Warped Passages

Book excerpt: A New York Times Notable Book: A particle physicist’s “engaging and remarkably clear” look at the dimensions that may exist beyond the ones we know (The New York Times Book Review). The universe has many secrets. It may hide additional dimensions of space other than the familiar three we recognize. There might even be another universe adjacent to ours, invisible and unattainable . . . for now. Warped Passages is a brilliantly readable and altogether exhilarating journey that tracks the arc of discovery from early twentieth-century physics to the razor’s edge of modern scientific theory. One of the world’s leading theoretical physicists, Lisa Randall provides astonishing scientific possibilities that, until recently, were restricted to the realm of science fiction. Unraveling the twisted threads of the most current debates on relativity, quantum mechanics, and gravity, she explores some of the fundamental questions posed by Nature—taking us into the warped, hidden dimensions underpinning the universe we live in, demystifying the science of the myriad worlds that may exist just beyond our own. “Randall brings much of the excitement of her field to life as she describes her quest to understand the structure of the universe.” —Publishers Weekly “A great read . . . I highly recommend it.” —Ira Flatow, host of NPR’s Science Friday “Randall, a professor of physics at Harvard, offers a tour of current questions in particle physics, string theory, and cosmology, paying particular attention to the thesis that more physical dimensions exist than are usually acknowledged . . . She’s honest about the limits of the known, and almost revels in the uncertainties that underlie her work—including the possibility that some day it may all be proved wrong.” —The New Yorker