Knocking on Heaven's Door: How Physics and Scientific Thinking Illuminate the Universe and the Modern World

by Lisa Randall

“Science has a battle for hearts and minds on its hands….How good it feels to have Lisa Randall’s unusual blend of top flight science, clarity, and charm on our side.”
—Richard Dawkins

“Dazzling ideas….Read this book today to understand the science of tomorrow.”
—Steven Pinker

The bestselling author of Warped Passages, one of Time magazine’s “100 Most Influential People in the World,” and one of Esquire’s “75 Most Influential People of the 21st Century,”  Lisa Randall gives us an exhilarating overview of the latest ideas in physics and offers a rousing defense of the role of science in our lives. Featuring fascinating insights into our scientific future born from the author’s provocative conversations with Nate Silver, David Chang, and Scott Derrickson, Knocking on Heaven’s Door is eminently readable, one of the most important popular science books of this or any year. It is a necessary volume for all who admire the work of Stephen Hawking, Michio Kaku, Brian Greene, Simon Singh, and Carl Sagan; for anyone curious about the workings and aims of the Large Hadron Collider, the biggest and most expensive machine ever built by mankind; for those who firmly believe in the importance of science and rational thought; and for anyone interested in how the Universe began…and how it might ultimately end.

Genres: Science, Physics, Nonfiction, Philosophy, Popular Science, Religion, History

442 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2011

About the author

LISA RANDALL is Professor of Physics at Harvard University. She began her physics career at Stuyvesant High School in New York City. She was a finalist, and tied for first place, in the National Westinghouse Science Talent Search. She went on to Harvard where she earned the BS (1983) and PhD (1987) in physics. She was a President's Fellow at the University of California at Berkeley, a postdoctoral fellow at Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory and a junior fellow at Harvard University. She joined the MIT faculty in 1991 as an assistant professor, was promoted to associate professor in 1995 and received tenure in 1997. Between 1998 and 2001 she had a joint appointment at Princeton and MIT as a full professor. She moved to Harvard as a full professor in 2001.

She was the 1st tenured woman in physics at Princeton; the 1st tenured woman theorist in science at Harvard and at MIT. She's the most cited theoretical physicist in the world in the last five years as of last autumn — a total of about 10,000 citations. In this regard, she is most known for two papers: "A Large mass Hierarchy From a Small Extra Dimension" (2500 citations); and and "An Alternative to Compactification" (about 2500 citations). Both concern "Warped Geometry/Spacetime" and show that infinite extra dimension and weakness of gravity can be explained with an extra dimension.

Lisa Randall’s research in theoretical high energy physics is primarily related to the question of what is the physics underlying the standard model of particle physics. This has involved studies of strongly interacting theories, supersymmetry, and most recently, extra dimensions of space. In this latter work, she investigates “warped” geometries. The focus of this work has been a particular class of theories based on five-dimensional AdS space which has the remarkable property that the graviton is localized and the space need not be compactified. Related work demonstrates that this theory yields a very natural resolution to the hierarchy problem of particle physics (the large ratio of the Planck and electroweak scales) and furthermore, is compatible with unification of gauge couplings. This latter class of theories suggests interesting experimental tests. The study of further implications of this work has involved string theory, holography, and cosmology. Lisa Randall also continues to work on supersymmetry and other beyond-the-standard-model physics.

Within a year of her work on extra dimensions, it was featured on the front page of the Science Times section of The New York Times. It has also been featured in the Economist, the New Scientist, Science,Nature, The Los Angeles Times, The Dallas Daily News, a BBC Horizons television program, BBC radio, and other news sources. She has also been also been interviewed because Science Watch and the ISI Essential Science Indicators have indicated her research as some of the best cited in all of science.

http://edge.org/memberbio/lisa_randall

Reviews

[Darwin8u · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Try to remember that artists in these catastrophic times, along with the serious scientists, are the only salvation for us, if there is to be any.”
― William H. Gass



“Science certainly is not the static statement of universal laws we all hear about in elementary school. Nor is it a set of arbitrary rules. Science is an evolving body of knowledge. Many of the ideas we are currently investigating will prove to be wrong or incomplete. Scientific descriptions certainly change as we cross the boundaries that circumscribe what we know and venture into more remote territory where we can glimpse hints of the deeper truths beyond.”
- Lisa Randall, Knocking on Heaven's Door

Loved it. In this book Lisa Randall writes about scale and science, while surveying the state of modern physics just as the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) was getting warmed up (2011).

Randall is a theoretical physicist working on both particle physics and cosmology. She teaches at Harvard and specializes in supersymmetry, the Standard Model, cosmological inflation, dark matter, etc. She is one of the most cited modern theoretical physicists and is yearly on the short-list for the Nobel Prize in Physics. She is also a bit of a Renaissance woman. Beyond her ability to scale from the super small to the super big, she enjoys art, literature, and the outdoors. There are some geniuses who seem to exist comfortably only in the small box they excel in. That is definitely not Lisa Randall. She seems to enjoy those spaces where literature, art, and the sciences overlap.

Lisa's collection of interests (beyond physics) is the prime reasons why she is such a gifted translator of theoretical physics. I'm a pretty smart guy, but would have been even more lost without her sharp metaphors and patient untangling of the bleeding edge of physics. I'm still pretty damn confused, but feel just a bit more confident WHERE I'm confused. I think her gift comes both from her varied interests, her wide friendships, and her basic humanity.

Amazingly, it was during a recent gift from the Universe that I met Lisa. Last year in August (on the 21st) a total eclipse of the sun was going to throw its umbral shadow over my sister-in-law's house in Southern Idaho. My brother Matt and I and his friend from the CIA decided to do a road trip. Soon, it wasn't just us three, but friends of friends, were on our way to Rigby, Idaho. Walter Kirn asked if he could meet us, and soon he asked if his friend from Harvard could come. Lisa showed up with a couple friends (one was an artist from LA, (Landon Ross, whose art is informed and influenced heavily by science) and we climbed up the South Menan Butte (owned by a Mormon Capitalist selling tickets) for a prime viewing spot. There we watched the shadow of the eclipse racing towards us.

Anyway, on this butte in Southern Idaho theoretical physicists, artists, writers, and a motley crue of naturalists, retirees, and Mormons were together humbled by the size of the Universe, the scale of what we know and don't know. We were also thrilled that, with the help of science, we knew where to be and together watched the moon's shadow roll over us. In some ways, it seemed a brief echo of how Lisa must have felt watching the LHC go online. Evidence would either show that the Standard Model worked or didn't work as far as the Higgs Boson particle (often called the "God Particle") was concerned. Shortly after this book was published in hard cover, and right before it came out in paperback, the LHC provided evidence that once again theoretical physicists were correct.

[David Rubenstein · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lisa Randall is a theoretical physicist at Harvard University. She is well known for her research in high-energy physics. You can view a video of Jon Stewart interviewing Randall on The Daily Show. She is a very articulate speaker, and her writing is crystal clear.

