Frank Close

The Void

In ancient times philosophers wondered whether it was possible to have a part of space with absolutely nothing in it. Aristotle decided that it was not - Nature abhors a vacuum. When Frank Close was young he also wondered whether nothingness was possible. In The Void he tells the reader how people have answered this question. He explains how it was found that a vacuum could be produced with a sufficiently good air pump. But then people began to wonder how light and gravity was transmitted through such a vacuum, and invented the luminiferous aether.

Einstein showed that postulating the aether was pointless, but his general relativity introduced a new structure to space and time. An quantum theory introduced more structure to the vacuum - a sea of filled energy states and virtual particles popping in and out of existence. Close goes on to show how this lead to the idea of the Higgs field which gives mass to elementary particles, and he looks at how everything began - could the big bang have arisen from a vacuum fluctuation?

There have been plenty of books about nothing. This one sticks to the point more than most, although sometimes I felt that it wasn't particularly inspiring. But other readers might disagree- it's a short, easy to read book, and if you are interested in some of the deep questions concerning the vacuum then you might well find it worth reading

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Hardcover 176 pages
ISBN: 0199225907
Salesrank: 380369
Weight:0.66 lbs

Published: 2008 Oxford University Press, USA

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Hardcover 176 pages
ISBN: 0199225907
Salesrank: 83013
Weight:0.66 lbs

Published: 2007 OUP Oxford

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Hardcover 176 pages
ISBN: 0199225907
Salesrank: 204561
Weight:0.66 lbs

Published: 2007 Oxford University Press

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Product Description
What is the void? What remains when you take all the matter away? Can empty Space--nothing--exist? To answer these questions, eminent scientist Frank Close takes us on a lively and accessible journey that ranges from ancient ideas and cultural superstitions to the frontiers of current research, illuminating the story of how scientists have explored the void and the rich discoveries they have made there. Readers will find an enlightening history of the vacuum: how the efforts to make a better vacuum led to the discovery of the electron; the understanding that the vacuum is filled with fields; the ideas of Newton, Mach, and Einstein on the nature of space and time; the mysterious aether and how Einstein did away with it; and the latest ideas that the vacuum is filled with the Higgs field. The story ranges from the absolute zero of temperature and the seething vacuum of virtual particles and anti-particles that fills space, to the extreme heat and energy of the early universe. It compares the ways that substances change from gas to liquid and solid with the way that the vacuum of our universe has changed as the temperature dropped following the Big Bang. It covers modern ideas that there may be more dimensions to the void than those that we currently are aware of and even that our universe is but one in a multiverse. The Void takes us inside a field of science that may ultimately provide answers to some of cosmology's most fundamental questions: what lies outside the universe, and, if there was once nothing, then how did the universe begin?

Product Description

What is the void? What remains when you take all the matter away? Can empty Space--nothing--exist?
To answer these questions, eminent scientist Frank Close takes us on a lively and accessible journey that ranges from ancient ideas and cultural superstitions to the frontiers of current research, illuminating the story of how scientists have explored the void and the rich discoveries they have made there. Readers will find an enlightening history of the vacuum: how the efforts to make a better vacuum led to the discovery of the electron; the understanding that the vacuum is filled with fields; the ideas of Newton, Mach, and Einstein on the nature of space and time; the mysterious aether and how Einstein did away with it; and the latest ideas that the vacuum is filled with the Higgs field. The story ranges from the absolute zero of temperature and the seething vacuum of virtual particles and anti-particles that fills space, to the extreme heat and energy of the early universe. It compares the ways that substances change from gas to liquid and solid with the way that the vacuum of our universe has changed as the temperature dropped following the Big Bang. It covers modern ideas that there may be more dimensions to the void than those that we currently are aware of and even that our universe is but one in a multiverse.
The Void takes us inside a field of science that may ultimately provide answers to some of cosmology's most fundamental questions: what lies outside the universe, and, if there was once nothing, then how did the universe begin?

Good science, quick gloss, not quite what the title implies ****
This little book covers a LOT of science in a pretty short amount of time. Another reviewer said that it deals rather less with the void than one might think from the title. While this is true, there isn't much that can be said about nothing without understanding that in the real universe, nothing is truly something after all. That said, there is a lot of explaining of "stuff" to get to explaining nothing, which leads the book to have a lot less nothing than you might expect. That said, the science is very solid and quite clearly explained. However, having extensively studied physics and chemistry years ago, this read more like a refresher course to me. I didn't have too much trouble making sense of most of the science because I have been exposed to it in great depth (even though I may've forgotten some things). I worry that to the lay reader, the book would be extremely hard going, even as there are many analogies drawn, so I would put it closer to three stars for a reader with little or no science background. Still, written well overall and with great clarity. An interesting concept.

Good science, quick gloss, not quite what the title implies ****

This little book covers a LOT of science in a pretty short amount of time. Another reviewer said that it deals rather less with the void than one might think from the title. While this is true, there isn't much that can be said about nothing without understanding that in the real universe, nothing is truly something after all. That said, there is a lot of explaining of "stuff" to get to explaining nothing, which leads the book to have a lot less nothing than you might expect.

That said, the science is very solid and quite clearly explained. However, having extensively studied physics and chemistry years ago, this read more like a refresher course to me. I didn't have too much trouble making sense of most of the science because I have been exposed to it in great depth (even though I may've forgotten some things). I worry that to the lay reader, the book would be extremely hard going, even as there are many analogies drawn, so I would put it closer to three stars for a reader with little or no science background.

Still, written well overall and with great clarity. An interesting concept.

