Daniel Salter
Penn State University
Editor

Stuart Brown
StudentAffairs.com
Executive Editor

Book Review
The Pearly Gates of Cyberspace:
A History of Space from Dante to the Internet

written by Margaret Wertheim

I would bet that you have never sat down and thought about 'space' and how the concept of space relates to you. Now, if you think about space in relation to God and technology, does that change your concept of self? The Pearly Gates of Cyberspace by Margaret Wertheim is a book which traces the human notion of space from the time of Dante to the present day.

Fans of Richard Burke's science series The Day the Universe Changed will be comfortable with the flow and structure of this book. Like Burke, who can trace the need of ancient Phoenicians to figure out how far away their trading ships are from docking to the development of global positioning satellites, Wertheim examines how the development of the fields science, art and religion are intertwined in the concept of space and God, and how that has changed the way in which we thinks of ourselves in relation to God and our faith.

Ms. Wertheim uses the work of philosophers, scientists and theologians (some you have heard of, some you haven't) to illustrate how the simple questions about what space is in a religious and scientific context can lead to the great changes in how we see ourselves. It is interesting how the simple idea of space and how we think about it can fundamentally change who we think we are.

It should be understood that in this book, God is presented from the Judeo-Christian tradition. You need to be pretty well read to fully appreciate this book, I think. You should make sure that you have at least a general understanding of Christian theological traditions, physics, medieval history, and philosophy before attacking this book.Wertheim indeed does her homework and presents a startling well researched and comprehensive study. This book reminded me of some the academic texts that I have read, and words like 'apposite' and 'hypercoporeal' had me running for the dictionary. This isn't exactly an easy read if you are a blue-collar type like me, but it is certainly a worthwhile read.

The subtitle of this book, "A History of Space from Dante to the Internet" very accurately describes what this book addresses. If you remember how confounding Dante was in high school and college, you might be hesitant to pick this book up. Don't be. Ms. Wertheim does all the heavy lifting and translates Dante's ideas of where man is in relation to God easily. She also intertwines the ideas of how the development of art necessarily changed the religious epistemology during and after the time of Dante, and how artistic changes brought about questions in the relation of where we are to God.

As nice is the beginning of the book, the great joy of this book comes after the discussion of Dante. This is where the writing is reminiscent of Richard Burke, and the tracing of 'space' as a concept is wonderfully drawn out, and how it develops through the blooming of the Renaissance.

I found that the most interesting sections, in the middle to be the chapters titled 'Relativistic Space' and 'Hyperspace'.

In 'Relativistic Space' the story of how scientists, dissatisfied with the explanation of the creation of the world as told in Genesis, begin a journey, starting with Newton, and ending in the explanation of the work of Einstein and the theory of relativity. Einstein's work comes alive in this book, as something much more than an equation, reserved only for physicists and mathematicians.

In 'Hyperspace' the discussion revolves around the ideas of how many dimensions compromise the reality that we know it. This chapter is particularly fascinating, especially so for fans of H.G. Wells, who is talked about at the beginning of the chapter, and popular science fiction series such as Star Trek and Star Wars. Again, like Burke would do, etymology of the idea of how many dimensions exist (and in which space they exist) is examined in this chapter, and it is quite frankly spell-binding.

The thread that runs through the entire book is how technological advances and new philosophical thought about space and what space means through the centuries have loosened the grip of organized religions in the lives of man. Curiously, in the final two chapters, titles 'Cyberspace' and 'Siberia-Utopia' highlight how the creators of the emerging technology of the Internet view these technologies in religious terms, almost bringing us full circle to a relationship with space which brings us closer to our faith in a way in which Dante would seemingly be familiar.

The only thing that I was disappointed with in this book was to find a reference to Al Gore and his ideas about the Internet. Including Gore in a discussion about Cyberspace is a lot like including Newt Gingrich in a book about marital fidelity.

The Pearly Gates of Cyberspace in an excellent read, if your interests run through the area of the philosophical contexts of science and religion and how they affect and are affected by each other, and the consequences of those interactions.

What is truly interesting, is the thought that this concept of space, which the book addressed, is still one that is at this moment being rethought and redefined. That is the exciting part, knowing that there will be a time when we can travel through space, and knowing that this will change our views of ourselves.