The book is divided into five parts. The first part explores the philosophy of science, and gets into some aspects of the science-vs.-religion debate. Randall notes that some people turn to religion for answers that science cannot yet provide. People want to feel empowered, and they want a sense of belonging. Each individual must decide where more comfort and belonging can be found--in religion or in science. Randall concludes that a religious scientist must separate the "religious part" of his brain from the "scientific part", because they are incompatible.

The second part of the book discusses aspects of scale, starting from human-size scales, going down to the tiniest scales, and then goes to the galactic and cosmological scales. The third part of the book describes the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN, straddling the border between Switzerland and France. I was very impressed by the clear explanations of how the LHC is constructed, how it works, and the giant detector experiments that are placed at locations around the ring.

The fourth part describes the search for the Higgs Boson (which had not yet been discovered at the time of publication of this book), and how the Higgs field is responsible for the masses of elementary particles. Randall explains how models are constructed, and various approaches to evaluating the "truth" of these models. The fifth part explores the largest scales, and deals with the expansion of the universe, and the connections between the smallest scales--particle physics--and the largest scales involved in cosmology. The sixth part is speculation about creativity and how it enters into scientific thinking. A quote from Pushkin, "Inspiration is needed in geometry, just as much as in poetry."

In the introduction, Randall describes how she and other scientists gave testimony at a congressional hearing about the importance of basic science. During this testimony, the scientists gave examples of some of the side benefits of basic science research. This included the development of the World Wide Web at CERN, medical applications such as PET scans, the development of superconducting magnets used for MRI's, and the application of general relativity to GPS navigation.

I really appreciated Randall's description of her own theoretical research. There is a certain physics problem called the "hierarchy" problem, which is associated with the puzzle of why the gravitational force is so weak in comparison with the other forces. Most hypotheses propose a large number of "extra" dimensions, and these hypotheses cannot be tested. However, Randall and Raman Sundrum proposed a hypothesis of a single extra dimension where space and time are exponentially rescaled. She claims that her hypothesis is testable at the LHC. That's what I like--an exotic theory that can be tested using available technology!

My favorite part of the book is Randall's description of the suspicion raised by some, that the LHC might produce black holes that could destroy the world. Just before the issue became a public controversy, Lisa Randall and Patrick Meade had been calculating the number of black holes that could possibly be produced by the LHC. They were not really concerned with dangerously big black holes, but only in small, harmless ones that would rapidly decay. They calculated that even small black holes would not be produced. Then the controversy broke and a lawsuit was filed. Nevertheless, Randall was not swayed. She writes:

In the end, black holes don't pose any danger. But just in case, I'll promise to take full responsibility if the LHC creates a black hole that gobbles up the planet.

Randall then devoted a chapter to the subject of risk, and how people often do not properly account for relative risks. She gives examples of bad risk assessments, such as the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, and the financial machinations of AIG Financial Products, and the subprime mortgage crisis. She draws an interesting analogy between the danger of black holes and the real "black-hole risk" of the financial crisis. On a radio show, Randall was asked

"whether I would proceed with an experiment--no matter how potentially interesting--if it had a chance of endangering the entire world. To the chagrin of the mostly conservative radio audience, my response was that we are already doing such an experiment with carbon emissions.

You can tell that I enjoyed Randall's sense of humor. Once at a scientific conference, Randall was asked to start a "duel" between opening speakers. She was asked to be detailed and technical, and simultaneously to make her arguments basic and understandable by the layman. So, she "did what any rational person would do in the face of such contradictory and impossible-to-satisfy advice: procrastinate." Randall sums up the searches for exotic particles, dark mass and dark matter in a line from a Beatles song, "Got to be good-looking 'cause he's so hard to see."

[Andy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I found the writing style very off-putting with its chit-chatty name-dropping: I have a third cousin who knows an NBA player named Noah who is tall, and I will use that to talk about scale for the fiftieth time, because tallness is a good example of what scale is not about. ?????????????? If the idea is that this will entice someone about to read People or check a gossip website to instead learn about science, then that's a good thing. Beyond that, I don't know who this book is for, but it's not for me.

I think one could do better reading Cosmos (not Cosmo) to understand scale.

When I was young, I read science books by Isaac Asimov that were way better than this. O tempora, o mores.

[Kara Babcock · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love physics. I love that we know so much about physics, and that we still have so much left to learn! I love reading about how far we have come from Ptolemaic ideas of geocentricity to mapping the cosmic microwave background radiation itself. And don’t get me started about the Large Hadron Collider: 7 TeV? Really? Up to 14 TeV in the next few years? Various atrocious self-help books claim they’ll help you unlock “the secrets of the universe”. The scientists and engineers at CERN are quite literally doing that as we speak. Science is awesome.

Lisa Randall is a good companion to have along for a ride on the “science-is-awesome” rollercoaster. Her enthusiasm is inescapable as she explains everything from effective theories to the mystery of missing antimatter—it’s clear that Randall is more than a science writer, that she not only studies these topics for a living but loves them too. This makes the book so much more enjoyable, which is a must for something so steeped in particle physics.

Knocking on Heaven’s Door has something of a chimeric feel to it. At first it seems like a standard popular science book. Randall begins with an exploration of scale from the subatomic end: “The universe is big! Atoms are small! Protons are smaller! Quarks are smaller still!” It’s fascinating and, for the neophyte, probably enlightening, but it was nothing I hadn’t seen before. When she does branch out, she branches out into tangents … she spends an entire chapter talking about the 2008 economic crisis, risk management and analysis, etc., and comparing it to how scientists do their research. If I want to read a book about why short-sighted and greedy bankers caused the economic crisis, I’d do that. I came here for particle physics, Randall! And call me an expert snob, but I prefer to read about economics from economists and physics from physicists—Randall’s attempts at some kind of comparison or syncretism leave much to be desired and feel like a stretch.

The rest of the philosophy part of this book varies greatly, from somewhat flat to outright inspirational. While I agree with a lot of what Randall says about the science versus religion quagmire, she’s not really saying anything new. On the other hand, I loved her discussion of Galileo’s contributions to science and her explanation for why scientific thinking and inquiry is valuable. In particular, her explanation of effective theories and domains of validity remind me a lot of Hawking and Mlodinow’s discussions of model-dependent reality in The Grand Design .

Randall clears up some of the confusion that seems to accumulate as a result of the annual tradition known as “everything you learned in last year’s science class is wrong … here’s how it actually works”. She mentions this phenomenon herself, and I hated it when I was in school. Obviously I don’t expect us to try using the same kind of language to describe the universe to small children as we do to adults, but that’s no reason we need to perpetuate things like the solar-system model of the atom without even mentioning that it’s rather inaccurate. I’m a fairly enthusiastic and literate person when it comes to science, and if I’m working very hard in my spare time to undo the misunderstandings I’ve inherited from formal education, I can only imagine the harm done to my peers who aren’t on a similar quest. Hence, I once again wish philosophy were a more explicit part of the curriculum, for learning about science requires the ability to think like a scientist (and maybe a little bit like a philosopher).

