Warped Passages: Unraveling the Mysteries of the Universe's Hidden Dimensions |  | Author: Lisa Randall
Publisher: Harper Perennial
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Rating:  151 reviews
Sales Rank: 19585
Media: Paperback
Pages: 499
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
Dimensions (in): 8.2 x 5.4 x 1.4
ISBN: 0060531096
Dewey Decimal Number: 530.01
EAN: 9780060531096
ASIN: 0060531096
Publication Date: September 1, 2006
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
The universe has many secrets. It may hide additional dimensions of space other than the familier three we recognize. There might even be another universe adjacent to ours, invisible and unattainable . . . for now. Warped Passages is a brilliantly readable and altogether exhilarating journey that tracks the arc of discovery from early twentieth-century physics to the razor's edge of modern scientific theory. One of the world's leading theoretical physicists, Lisa Randall provides astonishing scientific possibilities that, until recently, were restricted to the realm of science fiction. Unraveling the twisted threads of the most current debates on relativity, quantum mechanics, and gravity, she explores some of the most fundamental questions posed by Nature—taking us into the warped, hidden dimensions underpinning the universe we live in, demystifying the science of the myriad worlds that may exist just beyond our own.
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Showing reviews 1-5 of 151
 well-written, enlightening, lengthy September 3, 2009
Gary Hauser (Knoxville, TN)
The author articulates the science in lay terms very well. Her specialty is particle physics, but she gives equal treatment to general relativity, quantum mechanics, string theory, and particle physics. I read a lot of books about one or the other of these subjects, but this is the one that best describes the state of the art in each one of them, and how they complement each other (or not). This one reads easier, and the author makes great use of metaphors and analogous ideas that help you understand some of the tenets of a very complicated subject matter.
The book is lengthy and comprehensive, but the author gives suggestions about which sections you can skip if you are not as interested in that part, and key points are summarized at the end of every chapter for those you want to skip.
 "scientific mysteries" that fulminate thrilling insights April 1, 2009
Ezekiel E. Cortez (Sunny San Diego, CA USA)
0 out of 3 found this review helpful
Dr. Randall's Warped Passages will swiftly and easily transport you into a great world of fascinating science and enlightening ideas. Yet, the warped passages she has opened for her readers to traverse make it so very easy for one to fall through that rabbit hole and explore ideas usually mired in needlessly complicated "math."
Some have here criticized and detracted from Warped Passages. But these detractors self-evidently miss the gems in this easy-to-read inspiring introduction and at the same time cutting-edge treatment of esoteric science; typically placed just beyond the reach of the "average" scientifically curious folk. Among whom I find myself, even after devouring a considerable number of "popular science" helpers.
This exhilarating book, authored by a highly-respected and first tenured woman theoretical physicist at MIT and Harvard, and first tenured woman at the Princeton physics department, is nothing less than the forbidden fruit of that tree from which we were not to take. But take we did.
And thank God for that.
Warped Passages is a unique book which deeply inspires and impels one to research deeper into those ideas so very clearly and accessibly explored in its fluid,easy 458 pages.
At chapter 22, Lisa Randall includes these memorable lines by Vanessa from The Rocky Horror Picture Show -"From another dimension, With voyeuristic intention, Let's do the time warp again." And that is exactly what Randall's Warp Passages enable the reader to easily and pleasingly do ....
Buy this great book, gift it to friends as I have done and advance the understanding of complicated science mysteries.
Review of Warped Passages December 6, 2008
John Ferrante
3 out of 5 found this review helpful
Warped Passages: Unraveling the Mysteries of the Universe's Hidden Dimensions
As a physicist, I find most of the popularized literature, not really understandable by the general public. Often references are made to highly technical issues which layman think they understand, but don't really. I think that Prof. Randall's book goes a long way in writing an understandable book for the layman along with being well written.
Very clear, balanced intro to modern physics and its frontiers October 30, 2008
John A. Castaneda
4 out of 5 found this review helpful
I found Lisa Randall's "Warped Passages . . ." to be an extremely accessible book for the layperson because of its clarity and balanced emphasis on each of several competing and non-competing modern physics theories.
Each of the several layperson-friendly books on physics that I have read contains an introductory set of chapters on which the main premise of the particular book is based. In terms of understandability, some are fair, others are adequate, and others are quite good. For example, I found such chapters in Brian Greene's "The Elegant Universe" to be quite good. However, Lisa Randall's "Warped Passages . . ." contains exceptionally clear introductory chapters. This clarity not only demonstrates her command and understanding of these early parts of her book, it also effectively expresses her humility and implicit acknowledgment of the incompleteness of the various competing theories that make up her life work. This intellectual honesty lends credibility and therefore ease of understanding to her mode of expression. For example, unlike Brian Greene, who seems to prefer "string theory" and its progeny over all competing theories (for reasons which frustratingly fade away in inverse proportion to the number of pages in his book), Lisa Randall takes a comprehensive and perhaps therefore a more objective approach to each theory she discusses.
The history of modern physics from the late 19th century through today is replete with partial "sub-theories," each of which form the foundations (and limitations) of quantum mechanics and the theories of relativity. If such history is to be any guide, Lisa Randall's "weigh and consider several theory" approach to explain the nature of space, time, energy, and matter is not only sound, but necessary, not only to diversify intellectual and fiscal resources in an economic sense, but also to build the most scientifically robust model possible.
 A waste October 24, 2008
D. Fullmer (California)
1 out of 19 found this review helpful
Very disappointing. Poorly written. I wanted a detailed explanation of the new thoughts in physics and got a droll tedious lecture on physics. It was painful to plod through the entire book.
Don't ...
Showing reviews 1-5 of 151
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