicated prose, even when dealing with tough stuff that leaves most physicists tongue-tied. Most welcome of all, he explains how scientists know what they claim to know."--K.C. Cole, Los Angeles Times

"Our very own Astronomer Royal blasts off into space, in velvety, friendly prose. His musings on the possibilities of alien life and of time travel, the necessity to colonise space, and a vision of the far future make for a pleasingly concise and always intriguing tour d'horizon."--Steven Poole, The Guardian

"A must-read book for people who are interested in the philosophical implications of the emerging idea that, possibly, we are not alone."--Science Books and Films

"In the instant after the big bang, there was only a one-part-per-billion preponderance of matter over antimatter, just enough to create the universe that created us. Rees, an accomplished scientist with superior writing skills, marvels over the wonder that matter even exists."--Booklist (Top 10 Sci-Tech Books of 2001)

"Rees is one of the great astronomers royal; he is a leading cosmologist, and his skill in writing what may be termed popular science is probably unequaled today. I know of no other author who could present such difficult concepts in so lucid a manner. This is a brilliant book, to be read and enjoyed by all."--Sir Patrick Moore, Times Higher Education Supplement

"A fabulous journey round the cosmos in excellent company."--Maggie McDonald, New Scientist0PREFACE ix
PROLOGUE: "Could God Have Made the World Any Differently?" xi
PART I: From Big Bang to Biospheres
1 Planets and Stars 3
2 Life and Intelligence 15
3 Atoms, Stars and Galaxies 35
4 Extragalactic Perspective 49
5 Pregalactic History 65
6 Black Holes and Time Machines 87
PART II: The Beginning and the End
7 Deceleration or Acceleration? 99
8 The Long-Range Future 113
9 How Things Began: The First Millisecond 123
PART III: Fundamentals and Conjectures
10 Cosmos and Microworld 141
11 Laws and Bylaws in the Multiverse 157
APPENDIX: Scales of Structure 183
NOTES TO THE CHAPTERS 187
INDEX 197