Are there really laws of nature out there waiting to be discovered? Or are they simply an illusion? A retitled and revised edition of The World Within the World, this is John Barrow's extraordinary study of how we view the universe. Covering the magical notions of primitive cultures to the latest ideas about chaos, black holes, inflation, and superstrings, the book traces the development of ourconcept of what the laws of nature are and how we come to know them. Entertaining and inspiring, it is a journey to the edge of space and time. 'the sort of book that an archaeologist in the distant future would be delighted to have unearthed an educational wonder' TLS 'an excellent and entertaining book balancing at the crumbling edge of thought' New Scientist 'wonderfully wide-ranging Barrow explores not only a wide gamut of topics in the zone between physics and astronomy, but he wrestles with their philosophical contexts as well' Nature 'Written like a detective story, this book shows how scientists are creating a synthesis that will explain all the basic forces of nature in one theory.' Observer