The Five Ages of the Universe: Inside the Physics of Eternity

Rating:
Summary: INSIGHTFUL!
Review: "Five Ages" provides a very comprehensible summary of the extraordinary events from the birth of our universe to its ultimate "end". In the introduction the authors provide an overview of each of the five ages, and also introduce benchmarks and standards for coping with the incredibly large numbers required for such a discourse.

With each successive chapter an in-depth, insightful and clearly understandable discussion of each age includes the relevant subatomic/particle physics and their formed macrostructures. Of equal intrigue, and perhaps what sets this book apart from many others, are the theoretical constructs for present and future life forms, and potential sources of energy for future civilizations.

While the authors presume the universe to be open (and flat) they do not deprive the reader of a fantastic, fast paced scenario describing a "big crunch". The emphasis, however, is to describe the later ages as somewhat stagnant and dull. When even matter, as we are familiar, ceases to exist (proton decay becoming complete by 10e38 cosmological decades) except for the matter "protected from time" by the strong gravitational fields of black holes.

Ultimately this book includes information including particle physics, nuclear physics, relativistic theory, astronomy, biology, thermodynamics & energetics and provides the reader with a comprehensive evaluation of each of the "Five Ages."

Rating:
Summary: INSIGHTFUL!
Review: "Five Ages" provides a very comprehensible summary of the extraordinary events from the birth of our universe to its ultimate "end". In the introduction the authors provide an overview of each of the five ages, and also introduce benchmarks and standards for coping with the incredibly large numbers required for such a discourse.

With each successive chapter an in-depth, insightful and clearly understandable discussion of each age includes the relevant subatomic/particle physics and their formed macrostructures. Of equal intrigue, and perhaps what sets this book apart from many others, are the theoretical constructs for present and future life forms, and potential sources of energy for future civilizations.

While the authors presume the universe to be open (and flat) they do not deprive the reader of a fantastic, fast paced scenario describing a "big crunch". The emphasis, however, is to describe the later ages as somewhat stagnant and dull. When even matter, as we are familiar, ceases to exist (proton decay becoming complete by 10e38 cosmological decades) except for the matter "protected from time" by the strong gravitational fields of black holes.

Ultimately this book includes information including particle physics, nuclear physics, relativistic theory, astronomy, biology, thermodynamics & energetics and provides the reader with a comprehensive evaluation of each of the "Five Ages."

Rating:
Summary: Unequivocally Brilliant...
Review: A gorgeous read! Authors Adams and Laughlin inspire as they inform in this fascinating biography of the universe. While scientific material is presented accurately and thoroughly, the grandeur of the account is never diminished by the inclusion of unnecessary minutiae. Adams and Laughlin skillfully invite the reader to discover along with them new possibilities for the future universe. In doing, they fully engage the intellect and the imagination of the delighted reader.

Rating:
Summary: Lively and clearly written biography of our Universe
Review: I am simply a general reader who enjoys reading about cosmology so I have no way to judge whether the physics in this book is sound, but I suspect that it is. There are a great many divergent views on various aspects of what is discussed in this book. Since the boundaries of this science live in speculation and searching for evidence it isn't surprising that people as well respected as Stephen Hawking change their mind about Black Holes and so forth. This means that some things that were speculated in this book may have become generally accepted by now, or may have been made obsolete by new observations.

In any case, for those of us who want to gain some sense of the broad sweep of what are Universe is, what happened at its beginning and how it might end, this book is a fine read. The authors are able to present complex ideas clearly enough to make me believe I have some grasp of them (when I likely do not, but the sense of belief is comforting). The language is never condescending for the general reader and is not so long that the detail becomes overwhelming.

It is a fine book and I recommend it to anyone who is interested in the broad sweep of the existence of our Universe.


Rating:
Summary: Four and the 1/2 Stars about The Five Ages of the Universe.
Review: I love and collect books about cosmology since many years. This one was a great reading. Not only about the beginning and current state, but also about the fate of the Universe in the future.
Time will show how these computer simulated predictions are accurate. But it will not be you or me of course to observe it.
Book as for today is a bit outdated, does not take under consideration new discoveries like dark energy and acceleration of the Universe.
I have asked Professor Adams about it and he e-mailed: "the biggest change to our vision of the future comes in the Dark Era; positronium formation will be less likely, and a vacuum phase transition will be more likely if the Universe has a component of this dark energy. The basic picture however is still correct". What I really like about this book is that it gets even more interesting in the end. Explanation of quantum mechanical tunneling and possibilities of sudden cosmic scale phase transition is so vivid that I had a hard time to fall a sleep. My imagination was running wild ignited by description of space-time foam and multiverses. Summarizing: it was easy, quick and enjoyable learning about not so easy subjects. "References and further reading" list included in this book is worth to have a look as well.
Professor Adams is currently working on his new book.

