Decoding the Universe

[Dover]

Secrets of the cosmos
Could the universe be a giant computer? A new book argues just that, and unlocks some great scientific mysteries along the way.

By Laura Miller

The universe might just be an enormous computer -- that's the final, mind-twisting pirouette at the conclusion of Charles Seife's new book about information theory and quantum computing, "Decoding the Universe." By the time you get to this suggestion, the statement seems pretty plausible, but by then you've already traveled through Seife's crystal-clear explications of thermodynamics, relativity, quantum mechanics, black holes and multiple universes. In other words, you know he's not talking about using the cosmos to search the Web during your lunch break for the best price on iPods.

Every reader has his or her own reasons for plunging into a book like "Decoding the Universe." The sizeable audience for popular science writing is mostly made up of former science and math majors who find the material congenial and like to keep up with the theoretical fringes of the subjects they once studied. People with specialized expertise like to see how their field is being represented to the public. Those who know the discipline might even prefer Seth Lloyd's new book, "Programming the Universe: A Quantum computer Scientist Takes On the Cosmos," since Lloyd is a bona fide MIT professor while Seife is a journalist. (Seife uses one of Lloyd's thought experiments -- in which he designed the "ultimate laptop" out of a black hole -- as an example in "Decoding the Universe.")

Still, for the former liberal arts major and other right-brainers, Seife is the man; his lucid metaphors and unfussy descriptions (along with Matt Zimet's fine illustrations) offer exceptionally solid footholds in some of the most bizarre and counterintuitive realms of physics.

Cont'd
http://www.salon.com/books/review/2006/03/06/seife/index_np.html


From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. In a book that's all but impossible to put down, science journalist Seife (Alpha & Omega) explains how the concepts of information theory have begun to unlock many of the mysteries of the universe, from quantum mechanics to black holes and the likely end of the universe. Seife presents a compelling case that information is the one constant that ties all of science, indeed all of the universe, together. His skill with language permits him to do what many have tried and few have accomplished—making complicated concepts of quantum mechanics accessible to the average reader. Seife demonstrates how quantum oddities so alien to classical physics actually are consistent with the same physical laws that govern the world we see. For example, the fact that entangled particles half a universe away can instantaneously communicate with one another (what Einstein called "spooky action" at a distance), apparently violating the law that nothing can exceed the speed of light, can be understood through information theory..cont'd

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/067003441X/102-2707437-1546511?v=glance&n=283155