false http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1159814418m/2103.jpg 2103 7 Who doesn't love a good argument? When physics heavyweights Stephen W. Hawking and Roger Penrose delivered three sets of back-and-forth lectures capped by a final debate at Cambridge's Isaac Newton Institute, the course of modern cosmological thinking was at stake. As it happens, <I>The Nature of Space and Time</I>, which collects these remarks, suggests that little has changed from the days when Einstein challenged Bohr by refusing to believe that God plays dice. The math is more abstruse, the arguments more refined, but the argument still hinges on whether our physical theories should be expected to model reality or merely predict measurements.<p> Hawking, clever and playful as usual, sides with Bohr and the Copenhagen interpretation and builds a strong case for quantum gravity. Penrose, inevitably a bit dry in comparison, shares Einstein's horror at such intuition-blasting thought experiments as Schrödinger's long-suffering cat--and scores just as many points for general relativity. The math is tough going for lay readers, but a few leaps of faith will carry them through to some deeply thought-provoking rhetoric. Though no questions find final answers in <I>The Nature of Space and Time</I>, the quality of discourse should be enough to satisfy the scientifically curious. <I>--Rob Lightner</I> 2710966 1996 The Nature of Space and Time total:70|5:19|4:25|3:16|2:7|1:3| 70 260 145 8 4 1 false false Wed May 07 11:39:57 -0700 2008 Tue May 13 12:03:59 -0700 2008 more...]]> 1 0 false false Thu Apr 30 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sat Jan 31 19:42:40 -0800 2009 Fri May 01 06:42:23 -0700 2009 more...]]> 1 0 false false Thu Mar 19 11:07:50 -0700 2009 Thu Mar 19 11:07:50 -0700 2009 4 0 false false Tue Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2002 Thu May 28 06:45:50 -0700 2009 Thu May 28 06:47:01 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Thu Aug 06 18:56:21 -0700 2009 Thu Aug 06 18:56:21 -0700 2009 4 0 false false Wed Apr 23 04:32:13 -0700 2008 Wed Apr 23 04:33:05 -0700 2008 3 0 false false Thu Jul 03 17:03:40 -0700 2008 Thu Jul 03 17:04:44 -0700 2008 2 0 false false Tue Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2002 Fri Aug 17 11:36:43 -0700 2007 Fri Aug 17 21:04:30 -0700 2007 0 0 false false Thu Nov 19 10:21:39 -0800 2009 Thu Nov 19 10:21:39 -0800 2009 0 0 false false Wed Nov 18 16:51:56 -0800 2009 Wed Nov 18 16:51:56 -0800 2009 4 0 false false Tue Nov 10 17:21:37 -0800 2009 Tue Nov 10 17:21:37 -0800 2009 0 0 false false Sat Nov 07 07:33:32 -0800 2009 Sat Nov 07 07:33:32 -0800 2009 0 0 false false Thu Nov 05 23:26:16 -0800 2009 Thu Nov 05 23:26:16 -0800 2009 0 0 false false Mon Nov 02 22:47:12 -0800 2009 Mon Nov 02 22:47:16 -0800 2009 0 0 false false Sun Nov 01 08:26:43 -0800 2009 Sun Nov 01 08:26:43 -0800 2009 0 0 false false Sat Oct 24 13:59:42 -0700 2009 Sat Oct 24 13:59:42 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Mon Oct 19 06:59:07 -0700 2009 Mon Oct 19 06:59:07 -0700 2009 5 0 false false Thu Oct 15 08:05:35 -0700 2009 Thu Oct 15 08:05:35 -0700 2009 5 0 false false Thu Oct 15 08:04:35 -0700 2009 Thu Oct 15 08:04:35 -0700 2009 2 0 false false Tue Oct 13 21:09:56 -0700 2009 Tue Oct 13 21:09:56 -0700 2009 http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=2103