The bulk of Knocking on Heaven’s Door is an explanation of the workings and goals of the Large Hadron Collider. The former will make even the most devoted engineer’s eyes glaze over—nonetheless, Randall succeeds in conveying the impressive sense of scale and achievement that the LHC represents. It’s the largest machine we’ve built, and it’s designed to look at the smallest things we can imagine! So the technical details can be a bit much at times, but Randall certainly clarifies each detector’s role in the experiments, as well as how particle accelerators in general worked. I liked hearing her explanations of when one would want to collide a particle and its antiparticle versus a particle and itself. However, I would have liked to learn more about how the LHC might provide insight into the matter/antimatter asymmetry.

I was quite pleased by the opening of this book in terms of its accessibility to various audiences. Now I’m not so sure to whom I would recommend it. Parts of it are too simple for most science geeks, while others are too complicated unless one pretty much has a degree in the subject. This unevenness of difficulty level means that Knocking on Heaven’s Door, while comprehensive, is not likely to be uniformly enjoyable by anyone. It’s one of the most detailed physics books I’ve encountered, and when I did understand them, Randall’s explanations were enlightening. Plus, it provides very cogent explanations of how particle accelerators operate. If this sounds like your cup of tea, check it out. Otherwise, I suspect there are plenty of other popular physics texts that replicate much of these explanations and ideas.

[Ahmed Al Araby · Rating 5 out of 5]

انتهيت من قراءة كتاب الطرق على أبوب السماء - ليزا راندل ، هو أكثر كتاب بسط لى فيزياء الجسيمات ، الكتاب أسلوبه سهل جداً وسلس رغم صعوبة موضوعاته فموضوعاته هى بلا شك أصعب موضوعات توصل لها العلم قاطبة

الكتاب يشرح تجربة سيرن بالتفصيل ولا يشرح أغراض تجربة سيرن فقط ولكنه أيضاً يشرح التركيب الفنى لتجربة سيرن والعقبات التى قابلتها والحوادث التى حصلت والمخاوف ، وآليات إكتشاف الجسيمات الجديدة والمعروفة فى تجربة سيرن

من الأشياء التى لفتت نرى أن درجة حرارة تجربة سيرن هى أعلى من الصفر المطلق بدرجتين تقريباً اى 1.9 كلفن وهى أبرد منطقة فى الكون كله لدرجة أن المفاعل يتطلب شهر كامل من التبريد بمئات الأطنان من النيتروجين والهيليوم للوصول لهذه البرودة

كما أن المفاعل ينتج معلومات بمقدار مليار معلومة فى الثانية الواحدة أثنا التشغيل والإنشطار

الكتاب أيضاً يشرح كيف يتم إكتشاف الجسيمات الذرية ويشرح النموذج القياسى الحالى والنماذج القياسية المقترحة من قبل العلماء ويتحدث بإستفاضة عن المادة المعتمة وعن مجال هيجز وجسيم هيجز وأهميته كما أنه يتحدث بأسلوب جميل عن علاقة كل هذا بعلم الكونيات

ملحوظة ، تجربة سيرن تكلفتها حتى الآن أكثر من 9 مليار دولار وهى أكبر وأخطر وأهم تجربة فى تاريخ البشرية ويشارك فيها حوالى 9000 عالم وباحث

والكاتبه لديها أسلوب جميل فى الكتابه يشعرك أنها أديبه أحياناً وفجأه تنقلك لعمق فيزياء الجسيمات بمنتهى الروعه
أنصحكم بقراءة الكتاب

[Todd Martin · Rating 2 out of 5]

I’m not sure how this book came about, but it’s the kind of mish-mash that suggests the work of a committee. First, there’s the title Knocking on Heaven's Door: How Physics and Scientific Thinking Illuminate the Universe and the Modern World, which bears no resemblance to the content of the book. Then, there’s the subject matter itself. The book begins with an overly involved discussion of scale, and how scientists select the scale of their observations depending on the type of phenomenon they are studying. That’s fine, but it’s a very simple point that is easy to understand. Does anyone think an auto mechanic is concerned about quantum effects when working on your car engine? Next there’s a short discussion of the compatibility of science and religion where words are chosen ever so carefully so as not to break any eggshells. Later there’s sort of an oddly apropos-of-nothing discussion of risk analysis using the notion that physics experiments could create black holes that would destroy the earth (they won’t) and a discussion of scientific vs artistic beauty that Steven Weinberg largely covered in Dreams of a Final Theory (and it wasn’t all that interesting the first time).

Eventually, the book seems to settle on a theme – and we learn that it happens to be about the large hadron collider located in France and Switzerland and operated by CERN! Well, that’s a nice surprise, I’m not sure why we were keeping it a secret. I’m guessing this is the topic Randall wanted to write about all along since this seems to be where her enthusiasm lies. The book describes some of the underlying physics of supercolliders and the types of things scientists hope to discover. She also goes into details of the construction of the unit and some of the problems encountered along the way that you may recall having heard about on the news.

Following a description of the collider we're treated to tedious details about particle physics and collision byproducts. Unfortunately it’s a confusing muddle because Randall fails to provide the background needed to understand the material. Hearing that two W bosons radiate off incoming quarks and then fuse to make a Higgs boson which subsequently decays to two tau leptons a stale bit of pizza crust and half a garden gnome (the bottom half), will leave most yawning and scratching their heads. Finally, she throws in some astrophysics, probably because someone was washing dishes and the kitchen sink wasn’t available.

You have to wonder who the book is geared for. In the first part of the book in the discussion of size and scale, the material is written for a 3rd grader, while the particle theory requires graduate level coursework in physics. This is an all-too common mistake that occurs when scientists with a poor understanding of their audience attempt to write popular books.

[Vanessa · Rating 1 out of 5]

I will admit defeat. As much as I love popular physics books I just cannot bear to finish this one. The author is obviously brilliant, knows her field well, and has an infectious enthusiasm for science. Unfortunately, she seems to have fallen into the trap that some brilliant people do: she assumes her intelligence and acumen in the field of physics means that her insights outside of that field are similarly brilliant. Alas, this is not so. Repeatedly, she discusses the financial world and does so with breathtaking naïveté. And, even more unfortunately, ignorance. She makes several serious factual errors - such as her laughably incorrect description of what I assume she thinks is high frequency trading - and draws incredibly unsophisticated conclusions about the workings of the financial markets. I find these unnecessary and often incorrect asides to be terribly distracting from her fundamentally fascinating discussions of physics. (I also suspect a political aspect to these discussions which are even more alienating in a book purportedly about the wonders of physics.)

Ultimately, I'm glad I slogged through these errors to get to the wonderful description of the Large Hadron Collider. But I cannot go further.

[Kelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

What I don’t know about particle physics amounts to an enormous trove of data. Before reading this book, I had no idea just how much I didn’t know. Now, however, I have a much better idea about what the parameters of what I don’t know might be. I can’t visualize them, but through the process of examining what I do know, the conspicuous absences in the shadows of my knowledge subtly hint at vast deserts of unknowable terrain. Fluctuations of confusion, blackness, and chaos are sometimes the only indicators that the things that I don’t know actually exist. This book has helped me to measure those indicators.

