{"product_id":"nova-the-fabric-of-the-cosmos-1","title":"Nova: The Fabric of the Cosmos","description":"Amazon.com\n\nPhysicist-author Brian Greene, whose Nova presentation The Elegant Universe made string theory comprehensible to the armchair scientist, returns with the four-part Fabric of the Cosmos, an even more whiz-bang approach to current ideas in physics. Imagine the final section of 2001: A Space Odyssey interrupted by talking heads and voiceover narration, and you'll get a grasp for the baffling realm Greene and his cadre of brainiacs enter here: theories of quantum physics, \"entanglement\" (that one'll mess with your mind), and the possibility of a multiverse, a set of universes beyond our own visible one. Various explanations for the Big Bang are also explored. Greene, a humorous if somewhat awkward presenter, knows perfectly well he is dealing with stuff that goes beyond the knowledge of the average viewer, so he offers many examples and demonstrations, and the information is reliably intriguing. Not so intriguing is the show's overall style, which is so full of pulsating graphics and cutesy metaphors that it might prove headache-inducing. Too bad the makers of this series didn't trust the information contained here, because it's pretty exciting on its own. --Robert Horton\n\nProduct Description\n\nThe Fabric of the Cosmos, based on the book by physicist and author Brian Greene, takes us to the frontiers of physics to see how scientists are piecing together the most complete picture yet of space, time and the universe. With each step, audiences will discover that just beneath the surface of our everyday experience lies a world wed hardly recognize, a startling world far stranger and more wondrous than anyone expected.\n\nReview\n\nMIT physicist Alan Guth made a profound insight into the very first moments of\nthe universe more than three decades ago, when he was just a junior scientist.\nWorking late into the night, he came up with a new explanation for the initial,\nrapid expansion of the universe. He scrawled a note at the end of his careful\ncalculations and drew a box around it: spectacular realization. In recent years\nthat insight, along with other work, has led modern physics to a provocative, and\nhotly debated, interpretation of reality: Our universe is just one among many.\nThere are not only other universes out there - in those other universes, there are\nother versions of us, each going about their own lives.\nThis mind-boggling, controversial idea is just one of the ideas presented through\na combination of storytelling, clever video editing, and computer animation in a\nnew, four-part Nova series, The Fabric of the Cosmos, that kicks off tonight\non Channel 2 at 9 p.m. The series, based on the book of the same name by\nColumbia University physicist Brian Greene, zooms in on a different topic in each\nepisode. Tonight s show deals with the nature of space itself. Then, Greene takes\nus on an increasingly weird tour, digging into time before zooming into the tiniest\nquantum realm, where the rules of nature get freaky. The final episode highlights\nthe strangest idea yet - that there are multiple universes out there.\nIn the world of popularizing science, this series is a big, splashy event. Greene, a\nveteran popularizer of science, has experience in ably demystifying very\ncomplicated physics for a general audience. A natural showman, he s aided in the\nseries by top-notch computer animation and a cadre of top scientists, who help\nhim introduce everything from Einstein s initial insights into the nature of space\nand time, to the discovery that won the Nobel prize in physics this year - the\nsurprising and initially hard-to-swallow finding that the universe s expansion is\nspeeding up.\nThe show is teeming with easy-to-grasp analogies that strip away most of what\npeople find hard about science, with physicists not only explaining ideas, but also\nwhy they are exciting, delightful, or strange. Tonight s episode in particular ends\non an unsettling note, bringing up the possibility that our world, our reality, is\nmerely a holographic projection.\nThe most exciting moments come when Greene takes us to the edge of modern\nphysics, to debates that are still unfolding. The most human come when the\nphysicists are left to tell their own stories, providing a glimpse of how big,\ndaunting ideas came to be. For example, Peter Higgs, an English physicist, recalls\nthe anxiety he felt several decades ago, when he pulled over to the side of the\nhighway before giving a talk because he was anxious about how his idea would\nplay with the esteemed audience.\nThe series is a beautiful demonstration of how exciting ideas - even complicated\nones with no practical application - can powerfully capture the imagination of\nvirtually anyone. In its effort to appeal to people of all ages and backgrounds,\nthere are elements that can verge on silly - setting a particular scene in an art\nmuseum, night club, or Albert s (as in Einstein) Diner. The computer animation\nplays a much-needed explanatory role, but at times, it can also seem like a crutch.\nEthereal \u003cbr\u003eASIN: B0056031LE\u003cbr\u003eVSKU: 4EKGRJ00CV8P_ns\u003cbr\u003eCondition: Good\u003cbr\u003eBinding: DVD\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eNote:\u003c\/b\u003e Any images shown are stock photographs and product may differ from what is shown.  \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eCondition Notes\u003c\/b\u003e: Individually inspected: Guaranteed to play perfectly or your money back. Case may show wear and may be in library packaging. Ships Fast!  \u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Dream Books Co.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":41900990201914,"sku":"4EKGRJ00CV8P_ns","price":8.29,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0555\/6011\/0138\/files\/B0056031LE-0_df4d20ae-25a2-493d-b48e-d32fd48b4544.jpg?v=1794022858","url":"https:\/\/shop.dreambooksco.com\/products\/nova-the-fabric-of-the-cosmos-1","provider":"Dream Books Co.","version":"1.0","type":"link"}