Universe From Nothing

A fantastic book that talks about the modern developments in the cosmology and the creation of universe. The lucid presentation of these modern cosmological ideas gives us a good understanding of the physics behind the possible creation process.

There is a deep sense of curiosity in most of us on how the universe came to be. If we manage to determine that, it would be the pinnacle of human intellect & achievement, I think. Lawrence argues in the book how science has progressed enough to explain how the universe grew from ‘Nothing’. A note of warning though – this ‘Nothing’ assumes the existence of space and the laws of physics already being in place. This (as the author notes as well), is not the ‘Nothing’ many of us will assume this to be. The absolute ‘Nothing’ which some or many of us understand differently also finds some limited discussion towards the end of the book. The book traces the progress we have made in uncovering the mysteries of the universe. I found the concepts of the flat, closed and open universe to be fascinating. The discussion around this and the implications for the future of the universe makes for very engrossing reading. The author mentions that we are at the best possible time to determine the secrets of the universe, since as we go on – the expansion would tear apart galaxies and greatly diminish the remnants of the big bang. This is interesting – indicating we should be investing more in cosmology now. As one would expect, it is not that the book has all the answers – after all science itself does not yet. The creation of the universe from nothing or the possibility of a multiverse finds some discussion towards the end of the book. There is some barely disguised disdain for string theory – which I share as well since it comes as force fitted, excessively complex and detached from reality to me. I found parts of the book to be a bit dense / less readable, nor did I find much of the humour the synopsis of the book mentions. The book is intellectually stimulating and does well to bring advances in cosmology together in a crisp narrative.

This is a book everyone must read who are fascinated by the universe, its origins and astronomy in general. The only question that is yet to be solved by the mankind "How did universe come out of nothing?" is tackled so effectively that it shuts up everyone who simply says god to this question. It's quite a page turner. You can complete it in about 2-3 days.

If you are new into Cosmology and want to know how the universe came into what we see today. I will definitely recommend you this book! Lawrence Krause featured in many videos of 'How The Universe Works'. This book can be compared with 'The Elegant Universe' by Brian Greene but only if you are interested in string theory. I would prefer any reader to start from 'The Theory of Everything' by Stephen Hawking small book but with plenty of information if read properly then go for this book itself and for more knowledge go for another theory rather than General Relativity which will be string theory which can be confusing for new readers. This book contains very fundamental topics how to define our universe in the present state which is dependant on the past.

The book in spite of some inadequacies is intellectually stimulating. As a layman, I cannot comment on the verifiability or falsifiability of many of the cosmological concepts or hypotheses presented in the book. However, these offer many exciting options to the human race. For example, the dark energy could be utilised for space travel in future. Let us not forget, we can survive only and only if, we succeed in travelling far distances in the space and make human colonies on inhabitable interstellar planets.

This was my first book that I bought in order to understand the universe and I found this book so useful and very informative. If you want to know how the universe bigins, go for this book because book is written in very lucid way.

Just searching a book on Science and God I find this book and purchased through Amazon. I found much in this book I was looking for. No doubt it is moderm physics and cosmology that is assertive in answering the complex questions on existence of God.

Krauss tells us that not only does something arise from nothing, Someting Will always Always arise From Nothing That is, in the world of quantum physics. He tells with great wit and knowledge how our Universe is expanding, and will in all probability keep expanding. We are at a lucky time in the evolution of the universe in that we can configure the beginning with the Big Bang, and also ha ve a vision horizon of 13.72 billion years , which is how old the Universe probably is Maybe alien intelligences will not see the Universe thus. The Universe will expand and the Beginning may confound them mentally, and the expansion will leave such vast spaces that there will be even more empty space than now. Not Empty though----- full of dark energy. Read it---it's fascinating !!!

It is definitely exciting to imagine the possibility (and high probability) of a whole universe created from nothingness. The book provides a good refresher on the current state of Astrophysics, and dives deep into the question mentioned in the title: "Has the universe been created from nothing at all?". The author settles the question in perfectly scientific manner, and as of the current state of science, the probability for this being true is pretty high. Nice possibility for atheists to completely get rid of the necessity for a beginning or a creator. I found the book very interesting, and it happened only once or twice that I could not follow the author (due to comprehension problems). In such a book, this is perfectly fine for me...

King Lear, to his cost, tells us “Nothing will come of Nothing”. Krauss deals with nothing less than our entire Universe and all universes beyond to explain the opposite. EDITION: Free Press, hardcover, 2012 - ISBN 978-14516-2445-8 Krauss tackles some of the most challenging questions: the origin of our Universe, what existed before, its likely future and why we have something rather than nothing. “In the interests of disclosure right at the outset I must admit that I am not sympathetic to the conviction that creation requires a creator …”. P.xi With that starting point, Krauss begins his detailed exploration and recording of humanity’s investigations. It is not an anti-religion text but one rooted in science - theoretical and practical. Such is his skill as a scientist, scientific historian and author that he manages to explain some of the most complex areas of science in simpler terms, making them more accessible to the non-scientist. The Nobel Prize winning, unintended discovery of the Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation (CMBR) he explains as follows: “If one considers a distance spanning 1 degree on the last scattering surface as seen by an observer on Earth, this would correspond to a distance on that surface of 300,000 light-years. Now, since that last scattering surface reflects a time when the universe itself was about 300,000 years old, and since Einstein tells us that no information can travel through space faster than the speed of light, this means that no signal from one location could travel across this surface at that time more than about 300,000 light-years.”The CMBR, discovered by accident, is our eyes into the past, a Universe-wide remnant of our beginnings, the unintended consequence of another experiment.. Krauss deals with the consequences of the previously known cosmological models for the future, especially since the author was involved in some of these works. Taking into account the role of Dark Energy, the prospects for the next trillion years are gloomy: space is getting dark, but even the clues of the Big Bang, like the background radiation, will slowly disappear. Krauss points it that with the advance of science and cosmological understanding, we are answering questions which, one hundred years ago could not have been formulated. “Isaac Newton, perhaps the greatest physicist of all time profoundly changed the way we think about the Universe in many ways. But, perhaps, the most important contribution he made was to demonstrate that possibility that the entire Universe is explicable.” P. 141) All the great names, theories, cul-de-sacs and freeways to knowledge are contained in his well-penned book. Our journey, whatever the outcome, provides its own reward. His writing conveys the journey of scientists and their attempts and successes to explain the Universe in which we live and those “empty” universes our technological advances provide us with eyes to see right back to the beginning of time. When it challenges reading, stay with it. It is worth the struggle.

This is a book I really enjoyed. It offers a super complete overview in cosmology, including all the recent discoveries but without assuming you're a PhD in Physics. Although some parts are a bit hard to follow (the subject is amazingly complex), the author develops the matter without any mathematical or hyper complex formulations. Probably a too informal book for physicians but a great tool to be introduced in cosmology for novels.

I don't understand why there was such a polemic around this book (especially its title) when it came out. Lawrence Krauss has great oral and written communication skills, and explains very clearly how a universe could possibly come from ''nothing''. He goes step by step, one chapter at a time, to give some historical and physics knowledge background in order to make sure that the reader will be able to comprehend his thesis about how it could be possible for something to exist as we can see today, if before our universe came into existence there had been no space nor time. As contradictory as it may sounds, if you really take the time to read the book in its entirety and with no ill intentions from the start, then everything will make sense. By the way this is not a hard read and it definitely is worth the price and time.

Great book. Author explains difficult concepts in a very simple, easy-to-understand way. Opens your eyes and helps you understand some of the most complex science facing us today.