The Biggest Ideas in the Universe
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- Create Date：2022-10-08 02:17:35
- Update Date：2025-09-23
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- Author：Sean Carroll
- ISBN：0593186583
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Summary
The most trusted explainer of the most mind-boggling concepts pulls back the veil of mystery that has too long cloaked the most valuable building blocks of modern science。 Sean Carroll， with his genius for making complex notions entertaining， presents in his uniquely lucid voice the fundamental ideas informing the modern physics of reality。
Physics offers deep insights into the workings of the universe but those insights come in the form of equations that often look like gobbledygook。 Sean Carroll shows that they are really like meaningful poems that can help us fly over sierras to discover a miraculous multidimensional landscape alive with radiant giants， warped space-time， and bewilderingly powerful forces。 High school calculus is itself is a centuries-old marvel as worthy of our gaze as the Mona Lisa。 And it may come as a surprise the extent to which all our most cutting-edge ideas about black holes are built on the math calculus enables。
No one else could so smoothly guide readers to grasping the very equation Einstein used to describe his theory of general relativity。 In the tradition of the legendary Richard Feynman lectures presented sixty years ago， this book is an inspiring， dazzling introduction to a way of seeing that will resonate across cultural and generational boundaries for many years to come。
Physics offers deep insights into the workings of the universe but those insights come in the form of equations that often look like gobbledygook。 Sean Carroll shows that they are really like meaningful poems that can help us fly over sierras to discover a miraculous multidimensional landscape alive with radiant giants， warped space-time， and bewilderingly powerful forces。 High school calculus is itself is a centuries-old marvel as worthy of our gaze as the Mona Lisa。 And it may come as a surprise the extent to which all our most cutting-edge ideas about black holes are built on the math calculus enables。
No one else could so smoothly guide readers to grasping the very equation Einstein used to describe his theory of general relativity。 In the tradition of the legendary Richard Feynman lectures presented sixty years ago， this book is an inspiring， dazzling introduction to a way of seeing that will resonate across cultural and generational boundaries for many years to come。
Reviews
Shane Zanath
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This book was a Godsend for me personally， which- to adapt a quip for Bertrand Russell- is pretty chic for an atheist。 I've been reading popular physicist authors since Brian Greene's Fabric of the Cosmos while in high-school。 More recently， I've read all of Carroll's and Greene's books as well as Max Tegmark， Carlo Rovelli， Stephen Hawking， Steven Weinberg， David Deutsch， and Michio Kaku。 As enlightening as they all have been to understanding the concepts at the forefront of physics， and giving This book was a Godsend for me personally， which- to adapt a quip for Bertrand Russell- is pretty chic for an atheist。 I've been reading popular physicist authors since Brian Greene's Fabric of the Cosmos while in high-school。 More recently， I've read all of Carroll's and Greene's books as well as Max Tegmark， Carlo Rovelli， Stephen Hawking， Steven Weinberg， David Deutsch， and Michio Kaku。 As enlightening as they all have been to understanding the concepts at the forefront of physics， and giving competing interpretations， there was something deeply missing: equations。 Sure you can grasp the concept of the equation for General Relativity by the famous John Wheeler quote， "Spacetime tells matter how to move; matter tells spacetime how to curve。"But I wanted to understand what the symbols meant within this masterpiece and the most eloquent equations of physics at large。 After hearing Tegmark rave about how influential The Feynman Lectures on Physics had impacted him personally， I decided to pick up a copy several years ago。 As I had taken 2 courses on Physics for Majors in undergrad， much of Feynman's work was a refresher。 Oddly， the two pillars of modern physics- Quantum Mechanics and General Relativity- were no where to be found in my physics courses。 And I admittedly struggled to make it deep into Feynman's 3rd book in the lecture series on Quantum Mechanics。 As Carroll explains， texts are written with the intent that you will be solving equations。 The Biggest Ideas in the Universe has been a perfect solution to bridge the gap between my understanding of physics through popular science writing and the Feynman Lectures。 It's sole purpose is to help one understand the equations without adding the complexity of solving them。 I'm extremely grateful Carroll wrote this book and I look forward to the other two in the series。Just as Feynman opened his lecture series by captivating the reader with the line， "If we were to name the most powerful assumption of all， which leads one on and on in an attempt to understand life， it is that all things are made of atoms， and that everything that living things do can be understood in terms of the jigglings and wigglings of atoms"， Carroll takes ambitions to the next level， opening by imagining a world where people openly discuss physics at parties。 I'm slightly skeptical of this happening anytime soon。 For example， his review of calculus was extremely helpful， but FOR ME。 It was an important refresher， having been removed from my undergrad calculus course for 15 years。 I have reservations in thinking the person with no background knowledge would grasp hold so quickly。Regardless， I love the ambition of Carroll。 This work is revolutionary for those of us who desire to understand what the most famous equations in physics are telling us。 Thank you Sean！ 。。。more
