The Universe Speaks in Numbers

“In this fascinating and elegantly written book.... Farmelo has offered a thoughtful, well-informed reply to those who believe the quest for mathematical beauty has led theoretical physicists into adopting sterile, ultra-mathematical approaches divorced from reality.”—Guardian

“If you like reading about math without having to do math, this is a stellar book.”—Forbes

“Will pure mathematics prevail over dogged experiments in investigating the physical world? Is the fulfillment of the Pythagorean dream of a mathematical universe finally at hand? Mr. Farmelo, deeply impressed with the accomplishments of Einstein, Dirac and string theorists, is optimistic.”—Wall Street Journal

“Farmelo shows that theoretical physics and pure mathematics thrive best together.”—Scientific American

“These are brilliant successes of the mathematical approach, and Farmelo leads us through them adeptly, with a mixture of contemporary accounts and scientific insight.”—Nature

“Farmelo deftly retraces the growing realisation that maths can unlock understanding of real phenomena.... and provides a rich history of this interplay, along with a well-informed account of how it has worked in recent decades.”—Irish Times

“Despite the difficulties of writing about such specialised technical material, Farmelo has succeeded in writing a book for the general reader that gives insights into the motivation behind a theory developed by many of today’s leading thinkers. His book provides as clear an account of the subject as I can imagine for a non-specialist reader.”—Times Higher Education (UK)

“Mathematics here becomes a brilliant laser beam illuminating the very frontiers of science!”—Booklist (starred)

“A thought-provoking look at a fierce, ongoing controversy over the future of theoretical physics.”—Kirkus

“A riveting account of one of the greatest stories of our time. Graham Farmelo has delved deep into this fascinating subject, combining original scholarship and lively interviews with leading contemporary theorists at the forefront of the field. The result is a masterful book, which gives us, for the first time, a behind-the-scenes look at how physicists and mathematicians, driven by their pursuit of ultimate Truth, have been drawn into common territory by mysterious intellectual forces seemingly beyond their control.”—Nima Arkani-Hamed, professor, Institute of Advanced Study, Princeton

“Crisply-written, entertaining and extraordinarily well-informed. The most popular and elegant theories of what makes the cosmos tick are becoming harder―even impossible―to test directly but Graham Farmelo argues in this tour de force that they’re still taking us deep into the mathematical heart of reality.”—Roger Highfield, director, Science Museum Group

“This fascinating, splendidly readable, extensively researched, and remarkably up-to-date book takes readers from the days of Newton to the forefront of modern theoretical physics and shows how current research has reshaped the fields of physics and mathematics to the enrichment of both.”—Jeremy Gray, Open University

“Farmelo expertly narrates the history of the dynamic dance between mathematics and theoretical physics, from Newton to Einstein to string theory and beyond. This book will be a must-read for anyone interested in either subject’s history or present for many years ahead.”—Jacob Bourjaily, Niels Bohr International Academy, Copenhagen University

“A superbly written, riveting book. In elegant prose, and using virtually no equations, Farmelo describes the ongoing quest of great thinkers to understand the bedrock nature of reality, from the microworld to the cosmos.”—Martin Rees, astronomer royal

“I am overcome with admiration for its range and profundity. An amazing achievement.”—Michael Frayn