The Hidden Reality

{{Short description|Book by Brian Greene}} {{Infobox book | name = The Hidden Reality: <br>Parallel Universes and the Deep Laws of the Cosmos | title_orig = | translator = | image = TheHiddenReality.jpg | caption = Hardcover edition | author = Brian Greene | cover_artist = | country = United States | language = English | series = | subject = Multiverse | genre = Non-fiction | publisher = Alfred A. Knopf | release_date = January 25, 2011 | media_type = Print, e-book, audiobook | pages = 384 pp. | isbn = 978-0307265630 | preceded_by = Icarus at the Edge of Time | followed_by = Until the End of Time | italic title = force }} thumb|right|Brian Greene talks about ''The Hidden Reality'' on Bookbits radio. '''''The Hidden Reality: Parallel Universes and the Deep Laws of the Cosmos''''' is a book by Brian Greene published in 2011 which explores the concept of the multiverse and the possibility of parallel universes. It has been nominated for the Royal Society Winton Prize for Science Books for 2012.

==Content== In his book, Greene discussed nine types of parallel universes: * The '''quilted multiverse''' says that conditions in an infinite universe necessarily repeat across space, yielding parallel worlds. * The '''inflationary multiverse''' says that eternal cosmological inflation yields an enormous network of bubble universes, of which our universe would be one. * The '''brane multiverse''' states that in M-theory, in the brane world scenario, our universe exists on one three-dimensional brane, which floats in a higher dimensional expanse potentially populated by other branes – other parallel universes. * The '''cyclic multiverse''' is saying that collisions between braneworlds can manifest as big bang-like beginnings, yielding universes that are parallel in time. * The '''landscape multiverse''' states that by combining inflationary cosmology and string theory, the many different shapes for string theory's extra dimensions give rise to many different bubble universes. * The '''quantum multiverse''' creates a new universe when a diversion in events occurs, as in the many-worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics. * The '''holographic multiverse''' is derived from the theory that the surface area of a space can simulate the volume of the region. * The '''simulated multiverse''' implies that technological leaps suggest that the universe is just a simulation. * The '''ultimate multiverse''' is the ultimate theory, saying the principle of fecundity asserts that every possible universe is a real universe, thereby obviating the question of why one possibility – ours – is special. These universes instantiate all possible mathematical equations.

==Reception== *Timothy Ferris reports in the review in ''The New York Times Book Review'' that “If extraterrestrials landed tomorrow and demanded to know what the human mind is capable of accomplishing, we could do worse than to hand them a copy of this book.”<ref>{{cite news|last=Ferris|first=Timothy|title=Expanding Horizons|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/06/books/review/Ferris-t.html?_r=1|accessdate=21 September 2011|newspaper=The New York Times Sunday Book Review|date=4 February 2011}}</ref> *Anthony Doerr, in his ''On Science'' column of the ''Boston Globe'', wrote that "Greene might be the best intermediary I’ve found between the sparkling, absolute zero world of mathematics and the warm, clumsy world of human language." Doerr praised Greene's use of analogies to explain the complex phenomena of parallel universes.<ref>{{cite news|last=Doerr|first=Anthony|title=Chasing Pythagoras and parallel universes|url=http://archive.boston.com/ae/books/articles/2011/01/23/chasing_pythagoras_and_parallel_universes/|access-date=21 September 2011|newspaper=The Boston Globe|date=23 January 2011|author2=On Science}}</ref> *John Gribbin, in the ''Wall Street Journal'', declared that ''The Hidden Reality'' was "Mr. Greene's weakest book", but conceded that Greene's earlier books "left him with such high standards to live up to that this is not really surprising." Gribbin also criticized the lack of depth on certain subjects, such as M-theory and the interactions of three-dimensional universes.<ref>{{cite news|last=Gribbin|first=John|title=Welcome to the Multiverse: Our universe may be just one among an infinite number—some supporting life, others sterile|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052748703779704576074370184436248?mod=WSJ_Books_LS_Books_5 |accessdate=21 September 2011|newspaper=Wall Street Journal|date=26 January 2011}}</ref> *''Publishers Weekly'' hails ''The Hidden Reality'' “An in-depth yet marvelously accessible look inside the perplexing world of modern theoretical physics and cosmology . . . Greene presents a lucid, intriguing, and triumphantly understandable state-of-the-art look at the universe.”(Starred review) *Janet Maslin, ''[https://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/27/books/27book.html The New York Times]'' claims “Mr. Greene has a gift for elucidating big ideas . . . Exciting and rewarding . . . [''The Hidden Reality''] captures and engages the imagination.”<ref>{{cite news|last=Maslin|first=Janet|title=Multiple-Universe Theory Made, Well, Easier|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/27/books/27book.html|accessdate=21 September 2011|newspaper=The New York Times|date=26 January 2011}}</ref> *John Horgan. ''[https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/cross-check/is-speculation-in-multiverses-as-immoral-as-speculation-in-subprime-mortgages/ Scientific American]'' "Is speculation in multiverses as immoral as speculation in subprime mortgages?." "Horgan’s exasperation with seeing the multiverse heavily promoted by famous physicists appears to have more to do with the idea that this is a retreat by physicists from engagement with the real world, something morally obtuse in an era of growing problems that scientists could help address."<ref name="columbia3419"/> *Peter Woit "My own moral concerns about the multiverse have more to do with worry that pseudo-science is being heavily promoted to the public, leading to the danger that it will ultimately take over from science, first in the field of fundamental physics, then perhaps spreading to others.<ref name="columbia3419">{{cite news|title=Is the Multiverse Immoral?|url=http://www.math.columbia.edu/~woit/wordpress/?p=3419}}</ref>

==In popular culture== The book and its author were featured on the television series ''The Big Bang Theory'' in episode 20 of season 4, "The Herb Garden Germination".<ref>Amazon: [https://www.amazon.com/Hidden-Reality-Parallel-Universes-Cosmos/dp/0307265633 The Hidden Reality: Parallel Universes and the Deep Laws of the Cosmos]</ref>

==See also== * Multiverse * Shape of the universe

==Footnotes== {{Reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hidden Reality}} Category:2011 non-fiction books Category:Books by Brian Greene Category:Popular physics books Category:Cosmology books Category:Alfred A. Knopf books