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| Hyperspace: A Scientific Odyssey Through Parallel Universes, Time Warps and the Tenth Dimension | 
 enlarge | Author: Michio Kaku
Publisher: Oxford Paperbacks
Category: Book
List Price: £9.99
Buy Used: £6.45
You Save: £3.54 (35%)
New (1) from £19.99
Avg. Customer Rating:  13 reviews
Sales Rank: 140883
Media: Paperback
Edition: New Ed
Pages: 384
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.6
Dimensions (in): 7.6 x 5.1 x 1.2
ISBN: 0192861891
Dewey Decimal Number: 530.142
EAN: 9780192861894
ASIN: 0192861891
Publication Date: October 5, 1995
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
Condition: In good condition.
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| Customer Reviews:
 A Rambling Tour of Modern Phsyics July 9, 2004
12 out of 16 found this review helpful
This book was written ten years ago but it still holds up well. Michio Kaku examines the theories of multi-dimensional space in an entertaining and educational book. His explanations are so clear that 10-dimensional space actually made sense. The book is somewhat a rambling adventure. Kaku takes us on a tour, introducing us to an interesting cast of characters including the sad story of Georg Bernhard Riemann who developed key equations for analyzing multi-dimensional space in the 1800's. The tour differs from a typical physics book in that instead of giving us the basic lecture of the advance of physics, Kaku approaches everything from a slightly different angle. In trying to help us understand multi-dimensional space, he looks not just at science but in art and literature. To emphasize a point he might explain it using something from his own career or from a science fiction story. The main problem with the book is that the author does tend to get off topic and ramble at certain points in the book. Stories about what an intelligent culture might do as the Universe ends doesn't really fit into the flow of the book and since we really have no idea how the Universe will end, it all seemed a bit pointless. I started to get the idea that Kaku had a number of pages in mind and was trying to fill the book with a lot of different ideas he has had floating around to reach that number. But don't let me scare you away. At least two-thirds of this book is brilliant writing that will make you think, help you understand modern theories of physics, and entertain you. I can forgive the author's ramblings when he provides that much in a few hundred pages.
 Hyperspace a residence for Beauty and Supersymmetry. April 22, 2002
25 out of 26 found this review helpful
In this superbly written book, Michio Kaku explains it all and "solves" it all by the theory of hyperspace. Basically, it explains the futility of unifying the basic forces of nature in the present concept of 4-D space-time. In fact Albert Einstein had to add the fourth temporal dimension of time to explain the field theory of gravity. Later Theodr Kaluza, while expressing Einstein's field equations in five dimensions came to startling result in which Maxwell's field equations of electro-magnetism was included along with field equations of gravity. So, just by addition of one dimension, two fundamental forces of nature were getting unified. Much later the 11-dimensional supergravity theory encompassed all the forces as well as matter in its expression giving hope of the ultimate theory in offing. It was eventually abandoned because the equations were nonrenormalizable (nonsensical results). Of course, the latest offering is the 10-dimensional superstring theory and its successor the 11-dimensional M-theory. These theories are very promising, seeming to unify quantum theory and general relativity and steering clear of the troubles which beset previous higher dimensional theories. In fact, according to Kaku, at the instant of creation our universe was a 10-dimensional supersymmetric universe with all forces and matter/energy unified into one entity! This book also delves into the origin and history of higher dimensional concepts, explained lucidly and brilliantly by Mr. Kaku. He explains that higher dimensional objects couldn't be visualized by us(3-D beings) and thus has to be viewed as projections or shadows on our 3-D space or even unravel them in our space(like a "tesseract", which is an unraveled hypercube). Kaku often drives home his point by explaining in terms of 2-D "flatlanders" existing in our 3-D world, which no doubt is a very easy way of understanding these kinds of concepts. This book will also explain theories regarding parallel universes, black holes, worm holes, time travel and death of our universe. I definitely recommend this book to those who want to have a glimpse of the future and understand and enjoy the various physical concepts which are being brought from the realm of science fiction to our present day reality.
 Good but not that good. February 16, 2001
9 out of 12 found this review helpful
Having read several of this genre book - physics for the masses, I must confess to being disappointed by 'Hyperspace' despite its enthuastic reviews from other readers. I found that he went into too much detail over simple concepts and not enough with the more complicated aspects. Although overall this was an interesting, thought-proving read, if you wish to learn more about the actual theory and the 'physics of the universe' I would recommend The Elegant Universe.
Fascinating and Accesible Ideas June 20, 2000
3 out of 4 found this review helpful
This is a gem of a Popular Science book . In general it is easy, entertaining, yet mind boggling reading although there were times where I found the explanations to be somewhat difficult to follow. The final few chapters deviate strongly from the central theme of string theory yet I am more than prepared to forgive Kaku for this as he delves into the fascinating theories regarding the advancement of human civilisation and the future of the universe.
Spectacular April 17, 2000
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
The idea of unification of Relativity and Quantum Mechanics always puzzled me for a long time. Mr Kaku's Geometrical exposition of that concept is really terrific.It is kind of "Wow! "felling we will get on knowing the idea that, How Strings ,which is a geometrical thing, will comprise the matter as we know it.
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