The Road to Reality

TheRoadtoRealityisthemostimportantandambitiousworkofscienceforageneration.Itprovidesnothinglessthanacomprehensiveaccountofthephysicaluniverseandtheessentialsofitsunderlyingmathematicaltheory.Itassumesnoparticularspecialistknowledgeonthepartofthereader,sothat,forexample,theearlychaptersgiveusthevitalmathematicalbackgroundtothephysicaltheoriesexploredlaterinthebook.RogerPenrose'spurposeistodescribeasclearlyaspossibleourpresentunderstandingoftheuniverseandtoconveyafeelingforitsdeepbeautyandphilosophicalimplications,aswellasitsintricatelogicalinterconnections.TheRoadtoRealityisrarelylessthanchallenging,butthebookisleavenedbyvividdescriptivepassages,aswellashundredsofhand-drawndiagrams.Inasingleworkofcolossalscopeoneoftheworld'sgreatestscientistshasgivenusacompleteandunrivalledguidetothegloriesoftheuniversethatweallinhabit.(20040315)