Masks of the Universe

by Edward R. Harrison

Hardcover, 1985

Status

Available

Call number

523.1

Collection

Publication

Macmillan: New York USA (1985), Edition: First Edition, Hardcover, 320 pages

Description

To the ancient Greeks the universe consisted of earth, air, fire, and water. To Saint Augustine it was the Word of God. To many modern scientists it is the dance of atoms and waves, and in years to come it may be different again. What then is the real Universe? History shows that in every age each society constructs its own universe, believing it to be the real and final Universe. Yet each universe is only a model or mask of the unknown Universe. Originally published in 2003, this book brings together fundamental scientific, philosophical, and religious issues in cosmology, raising thought-provoking questions. In every age people have pitied the universes of their ancestors, convinced that they have at last discovered the ultimate truth. Does the modern model stand at the threshold of discovering everything, or will it, like all the rest, come to be pitied?… (more)

User reviews

LibraryThing member fpagan
Says that the universe can't be fully comprehended by humans and that today's model of it is as sure to be superseded as earlier ages' models were. Skates too close to the edge of mysticism and talks about religion too much. Any book whose introduction says that "Much of modern science consists of
Show More
magic disciplined by a calculus of mythic laws" is not going to get a full reading from me. Some good chapters on space and time. (Am I damning it with faint praise or praising it with faint damnation?)
Show Less
LibraryThing member hnn
A wonderful book. The standard descriptions of the big bang, inflation etc, which most popular science writers are spending too much time on repeating, are very brief here. Instead Harrison goes directly to the big questions about cosmology, alternative cosmogenesis and metaphysics.

Language

Physical description

320 p.; 9.5 inches

ISBN

0029487803 / 9780029487808

Local notes

Not found - 26 May 2017

Other editions

Page: 0.2301 seconds