The Energon Pub

I'm working on a little fictional story/side-project that I'd like to start researching once I'm finished with school in May. It involves traveling between dimensions, and I'd like to have my concepts based on scientific theories.

Some of the books I've looked at on Amazon are The Elegant Universe and The Fabric of the Cosmos, both written by Brian Greene. I don't have a solid background in physics and I've never learned about this particular topic before, so I'm not really sure what to look for. I do know that I'm interested in theories about what keeps us in our present time/space; that sort of thing.

Any help or recommendations is appreciated

Carl Cryzlneki (spelling is definitely wrong) and Stephen (or steven?) Hawking are easy reads. Dummies guide, Idiots guide and Wiki are good springboards for entering at the deep end, then search through forums and blogs on the specific topic you're deal with each given day.

Have fun!!

Hoping I haven't replied to a SpamBot again...assuming I haven't.

Autobot Smoketreader wrote:Carl Cryzlneki (spelling is definitely wrong) and Stephen (or steven?) Hawking are easy reads. Dummies guide, Idiots guide and Wiki are good springboards for entering at the deep end, then search through forums and blogs on the specific topic you're deal with each given day.

Have fun!!

Hoping I haven't replied to a SpamBot again...assuming I haven't.

No, not at all! Thanks for the response!

I've heard of Stephen Hawking before, so I'll definitely look into that. I never thought about starting with some easy reading such as Dummies guides, etc.; might be a good place to start or at least have for referencing. I have done some searching around Wiki, but it seems a little too vague.

I'm confident that, eventually, I could handle some deep reading on the subject.

The Elegant Universe is definitely a good thing to read, though it might take more than once to get going. And, IIRC, what you're looking for is about a third of the way through, though I'd recommend not skipping ahead because the subject builds on stuff from the beginning of the book. But Greene goes into Einstein's Relativity near the beginning, which might help you get your head around how space works. Black holes are also something to help, because they deal with gravity, which has an awful lot to do with warping of space, space tears, and (probably) parallel universes, timelines, what-have-yous. You probably don't want to call them dimensions, though, because if your book is based on physics theories, dimensions are actually directions of existence (height, width, depth, time, etc.), not parallel universes.

However, before reading The Elegant Universe, I recommend checking out the Nova series on DVD. If your library has it, that's awesome. I started Greene's book once or twice, but didn't really get it until I had that TV visual to help. Then most of the stuff clicked.

Other than that, there's a Physics Forum that you could ask questions on. I warn you: the people who frequent that board have a little bit of practice with the tech-speak, so you'll have to explain yourself and get them to put it in layman's terms if you're just starting out on the subject.

Other than that, you can try us here. I'm better with time than parallel universes, but I've read up on some stuff on the subject, and I know others have, so we might be able to help.

8 bit wrote:I'm working on a little fictional story/side-project that I'd like to start researching once I'm finished with school in May. It involves traveling between dimensions, and I'd like to have my concepts based on scientific theories.

Some of the books I've looked at on Amazon are The Elegant Universe and The Fabric of the Cosmos, both written by Brian Greene. I don't have a solid background in physics and I've never learned about this particular topic before, so I'm not really sure what to look for. I do know that I'm interested in theories about what keeps us in our present time/space; that sort of thing.

Any help or recommendations is appreciated

I want to do this too! But I wanted to make a movie about it though, but I have a while to go.

The Endless Universe by Paul J. Steinhardt and Neil Turox.

Good read. Might help and might not. There is pertinent material in this book to what i think your going for. If not, at least it will give you a much better understanding of all the topics your interested in.

Me, Grimlock! wrote:The Elegant Universe is definitely a good thing to read, though it might take more than once to get going. And, IIRC, what you're looking for is about a third of the way through, though I'd recommend not skipping ahead because the subject builds on stuff from the beginning of the book. But Greene goes into Einstein's Relativity near the beginning, which might help you get your head around how space works. Black holes are also something to help, because they deal with gravity, which has an awful lot to do with warping of space, space tears, and (probably) parallel universes, timelines, what-have-yous. You probably don't want to call them dimensions, though, because if your book is based on physics theories, dimensions are actually directions of existence (height, width, depth, time, etc.), not parallel universes.

However, before reading The Elegant Universe, I recommend checking out the Nova series on DVD. If your library has it, that's awesome. I started Greene's book once or twice, but didn't really get it until I had that TV visual to help. Then most of the stuff clicked.

Other than that, there's a Physics Forum that you could ask questions on. I warn you: the people who frequent that board have a little bit of practice with the tech-speak, so you'll have to explain yourself and get them to put it in layman's terms if you're just starting out on the subject.

Other than that, you can try us here. I'm better with time than parallel universes, but I've read up on some stuff on the subject, and I know others have, so we might be able to help.

Wow! Thanks for the info about Greene and for the Nova DVD idea. I don't know if I would've figured out that visual aids would be helpful when dealing with physics. I'll look into the Physics Forum after I've started researching a bit. And yeah, I'll post here on Seibertron too!

SlyTF1 wrote:I want to do this too! But I wanted to make a movie about it though, but I have a while to go.

Yeah, it seems anymore that if you want to make a fictional story, you really have to do your homework first, and that can take a while.

monstergrotusque wrote:The Endless Universe by Paul J. Steinhardt and Neil Turox.

Good read. Might help and might not. There is pertinent material in this book to what i think your going for. If not, at least it will give you a much better understanding of all the topics your interested in.

Awesome! Looks like I'm off to a good start...I just have to finish up school this Spring and then I'll have time to do some researching. This is something I'm pretty serious about finishing, so I really do appreciate the help you guys have given me!