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Final Theory: A Novel |  |
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Final Theory: A Novel | |
A Spellbinding Thriller about a Science History
Professor on the Run for his Life and an Unpublished Einstein
Theory that Could Change the World
Debut novelist Mark Alpert brings one of the most explosive books of 2008, seamlessly weaving current issues of science, history, and politics with white-knuckle chases.
David Swift, a professor at Columbia University, is called to the hospital to comfort his mentor, a physicist who's been brutally tortured. Before dying, the old man wheezes "Einheitliche Feldtheorie." The Theory of Everything. The Destroyer of Worlds. Could this be Einstein's proposed Unified Theory--a set of equations that combines the physics of galaxies with the laws of atoms? Einstein never succeeded in discovering it. Or did he? Within hours of hearing his mentor's last words, David is running for his life. The FBI and a ruthless mercenary are vying to get their hands on the long-hidden theory. Teaming up with his old girlfriend, a brilliant Princeton scientist, David frantically works out Einstein's final theory to reveal the staggering scope of its consequences.
With publishers around the world snapping up rights in twenty-two countries, the book has already become a global phenomenon, and the dynamic characters and gripping plot will keep readers compulsively turning the pages until the very end.
作者简介 A self-described lifelong "science geek," Mark Alpert majored in astrophysics at Princeton University, writing his undergraduate thesis on an application of Einstein's theory of relativity. After earning an MFA in poetry at Columbia and working as a reporter, he became an editor at Scientific American, where he simplifies bewildering scientific ideas for the magazine's readers. Mark lives in Manhattan with his wife and children.
编辑推荐 "Wow! Einstein would have loved this book. It's a great thriller, it has a sure feel for politics, and the science is both fun and solid. He always dreamed that he would discover a unified theory that explained all of nature's forces. Now this book makes the quest come alive." -- Walter Isaacson, New York Times bestselling author of Einstein^"Final Theory is a stupendous read! Real characters, real science, a deliciously explosive premise, and a breakneck plot combine to make this one of the finest science-based thrillers to appear in a long time. Final Theory rules. If I were Michael Crichton, I'd be packing my bags and heading for a quiet retirement in Tahiti..." -- Douglas Preston, New York Times bestselling author of Blasphemy^"A high-IQ doomsday thriller with clearly explicated and hauntingly beautiful scientific theories...[A] satisfying high-tech, high-stakes adventure."-- Booklist (starred)^"A pure potboiler...Well-plotted, well-written...You'll love it." -- Sharon Begley, Newsweek.com^"A physics-based version of the Da Vinci Code...The work of an expert with a pertinent skill". -- Janet Maslin, The New York Times^"Final Theory has everything I love in a novel: heart-pounding tension, astonishing plot twists, and fascinating science. Mark Alpert manages to make physics more thrilling than I ever imagined!" -- Tess Gerritsen, New York Times bestselling author of The Bone Garden^"An ingenious twist on Einstein's genius." -- Thomas Greanias, New York Times bestselling author of Raising Atlantis^"Alpert has a rare gift for combining cutting-edge science with an unrelenting pace and edge-of-the-seat action. An impressive debut." -- Kyle Mills, New York Times bestselling author of Rising Phoenix^"I have always been fascinated by the potential of science, the point where physics appears to defy its own laws and behave in uncertain ways. Thanks to this wonderful novel, I have reunited with an old passion and enjoyed a journey full of unexpected twists and drama." -- Javier Sierra, New York Times bestselling author of The Secret Supper^"The relentless action, including one giant twist and plenty of smaller ones, builds to a pulse-pounding conclusion." -- Publishers Weekly
文摘
Chapter One
Hans Walther Kleinman, one of the great theoretical physicists of our time, was drowning in his bathtub. A stranger with long, sinewy arms had pinned Hans's shoulders to the porcelain bottom.
Although the water was only thirty centimeters deep, the pinioning arms kept Hans from raising his face to the surface. He clawed at the stranger's hands, trying to loosen their grip, but the man was a shtarker, a young vicious brute, and Hans was a seventy-nine-year-old with arthritis and a weak heart. Flailing about, he kicked the sides of the tub, and the lukewarm water sloshed all around him. He couldn't get a good look at his attacker -- the man's face was a shifting, watery blur. The shtarker must have slipped into the apartment through the open window by the fi re escape, then rushed into the bathroom when he realized that Hans was inside.
As Hans struggled, he felt the pressure building in his chest. It started in the center, right under his sternum, and quickly filled his whole rib cage. A negative pressure, pushing inward from all sides, constricting his lungs. Within seconds it rose to his neck, a hot choking tightness, and Hans opened his mouth, gagging. Lukewarm water rushed down his throat, and now Hans devolved into a creature of pure panic, a twisting, squirming primitive animal going into its fi nal convulsions. No, no, no, no, no, no! Then he lay still, and as his vision faded he saw only the wavelets at the surface, rippling just a few centimeters above him. A Fourier series, he thought. And so beautiful.
But it wasn't the end, not yet. When Hans regained consciousness he was lying facedown on the cold tiled fl oor, coughing up bathwater. His eyes ached and his stomach lurched and each breath was an excruciating gasp. Coming back to life was actually more painful than dying. Then he felt a sharp blow to his back, right between his shoulder blades, and heard someone say in a jaunty voice, "T
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