More than Einstein - figure of the universe to talk about string theory is super (Blue Backs) (1988) ISBN: 4061327143 [Japanese Import]

by Michio Kaku

Beyond Einstein takes readers on an exciting excursion into the discoveries that have led scientists to the brightest new prospect in theoretical physics today -- superstring theory. What is superstring theory and why is it important? This revolutionary breakthrough may well be the fulfillment of  Albert Einstein's lifelong dream of a Theory of Everything, uniting the laws of physics into a single description explaining all the known forces in the universe. Co-authored by one of the leading pioneers in superstrings, Michio Kaku, and completely revised and updated with the newest groundbreaking research, the book approaches scientific questions with the excitement of a detective story, offering a fascinating look at the new science that may make the impossible possible.

Genres: Science, Physics, Nonfiction, Astronomy, Popular Science, Space, Brain

Paperback Shinsho

First published February 1, 1987

About the author

(Arabic: ميشيو كاكو
Russian: Митио Каку
Chinese: 加來道雄)


Dr. Michio Kaku is an American theoretical physicist at the City College of New York , best-selling author, a futurist, and a communicator and popularizer of science. He has written several books about physics and related topics of science.

He has written two New York Times Best Sellers, Physics of the Impossible (2008) and Physics of the Future (2011).

Dr. Michio is the co-founder of string field theory (a branch of string theory), and continues Einstein’s search to unite the four fundamental forces of nature into one unified theory.

Kaku was a Visitor and Member (1973 and 1990) at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, and New York University. He currently holds the Henry Semat Chair and Professorship in theoretical physics at the City College of New York.

Reviews

[bup · Rating 3 out of 5]

For me this book gave me the feeling of learning something without me really learning anything.

Do you remember in maybe junior high when a science teacher taught you that if there were twins, and one of them went on a spaceship going real fast for a long trip, when they came back the twin left on Earth would be much older than the twin that went on the trip? And that that was relativity? And then some kids would think they understood relativity because they had been told that factoid?

That's what I feel like having read this. Kaku hits all the big points pretty well, without any involved math, but I don't feel like he really took me along for the ride. I learned that Maxwell realized magnetism and electricity were the same force, and that he realized that disturbances between magnetic fields and electrical fields perfectly predicted and described the path and speed of light, but not how/why. And so on with the strong nuclear force, the weak nuclear force, and now gravity joining up with string theory.

Kaku's at a disadvantage, admittedly, because Brian Greene's books are the yardstick against which I measure explanations of relativistic/quantum/string theory discussions of physics, and they may be the best in the world.
Also, this book was written in 1987, updated in 1995. A lot of stuff has changed, I'm pretty sure.

OK - one thing I learned. The weak nuclear force only works on very short distances - the thickness of a few protons and neutrons. That's why higher-number elements are unstable, and don't occur in nature. Up after about uranium or plutonium, there are too many protons and neutrons in the nucleus for the nucleus to hold on to them all - they're too far away from the 'center of the force' - like moons that are too distant from the center of gravity of a planet to be kept in orbit.

[Hershel Shipman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another good overview of theoretical physics. Michio Kaku explains it a bit more simply than Brian Greene though it ends up with a shorter overview book that doesn't have as much detail. The most interesting parts are the history and its players. Kudos to him for mentioning an important female physicist.

[Massimo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Una veloce carrellata sulle principali forze dell'Universo e sulla ricerca della loro unificazione in una grande forza. Il libro si legge in modo scorrevole, non c'è matematica da digerire, ma inevitabilmente non può entrare nel dettaglio delle spiegazioni. Per un appassionato è un pò deludente, perchè mancano approfondimenti adeguati, ma resta un buon testo divulgativo, anche se comincia a essere datato.

[Ajitabh Pandey · Rating 4 out of 5]

A perfect book for people who wants to understand and review the various theories related to the Universe and find a single theory of the universe. An excellent but somewhat outdated introduction to the concepts of the String Theory. Written in a simple language, you do not need to possess a degree in physics to understand it. A high school level understanding of science is enough to understand the matter presented in the book.

