About the Book
The leading mind behind the mathematics of string theory discusses how geometry explains the universe we see What if you were told that we actually live in a 10-dimensional universe-- that the leading theory of nature posits only 4 out of 10 are accessible to our everyday senses? How do we account for the other 6 dimensions? What do they look like, where are they hiding, and what, if anything at all, do they do? In The Shape of Inner Space, geometer and leading string theorist Shing- Tung Yau unpacks the widely-held belief that these undetected dimensions are tightly curled in elaborate, twisted shapes called "Calabi-Yau manifolds." Yau explains that these spaces are so miniscule that humans will probably never see any of them directly. Amazingly, however, this hidden realm may hold the answers to some of the most profound questions we have about our universe. In examining his life's work, Yau emphasises his most important finding: proof of the manifold's mathematical existence. This discovery has been critical in advancing our understanding of geometry and string theory, and, more broadly, physics and the universe.
With this acquired knowledge, string theorists can go beyond the concept of the universe that Einstein left us with, and possibly expose some of nature's greatest mysteries. A fascinating exploration of a world we are only just beginning to grasp, The Shape of Inner Space will change the way we think about mathematics, cosmology, and our quest to learn the shape of the inner universe.
About the Author :
Shing-Tung Yau has has won many awards including the Fields medal. He is the chair of the mathematics department at Harvard University, and lives in Cambridge, Massachussettes. Steve Nadis is a Contributing Editor to Astronomy Magazine. He lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Review :
American Journal of Physics
"The Shape of Inner Space is a portrait of a beautiful branch of geometric analysis as seen through the eyes of one of its pioneers, Fields medal winner Shing-Tung Yau... After describing the sequence of events that led him to the United States and to his enamoration with geometry, Yau explains as only a master could the conjecture by Calabi and the subsequent discovery of Calabi-Yau manifolds that are the centerpiece of this book. The reader is thrown into a world of complex manifolds, geometric analysis, and differential equations, yet the book is written so that the persistent layperson could follow all of the main ideas."Notes of the Canadian Mathematical Society
"In the fascinating book, The Shape of Inner Space... Shing-Tung Yau, along with coauthor Steve Nadis, describes the exciting development of the theory of what are now called Calabi-Yau manifolds and their relationship to the structure of the universe."
Philippine Daily Inquirer
"A journey into the mind of a brilliant mathematician, The Shape of Inner Space will delight readers who are not afraid to use their minds."
College Mathematics Journal"A worthy successor to The Elegant Universe."
BLURBS
Brian Greene, Professor of Mathematics & Physics, Columbia University; author of The Fabric of the Cosmos and The Elegant Universe
"The Shape of Inner Space provides a vibrant tour through the strange and wondrous possibility that the three spatial dimensions we see may not be the only ones that exist. Told by one of the masters of the subject, the book gives an in-depth account of one of the most exciting and controversial developments in modern theoretical physics."
Joe Polchinski, Professor of Physics, University of California - Santa Barbara; author of String Theory, Vols. 1 & 2
"Einstein's vision of physical laws emerging from the shape of space has been expanded by the higher dimensions of string theory. This vision has transformed not only modern physics, but also modern mathematics. Shing-Tung Yau has been at the center of these developments. In this ambitious book, written
Newsletter of the European Mathematical Society
"Philippine Daily Inquirer"
"A journey into the mind of a brilliant mathematician, "The Shape of Inner Space" will delight readers who are not afraid to use their minds.""College Mathematics Journal""A worthy successor to "The Elegant Universe"." "Philippine Daily Inquirer"
"A journey into the mind of a brilliant mathematician, "The Shape of Inner Space" will delight readers who are not afraid to use their minds."
"The Mathematical Intelligencer""What makes this book unique is that Yau has a deep insight not only into the mathematics but also into the physics governing our universe, and he uses this knowledge to build a bridge between both worlds."
