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Table of Contents

Preface

1. Scientific Theories and Laws

2. The First Decade (1936-1946)

3. Relativity

4. The Second Decade (1946-1956)

5. Quantum Mechanics

6. The Third Decade (1956-1966)

7. The Big Bang

8. The Fourth Decade (1966-1976)

9. The Non-Bang

10. The Fifth Decade (1976-1986)

11. The Never-Bang

12. The Sixth Decade (1986-1996)

13. Evolution

14. The Seventh Decade (1996-2006)

15. The Theory of More than Everything

16. The Eighth Decade (2006-2016)

17. Now What?

18. The Ninth Decade (2016-2026)

Appendix A Paintings

Appendix B Caps and Bunnies

Appendix C Musical Compositions

Appendix E A Googolplex Universe

Appendix F Acknowledgements

Bibliography

Chapter 0-Page 0

If the trees wave hard enough, the clouds fall from the sky, bounce on the ground, and make a loud noise. You can even see the sparks when the clouds hit. Not bad, huh? OK, give me a break. I was four.

When I started school at the age of five, I saw a storm from above the ground for the first time. This "Aha" moment sent me back to the drawing board.

We can hold a theory until some new fact or observation proves it's wrong. Then we have to either fix it or throw it away and build something brand new. Scientists get stuck when they don't want to let a precious idea go. Perhaps they've used up too many grants showing a theory to be true, so they try to save it by piling on assumption after assumption.


ONE MORE THEORY/LAW

Try to propose a theory right here and now.

Observations:

  1. You're reading this book.
  2. Your eyes eventually get tired reading this book.
  3. This tiredness arrives after about one hour.

Got a thought?

Let's say you develop a theory that your eyes always get tired after reading this book for about one hour. You test your theory by reading the book every day for five days. Sure enough, every time you read the book, your eyes get tired after about one hour. Do these successful tests prove the theory? No, we can never prove a theory. One hundred successful tests can only give evidence and not prove a theory, but one unsuccessful test can disprove it forever. That doesn't sound fair, does it?

Chapter 0-Page 0

Sections

WHAT'S A THEORY

WHAT'S A LAW

ONE MORE THEORY/LAW

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