Reviews

Worlds Without End: The Many Lives of the Multiverse by Mary-Jane Rubenstein

michaelacabus's review against another edition

5.0

I stumbled across this book at a local bookstore. I had heard about the topic of the multiverse, but knew very little of the origins.

This book is decidedly philosophical in its basis; it is rooted in the examination of the universe, and the deeper meaning this has for questions of God, physics and the natural world. What is beautiful about this is the early writing that is attempting to understand the universe results in beautiful language and complex philosophical algorithms.

I found this book to be very readable, though the logic can be fun or boring, depending on your mindset. A very important book...

mrswhatsit8's review against another edition

5.0

Really incredible work, tracing the history of cosmologies and conceptions of the multiverse (largely in the European context), from Plato to modern physicists. Rubinstein has done close, close reading of a number of complex and sometimes internally contradictory works, and has a real gift for communicating their visions clearly and concisely without sacrificing any of the universe-sized philosophical questions they are dealing with. She shows commonalities across generations of cosmologists who might not name one another as kin, without over-simplifying the differences in thought and framework over time. Provocative for scientists, theologians, anyone in the universe working through what it means to determine “what is” and how we know, and what different conceptions of the size and shape and duration of “is-ness” mean for what we can know, who we can be, and how all things started (or repeated).