In this stunning new volume, Jim Baggott argues that there is no observational or experimental evidence for many of the ideas of modern theoretical physics: super-symmetric particles, superstrings, the multiverse, the holographic principle, or the anthropic cosmological principle. These theories are not only untrue, it is not even science. It is fairy-tale physics: fantastical, bizarre and often outrageous, perhaps even confidence-trickery. This book...

"One of the world's most celebrated science writers reveals the origins of Einstein's General Theory -- and provides a greater understanding of who Einstein was at the time of this pivotal achievement"-- NoveList. "One of the world's most celebrated science writers reveals the origins of Einstein's General Theory. In 1915, Albert Einstein presented his masterwork to the Prussian Academy of Sciences -- a theory of gravity, matter, space, and time:...

"In the second book of this already internationally acclaimed series, Sean Carroll, the most trusted explainer of the most mind-boggling concepts, digs deep into matter itself. What is the universe made of? In his quest to redefine the "popular" treatment of the biggest ideas in the universe, Sean Carroll is creating a profoundly new approach to physics and math as reviewer after reviewer has attested. Adventuring in the math of fields, he now intrepidly...

"What can fashionable ideas, blind faith, or pure fantasy possibly have to do with the scientific quest to understand the universe? Surely, theoretical physicists are immune to mere trends, dogmatic beliefs, or flights of fancy? In fact, acclaimed physicist and best-selling author Roger Penrose argues that researchers working at the extreme frontiers of physics are just as susceptible to these forces as anyone else. In this provocative book, he argues...

One hundred years ago, scientists would have said that lasers, televisions, and the atomic bomb were beyond the realm of physical possibility. Here, physicist Michio Kaku explores to what extent the technologies and devices of science fiction that are deemed equally impossible today might well become commonplace in the future. From teleportation to telekinesis, Kaku uses the world of science fiction to explore the fundamentals--and the limits--of...

"How does the physics we know today -- a highly professionalized enterprise, inextricably linked to government and industry -- link back to its origins as a liberal art in ancient Greece? What is the path that leads from the old philosophy of nature and its concern with humankind's place in the universe to modern massive international projects that hunt down fundamental particles and industrial laboratories that manufacture marvels? John Heilbron's...

"A book for young readers about the concepts of mass and weight and how they are a part of our everyday lives."-- Provided by publisher.