[Jenny Clark · Rating 4 out of 5]

This explains string theory and the history of physics in a brief summary. Unfortunately, a lot of the math concepts were beyond me, but this gives a simple enough explanation that I was able to grasp the majority of it.
If you are at all interested in astrophysics or physics in general, this is certainly worth a read!

Check out my YouTube channel for bookish videos and monthly wrap ups!

[Bassel · Rating 4 out of 5]

لا يمكن أن تخرج من هذا الكتاب إلّا و أنت شديد الإعجاب ب ريتشارد فاينمان ..

[jaroiva · Rating 4 out of 5]

Opět zajímavé čtení.
Sice čtu pořád dokola o superstrunách a nezanechává to na mě žádné stopy, ale zatím mě to pořád baví. Takže i tato knížka mě zaujala.

[Richard Jr. · Rating 4 out of 5]

For years I have followed the Cosmic Quest to unite the physical laws of the universe. In many ways, the story is as strange as Science Fiction for those scientists exploring the realms of electromagnetic, gravitational, the strong nuclear and the weak nuclear forces.
The difficulty for mathematicians and physics in trying to explain and unite these four forces to us lay-folk arises because there seem to be two separate universes. One governed by Newton and Einstein's familiar laws, and another universe which is weirdly strange and unpredictable and which is explained by quantum mechanics. Because we humans like predictability, we are often baffled when our cozy world has something that doesn't fit our experiential knowledge base. That's what this book is all about.
Newtonian Physics and Einstein's work explain are a predictable universe. We have mathematics describing how bodies in our predictable world are affected by gravitation and electromagnetic forces. They move, fall and exist in a macroscopic universe which we mostly see and deal with on a daily basis.
On the other hand, the more we studied the muinute particles making up the nucleus of atoms, the more evidence we found that some non-predictable forces and particles govern our universe at that sub-atomic level which we cannot see and thus must infer by rather exotic experiments. Then we have to give a pictorial explanation of what we saw to think we saw to our general public. Thus it needs to be explained how a particle can appear out of seemingly nowhere travelling at the speed of light, disappear into an invisible hole and reappear in a totally new location or two different locations at the same time. It's not neat and tidy and disturbed Einstein for the last years of his life.
We could write all of this off as 'poppycock' except that is is the science that allows us to solve real-world problems and develop new technology which was previously undreamed of. We know quantum mechanics works and explains something going on in the universe because it allows us to develop atomic level machines, computers, memory chips, touch screens .... and a technology that will hopefully take us to other stars or even other universes.
Kaku and Thompson's explanation of the flavors of string theory and dimensions beyond the four with which we daily associate allows us to begin dreaming the dreams of multi-universes that reach beyond our own with sizes that can be both immense or microscopic at the same time and may be unified through 12 dimensions in the same manner that a Mobius Strip is unified in two dimensions and a Klein Bottle is unified in three dimensions. It truly boggles the mind!
The book ends on a positive note that Super-string Theory will ultimately lead us to the Theory of Everything. Of course, when we get there, will we be prepared and able to make that jump from being upright apes to being a Class I civilization controlling the earth, and then make the jump to a Class II civilization controlling our solar system and finally make that jump pre-saged by Isaac Asimov of becoming the Class III civilization that can harness the galaxy and beyond. Will we do it in biological form or will our dreams have to enter the thinking realms of the computers we are now developing? Who will be lifted up and who will be left behind?

[Gabes · Rating 3 out of 5]

Beyond Einstein is a true effort of summarizing our scientific knowledge and conveying it in layman's terms, in order to provide a simple yet powerful understanding of our achievements throughout the last few centuries. In that sense, Michio Kaku is very successful. He has a very friendly approach to complicated topics like quantum mechanics and superstring theory. Given that I know nothing about this, I found his writing comprehensible and easy to follow (most of the time, at least).

