“WHERE DID THE UNIVERSE COME FROM? WHAT WAS THERE BEFORE IT? WHAT WILL THE FUTURE BRING? AND FINALLY, WHY IS THERE SOMETHING RATHER THAN NOTHING?” Lawrence Krauss’s provocative answers to these and other timeless questions in a wildly popular lecture now on YouTube have attracted almost a million viewers. The last of these questions in particular has been at the center of religious and philosophical debates about the existence of God, and it’s the supposed counterargument to anyone who questions the need for God. As Krauss argues, scientists have, however, historically focused on other, more pressing issues—such as figuring out how the universe actually functions, which can ultimately help us to improve the quality of our lives. Now, in a cosmological story that rivets as it enlightens, pioneering theoretical physicist Lawrence Krauss explains the groundbreaking new scientific advances that turn the most basic philosophical questions on their heads. One of the few prominent scientists today to have actively crossed the chasm between science and popular culture, Krauss reveals that modern science is addressing the question of why there is something rather than nothing, with surprising and fascinating results. The staggeringly beautiful experimental observations and mind-bending new theories are all described accessibly in A Universe from Nothing, and they suggest that not only can something arise from nothing, something will always arise from nothing. With his characteristic wry humor and wonderfully clear explanations, Krauss takes us back to the beginning of the beginning, presenting the most recent evidence for how our universe evolved—and the implications for how it’s going to end. It will provoke, challenge, and delight readers as it looks at the most basic underpinnings of existence in a whole new way. And this knowledge that our universe will be quite different in the future from today has profound implications and directly affects how we live in the present. As Richard Dawkins has described it: This could potentially be the most important scientific book with implications for supernaturalism since Darwin. A fascinating antidote to outmoded philosophical and religious thinking, A Universe from Nothing is a provocative, game-changing entry into the debate about the existence of God and everything that exists. “Forget Jesus,” Krauss has argued, “the stars died so you could be born.”

本书通俗地介绍了物理学里的空间概念，包括了在经典物理学、狭义和广义相对论，以及量子力学中的空间概念。一方面，注重区分空间（和时间）的哲学论辩和科学界说，避免陷于非科学的空谈；另一方面着重介绍百年来物理学基本理论的进展，例如空间为什么是三维的论证、相对论中空间和时间的统一、量子力学里的态空间、内部变量（自旋等）和内部窨（同位旋等）、宇称不守恒、内部对称性；最后亦涉及大统一理论、超弦和膜理论的大意。本书图文并茂，兼顾科学性和趣味性，叙述生活活泼，文字浅显流畅。

建立在杨—米尔斯场论（Yang—Mills field theory）基础上的标准模型（standard model），是人类理解物质世界的微观结构及其相互作用力的集大成之作，它的点睛之笔当属布劳特—昂格勒—希格斯机制（Brout-Englert- Higgs mecha-nism）。该机制保证了电弱规范对称性的自发破缺，不仅使电磁力与弱核力从此分道扬镳，以及绝大多数基本粒子因此获得质量，而且预言了存在 “上帝粒子”——希格斯玻色子（Higgs boson）。2012年7月4日，一个酷似希格斯玻色子的新粒子终于在欧洲核子研究中心的大型强子对撞机上现出原形。《希格斯（上帝粒子的发明与发 现）》遵循历史发展的脉络，以简洁生动的语言回顾了基本粒子物理学的百年家史，讲述了寻找“上帝粒子”之旅中交织着成功与失败的传奇故事，展现了科学家无 与伦比的探索精神、人文情怀和鲜明个性。

“空间”和“时间”究竟是什么？ 物质的本原不是点，而是弦？ 黑洞、高维度空间应该如何解释？ “超弦理论”是继牛顿力学、爱因斯坦相对论之后，时空概念的“第三次革命”。“超弦理论”统一了引力理论与量子力学的矛盾，超越了“弦理论”的局限，解释“标准模型”中“费米子”与包括“上帝粒子”的“玻色子”的振动形态。本书中，大栗教授以通俗、风趣的语言讲解了量子物理基础、“弦理论”到“超弦理论”的最新发展、“超弦理论”的理论原理及证明，并在“超弦理论”下重新思考与探究了时空概念。

这本书使你接近了这个境界。《万有理论》是霍金所作的由七次演进组成的系列讲座，他介绍了我们所知的宇宙历史，也许比以往更清晰、更简洁。这些演讲不令闪耀着霍金智慧的光华，而且体现出他特有的机智。谈到花费了他十几年时间的黑洞研究时，他说道：“这似乎有点像在煤窖里寻找黑猫。” 　　本书从人类关于宇宙的构想的历史谈起，从亚里士多德之判定地球是圆的，到2000多年后哈勃之发现宇宙在膨胀，包括宇宙起源的理论（如大爆炸）以及黑洞和时空的本质。末尾，他摆出了现代物理学没有解决的问题，尤其是如何将所有的局部理论整合成一个“统一的万有理论”的问题。他声称，“如果我们发现了这个问题的答案，它就会是人类理性的最终胜利”。