The Last Three Minutes: Conjectures About the Ultimate Fate of the Universe (Science Masters Series)

This book is somewhat of a companion to the book "The First Three Minutes" by Steven Weinberg. In that book, Weinberg describes the physical conditions of the universe in the three minutes after the big bang winked it into existence. Davies distills current quantum and cosmological thinking down into an understandable explanation of what are the likely end scenarios for the universe. In general there are two main endings postulated for the universe. The first is that it will continue to expand and all energy concentrations will eventually be dissipated to achieve what is literally universal thermodynamic equilibrium. The second is that the universe will cease expanding and start to contract. Once the contraction starts it will accelerate until all matter, which is the entire universe, will contract down into a singularity of infinite density. At this point time and the laws of physics will no longer exist. Which end scenario is the eventual result is based on the density of mass in the universe, less than a certain amount and it is universal expansion, more than a certain amount and contraction is certain. At this time, the amount of mass in the universe does not appear to be enough to force a contraction; however cosmologists are finding additional mass all the time. Where Davies diverges from other authors writing in this area is in his discussions of ways to create new universes and how advanced species could literally use the creation of new universes to be immortal. It was a fascinating thought because it is based not on speculation but on the highest levels of current cosmological thought. That section alone made reading the entire book worthwhile.

ragnarok. Armageddon. Doomsday. Since The Dawn Of Time, Man Has Wondered How The World Would End. In The Last Three Minutes, Paul Davies Reveals The Latest Theories. It Might End In A Whimper, Slowly Scattering Into The Infinite Void. Then Again, It Might Be Yanked Back By Its Own Gravity And End In A Catastrophic U0022big Crunch.u0022 There Are Other, More Frightening Possibilities. We May Be Seconds Away From Doom At This Very Moment. Written In Clear Language That Makes The Cutting-edge Science Of Quarks, Neutrinos, Wormholes, And Metaverses Accessible To The Layman, The Last Three Minutes Treats Readers To A Wide Range Of Conjectures About The Ultimate Fate Of The Universe. Along The Way, It Takes The Occasional Divergent Path To Discuss Some Slightly Less Cataclysmic Topics Such As Galactic Colonization, What Would Happen If The Earth Were Struck By The Comet Swift-tuttle (a Distinct Possibility), The Effects Of Falling In A Black Hole, And How To Create A U0022baby Universe.u0022 Wonderfully Morbid To The Core, This Is One Of The Most Original Science Books To Come Along In Years.

library Journal

although Cosmology Has Developed Into Perhaps The Most Arcane And Heavily Mathematicized Of Academic Specialities, You Don't Have To Be A Scientist To Gaze At The Night Sky In Search Of Answers. Hence The Appeal Of These Fine Companion Books, The First In The Publisher's Very Promising Science Masters Series, Which Aims To Tap Into The Potentially Large Market Of Curious, Generally Educated Readers Seeking Intelligent But Nontechnical Treatments Of Current Science Issues. Barrow Looks At Big Bang Cosmology And Does A Particularly Good Job At Explaining So-called Inflationary Universe Theory, A Difficult Concept That Others Have Handled Far Less Deftly. Still, Despite His Occasional Digressions Into The Literature Of Arthur Conan Doyle, His Writing Is Rather Dry. Davies, By Contrast, Is More Playfully Conjectural, And The Sheer Audacity Of Some Of His Speculations Makes For A More Entertaining Read. While Other Popularizations Of Basic Cosmology Have Been Published In Recent Years (e.g., Alan Lightman's Time For The Stars, Lj 11/15/92), Barrow And Davies Are Quality Science Popularizers, And Both Of Their Books Merit Recommendations. Davies's Book Is, However, The Stronger Due To The Livelier Writing And Comparative Uniqueness Of His Subject. [the Third Volume In The Science Masters Series Is Richard Leakey's The Origin Of Humankind, Reviewed Below.-ed.]-gregg Sapp, Univ. Of Miami Lib.

The Last Three Minutes, by world-renowned physicist and author Paul Davies, is a wonderful, fun book - morbid to the core! - that combines the latest and most scientifically sound thinking about the ultimate fate of the universe with vivid scenarios of how it will feel to those of us still around when the end comes. Look, if you will, past that last day of sunlight into perpetual night. Experience the onset of stardoom - when the nuclear energy of burning stars is finally exhausted. Journey through those eons of time when black holes are the last major source of energy, devouring the scattered remnants of burnt-out galaxies. And then, perhaps, the big crunch - the last three minutes, when the temperature of the cosmos becomes so great that even atomic nuclei must disintegrate, when larger and larger regions of space are compressed into smaller and smaller volumes, when, as Davies writes, "the handiwork of the big bang, and of generations of stars in creating heavy chemical elements, is undone in less time than it takes you to read this sentence.". Will this be the stage on which cosmic life plays out its final act? Or is the universe destined to end very differently and in the much less distant future, overwhelmed by a sudden and unexpected cosmic catastrophe? Indeed, will the universe end at all? If it endures forever, will humanity or our descendants, robots or flesh, find a way to survive through eternal night? Confirming the author's gift for explaining advanced scientific ideas in simple language, and for exploring their philosophical implications, this book looks at three possible ways the Earth may end or not. The book also looks at whether humanity can expect to survive for eternity? A speculative description of the end of time applies scientific theory to imagination, predicting the overtaking of black holes, the end of sunlight, the beginning of stardoom, and the crushing effects of gravity This text combines current thinking about the ultimate fate of the universe with vivid scenarios of how it will feel to those of us still around when the end comes