My problem with this book, however, is in the interchange between two points of focus. Dr. Kaku wants to present us the wonders of physics and mathematics, but also simultaneoulsy shares the stories of the people behind them, like Albert Einstein and Richard Feynman. I do not dislike the interchange itself. In fact, I appreciate it - I am very interested in knowing the backstory of the most brilliant minds of our times, and how they got to the position they are now. That being said, I believe the author didn't know how to arrange the two themes properly. At times, the "physics part" felt entangled with the "biography part", and as a result it got hard to concentrate in either of them. If they were more conveniently separated, I think my reading experience would have been a lot better.

Overall, Beyond Einstein is a great introductory piece of literature for those who want to dive into physics and science. It gives the reader insights on the most important theories and accomplishments of humanity, and sets the scene for the quest for unification. It really can inspire people to go out of their way to explore the ends of the universe, and, considering it was first published in 1995, I hope it did. I'm sure I will read more about the subject and probably some other works of Dr. Kaku as well.

[Joseph Siry · Rating 5 out of 5]

An exceptionally fine book that I have used for students to read to better understand the several turning points of unification in science from Sir Isaac Newton to just before the Higgs boson's discovery. The four or three fundamental universes are examined and clearly delineated in this historical sweep of what Einstein's and other physicist's discoveries have meant from Hubbles discovery of the expanding universe to the findings of fission and later fusion.

[Felipe · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really wish Michio was my physics teacher. He has a refreshing style to explain complex topics that combines the background of the authors mentioned and pragmatic examples which makes the book very understandable.
I hope one day in this century they will discover the real truth of our universe. Superstrings theory sounds fascinating but still is hard to imagine without a deep level insights. Thanks To Mr. Kaku for such a enjoyable book!

[Leyla]

Evrenimizin on boyutlu bir evren olarak başladığını, sonradan dengesizleşerek (en basit ifadeyle) bir şekilde dört boyuta çöktüğünü öngören Süper Sicim Teorisi hakkında bir kitap. Tabii bu teoriye detaylı şekilde girene kadar, önemli kozmolojik bilgiler işleniyor önce. Konuyla ilgili altyapı bilgilerine sahip olmayan bir okuyucuya fazla teknik gelebilir. Ama itiraf edeyim, iyi kafa yapıyor :)

[Ami Iida · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book encompasses The field of quantum mechanics.

[Pavel Kutil · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nicely written for the general public. Michio Kaku is a very good science popularizer.

[Raed · Rating 3 out of 5]

this book is a maze of classic and advanced physics, to understand it you have to put all your concentration, it's not for everyone,

[AndrewP · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was written in 1995 so is somewhat outdated in terms of the current cutting edge of string theory and quantum physics. But, it's not intended as an detailed explanation, it's more of a history lesson in how things evolved from Einstein up to Superstring theory and the problems overcome along the way. There was a short section in the middle where there were a lot of acronyms and I found this hard going. But overall it was a good read and explained a lot of things in layman's terms. By not going into any of the math things were kept on an understandable level. The most amazing thing is that there were a couple of notable physicists who actually worked in concepts and diagrams and not pure math.

[Muhamed Sewidan · Rating 4 out of 5]

الحقيقة انا كنت هقيمه ب2/5 لو عشان كلامه عن نظرية الاوتار بس
لان تقديمه لها ضعيف جدا وفيه حاجات مش مفسرها
بس أخر 70 صفحة كانوا من أفضل ما قرأت وأثاروا فى عقلى شكل جديد من التفكير

[J.D. Steens · Rating 2 out of 5]

The book is disappointing in two respects.

First, the front part of the book that summarizes the current state of physics is a restatement of what oodles of books, written for laypersons, have said for years. As this book was written in 1987, it could be that these other books followed the template set by Kaku and Trainer in this book. I don’t know the answer to that, but reading this 1987 book now was a ho-hum experience: Various findings are summarized and commented on, to the point that any reader familiar with the topic matter could easily complete the sentence and thought.

