The Constants Of Nature: From Alpha to Omega—The Numbers that Encode the Deepest Secrets of the Universe. - book review

Science News, March 29, 2003

JOHN D. BARROW

The constants of nature are fundamental to the laws of physics governing gravity, electromagnetism, and quantum phenomena. They encode the deepest secrets of the universe and define mathematically, for instance, why every electron seems to be the same as every other electron. Barrow, a mathematician and noted popularizer of astrophysics, considers how we have attempted to understand these constants of nature and their role in our understanding about the nature of the universe. Then he questions whether those numbers are really constant at all and considers whether they're all linked. Barrow theorizes that if some of them were even slightly different, we wouldn't be here at all. As scientists grapple with defining a Theory of Everything, Barrow details the role important numbers play in answering questions about the makeup of the universe. Pantheon, 2002, 352 p., b&w photos/illus., hardcover, $26.00.