Lisa Randall has sent streams of data about particle physics on a collision course with my mind. My mind, unable to absorb this data, shatters it into thousands of pieces that are only recoverable as words, punctuation, syllables, and basic grammatical notions. It is from this disarticulated soup of words that I am able – with great effort – to discover this underlying truth: I don’t know jack about particle physics.

[Markus · Rating 3 out of 5]

Knocking on Heaven’s Door
By Lisa Randall

Linda Randall is a scientist specialised in particle physics.
She is also an excellent author who is trying to open up a generally closed door to the broader public.

Written in the first person, the author engagingly and wittingly offers the reader a conversation about the history of science and the road to today's knowledge.

The first chapter about science from the 17th century to today is a compelling appeal to read history from Copernic to Galileo, to Descartes and Newton.

Most importantly to this study is the demonstration and understanding of scales.
From visible distances measured in meters, kilometres and further up in light years into the opposite direction from small millimetres to even smaller micrometres, to nanometers, to picometer, to femtometer and many more to finally reach the bottom of the Planck length.

It seems that the visible side of the scale looking up into the stars, even to the end of the Univers is more natural to imagine.

The Underground scale is increasingly hard to grasp.

The second half of the book is describing the birth and development of the extraordinary European scientific machine the LHC or Large Hadron Collider serving as an explorer of the small scientific scale, a region beyond present human knowledge.

Linda Randall seems to know every little detail of the history and technical, operational and functioning of the tool. She also knows what new knowledge to hope for and expect in the years to come.

However, it is hard to agree with those critics who define this book as great and easy to understand work.

[Rami Ahmed · Rating 4 out of 5]

أتممته كتاب ‫#‏الطرق_على_ابواب_السماء‬ ل ‫#‏ليزا_راندا‬ ( وأخيرا Смайлик «smile» )
تقييمي الشخصي للكتاب
( ك كتاب علمي ) : 4.5 من 5
( ك كتاب ثقافي) : 3 من 5
اذا ما كنت وزيرا للتربية والتعليم لبلادي لأمرت بحرق جميع كتاب الفيزياء من الصفوف الاعدادية والثانوية وأيضا الجامعية ..... ولاستبدلتها بهذا الكتاب !
يعتبر كتاب #ليزا_راندا قنبلة موقوتة من المعلومات العلميه التي لا تنفك عن الظهور في كل صفحه وسطر بين ثنايا هذا الكتاب. فعلى غرار معرفتي التي ليست بالواهنة في مجال الفيزياء ( كهاو للفيزياء) إلا أن هذا الكتاب قدم لي في ثناياه كمية متدفقه من المعلومات التي لم أكد أفكر قط في وجودها في حياتنا وفي كوكبنا العظيم !
ففي هذا الكتاب أخذت جوله مفصله ورائعه الجوانب بين ثنايا حافة الكون .. ف التقيت تارة ب ريتشارد فايرمان وتارة أخرى بنيكولا تيسلا، و فضلا عن البرت اينشتاين ، باي بال ، جاليليو جيلي ، هيجز، راذرفورد ، إسحاق نيوتن ، وأيضا تشارلز دارون !
اكثر م آثار اهتمامي في هذا الكتاب هو كمية المعلومات والشرح المفصل والرسوم التنويرية التي تطرقت اليها الكاتبة في إطار شرحها للذرة وتكوينها. فهي لم تتطرق فقط إلى مجسم الذرة المتعارف عليه من بروتون ونيوترونات والكترونات، بل إنها أخذت القراء إلى ما وراء عالم الذرة بمراحل .. ف استعرضت جوانب الذرة الغامضة من كواركات بانواعها السفليه والعلويه والغريبه والساحره والقاعيه والقميه، وأيضا استعرضت جوانب الذره الأكثر غمضا والمتمثله في اللبتونات المشحونه والمتعادله من الكترونات وجسيم النيوترونو والميوون والتاون.. ولم تتوقف عند ذلك الحد قط، بل إنها تطرقت إلى أكثر أجزاء الذرة تعقيدا وسلبا للابداع العلمي الاوهي البوزونات ابتداءا ب الفوتونات و الجولونات الرابطه للكواركات وانتهاءا ببوزون ‫#‏هيجز‬.
أيضا من أكثر ما سيثير الهام القارئ لهذا الكتاب هو التطرق والهووس العجيب والمنقطع النظير من قبل #ليزا_راندا ل مصادمات الذرة .... وذلك لأن الكاتبه تطرقت لهذا الموض��ع بأكثر من 200 صفحه من كتابها ..... ف شرعت بسرد قصه بناء اول مصادم ذرات بالعالم وانتهاء ب مصادم الهيدروانات المسمى ب مصادم الهيدروانات الواقع في معمل سيرن.
الكتاب يضم 6 أجزاء مقسمة على حدا وعلى النحو التالي :
‫#‏الجزء_الاول‬ يستعرض :
*الضئيل في نظرك ضخم في نظري
*كشف الأسرار
*العيش في عالم مادي
*البحث عن اجوبة
‫#‏الجزء_الثاني‬ يستعرض :
*الرحلة الغامضة الساحرة
*الإيمان بما (نراه)
*حافة الكون
‫#‏الجزء_الثالث‬ يستعرض :
*الحلقة الحاكمة
*عودة الحقل للعمل
*ثقوب سوداء تبتلع العالم
*عمل محفوف بالمخاطر
*القياس والشك
*تجربتا اللولب المركب للميونات وكاشف أطلس
*التعرف على الجسيمات
‫#‏الجزء_الرابع‬ يستعرض :
*الحقيقة والجمال ومفاهيم علميه خاطئة أخرى
*ببوزون هيجز
*أفضل النماذج المحتملة
*الأسلوب التصاعدي في مقابل التنازلي
‫#‏الجزء_الخامس‬ يستعرض :
*رحلة نحو الخارج
*الضخم في نظرك ضئيل في نظري
*زوار من الجانب المظلم
‫#‏الجزء_السادس‬ يستعرض : ( المفضل لدي )
*التفكير علميا والعمل محليا.
يستعرض هذا الكتاب كيف يحدد فيزيائيو الطاقة العالية وعلماء الكونيات طريقهم في الوقت الحالي، وكيف أن الجمع بين النظرية والتجريب يمكن أن يُلقي الضوء على بعض الأسئلة الأساسية والعميقة. فتصف نظرية الانفجار العظيم التمد ، لكنها تترك بدون إجابة الأسئلة المتعلقة بما حدث قبل الانفجار، فضلا عن الأسئلة المتعلقة بطبيعة الطاقة المظلمة والمادة المظلمة. يتنبَّأ. ايضا النموذج القياسي بالتفاعلات
ٍّ بين الجسيمات الأولية، لكنه يترك بدون حل َ الأسئلة َ المتعلقة بالأسباب وراء ما تتصف به هذه التفاعلات من خصائص. يمكن أن تكون المادة المظلمة وبوزون هيجز قريبين منَّا للغاية، وكذا الأدلة على التناظرات الزمكانية أو حتى الأبعاد الجديدة للفضاء.
ً استعرض هذا الكتاب أيضا التوقعات بشأن بعض الأفكار الأكثر صعوبة في اختبار صحتها، وبالرغم من أنها توسع نطاق الخيال، ويمكن أن ترتبط في النهاية بالواقع، فقد تبقىً أيضا في نطاق الفلسفة أو الدين. لن يدحض العلم فكرة الأكوان المتعددة — أو الإله في ً هذه الحالة — لكنه لن يثبت صحتها أيضا على الأرجح، ومع ذلك فإن بعض جوانب فكرة الأكوان المتعددة — مثل تلك التي يمكنها تفسير التسلسل الهرمي — لها تبعات يمكن اختبار صحتها، ويرجع القرار للعلماء في دراسة ذلك أو استبعاده. من العناصر الأخرى الرئيسية في هذا الكتاب مفاهيم على غرار النطاق، والشك،والإبداع، والاستنتاج النقدي العقلاني، وهي مفاهيم من شأنها أن تنير الطريق أمام ِّ التفكير العلمي. فيمكن أن نؤمن بأن العلم سيحقق تقدًما في التوصل إلى الإجابات، وأنٍ التعقيد قد ينشأ بمرور الوقت، حتى قبل أن نصل إلى تفسير واف فقد تكون الإجابات معقدة، لكن ذلك لا يبرِّر التخلي عن الإيمان بالعقل والمنطق.
‫#‏ملاحظة‬
يعتبر كتاب #الطرق_على_ابواب_السماء ل #ليزا_راندا من أكثر الكتب التي أخذت مني وقت في القراءة .... فهو على غرار المتعه التي تكمن في ثناياه إلا أنه يتطلب ذهن صاف وعقل واع وتركيز غير متداع لكي يتوصل القارئ فهم تفصيلي لهذا الكتاب .. وعلى الرغم أن هذا الكتاب من المستحيل أن يتم فهمه فهم تام من غير أي لغوطات أو تنطعات.
ف قبل أن أغرق في سبور و ثنايا هذا الكتاب كانت الأسئلة التي تراودني في عالمنا وفي كوننا المطلق تنحصر ضمن العشرات ؛ ولكم بعد قراءتي كتاب #ليزا_راندا راندل ف أستطيع الجزم بأنهم قد تعدوا المئات من التساؤلات والأفكار الغير مفسرة ومنقحه علميا !
لكل من يبحث عن رحلة موجزة في الفيزياء بانواعها ف هذا الكتاب لك ...
‫#‏انصح_به_وبشدة‬ :))

