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Loading... The Road to Reality: A Complete Guide to the Laws of the Universeby Roger Penrose
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will love Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. This is a concise (despite its length at 1099 pages) summary of much of mathematics and mathematical physics. Penrose has a readable style and is attempting to provide enough understanding of mathematics to illuminate mathematical physics. In the process, he provides a short summary of a loth of different math concepts. While you probably won't master all of them from his summaries, they provide both a good introduction and a good review. (  ) CaUplWL | Dec 27, 2008 |  This book is a treasure trove. Penrose has distilled thousands of years of hard-won knowledge into a single tome, clear enough to be read by a person of reasonable intelligence. It is on a par with Euclid's elements, a scholarly work laying a path from total ignorance to modern physics. If civilisation were to end, this is one of the few essential books that should be saved. ( ) Ganzy | Sep 3, 2008 | I'm putting this book on my "read" shelf, because I feel I've given it due diligence. In fact, I read through the whole first section, which develops the mathematical background needed for the rest of the story. But once I ventured into the section on relativity, which begins by considering Newtonian physics as a gauge connection on a vector bundle, I realized I was in over my head. Luckily I have some experience with mathematical exposition. I wouldn't recommend this book if you don't have that kind of background, though there may be some value in just enjoying the evocative, beautifully drafted diagrams and in savoring abstruse terminology. (  )2  meeisenberg | Aug 13, 2008 | I am a scientific layperson. (Admittedly a committed one.) I've been reading this book off and on for 2 years, and it continues to reward. As a study guide for interested outsiders who will follow up using other sources, it works well, explaining prerequisites as well as concepts. It is the only work I've ever read gives such complete coverage to classical physics, the standard model, *and* newer developments. For anyone interested in mathematical physics, and especially the geometric nature of mathematical physics, this is highly recommended. (  )1 ztutz | Jun 12, 2008 | Just... wow. Apparently Dr. Penrose has written an entire Ph.D Physics course in a single volume. This book starts out with basic math concepts like fractions and exponents, then progresses to teach the higher math needed to understand the physics. Caveat lector: the first three hundred pages or so are a very intense math course in preparation for the rest of the book. Some books are meant to be read in a few hours, some over a weekend, some over the course of a few weeks or months. This book is in a class of its own; it's like finding a lost tome from an ancient civilization that holds the secrets of the Universe -- but which will take years to understand. I bought it when it came out, making a special trip to the store and paying full price. Worth every penny and then some. There are used copies available for well under US$20; for the cost of a nice dinner, you can buy many years' worth of college-level course content. Amazing. If I had to choose only one book to read for the rest of my life, this would be my choice, simply for the density of interesting content. I'll be reading this one for years. Best nonfiction book I've read in a long time. Possibly the best ever. ( )4 FlyByPC | Feb 12, 2008 |  no reviews | add a review
Amazon.com (ISBN 0679454438, Hardcover)If Albert Einstein were alive, he would have a copy of The Road to Reality on his bookshelf. So would Isaac Newton. This may be the most complete mathematical explanation of the universe yet published, and Roger Penrose richly deserves the accolades he will receive for it. That said, let us be perfectly clear: this is not an easy book to read. The number of people in the world who can understand everything in it could probably take a taxi together to Penrose's next lecture. Still, math-friendly readers looking for a substantial and possibly even thrillingly difficult intellectual experience should pick up a copy (carefully--it's over a thousand pages long and weighs nearly 4 pounds) and start at the beginning, where Penrose sets out his purpose: to describe "the search for the underlying principles that govern the behavior of our universe." Beginning with the deceptively simple geometry of Pythagoras and the Greeks, Penrose guides readers through the fundamentals--the incontrovertible bricks that hold up the fanciful mathematical structures of later chapters. From such theoretical delights as complex-number calculus, Riemann surfaces, and Clifford bundles, the tour takes us quickly on to the nature of spacetime. The bulk of the book is then devoted to quantum physics, cosmological theories (including Penrose's favored ideas about string theory and universal inflation), and what we know about how the universe is held together. For physicists, mathematicians, and advanced students, The Road to Reality is an essential field guide to the universe. For enthusiastic amateurs, the book is a project to tackle a bit at a time, one with unimaginable intellectual rewards. --Therese Littleton(retrieved from Amazon Fri, 24 Apr 2009 07:58:00 -0400) The first test round has been closed. Visit the Open Shelves Classification group for details. |
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