Warped Passages [antikvár]

Preface and Acknowledgments When I was a young girl, I loved the play and intellectual games in math problems or in books like Alice in Wonderland. But although reading was one of my favorite activities, books about science usually seemed more remote and less inviting to me—I never felt sufficiently engaged or challenged. The tone often seemed condescending to readers, overly worshipful of scientists, or boring. I felt the authors mystified results or glorified the men who found them, rather than describing science itself and the process by which scientists made their connections. That was the part I actually wanted to know. As I learned more science, I grew to love it. I didn't always know that I would become a physicist and feel this way; no one I knew when I was young did science. But engaging with the unknown is irresistibly exciting. I found it thrilling to find connections between apparently disparate phenomena and to solve problems and predict surprising features of our world. As a physicist, I now understand that science is a living entity that continues to evolve. Not only the answers, but also the games and riddles and participation make it interesting. When I decided to embark on this project, I envisioned a book that shares the excitement I feel about my work without compromising the presentation of the science. I hoped to convey the fascination of theoretical physics without simplifying the subject deceptively or presenting it as a collection of unchanging, finished monuments to be passively admired. Physics is far more creative and fun than people generally recognize. I wanted to share these aspects with people who hadn't necessarily arrived at this realization on their own. There's a new world view pressing down upon us. Extra dimensions