Even with that drawback, so much of this restated material is incomplete or otherwise missing a beat or two. For example, a force the writers state “is anything that can move an object.” So, the writers discuss the four forces that beg the question of “What is a force?” Gravity is seen as an attractive force that moves bodies, but that’s a Newtonian conception that omits Einstein’s reformulation that gravity is a geometric property of a heavy body that warps space in such a way that it is the warp itself that shapes movement. And, what’s left out is why there’s movement itself in the first place, i.e. why does matter and energy move and does this suggest internal force and not just the external force as gravity is said to be? Also, if the weak nuclear force radiates energy, that also suggests an internal force that causes radiation, and the secondary effect is what radiation does to other bodies. (1)

Second, after laying this historical groundwork, the writers move into string theory, which is their main topic. As described in their first chapter (Superstrings: A Theory of Everything?), the authors say that matter “is simply” particles that - per the question mark in the chapter title - might just be the answer to the 20th century quest “to unite the four forces of nature into one comprehensive theory….” In other words, “the four fundamental forces governing our universe are actually different manifestations of a single unifying force, governed by the superstring.”

On the surface, this seems straight forward enough: Matter is a manifestation of a string that gives off different vibrations. But there are questions about where to go from here. Why are there vibrations and their variations that manifest themselves into different forms of matter? Then, where does energy fit into this picture (as matter is expressed as a variation of string vibrations, and as matter is energy, per Einstein, is this where energy fits in? (2) And, how do these vibrations “unite” the four forces and what is “the single unitary force (and is it an external force that moves other things or is it an internal force, the secondary product of which is that it moves other matter-energy? Later, the writers bring in Einstein who was “alone in his pursuit of the unification of light with gravity,” which is typically understood as the unification of the three quantum forces with gravity. But the authors reference light, not the quantum forces. (3) While light’s connection to the electromagnetic force is understood, it is not so clear what its connection is to the strong and weak forces (though, as they are united with electromagnetism, they could be understood as light that way). (4)

The rest of the book might get at these questions, but if they do, the writers are not particularly clear and I missed their answers. Part of the problem is that this part of the book overwhelms with dense detail. It is filled with one theory after another, named after their respective discoverers, and it is like walking around in a corn field trying to follow all of this without getting lost. (5) As with all these books on the cosmos, the lay reader-thinker picks up what can be absorbed and moves on. This book does do that.

(1) And then there’s this from the writers of this book: “all of the stars and galaxies are currently moving away from the earth (propelled by the force of the Big Bang),” suggesting that the Big Bang is also a force. And on it goes. The writers say that matter manifests itself as a material object or as energy (radiation), but then what does that mean for Einstein’s theory that matter is energy and energy is matter and that the two are, really, energy-matter? Seen that way, isn’t it energy that is the umbrella term that comes in material (bound) and radiated (released) form? The authors describe Einstein’s theory of space as if it were a flat fabric, all laid out, and depressed in the middle by a gravitational body. But is that the best way to describe space when fabric is all around, surrounding an object from all directions, with movement toward the gravitational center also coming from all directions? (Whether movement toward that center occurs depends on another’s body’s own inertial speed and distance, per the inverse square law, as opposed to the writers’ description when they say, for example, that the moon’s orbit is caused by the earth’s “receding curvature” that “exactly cancels the falling motion” of the earth.)

2. The authors note that a ten dimension universe fissions into a smaller universe "that will likely create a new form of matter.” But, as to what that matter is, unless the single unified force is also the new matter (thus combining a thing, matter, with a force, what the thing does), the authors don’t say.

3. Kaku and Trainer write that Einstein “used the wrong tactic” as he tried to “unite the force of gravitation with the electromagnetic force (light) rather than with the nuclear force.”

4. “While relativity uncovers the secrets of energy, gravity, and space-time, the other theory that dominated the twentieth century, quantum mechanics, is a theory of matter. In simple terms, quantum mechanics successfully describes atomic physics by uniting the dual concepts of waves and particles. But Einstein didn’t realize, as physicists do now, that the key to the unified field theory is found in the marriage of relativity and quantum mechanics.”

5. Unfortunately, the following is typical of what the reader encounters in this book: “Today, we realize that Nambu’s string theory, which explained the origin of the Veneziano-Suzuki Beta function, was only a bosonic string. Nevue, Schwarz, and Ramond completed the theory by inventing a fermionic string to accompany the bosonic one. The Neveu-Schwarz-Ramond theory (with a slight modification) became the superstring theory of today.” Also, the book’s subtitle is overstated as it is not the cosmic quest for the theory of the universe, but the quest of people like Kaku and Trainer. The book needed more editing.

