1/1/2024 0 Comments Roger penrose road to realityThe traditional offerings of fruits or even animals would not suffice to pacify an anger of this magnitude. The Priest-King would waste no time in attempting to appease this Daemon-God. But he knew that there would be trouble at the Great Palace. The fury he had just witnessed could not have been the result of such a trivial action, and was surely not aimed at him specifically. Had his depiction of the Bull-God not been sufficiently fearsome? Had that god been offended? But the absurdity of this thought soon struck him. His first reaction was to blame himself for the design on the sacrificial cup that he had just completed – he had worried about it at the time. Never before had he witnessed a God’s anger of such magnitude. He began to wonder what it was that could have caused this fury. But apprehension at once returned to him as he seemed to sense a strange disturbance in the ground beneath, accompanied by ominous-sounding rumblings of a nature quite unfamiliar to him. Perhaps he gained some comfort from this and the spell was momentarily broken. But then the terrible cloud began to bend slightly to the east, caught up by the prevailing winds. Though terror must have been his natural reaction, he did not move, transfixed for several minutes by the scene’s perfect symmetry and awesome beauty. The night had been clear, but now the stars disappeared one by one, swallowed up behind this advancing monstrous creature from Hell. The parasol’s hood began to spread and darken – a daemon from the underworld. As he stood there, a dark cloud became apparent at the head of the beam, giving the whole structure the appearance of a distant giant parasol, glowing evilly, with a smoky flaming staff. It was a distant shaft of a deep fiery red light that beamed vertically upwards from the water into the heavens. The Sun had never before risen in the north! In his dazed state, it took him a few moments to realize that this could not possibly be the Sun. He moved to the window and stared out, incredulous in amazement. The dawn’s light could not be in the north yet the red light shone alarmingly through his broad window that looked out northwards over the sea. Daytime had come – quite suddenly – when his bones told him that surely it must still be night. Indeed, he was not certain that he was asleep at all when it happened. But his sleep was restless – perhaps from an intangible tension that had seemed to be in the air. It was night, and he lay sleeping on his workshop couch, tired after a handsomely productive evening’s work. Prologue Am-tep was the King’s chief craftsman, an artist of consummate skills. ” - The Guardian “A truly remarkable book.Penrose does much to reveal the beauty and subtlety that connects nature and the human imagination, demonstrating that the quest to understand the reality of our physical world, and the extent and limits of our mental capacities, is an awesome, never-ending journey rather than a one-way cul-de-sac.”- London Sunday Times “Penrose’s work is genuinely magnificent, and the most stimulating book I have read in a long time.”- Scotland on Sunday “Science needs more people like Penrose, willing and able to point out the flaws in fashionable models from a position of authority and to signpost alternative roads to follow.”- The Independent About the Author Penrose’s appetite is heroic, his knowledge encyclopedic, his modesty a reminder that not all physicists claim to be able to explain the world in 250 pages.” - The Times (London) “For physics fans, the high point of the year will undoubtedly be The Road to Reality. The Road to Reality unscores the fact that Penrose is one of the world’s most original thinkers.” - Tucson Citizen “What a joy it is to read a book that doesn't simplify, doesn't dodge the difficult questions, and doesn't always pretend to have answers. It should be read by anyone entering the field and referenced by everyone working in it.” - The New York Sun “Extremely comprehensive. teeming with delights.” - Nature “This is his magnum opus, the culmination of an already stellar career and a comprehensive summary of the current state of physics and cosmology. Penrose gives us something that has been missing from the public discourse on science lately–a reason to live, something to look forward to.” - American Scientist “A remarkable book. It is shocking that so much can be explained so well. “A comprehensive guide to physics’ big picture, and to the thoughts of one of the world’s most original thinkers.”- The New York Times “Simply astounding.
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