Juan Álvarez
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I am familiar with Carroll's technical writings and know that he has only a cursory understanding of topics like thermodynamics， quantum mechanics， or general relativity。 One day I will tell the story of a serious error in Carroll's textbook on general relativity。With such a background， I did not expect any miracles from The Biggest Ideas in the Universe。 The book is full of errors and half-truths。 Moreover， expressions that are only valid for certain assumptions are presented in his book as gen I am familiar with Carroll's technical writings and know that he has only a cursory understanding of topics like thermodynamics， quantum mechanics， or general relativity。 One day I will tell the story of a serious error in Carroll's textbook on general relativity。With such a background， I did not expect any miracles from The Biggest Ideas in the Universe。 The book is full of errors and half-truths。 Moreover， expressions that are only valid for certain assumptions are presented in his book as general truths。 I will only give a small sample of objections in this short review:* He equates conservation laws to Noether's theorem， because like many other physicists， he confuses the conservation of quantity Q （expressed in mathematical form as dᵢQ = 0） with the constancy of this quantity （dQ = 0）。* Ignoring basic calculus， Carroll claims that the definite integral of a function of x is another function of x。* He asserts that Newton's second law is invariant under time reversal， when adding a dissipative force simply breaks this invariance。* He repeats the discredited notion that coarse-graining explains irreversibility。 Furthermore， he applies to the universe a statistical mechanical definition of entropy that he cannot apply， because the definition he uses is only valid for isolated systems at thermodynamic equilibrium and the universe is not at equilibrium （e。g。 there are temperature gradients in the universe）。* He claims that in the world of relativity， we define four-momentum as mass times four-velocity， when not only is this not the general relativistic definition， but it is impractical。 It is better to use laboratory time for parameterizations （specially when dealing with more than one particle）。* Contrary to his claims， instantaneous action-at-a-distance is fully compatible with relativistic theories。 In fact， an instantaneous version of Maxwell's theory of electromagnetism has recently been developed （Instantaneous action-at-a-distance representation of field theories; 1993; Physical Review E 48， 4008; R。 A。 Villecco）。* He confuses the two principles of equivalence: weak and strong。* He claims that the energy-momentum tensor in general relativity sums up everything we want to know about the "energy-like characteristics" of a collection of matter， radiation， "or anything else"。 This is not true， because the tensor lacks the "energy-like characteristics" of gravitation itself， which produces the well-known energy problem in general relativity， a problem Carroll neglects to mention。* And so on。 。。。more
AJ
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I liked it a lot， there's a decent amount I didn't understand。 And will have to thus reread。 It was a book that was not shy to be detailed。 It's a physics book through and through。 Very informative， although bits were repetitive for a frequent reader of 'popular science' books。 I liked it a lot， there's a decent amount I didn't understand。 And will have to thus reread。 It was a book that was not shy to be detailed。 It's a physics book through and through。 Very informative， although bits were repetitive for a frequent reader of 'popular science' books。 。。。more
Jim French
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I've had a year of college physics， read a lot of books about relativity and quantum mechanics， love this subject area， and have really enjoyed Sean's previous books。 But this book didn't work for me at all。 It's a series of definitions and equations。 If that's your thing then go for it。 I've had a year of college physics， read a lot of books about relativity and quantum mechanics， love this subject area， and have really enjoyed Sean's previous books。 But this book didn't work for me at all。 It's a series of definitions and equations。 If that's your thing then go for it。 。。。more
Brian Clegg
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In the brilliant Yes Minister/Yes Prime Minister TV series， an idea would be described as bold or brave it was stupid or career wrecking。 In The Biggest Ideas in the Universe， Sean Carroll has done something extremely bold and brave。 But - for the right audience （and we'll come back to that） - it is absolutely brilliant。 A quick aside about the unwieldy title: this is the first entry in the 'Biggest Ideas' trilogy with two more to follow。There are two broad ways to write about physics。 You can t In the brilliant Yes Minister/Yes Prime Minister TV series， an idea would be described as bold or brave it was stupid or career wrecking。 In The Biggest Ideas in the Universe， Sean Carroll has done something extremely bold and brave。 But - for the right audience （and we'll come back to that） - it is absolutely brilliant。 