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

Eminent theoretical physicist Lisa Randall regards her new book "Knocking on Heaven's Door" as a "prequel" to her earlier "Warped Passages". But it is much more than that, as a clearly written statement by a distinguished scientist explaining how science works to an interested, if substantially scientific illiterate, public. While there are other books, such as those written by her high school and college classmate, physicist Brian Greene, which emphasize the state-of-the-art thinking in theoretical physics, Randall's is one that still deserves a wide readership, especially for its emphasis on how scientists conduct their scientific research, and in noting how the public often misinterprets it. These aspects of science, and the public's understanding of it, are the most important reasons why "Knocking of Heaven's Door" is an important contribution to popular scientific literature.

The notion of scaling - or rather, scale - is one of the most important concepts which Randall returns to again and again in "Knocking on Heaven's Door". She argues persuasively that, on a macroscopic scale, Newton's laws of motion are still relevant in explaining the motions of large objects such as planets and moons in the Solar System; it is only at atomic and subatomic scales that quantum mechanics does a much better job in explaining motions of subatomic particles. In other words, in plain English, Newtonian classical mechanics has become merely a subset of modern theoretical physics. A similar analogy exists for biology, with regards to the Darwin/Wallace Theory of Evolution via Natural Selection, now subsumed within the Modern Synthesis Theory of Evolution; the latter also incorporates population genetics and some aspects of both developmental biology and paleobiology (As an aside, I also recommend her reminder that evolution denialism isn't a problem only for religious conservatives, by recounting at the end of Chapter Three, an airplane conversation she had with a Hollywood actor trained in molecular biology, an Obama supporter, who rejects the biological evolution of humans since it is contrary to his religious views.).

Probabilistic thought is something which Randall also stresses throughout much of "Knocking on Heaven's Door". While she does not explain probability theory at any great length, she does explain via probability, why science is by very nature, a very tentative process in which there are no clearly defined answers that can be answered in the affirmative or negative with utmost certainty. This very underlying theme is one which underscores her conversations with noted Hollywood screenwriters and New York City dance choreographers that she cites as notable examples of misconceptions about the nature of science widely shared by the public. A firm understanding of probability theory is required for determining risk, which is discussed at length late in "Knocking on Heaven's Door" (Chapter Eleven). In a similar vein, I found equally rewarding her discussion of uncertainty as it pertains to both risk and experimental design (Chapter Twelve).

Most readers will appreciate her extensive discussion on the building and ongoing operation of the Large Hadron Collider at CERN's Swiss research facility. She eloquently ties that into current theoretical models in particle physics and cosmology, as well as to the two overarching themes of scale and probability that the reader encounters repeatedly throughout "Knocking on Heaven's Door". However, as compelling as that discussion is, the reader shouldn't forget that hers is a book which conveys to the general public, the very nature of science as seen through the eyes of this distinguished physicist.

[Jonas Adler · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have to admit that I'm really not sure who this book is for. It is written very simply overall which makes me assume it is for the general public. However, the author includes complicated scientific details without explaining them thoroughly. I have a BS in physics and I know enough to understand what she describes IF she gave enough information. I was also annoyed by her incessant name dropping and how much she talked about her accomplishments. In general I have no problem with an author talking about their work, but the way Dr. Randall does it just comes across as the writing of someone who likes to toot their own horn. I do agree with her general premise about the importance of science and scientific thinking. And I may just not be her target audience, but this book simply didn't work for me.

[Richard · Rating 5 out of 5]

Once I had a guitar. I worked really, really hard on learning how to play, but never got the hang of it. I put it away. Ten years later I took it out of the closet, thinking to myself, I've been listening to a lot of music, and it's been ten years, I should be much better at this. That's right, I wasn't.

I'm interested in cosmology and physics in much the same way I'm interested in Buddhism, and a bit more than I was actually interested in the guitar. Let's take Buddhism first. I've read lots of books on the subject, and can carry on a decent conversation, but it wasn't until I started actually practicing that I understood anything - really, any thing - about it. Cosmology and physics. Fascinating. I've read a bunch of books. I keep thinking if I just read one more book I'll get what the hell these people are talking about - I mean, really get it. So, I picked up "Knocking on Heaven's Door." I admit, being a Dylan nut, the title got me, and I thought that anyone who would use a Dylan lyric (apt by the way) as a title, and other song titles as chapters would be able to give it to me in a way I'd understand. Nope. And I'm not blaming anyone but me, that's why I've given this book five stars. I don't want anyone to turn away from its possibilities just because I'm a dolt.