[Aydın Tezcan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Çok kapsamlı ve zor anlaşılır teoriler içeren bir kitaptı.
Bu detayda bir kitabı ne yazık ki bu konulara özel ilgisi olanlar dışındaki kişilere tavsiye edemiyorum.

[James · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rating: 4.12 stars

One begins to see things more clearly the more one ventures into the world of physics. At least that's what I tell myself. In reality (or outside of it), it's impossible for an idiot like myself to determine even the most remote notions of truth or understanding from any of the physics books my eyes have glazed over.

And yet, having read Einstein's Relatively and then Walter Isaacson's Einstein biography, this book by Michio Kaku is a breath of fresh air. In Isaacson's book, Einstein essentially wastes the last 30 or 40 years of his life chasing the {impossible} idea of a unified theory of the universe. Here, Kaku lays out a convincing story, explaining how Einstein's wildest dreams have come to fruition through Superstrings, or the Theory of Everything.

If nothing else, this story helps me to understand the Marvel Universe, as well as the universe I came across while playing No Man's Sky. Beyond seeing the inspiration for various pop culture references, is this anything other than a simple story one human tells to the next so that we both feel better at the end of the day? At least two of us would like to hope so.

Michio's obvious enthusiasm for the history of physics, as well as the science presented in this book, is the most compelling aspect of the text. This, along with the remarkably clarifying thought experiments that the best writers of science are able to provide this novice, presents an often thrilling portrayal of where science rests at today, along with where science rockets off into the future. Oh, plus some good pictures for the truly moronic amongst us (me).

Imagine our universe as one electron. No really. One electron. Now imagine this one electron is propelled from the Big Bang, through space-time, until it hits Doomsday, at which point it bounces back towards the Big Bang - like the largest cosmic game of ping pong. That's but one idea this book will lay out in front of you, in ways that are completely insane, and entirely mesmerizing.

One love.

[Antonio · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a popular science book about unified theory, after which Albert Einstein was looking for. I picked it up because I wanted to get to know more about superstring theory. According to Michio Kaku, this theory could be the theory that would unify Einsteins relativity theories and quantum physics. Additional reasons that I picked this book is that Michio Kaku is an expert in superstring theory, and I already read some of his books, which were well and interestingly written.

Yes, I know, it's a tough one. I used to read about quantum theory and how the same physics doesn't apply in the Einstein universe and on the quantum level. Einstein tried to find what could connect these two universes and spent most of his life, and failed.

It seems that superstring theory is the missing link that could connect these two.

Superstring theory says that all super tiny particles (like bosons, electrons, etc) are actually made of vibrating strings. In order, this theory to work in formula has to go more than four dimensions (three spatial and time) ‐ like ten or more dimensions.

This book, Michio Kaku, coauthored with Jennifer Thompson and I admit that the book was not so dynamic (or popular written ‐ maybe it is too complicated for me to understand) even though the authors went to explain all theories from Newton, magnetism, relativity etc. to introduce the reader to the 'basics'.

So this is my assessment of the book Beyond Einstein by Michio Kaku according to my 8 criteria:
1. Related to practice - 3 stars
2. It prevails important - 3 stars
3. I agree with the read - 3 stars
4. not difficult to read (as for non English native) - 3 stars
5. Too long (more than 500 pages) - short and concise (150-200 pages) - 3 stars
6. Boring - every sentence is interesting - 3 stars
7. Learning opportunity - 4 stars
8. Dry and uninspired style of writing - Smooth style with humouristic and fun parts - 4 stars

Total 3.25 stars

[Godo Stoyke · Rating 2 out of 5]

The title was intriguing: who doesn't want to know physics that goes BEYOND Einstein. I remember (after reading this book two decades ago) that I somehow did not find the superstring theory very convincing. That doesn't mean much, as I am not a physicist. But, it turns out that, according to eminent astrophysicist's Lawrence Krauss 2012 book "A Universe from Nothing" (which I DID like), so far apparently no evidence has been found to support string theory. String theory hasn't been disproven, however, if after quite a while a theory is unable to create testable predictions, that's usually not a good sign for the applicability of the theory. I've since been a little less fond of Kaku's books.