Rating:
Summary: Fascinating theories about universe
Review: I thought this book was very fascinating! I enjoyed reading not only about theories regarding the past and present eras of the universe, but also about future eras. As the title implies, authors Fred Adams and Greg Laughlin divide the lifetime of the universe into five eras, and we're living in the second. It was fun to imagine what the night sky should look like trillions of years into the future, and many more. It was also fun to read about the time when it can be expected that only black holes will be left, and to go even beyond that. This is the only book I know that deals much with the question of the far future of the universe.
The authors also brings up questions which are probably beyond our ability to know the answer to(for example, whether our universe is one of many), but such an idea is interesting to think about. They do mention a few ideas that I'm skeptical of (for example, the idea of a "Darwinian view of universes"), though they also acknowledge that this remains speculative.
Although this is a scientific (not a theological) book, I will also mention that I am a believing Catholic. So I believe that God created all things, including the whole universe. However, I also believe that the scientific theories mentioned in this book are compatible with Catholic Church teaching, provided we understand that everything that happens is in the providence of God. Of course we should also understand that theories are not doctrines, and so theories could be subject to change upon future discoveries.
I highly recommend this book, at least for those who have some general knowledge of astronomy and physics.

Rating:
Summary: One of the laymen
Review: This book describes what I hope is the ultimate fate of the universe, that is, a gentle, long-lasting slip into beautiful quiescence. Alas, we are only babies in this universe, and should this prove to be true, all our offspring, and their offspring, and so on shall continue to be babies in this increasingly grandiose yet dimming universe. Then, maybe, intelligence shall cease and true existence, that is, non-existence, will prevail into the dark eternity...far out man:)

Rating:
Summary: One of the laymen
Review: This book will make you think. It will make you think about the purpose of life if the universe will eventually decay into a bleak black empty desolate emptiness.

The authors extrapolate the potential future of the universe and it is a dark one. One of the more interesting aspects is learning how life as we know it- animals & plants living on planets - will cease to exist fairly early in the lifetime of the universe. But at the same time the book paints a picture about possible future life forms inhabiting the universe many, many years in the future.

The book however, is not mainly about life but about the decay of the universe as it ages billions, trillions, quadrillions of years. It specifically details how stars will die, protons will decay and eventually after a googol (10 to the 100th power) number of years, how black holes decay. It is impossible to fully grasp the size and enormity of these numbers but the authors make a good attempt.

Suprisingly, the book is a somewhat light read, which is a good thing. It won't bog you down with equations and abstruse theories. I read the entire book on a flight from NYC to SF and was immersed throughout trying to imagine the universe as it will be.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent Overview of the Universe
Review: When I read this book, it reminded me of "1, 2, 3, Infinity" by George Gamow which I read back in the sixties. In that book, Gamow wrote about the then brand new "Big Bang Theory." He was really an excellent writer and caused me to have a lasting interest in cosmology. This book is much like that book.

The authors put together another book about the state of cosmology at century's end. They take the innovative take on Universal history by using the powers of ten approach so they can talk about nanoseconds and googles of years and tie distinctly different eras together in a useful way. The five ages from the beginnings in the big bang to the lonely demise of the Universe in the Dark Age are logical and instructive. These authors don't stray far from the current knowledge of how the Universe works in their speculations. The Big Crunch, now out of favor, is briefly mentioned. The idea that matter would over course of trillions of years devolve into pure iron by means of quantum tunnelling is also refuted. I also liked the short pieces that gives an idea of what life would be like during any one of the five ages. The authors do try to make life, any kind of life, the center piece of the Universe.

We are lucky to living in the Golden Era of Cosmology when old theories are being proven or disproven with hard scientific findings. This brings me to the only criticism of this book. Even just two years old, it is a bit dated. The authors use the conservative, "flat" model of the Universe. Since the book was written, some definitive evidence shows that the Universe is expanding at an accelerating rate. Taken to that conclusion, in a few cosmic decades any galaxy or galactic association not gravitationally bound to the Local Cluster will disappear over the our horizon because the rate of expansion of space would exceed the speed of light. This makes for an even more lonely Universe in the future. Also, very recently, some evidence that one of the basic constants of the Universe, the fine constant governing ionization, may have changed since the Big Bang. Any of the physical constants changing over time would radically alter what ever future the Universe. However, this isn't the fault of the authors these discoveries happened after publication. I hope we see in a few years a second edition with these additions and other new discoveries that are sure to come.