Cosmic Supertheory I The Grand Design by Stephen Hawking & Leonard Mlodinow I

The Hypercomputer named Deep Thought in The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy comes up with an answer to "The Ultimate Question Of Life" after nine years of calculations. The answer is 42. In The Grand Design you are warned at the beginning that the answer is a lot more complicated. However, like Stephen Hawking’s other works in popular science, here too the language is simplified for non-specialist readers. You cannot, though, afford to think that neutrons and protons are names of aliens.
The Grand Design has been co-authored by Leonard Mlodinow, who had also co-authored A Briefer History of Time with Hawking. Leonard, a physicist, has also written for Star Trek: The Next Generation.
Hawking’s most popular work, The Brief History of Time, was published in 1988. The work explored a range of cosmology subjects like the Big Bang, Black Holes and light cones. It ended on the note that a unified theory of universe would reveal the "mind of God". The Grand Design goes a step ahead and explores M-Theory, a possible candidate for the ultimate theory of everything. With "M" standing for anything ranging from master to mystery, M-theory is a family of varied theories. It solves the problem
that a single formulation or concept for the entire universe may be untenable. It allows different theories for situations, with each having its different versions of reality. The only condition being that the theories must agree in their predictions wherever they overlap. The idea can be understood as a collection of detailed maps used to represent different regions of earth. When assorted to give a complete picture the maps will show the same landscape where they overlap.
M-theory works in 11 space-time dimensions and allows for different apparent laws. "Apparent laws" here refers to the observable laws of universe, creating room for different universes with diverse set of observable laws. The theory allows for 10500 different universes each working within its own scientific sets. The authors use string theory to explain the concept of multiple space-time dimensions. In the language of logic this translates into a straw with a diameter so small that it almost appears one-
dimensional. The idea being that the "invisible" dimensions are so highly curled that they almost appear non-existent.
Like in Hawking’s early work, here also, it is argued that science can provide a God-free explanation of the origin and function of universe. In The Grand Design, however the authors come across as more direct and combative. They take on questions like why the universe exists or why there is something instead of nothing. They believe that because there is a law like gravity, the universe can and will create itself from nothing. Gravity, here of course is the same force that makes the apple fall down, but has far wider implications in the cosmological terms of reference. "It is not necessary to invoke God to light the blue torch paper and set the universe going," they say. They trace the origin of belief in a supernatural being and a parallel growth of science, both as means to explain the forces of nature. The difference being that science not only aimed at explaining, but also predicting the ways of nature.
Some of the provoking concepts in the book include the theory that universe has not just a single history but every possible history, each with its own probability. Feynman’s diagrams, designed as mathematical expressions of electron interaction, are applied to conclude that the universe appeared spontaneously "starting off in every possible way".
While getting to understand Feynman’s diagrams can get tedious, an interesting analogy is provided to relieve the pain. The authors compare the spontaneous creation of universe to formation of bubbles in boiling water. While each bubble is like an alternative universe, not all last long enough to develop. A few survive to become bubbles that we can see equivalent to universes that survive.
One of the basic concepts of the book is that there is no picture-independent or theory-independent concept of reality. This dims the question of real and false and places observations in an established model or a world with set of rules. Just like in Matrix where both the physical and virtual world have their set rules and physical realities. But the concept in the book goes way beyond science fiction with a whole chapter set out to understand the nature of reality. The authors wonder if our view of reality is distorted like that of the goldfish in a curved bowl. That, however, does not mean that the goldfish can
have no understanding of world beyond the bowl. It can still draw scientific laws from its distorted frame of reference and predict and approximate accordingly. Its science would be a lot more complicated than ours, but "simplicity," they say "is a matter of taste."

SWEET DREAMS

I am in mood, for 

indulgence tonight
with vicarious will
and little insight

Come to me, dreams 

that couldn’t be,
naughty fancies
of terrible delight

So many will come tonight

with love, fame and jazz
to lose breath to beauty
judgment to genius

Women and men I couldn’t love
and words couldn’t own
beauty could never sell
and gifts couldn’t keep

Of so much I couldn’t be
Tonight I will dream
Not of the best
but sweetest.

Write Ground For Newcomers

Unpublished authors are a curious lot. Desperate, helpless and often the butt of all jokes. They never know what went wrong with their work. Most publishers respond, if at all, with one-liners rejecting the manuscript for not being upto the required brief. So as few get published, many hundreds sulk at their defeat. While big publishing

houses go nonchalantly about their business, help is at hand from unexpected quarters. Gyaana Writer’s Coracle (GWC), new wing of 15-month-old Gyaana Books, helps aspiring authors in getting their manuscript ready for publication. GWC provides manuscript assessment, feedback and editorial services.
Behind the pragmatic venture is Divya Dubey, the dynamic founder of Gyaana Books. She loves “reading and ’riting” but detests running into rude people. Dubey’s job as a publisher tests her skills and patience, but not the one to be intimidated, she has a sufficient supply of both. Born into a family of doctors, Dubey made her cut in the world of publishing on her own. She launched her Delhi-based publishing venture, Gyaana Books, in July 2009 with the focus on literary novels, popular fiction, chicklit, short stories and young adult fiction. The latest Gyaana book, Pink Sheep, a collection of 18 stories by Mahesh Natarajan on nuances of gay life, was launched last week.
A postgraduate in literature and publishing, Divya says she was no newcomer into publishing when she launched Gyaana. “Having worked in publishing, I had friends in the industry who advised me about the project. People like Thomas Abraham and Urvashi Butalia were always there to help.”
In an industry dominated by big players, a little-known venture like Gyaana had to struggle to make its mark and be taken seriously, she says. The venture has published five books since its launch but Dubey doesn’t sound pleased with herself. “Frankly, I am still to figure out how books go with business and money with manuscripts,” she says.
What she looks for, she says, is a combination of big names and newcomers, a literary script and a good author. A good author being someone “who knows what he is doing with his story, has the required language and storytelling skills and is receptive to the publisher.” A literary script, on the other hand, she says, is serious fiction which essentially involves good writing. “A lot of young writers have come into the scene producing a load of fiction which is easy to read,” Dubey explains.
While she welcomes young writers, diluting the standards is not her style. Talking of her tryst with choosy distributors, she sounds tired. “There are too many writers and books. And a general restraint towards newcomers,” she says, but adds that the publishing industry in India is in a fluid state. Dubey believes that while an increasing number of people are reading, they are picking up books that are easy, quick reads. It is when as a publisher one is expected to meet these commercial interests that there is a challenge, she says.
There has been crticism, Dubey says, as well as some encouragement. What annoys her, however, is being dismissed without being given a chance. “Many times, people jump to conclusions about our work without bothering to find out what we really do. That’s unfair.”
Dubey did not stumble into the publishing world. Early in her life she had her heart set on the industry. She remembers being a part of school publications and coveting the job of an editor. The first list of Gyaana also had a title authored by Dubey herself. But the glamour of being an author does not dominate her thoughts. It does not take her a minute to announce that she is an editor first and author later. “I still have to hone my craft as an author,” she says. Writing and editing are creative activities distinctive of each other, she feels. As a publisher who also writes she may have the advantage of knowing writers better, but little else, she says. What makes a good publisher is nose for a good script and eye for aesthetic presentation.
For a person who loves to train travel, Dubey hates the fact that her job takes away from her the liberty to holiday. “I love my work but it’s a long time since I took a vacation,” she says. What about sitting in the easy chair with a cup of coffee and a book? She laughs off the suggestion dreamily.