AUTHORS' STATEMENT by SHING-TUNG YAU and STEVE NADIS
There is a certain irony running through this book that one of the smallest things you can possibly imagine--six-dimensional geometric spaces that may be more than a trillion times smaller than an electron--could, nevertheless, be one of the defining features of our universe, exerting a profound influence that extends to every single point in the cosmos. This book is, in many ways, the story of those spaces, which physicists have dubbed "Calabi-Yau manifolds." It tells how one of us, Yau, managed to prove the existence, mathematically, of those spaces, despite the fact that he had originally set out to prove that such spaces could not possibly exist. It then goes on to explain how this mathematical proof, which had initially been ignored by physicists (partly because it was steeped in difficult, nonlinear arguments), nevertheless made its way into the center of string theory, which now stands as the leading theory of the universe and our best hope yet of unifying all the particles and forces observed--and yet to be observed--in nature.Of course, none of this could have been foretold more than a half century ago when a man named Eugenio Calabi--the first half of the Calabi-Yau duo--proposed that there could be multidimensional spaces with properties so special that many mathematicians, including one of this book's authors, considered them "too good to be true." Calabi had not been thinking about physics at the time, in the early 1950s, when he advanced the famous conjecture named after him. Following the proof of the Calabi conjecture, we have learned many new and wonderful things in both physics and mathematics--all of which suggest that Calabi-Yau spaces are not only too good to be true, as the skeptics used to say, but that they may be even better.
BLURBS
Brian Greene, Professor of Mathematics & Physics, Columbia University; author of "The Fabric of the Cosmos" and "The Elegant Universe
"""The Shape of Inner Space" provides a vibrant tour through the strange and wondrous possibility that the three spatial dimensions we see may not be the only ones that exist. Told by one of the masters of the subject, the book gives an in-depth account of one of the most exciting and controversial developments in modern theoretical physics."
Joe Polchinski, Professor of Physics, University of California - Santa Barbara; author of "String Theory"," Vols. 1 & 2"
"Einstein's vision of physical laws emerging from the shape of space has been expanded by the higher dimensions of string theory. This vision has transformed not only modern physics, but also modern mathematics. Shing-Tung Yau has been at the center of these developments. In this ambitious book, writtenNewsletter of the European Mathematical Society"An interested reader, even one with little background in mathematics, will be able to gather much new knowledge of, and appreciation for, both mathematics and physics from the elegant analogies and beautiful illustrations in this book... The book gives insight into the mind of one of the world's greatest mathematicians and will provide intellectual stimulation to interested readers with any kind of background."
Simon Donaldson, Royal Society Research Professor in Pure Mathematics and President of the Institute for Mathematical Science, ImperialCollegeLondon
""The Shape of Inner Space" has a distinctive style: in part autobiography, in part an account of developments in geometric analysis and string theory over the past 40 years, and comments on future directions. It gives a unique insight into the thoughts of one of the most important and influential mathematicians of our times."
Edward Witten, Professor, Institute for Advanced Study
"Shing-Tung Yau and Steve Nadis take the reader on a fascinati
"Philippine Daily Inquirer"
"A journey into the mind of a brilliant mathematician, "The Shape of Inner Space" will delight readers who are not afraid to use their minds."
REVIEWS
"Publishers Weekly
""With the help of "Astronomy" magazine contributing editor Nadis, Yau relates the saga of [his] groundbreaking work which provided the foundations of string theory. Yau confidently draws readers into a realm of abstract concepts, from multiple dimensions to the exotic spaces called 'manifolds, ' or Calabi-Yau spaces, whose curvature gives space its shape. From here it's a hop, skip, and a jump to the geometry of space around the Big Bang, black holes, and the end of the universe."
"New Scientist"
"It is a testimony to [Yau's] careful prose (and no doubt to the skills of co-author Steve Nadis) that this book so compellingly captures the essence of what pushes string theorists forward in the face of formidable obstacles. It gives us a rare glimpse into a world as alien as the moons of Jupiter, and just as fascinating.... Yau and Nadis have produced a strangely mesmerizing account of geometry's role in the universe."
"Nature"
"Physicists in
"Plus Magazine"
"This book tells the fascinating story of strange geometric objects that have achieved some fame outside of [mathematics] called Calabi-Yau manifolds... The collaboration between a mathematician and a science writer has worked wonders in this book. It's crowded with beautiful metaphors that clarify complex ideas and provide a peek into higher-dimensional worlds... One thing that comes through on every page of this book is the beauty of the [mathematics] and its power to shed light on the secrets of our Universe. If this is the kind of thing that fascinates you, then this is a great book to while away those dark winter evenings."
PhysicsWorld.com
"It is fascinating to see the story of string theory told from a mathematician's point of view rather than that of a physicist... By bravely attempting to explain areas of mathematics that no one has ever tried to relate to the public before, "The Shape of Inner Space" takes a huge step forward... It will undoubtedly