[Chetna Sharma Bhamri · Rating 4 out of 5]

Literally a brief history of the 'Physics evolution' over the centuries.
In mere 200 pages, reader can glide through the major events unfolding over the years evolving the concepts and the human understanding of the Universe, introducing all the famous physicists. How various discoveries were intertwined with the ones discovered previously and how their results paved the path for the next generation.
A perfect read for those who don't share the particular love of examining long mathematical equations and just want to understand the theory of things.
For those, who one day want to become part of the esteemed fraternity of physicists across globe, this book can give an overview of how things progressed and what are current ideas being pondered over.

[Sefa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bu ve benzeri kitaplarda bana yanlış gelen konunun son halini değil, öncesindeki süreç kişiler buluşlar vs anlatmaları. Yani bir yerde bilim tarihi kitabı gibi davranmaları.
Sonuçta anlatılanlar basit konular değil. Önceki teori anlatılıp bunu anlamaya çalışıyorsunuz, ama 3-5 sayfa sonra bu çöpe atılıp yeni teori anlatılıyor.

Doğal olarak her konu birden bulunmuyor. Bir geçmişi, çeşitli başarılar başarısızlıklar bazende tesadüflerin birikmesi ile son haline geliyor. Ancak bu günkü internet ortamında geliştirme yapmayı anlatan bir kitabın basic cobol vs anlatmasının da bir faydası olmadığını düşünüyorum

[Jerry Wall · Rating 3 out of 5]

Progression of thought on physics going through the thinking relevant to various stage of thought in mathematics and our understanding of the world around us, the macro and micro. the book refers to spin for subatomic particles and what this means is explained well in Stephen Hawking books. It is a difficult concept.
He brings us up to date and the book is dated in that he goes into some discussion of dark matter
but there is not reference in the book to dark energy.
Well done with insight into some of key thinkers by noting their personality quirks.

[Matt Mayevsky · Rating 4 out of 5]

Year of publication: 1987. Author: Michio Kaku, co-founder and apologist of string theory. I wonder if he still believes in the unifying power of this theory.

The book isn't just about string theory. One-third of its contents are the history of twentieth century physics. And, as is the case with Michio Kaku, he hauls some persistent threads through all of his books.

Popular science literature has the advantage that even if some parts of it become outdated, it still retains a valuable value: translates complicated into simple. It's similar here.

[Eric Northwood · Rating 4 out of 5]

As far as theoretical physics go, this book is ancient - from the mid-90s, and discusses the possibilities that have now been discovered to be correct, such as the Higgs boson in 2012. As far as providing a mental model of string theory to a layperson, it falls a little flat. Though I can imagine trying to explain the fabric of spacetime to a layperson in the early 1900s would have been just as daunting. It has sparked, in me at least, the desire to truly grok what a Feynman diagram describes however, so this book has done it's job.

[Ron Joniak · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received this book from a customer at my part-time job. This book by Michio Kaku on String theory was an enjoyable and quick read. The author goes into the basic details of string theory and provides a history of the theory. The superstring "trip down memory lane" turned out to be a highly enjoyable read.

There is little to no mathematics involved in this book and it is easy to read for the layman.

[Robert Stout · Rating 5 out of 5]

Micho Kaku's Beyond Einstein opens with Einstein's feudal attempt to merge General Relativity with quantum mechanics. Kaku discusses supersymmetry and string theory as a candidate for reunification. The book is most gripping when Kaku discusses the fate of the universe and dark matter. String theory may be the key to unwrapping these mysteries. There are some areas of the book where he is on the technical side but overall the book is a pleasure to read.

[Pranav · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beyond Einstein is a book that is written by Michio Kaku. It explores Einstein's dreams in Physics and explores these ideas. It describes theories of unification and theoretical physics. It also describes why this is important in modern day physics and how it may be important in the future of physics./