A-voids getting to the point ***
While a very well written book, The Void spends most of its 156 pages not getting to the point. But then the title is misleading -- this is not about voids or vacuums or the idea of nothingness. Instead, Close writes a summary, fairly historical, of the theories contributing to the current views of the universe. We hear a lot about Newton and Einstein, Lorentz and Michelson, and so on. Special and general relativity are explained again (as they have been in myriad other books). Something as important as the Higgs field is glossed over, while such things as inertial frames of reference or concepts of curved space-time are covered in a tad too much depth or too much repetition. This is really a book for someone who needs a quick overview, rather like it is the introductory chapter to a text with a lot more depth. And from my perspective, it seems to ramble here and there, as if the author doesn't quite want to make a point. Even at the end, the summary shows that the book was not about the void or vacuum but about what fills it and defines its boundaries/properties. Not quite what I was looking for.

A-voids getting to the point ***

While a very well written book, The Void spends most of its 156 pages not getting to the point. But then the title is misleading -- this is not about voids or vacuums or the idea of nothingness. Instead, Close writes a summary, fairly historical, of the theories contributing to the current views of the universe. We hear a lot about Newton and Einstein, Lorentz and Michelson, and so on. Special and general relativity are explained again (as they have been in myriad other books). Something as important as the Higgs field is glossed over, while such things as inertial frames of reference or concepts of curved space-time are covered in a tad too much depth or too much repetition. This is really a book for someone who needs a quick overview, rather like it is the introductory chapter to a text with a lot more depth. And from my perspective, it seems to ramble here and there, as if the author doesn't quite want to make a point. Even at the end, the summary shows that the book was not about the void or vacuum but about what fills it and defines its boundaries/properties. Not quite what I was looking for.

This Void is about average ***
The book starts well with the physics explained at a fairly basic and historical level. Subsequent chapters advance this view with explanations of the theory of relativity and quantum mechanics along the way. The final two chapters however are the meat of the book and feel hurried with topics suddenly appearing that lack adequate explanation or background information. Did the book succeed ? In my view, not quite. It is a relatively short book, interesting but lacking a lot of explanation of the more complex later science that could have made it really good. Shame!

This Void is about average ***

The book starts well with the physics explained at a fairly basic and historical level. Subsequent chapters advance this view with explanations of the theory of relativity and quantum mechanics along the way. The final two chapters however are the meat of the book and feel hurried with topics suddenly appearing that lack adequate explanation or background information. Did the book succeed ? In my view, not quite. It is a relatively short book, interesting but lacking a lot of explanation of the more complex later science that could have made it really good. Shame!

Reading about Nothing is actually really interesting *****
Professor Frank Close has managed to engage the non-physicist reader in a topic normally reserved for the intellectual elite. He offers a detailed yet broad analysis of The Void, of nothingness, a topic you would be forgiven for thinking is 'a done deal'. But far from it, vacuums and the concept of nothingness have been on the minds of many great thinkers throughout time, from the early Greeks to the modern-day super brains at international research centres such as CERN in Switzerland. In a bid to understand our own existence, we may contemplate our opposite: non-existence. The book is not ignorant of the large philosophical questions either. As the concept of vacuums evolved throughout history Close is there explaining in a real, down-to-earth voice what exactly is going on. The book is illustrated with diagrams throughout, and if like me, you have trouble visualising some of the more difficult concepts, these come in very handy. Having said that, I imagine even an A-Star physics student stands to benefit from this book. The book is split into nine chapters, with each chapter being further divided logically according to topic. The book enters into the science of atoms, light, the quantum, waves and particles amidst other areas to explain the nature of a vacuum. The Big Bang, Aether, higher dimensions and time are also discussed. Warning: there are very large and small numbers featured in this book, and some concepts will challenge your understanding of your three-dimensional reality. If you have ever wondered about what is left when you take all the stars, planets and us out of the universe, or that split second after the big bang, then this book hits the money. I recommend this book on the grounds that it covers an interesting topic, whilst introducing other facets of physics, is readable even to the untrained brain and makes you think twice and go 'aha'. In short: there's Nothing I don't like about it.

Reading about Nothing is actually really interesting *****

Professor Frank Close has managed to engage the non-physicist reader in a topic normally reserved for the intellectual elite. He offers a detailed yet broad analysis of The Void, of nothingness, a topic you would be forgiven for thinking is 'a done deal'.

But far from it, vacuums and the concept of nothingness have been on the minds of many great thinkers throughout time, from the early Greeks to the modern-day super brains at international research centres such as CERN in Switzerland. In a bid to understand our own existence, we may contemplate our opposite: non-existence. The book is not ignorant of the large philosophical questions either.

As the concept of vacuums evolved throughout history Close is there explaining in a real, down-to-earth voice what exactly is going on. The book is illustrated with diagrams throughout, and if like me, you have trouble visualising some of the more difficult concepts, these come in very handy. Having said that, I imagine even an A-Star physics student stands to benefit from this book.

The book is split into nine chapters, with each chapter being further divided logically according to topic. The book enters into the science of atoms, light, the quantum, waves and particles amidst other areas to explain the nature of a vacuum. The Big Bang, Aether, higher dimensions and time are also discussed. Warning: there are very large and small numbers featured in this book, and some concepts will challenge your understanding of your three-dimensional reality.

If you have ever wondered about what is left when you take all the stars, planets and us out of the universe, or that split second after the big bang, then this book hits the money. I recommend this book on the grounds that it covers an interesting topic, whilst introducing other facets of physics, is readable even to the untrained brain and makes you think twice and go 'aha'.

In short: there's Nothing I don't like about it.