The Infinite Book - A Short Guide to the Boundless, Timeless and Endless

The Infinite Book - A Short Guide to the Boundless, Timeless and Endless

by John D. Barrow

Vintage, $130

Some infinities are bigger than others, says John D. Barrow. It's the sort of reasoning that plays to our fundamental insecurities about how tiny we are in the grand scheme of things. And what does 'forever' mean? Barrow, astrophysicist and professor of mathematical sciences at Cambridge University, has made an art of explaining the complex, and The Infinite Book is reckoned by critics to be his best yet. Barrow's sweep is mathematical, physical and absolute infinity, all explained with elegant simplicity. Some of it is a bit hard to grasp for the lay reader; but parallels he draws between the complex and the commonplace are fun. How does the existence of non-zero interest rates prove time travel does not exist? Is 'god' just someone who spends way too much time at his computer? British writer Margaret Drabble said this book proves 'the more you read, the more you understand'. John Gribbin in The Independent rightly said: 'Popular science doesn't come much better than this.'