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Title: The Fourth Dimension : A Guided Tour of the Higher Universes by Rudolf Rucker, David Povilaitis ISBN: 0-395-39388-4 Publisher: Mariner Books Pub. Date: 11 September, 1985 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $16.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.44 (9 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: mind-bending yet fulfilling book
Comment: For all those of you who have questioned your surroundings, this is the perfect book to get you started on a long journey. I read this book over the summer, and it taught me a lot. Not only does Rucker accurately cover the fourth dimension, but it allows your mind to take it other concepts you might have ruled out before. Even though he starts off a little advanced for the beginning reader, it's pretty easy to figure out if you piece everything together. Granted, the end of the book starts to unwind a bit, and the drawings are a little childish, but overall this is one of the best books I've read. I recommend it to anyone who wants to learn about the fourth dimension or concepts beyond their grasp.
Rating: 3
Summary: Nice Cartoonish Introduction
Comment: Granted, this is a book aimed at the "popular science market" but it's a bit more "popular" than "scientific."
Stephen Jay Gould, David Quammen and Ed Regis (among others) manage to cover complex subjects without resorting to "gee whiz" simplifications and tacky drawings. To be fair, Rudy's subject matter is more obtuse and theoretical than natural history, and his approach is likely driven by that. It just felt a little condescending.
Rating: 1
Summary: Illusion or Reality???
Comment: The idea that we live in a world with more than three dimensions is a tantalizing one, and generally, just thinking about the subject for a while can leave one with an achy head. Rucker attempts to explain the concept of fourth dimension by dissecting the world in lesser dimensions, then using the analogies to expand the world in higher levels of existence. He has done a marvelous effort in depicting the world in higher dimensions. What is left unanswered is does a Fourth dimension even exist. Is it an illusion or reality?
For this review I will briefly explain the grounds on which he describes the fourth dimension. A complex three-dimensional shape is really an infinite number of simpler two-dimensional shapes stacked on top of each other. For instance, if you slice the top off of a pyramid and look at just the two dimensional plane at the top, you see a small triangle. Chopping off another layer results in another, slightly larger triangle. Stacking progressively smaller triangles on top of each other results in our three-dimensional shape of a pyramid.
This is the same concept of what a two-dimensional being would see if a pyramid were to travel through its plane. First it would see a point appear out of nowhere, then it would expand into a larger and larger triangle, finally just disappearing into thin air as the pyramid moved on. Actually, what it would see is dependent on the angle the pyramid intersects the plane, and whether it's rotating. It might also see a line appear, morph into a trapezoid, and then shrink into a tiny point and disappear.
By continuing our expansion in the same manner as we've been discussing, we end up with a reality of four dimensions. A being in the fourth dimension sees our three-dimensional world as an infinitely thin slice of reality. If you were looking at something from a four-dimensional viewpoint, you'd be able to see not only every outside surface of the object simultaneously, but also whatever's contained in the object. A being with four physical dimensions might travel through our three-dimensional plane, and if we saw it, it would look like a strange object appearing out of nowhere, morphing in shape for a while, and then disappearing.
I felt that Rucker has taken an over simplified view of 4D by giving the pyramid (3-D) example. But what he fails to account is when the 3D object is morphing through the 2D space it will create disruptions and distortions in 2D space. In the same manner an object living in a 4D space will create the same distortions when morphing through 3D space. Such distortions have not been accounted for in any scientific works and if they did occur would have been paid due attention.
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Title: Geometry, Relativity and the Fourth Dimension by Rudolf Rucker ISBN: 0486234002 Publisher: Dover Pubns Pub. Date: 01 June, 1977 List Price(USD): $7.95 |
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Title: Flatland : A Romance of Many Dimensions by Edwin A. Abbott ISBN: 048627263X Publisher: Dover Pubns Pub. Date: 21 September, 1992 List Price(USD): $1.50 |
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Title: Spaceland: A Novel of the Fourth Dimension by Rudy Rucker ISBN: 0765303671 Publisher: Tor Books Pub. Date: 04 July, 2003 List Price(USD): $13.95 |
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Title: Flatterland: Like Flatland, Only More So by Ian Stewart ISBN: 073820675X Publisher: Perseus Publishing Pub. Date: 16 April, 2002 List Price(USD): $15.00 |
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Title: Infinity and the Mind by Rudy Rucker ISBN: 0691001723 Publisher: Princeton Univ Pr Pub. Date: 15 May, 1995 List Price(USD): $22.95 |
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