Cycles of Time: An Extraordinary New View of the Universe by Penrose, Roger (2010) Hardcover

One of our most distinguished scientists offers a radical new theory of the origin, and ultimate end, of the Universe.Professor Sir Roger Penrose's groundbreaking and bestselling The Road to Reality provided a complete guide to the laws that govern our universe. In Cycles of Time, Penrose offers a completely new perspective on the often-asked question, 'what came before the Big Bang?' The answer that Penrose proposes involves a curious but fully rational way of looking at the expected ultimate fate of our acclerating expanded universe, and showing that its end can in fact be reinterpreted as the 'Big Bang' of a new universe. From the best-selling author of The Emperors New Mind and The Road to Reality, a groundbreaking book that provides new views on three of cosmologys most profound questions: What, if anything, came before the Big Bang? What is the source of order in our universe? What is its ultimate future? Current understanding of our universe dictates that all matter will eventually thin out to zero density, with huge black holes finally evaporating away into massless energy. Roger Penroseone of the most innovative mathematicians of our timeturns around this predominant picture of the universes heat death, arguing how the expected ultimate fate of our accelerating, expanding universe can actually be reinterpreted as the Big Bang of a new one. Along the way to this remarkable cosmological picture, Penrose sheds new light on basic principles that underlie the behavior of our universe, describing various standard and nonstandard cosmological models, the fundamental role of the cosmic microwave background, and the key status of black holes. Ideal for both the amateur astronomer and the advanced physicistwith plenty of exciting insights for each Cycles of Time is certain to provoke and challenge. Intellectually thrilling and accessible, this is another essential guide to the universe from one of our preeminent thinkers. "A groundbreaking book providing a new take on three of cosmology's most profound questions: What, if anything, came before the Big Bang? What is the source of order in our universe? What is the universe's ultimate future? Current understanding of our universe dictates that all matter will eventually thin out to zero density, with huge black holes finally evaporating away into massless energy. Roger Penrose--one of the most innovative mathematicians of our time--turns around this predominant picture of the universe's "heat death," arguing how the expected ultimate fate of our accelerating, expanding universe can actually be reinterpreted as the "Big Bang" of a new one. Along the way to this remarkable cosmological picture, Penrose sheds new light on basic principles that underlie the behavior of our universe, describing various standard and nonstandard cosmological models, the fundamental role of the cosmic microwave background, and the key status of black holes. Intellectually thrilling and accessible, Cycles of Time is another essential guide to the universe from one of our preeminent thinkers"--Provided by publisher. Roger Penrose's groundbreaking and bestselling The Road To Reality (2005) provided a comprehensive yet readable guide to our present understanding of the laws that are currently believed to govern our universe. In Cycles of Time, he moves far beyond this to develop a completely new perspective on cosmology, providing a quite unexpected answer to the often-asked question, 'What came before the Big Bang?' The second law and its underlying mystery The oddly special nature of the Big Bang Conformal cyclic cosmology.