Well-known physicist and author Kaku (Hyperspace) tells readers in this latest exploration of the far reaches of scientific speculation that another universe may be floating just a millimeter away on a "brane" (membrane) parallel to our own. We can't pop our heads in and have a look around because it exists in hyperspace, beyond our four dimensions. However, Kaku writes, scientists conjecture that branes—a creation of M theory, marketed as possibly the long-sought "theory of everything"—may eventually collide, annihilating each other. Such a collision may even have caused what we call the big bang. In his usual reader-friendly style, Kaku discusses the spooky objects conjured up from the equations of relativity and quantum physics: wormholes, black holes and the "white holes" on the other side; universes budding off from one another; and alternate quantum realities in which the 2004 elections turned out differently.

In this thrilling journey into the mysteries of our cosmos, bestselling author Michio Kaku takes us on a dizzying ride to explore black holes and time machines, multidimensional space and, most tantalizing of all, the possibility that parallel universes may lay alongside our own.

Kaku skillfully guides us through the latest innovations in string theory and its latest iteration, M-theory, which posits that our universe may be just one in an endless multiverse, a singular bubble floating in a sea of infinite bubble universes. If M-theory is proven correct, we may perhaps finally find answer to the question, “What happened before the big bang?” This is an exciting and unforgettable introduction into the new cutting-edge theories of physics and cosmology from one of the pre-eminent voices in the field.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

PREFACE

PANT Ⅰ: THE UNIVERSE

 CHAPTER ONE: Baby Pictures of the Universe

 CHAPTER TWO: The Paradoxical Universe

 CHAPTER THREE: The Big Bang

 CHAPTER FOUR: Inflation and Parallel Universes

PANT Ⅱ: THE MULTIVENSE

 CHAPTER FIVE: Dimensional Portals and Time Travel

 CHAPTER SIX: Parallel Quantum Universes

 CHAPTER SEVEN: M-Theory: The Mother of All Strings

 CHAPTER EIGHT: A Designer Universe?

 CHAPTER NINE: Searching for Echoes from the Eleventh Dimension

PART Ⅲ: ESCAPE INTO HYPENSPACE

 CHAPTER TEN: The End of Everything

 CHAPTER ELEVEN: Escaping the Universe

 CHAPTER TWELVE: Beyond the Muhiverse

NOTES

GLOSSARY

RECOMMENDED READING

INDEX