Book Review: A Universe From Nothing


A Universe From Nothing: Why There Is Something Rather Than Nothing

By Lawrence M. Krauss

FREE PRESS

For particle physicist Lawrence Krauss, the revelation that the universe is expanding ever more rapidly reinforced a more basic question: How did it first come into being? Here he seeks clues on scales impossibly small (the insides of protons) and unimaginably large (the shape of the heavens). With its mind-bending mechanics, Krauss argues, our universe may indeed have appeared from nowhere, rather than at the hands of a divine creator. There’s some intellectual heavy lifting here—Einstein is the main character, after all—but the concepts are articulated clearly, and the thrill of discovery is contagious. “We are like the early terrestrial mapmakers,” Krauss writes, puzzling out what was once solely the province of our imaginations.


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