What I did learn, and this is important to me - it's all a matter of scale. Just because a neutrino can defy the laws of physics and move, at least momentarily, faster than light doesn't mean that anything bigger than said neutrino can do the same. So all you time travelers can unfasten your seat belts, you're still stuck. By the way, the jury is still out on whether said neutrino actually did break the speed limit. And, this book has nothing to do with said neutrino, I'm just using it as an example of how scale is important.

The other thing I got - scientists are still more connected to reality than theologians. Good science is willing to test and expand theory until it's no longer theory. Even the best theologians think the rock is solid, and god damn anyone who doesn't.

Anyway, Knocking on Heaven's Door, was ultimately too much for me - too much science that I plain couldn't get my pea brain around. That doesn't mean you shouldn't check it out.

[Hank · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first 2/3 of this book was a 3 star. Randall was all over the place with analogies and subject matter. It was hard to keep track of the points she was trying to make and for my desires it was a bit too light on the physics I was looking for. The last 1/3 completely made up for it. Good material on sub-atomic particles, the LHC, expansion of the universe, dark matter and a bit of string theory. Mostly over my head but I did feel my hair move in the breeze.

3.5 stars rounded down because too much of the book was a bit scattered. I would recommend The Hidden Reality: Parallel Universes and the Deep Laws of the Cosmos or A Universe from Nothing: Why There Is Something Rather Than Nothing for a better focused and detailed survey of crazy physics.

[Atila Iamarino · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ótima descrição de como funciona o LHC, como foi construído e o que é pesquisado lá. É impressionante pensar no volume dessa empreitada, o número de pesquisadores envolvidos e a própria escala do que é feito lá. O livro em si vai bem mais além disso, é voltado para quem não tem familiaridade com a ciência. Então ela explica desde o processo científico à várias teorias científicas e questões atuais que devem ser investigadas. Cobre bem do "bem-vindo à ciência" ao conhecimento atual sobre quarks, glúons e componentes da matéria. Um pouco redundante com o Dark Matter and the Dinosaurs: The Astounding Interconnectedness of the Universe, da mesma autora (gostei mais do Dark Matter) e para logo antes de descobrirem o Bóson de Higgs, então ficou um pouco desatualizado, embora nada que prejudique.

[Gendou · Rating 5 out of 5]

This "prequel" to Randall's other book, Warped Passages, is quite good.
Her writing style is (thankfully) much improved.
She talks a lot about scale and model dependent realism.

She tactfully tackles the topic of religion vs. science.
Her thesis is that these activities involve incompatible brain processes.
It's a neat insight, but she avoids stomping on religion's plethora of poor predictions.

My wife and I played a drinking game where we took a shot every time the book uses the word "phenomena".
We got quite drunk, indeed!

The useful part of this book to me isn't the philosophizing, but the technical descriptions of the LHC.
Not just the LHC hardware, but the theory and reasoning behind its operational goals.
As usual with this author, I learned a lot.

[Matt Heavner · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was quite a mish-mash of topics and quality. I really enjoyed some of the super-symmetry/particle physics discussion. The LHC motivation/justification seemed to be the main topic of this book, however, my impression was that this really should have been broken up into three or four separate books. There was some good physics and LHC background motivation. There was a totally disconnected chapter on the financial crises and climate change. There was a good proportion of this book on the philosophy of science (not at all really related to the LHC). I found the gratuitous name-dropping to be very annoying.

If you have not read "Warped Passages" -- go read that book instead (it is better). This is billed as a "prequel" to that book, but I found it be more of a mish-mash of ideas. A good editor (and maybe a well defined audience) seemed to be missing.

[Charlene · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lisa Randall is one of my all time favorite scientists and this book has become on of my favorite books. I noticed that of individuals who gave this book low ratings, the following critiques were often included in their reviews:

1) Randall does not write for the layperson/is too technical
2) This book seems a mashup hodgepodge of unrelated topics
3) Nothing new here- just cut and paste of her other books

To the first critique, while I agree that Randall has a more formal style (to me something necessary for one of the very few women in the boys club field of physics), she provides some of the simplest, most complete, and easy to understand examples of extremely complicated phenomenon, which I will detail when discussing the hodgepodge critique.

Secondly, when looked at on the whole, this book is not at all a hodgepodge of topics. The purpose of the book was to ask questions such as, "How can we do science?", "What gets in the way?", and "Who is doing science?". The book is structured by discussing the following:

- What often stands in the way of science? Religion. Randall unapologetically shares her concern for the role religion plays in encouraging individuals to suspend their critical thinking skills. She discusses why she believes that religion (as we currently practice it around the world) and science can never be compatible.

- What are some of the things science is trying to figure out? Great discussions of the role in theoretical and experimental physics on defining reality. Top notch.

- How can we conduct experiments to understand the nature of particles, how they get their mass, and other related questions? We can build atom smashers like CERN.

- Are there concerns about atom smashers (ie., will they create black holes that will swallow Earth)? The atoms smashers are safe and Randall is clear about why.

- Should society be more concerned about other dangers to Earth? Yes, global warming and the financial crisis. It takes a lot of money to run atom smashers. We need to make choices about where our government's dollars go. Is funding science just for fun or does it have practical implications?

- Once we fund and conduct experiments in atom smashers, how can we understand what we find? You must understand methods, statistics, probability, the scientific process, etc. If you don't understand these things, you will have trouble making heads or tails of any finding, be it in studies in the hard sciences or even in psychology or any other social science.

- She ends by talking about passionate people. Who are scientists? What drives them? Why do we even ask deep questions?


Lastly, to the 3rd critique, yes Randall includes information from all her previous books. In fact, Heaven's Door (Which should have been titled, "Get the Hell Out of My Way and Let Me Do Awesome, Exciting Science") treats readers to incredible summaries of her previous books. Want to know the take home message from Warped Passages or Higgs? Randall *must* include these summaries if you are to get the whole picture. She doesn't simply focus on extra dimensions and does not exclusively focus on the role of the Higgs. She focuses on how the many questions in physics/cosmology today are being investigated. Her summaries are excellent and concise and serve to remind the reader of their importance in understanding reality in general.


This book is aimed at the educated layperson. I do not hold a degree in physics but was easily able to follow each discussion. Just as I love Nick Lane's books, which discuss the energy demands and availability for life to have arisen on Earth, Randall discusses the energy requirements for the universe to arise and expand. Nick Lane's books are far less accessible, but somehow, (maybe because he is a dude?) he doesn't get slammed for going over people's heads as often as Randall does, even though she writes in a way that is far more accessible. Her discussions of matter and anti matter were boiled down to the simplest math possible, something a middle schooler could comprehend. Her discussion of dark matter was equally elementary, yet shockingly complex, because she excels in explaining things in a way that many of her colleagues don't. I have read so many books on similar topics. By far Randall does the best job of explaining how to look at matter and antimatter by simply looking at charges, or dark matter simply by understanding gravitational pull and interaction with light, or how gravity itself works on branes based on position of brane and particles stuck to that brane.

