The Road to Reality by Roger Penrose: A Physics Book Review

[arevolutionist]

What kind of Physics book is The Road to Reality by Roger Penrose? What is your opinion about it?

 

[vanesch]

See
https://www.physicsforums.com/showthread.php?p=734267#post734267

or
https://www.physicsforums.com/showthread.php?p=835210#post835210

 

[arevolutionist]

Thank you! I shall read through those. I should have known this topic was postd previously.

 

[arevolutionist]

Most of the posts described the book as not suited for the average human. Would it be suited as a physics textbook for someone who highly enjoys mathematics?

 

[AlphaNumeric]

It's not a textbook per say given the lack of maths in the quantities you'd find in a textbook but it's pretty good for understanding the conceptual features of more advanced material. I couldn't get my head around the notions of a fibre bundle from a textbook but Penrose does a number of diagrams and mroe wordy explanations and that helped a lot.

If you really like maths and realize it's not a 'casual read' then it's worth the £10 or so it costs.

 

[George Jones]

I really like this ambitious book, but, as AlphaNumeric says, there isn't enought detail to learn stuff at a working level. Some may find the mathematics to be quite abstract, which, combined with the lack of detail, may cause frustration. If you find you're getting bogged down on some parts, just press on. Also, you don't have to read all of the first n-1 chapters to read chapter n. Read what interests you.

Penrose presents some standard results from unusual (and, according to him, uncontroversial) perspectives. On somer issues, however, Penrose holds views that are very controversial, and he takes care to label them as such.

All in all, one of the most fascinating books that I've read.

 

[robphy]

Here's a wikipedia entry on it:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Road_to_Reality:_A_Complete_Guide_to_the_Laws_of_the_Universe
and the amazon page
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0679454438/?tag=pfamazon01-20
and its official page, with errata:
http://www.roadsolutions.ox.ac.uk/

It's on my bookshelf, which I peek into once in a while.

 

[alex caps]

It's on my bookshelf, which I peek into once in a while.

Same here, I have it on my book shelf, I look through it every now and then, but it is not a book that I read cover to cover.