A quick aside about the unwieldy title: this is the first entry in the 'Biggest Ideas' trilogy with two more to follow。There are two broad ways to write about physics。 You can take the popular science approach which is descriptive， gives context and， if done well， makes it possible to a good idea of what the science is about without bumping against the maths。 Or you can write a textbook， which builds on a foundation of heavy duty mathematics。 This will describe what physics is really about， but will be impenetrable to anyone without an appropriate degree。 （And often exceedingly dull too。） Carroll has built a bridge between the two - something I thought was impossible until now。Famously， Stephen Hawking was told that the audience for a book halved with every equation that was included。 If this is really true， Carroll has a problem， because his book contains plenty of them。 Starting simply with conservation and introducing the first equation in the definition of momentum， Carroll builds surprisingly rapidly。 Not only does he approach change and dynamics using conventional analysis approaches， he also introduces Hamiltonians and Lagrangians （and， of course， partial differentials） when you are less than a third of the way through the book。 By the end we've got both the special and general theories of relativity under our belt and have dealt with matrices， tensors and more。This is astonishing - Carroll doesn't just throw in equations and loosely explain them， he gives quite detailed descriptions of where they've come from and how they are used。 What we don't get， which a textbook would do， is any attempt to solve these equations or expect the reader to do anything too strenuous with them， but the amount of detail is remarkable。Does it all work？ No - almost inevitably。 I have seen， for example， more approachable descriptions of the principle of least action， starting with the Baywatch Principle and least time， rather than plunging straight into least action。 Yet， for the right audience （and we're nearly there）， it is rarely the case that the reader is left bewildered。 Carroll builds everything impressively in a way that is quite different from anything I've ever seen before。So， the audience thing。 Carroll says about equations 'they are not that scary。' He tells us he dreams of a world where 'as kids are running around at a birthday party， one parent says "I don't see why anyone thinks there should be new particles near the electroweak scale，" and another immediately replies "Then how in the world are you going to address the hierarchy problem？"' I'm sorry， Sean， but dream on。 It's not going to happen。 There are two big problems here for a truly general audience。One is that I think Carroll totally underestimates the depth of many people's struggle with maths。 It's not so much that equations are scary for those who say they don't like maths as that they repel readers without any information going into the brain。 I don't think Carroll's beautiful build of the maths underlying physics will help such people at all。 The other problem is that it would be possible to absorb everything in this book and you still wouldn't get the kind of conversation Carroll envisages - getting a better understanding of how physicists do their work will not allow you to go beyond what you've learned to pose those kind of questions。A while ago I was listening to Mark Kermode and Simon Mayo's film podcast。 They had asked for a simple physics explanation of multiverses。 These aren't stupid people。 Yet the point at which they wen't into 'This is too complicated， it's beyond me' was when the physicist said something like 'When you think of a quantum particle like an electron'。 Their minds had already blanked out。 Does anyone really think that such people， intelligent but not science-oriented， would ever come round to Carroll's way of thinking？ I see the audience of this book as twofold。 For people like me who have a decades old physics degree to get some nostalgic reminder of what I once knew， and for young people who are about to go to university to study physics to get a wonderful introduction to what lies beneath the mathematical slog they are about to go through and why it's all worthwhile。 Any idea this will convert people who aren't already excited by physics， I'm afraid， is fantasy。 But for the right people， this book is magnificent。 。。。more
Todd Decker
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If you like physics I'd say run out and read this one right away。 Sean Carroll is one of my favorite science authors and this is his best work。 What I like about this one is that he gets into the mathematical tools that physicists actually use。 He explains them at a conceptual level， such that even if you still can't solve the kinds of equations he's talking about you can still see how they work。 The major tools of modern physics - Newtonian mechanics， Lagrangian mechanics， Hamiltonian mechanics If you like physics I'd say run out and read this one right away。 Sean Carroll is one of my favorite science authors and this is his best work。 What I like about this one is that he gets into the mathematical tools that physicists actually use。 He explains them at a conceptual level， such that even if you still can't solve the kinds of equations he's talking about you can still see how they work。 The major tools of modern physics - Newtonian mechanics， Lagrangian mechanics， Hamiltonian mechanics - are all here。 He takes up a unique space straddling popular science book and university textbook， which is hard to do but I think he does it quite well。 。。。more
L
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