I have watched her talks, and many of them are aimed at physics students. Even those given at public libraries tend to be a bit difficult to follow, only because these are difficult subjects to convey, since they are difficult to even think about. She is much better at conveying her ideas in a book. (Though her lectures are amazing and completely worth watching).

I am extremely excited for her book on Dark Matter and the Dinosaurs. She is the first to point out that we need to be cautious when examining and interpreting the data, but that asking questions that help us map out how the universe works, from its inception to now and beyond, is always a great place to start. I feel certain her review of the data will be extremely balanced.

My score for this book = A++

[Illiterate · Rating 3 out of 5]

Randall combines a decent overview of physics and CERN with a good account of scientific thinking (scale, effective theory, probability, etc.).

[Nathan Kibler · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don't give many books five stars before I read them in their entirety, but I am so impressed with Lisa Randall and her philosophical arguments in the first part of this very timely book. Namely she tackles the issue of religious thinking vs. scientific thinking head on.

While she is clearly prejudiced in favor of the latter, being an honored Theoretical Physicist and Professor, she covers many salient points that concern both and manages to assert her understandings of the arguments without being condescending and disrespectful of the religious viewpoint. She does express surprise and confusion at encounters with people who feel they can reconcile the two viewpoints, but she does so with an understanding of the history of scientific thought and how it has evolved over the centuries from dogmatic thinking to more open ended theorizing.

This is merely an introduction to the real subject of the book which is the development of the large Hadron collider in Cern, Switzerland and the ideas that lead to its construction, but her observations are pointed and focused enough that you sense she understands the human need for certainty when approaching the subject of science.

I will have to return this to the Public Library eventually, but I'm hoping that despite the dry subject matter, Randall's engaging text and discussion will help me delve deeper into this subject before my loan expires.

[David Rubin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lisa Randall's book is another attempt in a long line of books about contemporary physics which is aimed at the interested buy not scientifically educated public. It must be extremely difficult to explain highly sophisticated, highly-mathematically oriented concepts to the lay reader while maintaining his or her interest. We should thank these brilliant and gifted scientists for making the effort to help us understand these often non-intuitive concepts without the use of the difficult math which underlies them.

On the other hand we need to recognize that these scientists need to keep us taxpayers mentally engaged while they ask for funding for evermore increasing costly equipment both on the ground and in space. In these difficult economic times with limited government spending around the world, austerity is hitting the scientific community and taxpayers and politicians alike are increasingly challenging spending on projects they barely understand. Politicians and policy-makers are asking questions like how these enormously expensive experiments will affect the daily lives of their constituents who are already suffering from unemployment and government austerity measures.

Ms. Randall does a credible job in trying to make her case for this type of scientific pursuit. We hope she succeeds.

[الشناوي محمد جبر · Rating 2 out of 5]

الطرق علي ابواب السماء
كيف تنير الفيزياء و التفكير العلمي الكون و العالم المعاصر
تاليف / ليزا راندل
.........................
كتاب صعب كالعادة ، لانني قليل الاطلاع علي كتب العلوم . يتحدث الكتاب عن بحوث الفيزيائيين و علماء الفلك و كيف تطورت بحوثهم الي حد مذهل ؛ فقد وصلوا لانشاء و بناء " مصادم الهيدرونات الكبير " !!!.
و يدور جزء كبير من موضوع الكتاب عن مصادم الهيدرونات الكبير و الانجازات العلمية المتوقعة من وراء تشغيله .
يحتوي مصادم الهيرونات الكبير علي نفق حلقي ( علي شكل حلقة ) ضخم يبلغ طوله 6,26 كم ، و يمتد الي عمق كبير تحت الارض و يمر بالحدود الفرنسية السويسرية . و تعمل المجالات الكهربائية داخل هذا النفق علي تعجيل حزمتي جسيمات تتكون كل منهما من مليارات البروتونات ( التي تنتمي الي فئة الهيدرونات ) بحيث تدوران داخل النفق الحلقي بمعدل 11 الف دورة في الثانية الواحدة . و الهدف منه اجراء دراسات عن بنية المادة عند مسافات لم يسبق قياسها قط .
يحتوي الكتاب علي فصول و معلومات تتطرق الي العلاقة بين العلم و الدين و تمس في بعض حديثها موضوع الفن و النظرة الفنية للعالم و النظرة العلمية له ، و ما يبحث فيه الدين و ما يبحث فيه العلم . و كيف انتهي العلم الي النظر الي الجمال في النظريات العلمية الجديدة و كيف اصبح جمال النظرية احد عوامل اقتناع العالم بها .
الكتاب شديد الدسامة و شديد الصعوبة خصوصا لمن قلت قراءته العلمية لانه سيجد فيه مصطلحات و موضوعات شديدة الغرابة . لكن الكتاب في النهاية هام جدا و انصح بقراءته.

[Scott Moore · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book: I'd love to give it 5 stars but three things prevent it for me:

(1) I didn't understand the narrative flow, although I enjoyed each chapter. I couldn't quite follow the thread, robbing me of the final satisfaction of seeing it "all come together". Maybe the chapters weren't intended to build on each other (much) and I only imagined that they should?

(2) In several cases, I *almost* understood the physics but wished that she had used just one more example, or substituted a few smaller words to convey an even bigger idea.

And (3) it's not Randall's fault, but so much of the book was about the Higgs boson and what MIGHT be discovered--the book would have been 10% shorter (and less hypothetical) if published just **one year later** after confirmation of the Higgs discovery. I hope she has a second edition in the works that doesn't just ADD a chapter about the Higgs, but instead SHORTENS and removes those what-ifs.

[Hamid · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful book about particle physics. Lisa Randall takes you on a very exciting journey as she explains how the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) works, where the the idea for it came from and what interpretations will be made out of experimental data. She takes the time to talk a bit about the Higgs particle (it was not discovered yet when the book was written). As we get to the end, she also discusses our current status in cosmology and the enigma surrounding dark matter and dark energy and why we are so confident that they exist. There's also a section where the compatibility between religion and science is looked at.

It's a very interesting book. Highly recommended even if you're not familiar with particle physics. I certainly got so much insight out of it.

[Liedzeit Liedzeit · Rating 2 out of 5]

My problems with this book start with the blurb: “How physics and scientific thinking illuminate the universe and the modern world.” What is not meant is that scientific thinking led to the invention of the light bulb. What is meant (I think) is that scientific thinking eventually changes the laymen’s thinking. Even hardcore creationist believe that the earth revolves around the sun. That is progress. But the concept of evolution has not yet managed to illuminate our world entirely. And how many people do you know who tell you that everything is relative? Or who mumble something about the uncertainty principle? But okay, so maybe learning that there is dark matter (or physicists think there is) or that there is something called technicolor somehow illuminates our modern world. But even if this were the case, this book certainly does not tell us how the illumination works.

And even granted that the modern world gets illuminated in what sense of the word will the universe be illuminated by physics? Maybe you can think of some obscure metaphorical sense. But at best the blurb is a bad mixture of metaphors. But probably it is just nonsense.

Okay, maybe I should not blame Randall for the blurb. What about the book? What is it really about? Something about the Large Hadron Collider, that is for sure. There is a lot of (to me boring) technical detail and I think she is trying to tell us why the LHC is important and what kinds of discoveries (like the Higgs boson) are to be expected. And so she tries to give some historical background and tries to tell us what the questions are that contemporary physicists want to answer.

The problem is that she is not a good explainer. And she jumps back and forth and sometimes I have no idea what her intentions might be. For example she contrasts scientific with religious thinking but I do not get what it is she wants to tell us. She does include an excellent quote from Augustine that I did not know: “It is [...] offensive and disgraceful for an unbeliever to hear a Christian talk nonsense about such things [the motions of the stars e.g.] claiming that what he is saying is base in Scripture.”
This is great, but I do not understand the context.

Then she is talking a lot about economists. How they are responsible for so much misery. How stupid they are and how bad it is that they (meaning the banks) do get all the money whereas the brilliant scientists in the US must live with the fact that LHC was built in Europe. Being jealous is only human but to put this in a book is bad style.

So whereas the predictions of economists are bad we can trust the physicists. When it comes to dangers in connection with LHC. There are none. And if they are – if black holes are created that destroy the earth e.g.– she takes full responsibility. An attempt at humour.

Well, not that I am afraid of LHC, but certainly not because I trust Randall. And here I come to problems at the micro-level. Just two examples. She talks about Harvey and how he discovered blood circulation. And in passing she mentions Malpighi discovering the capillary system “only in 1661“. But she never mentions when Harvey made his discoveries. Was it 10 years earlier? 50? Are we supposed to already know that? Is it not important?

Or how about this: “The NBA player Joakim Noah is a friend of my cousin. [...] Joakim is mesmerizingly tall. But the fact is, he is only about 15% taller that the average human being...” (p. 71)

Wouldn’t it be nice if she just told us how tall this guy is? Or to give us the average height so that we could calculate his height? Now, the fact is the guy is 211 cm tall. Amazing. Amazing that this is supposed to be 15% taller than the average human being. I could not get an exact number but the height of the average American Male is about 177 cm. My guess is that the average height of an adult human being cannot be more than 170 cm. Which means Joakim is at least 25% taller.

It is not so much the mistake I hold against her (maybe it is even a typo) but the fact that she does not give us the figures. Which means, I do not trust her.

So maybe she is brilliant. Maybe she gets her Nobel price (for being able not only to think out of the box, as she modestly tells us, but outside of our dimensions). But this is a poorly written book that (except for the Augustine quotes) has next to no merits.

[Hely Branco · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was one of the best science divulgation books I've read. Lisa Randall makes excellent comments of the latest advances in physics, masterfully explaining relevant aspects about the weirdly interesting new discoveries and theories in Quantum Mechanics, and the new insights regarding the macro-structure of the Cosmos as told by modern Cosmology. She dedicates a good part of the book to tell us about the LHC history, perfectly illustrating it's importance. It's not only one of, if no the, biggest experiments ever conceived and executed by humanity, but one of the more solid proves that collaboration is essential for scientific progress. Science is difficult, and few things demonstrate it better than the LHC, from construction to operation to data analysis; every step of the way wasn't only difficult, but required huge amounts of international collaboration and effort of those involved.

The most impressive aspect of the book is how inspiring it can be, especially for young scientists as myself. She provides an incredible view of what science is, and how difficult and satisfying it can be to be part of it. Scientists are people as any other, without magical powers or superhuman intellects (maybe with the exception of a particularly big curiosity ever present). Their discoveries require as much hard work and creativity as any other work, and a good bit of collaboration is always necessary, aspects too often forgotten by the academia. Paths are often difficult to follow, and answers usually are not clear and come from unexpected places, when they get to us. As scientists "we don't necessarily always know where we are headed (...). Preparation and skill, concentration and perseverance, asking the right questions, and cautiously trusting our imaginations will all help us in our search for understanding. So will open minds, conversations with others, wanting to do better than our predecessors or peers, and believing there are answers."

[Menglong Youk · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some of the contents in this book are quite complicated that I need to read the whole book twice in order to absorb what's in it.

I've read quite a number of books on the impacts of science on the society and the critical role it plays, which is discussed again in Knocking on Heaven's Door, but what differentiates this book from others is that, the author gives quite a detailed information regarding the intricate working mechanism of the LHC and the other important machines at CERN. Readers will also learn about the history of CERN as well from its formation to the event before the discovery of the Higgs boson.

I overall enjoyed learning new things from it, and for those who would like to know more about CERN, I would recommend Knocking on Heaven's Door.

[Volodymyr Shulga · Rating 2 out of 5]

I expected that book includes just information from different Physics areas that explains Universe under the hood. However, there is too much extra boring information: the relationship between science and religion, how physics is doing their research, and many pages just about LHC.

[Özgün Bahar · Rating 4 out of 5]

CERN'de olan biteni merak ediyorsanız harika bir kaynak. Basit bir dili var ancak fizik alanına az buçuk hakim olmak gerekiyor. Yoksa içinden çıkılamaz bir hal alabilir. Ayrıca bilimsel düşünme ve hayata bakış açısı yönünden de güzel bir içeriğe sahip.

[James F · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is really a combination of two books; one is a simple explanation of scientific method and worldview and the other is a description of the Large Hadron Collider and what it may find. The explanation of how science works is good if fairly basic; the most important part is discussing scales and effective theories. Unfortunately she mixes it with a weak-kneed criticism of religion, which annoys me in books of popular science -- I haven't taken religion seriously since I was eleven, and I doubt if many people past high school are actually undecided on the question, while those who believe by faith will not be convinced by rational argument -- they have to stop wanting to believe first, so why waste space on this?

The material on the LHC on the other hand is fascinating, and I wish she had focused just on this. It is the largest and most expensive (and every other superlative) facility ever built, and it is interesting that it was built for pure scientific research. If aliens should visit Earth some time after we destroy ourselves and our environment with politics and greed, this is one of the few artifacts that might impress them with our species. It also marks the return of scientific supremacy to Europe after decades of American domination. But mainly, the design and instrumentation is very fascinating.

She then goes on to explain the science that the LHC is designed to explore -- first of all, the Higgs boson (which she points out in the preface, added in 2012, may have been discovered, although the interpretation is controversial.) She explains something of the Higgs mechanism and why it is important if it is verified. She then goes into cosmology, to explain dark matter, which may also be found in the LHC if it is in the form of WIMPS (weakly interacting massive particles) and their energy is in the right range, as some theories predict.

There was a lot in the book that I found interesting. Unfortunately, she is not always the clearest writer. She says that this book was intended as a "prequel" to her earlier book Warped Passages, so I may look for that later.