New fundamental forces of Nature? New forms of "dark'' energy? Signals from epochs preceding the Big Bang? Is our space-time unique? Only a joint study of the three topics examined in this book ¿ gravity, strings and particles ¿ may provide answers to these questions. Such a study may also provide the key to solving one of the most fascinating mysteries of modern science, namely: Besides time and the three spatial dimensions, how many other dimensions exist in our universe?
The book is primarily addressed to readers who do not necessarily have a specific background in physics but are nevertheless interested in discovering the originality and the possible implications of some of the amazing ideas in modern theoretical physics. The emphasis is on conveying ideas rather than explaining formulas, focusing not on what is known but -- mainly -- on what is still unknown. Many parts of the book are devoted to fundamental theoretical models and results which are potentially highly relevant for a deeper understanding of Nature, but are still waiting to be  confirmed (or disproved) by experiments. From this point of view, the material of this book may also be of interest to professional physicists, whether or not they work in the field of fundamental interactions.

From the Contents: Prologue: inside the energy walls of our \cradle".- Gravity at small distances.- Gravity at large distances.- Space, time and space-time.- Strings and fundamental interactions.- The past of our Universe.

Maurizio Gasperini is Professor of Theoretical Physics at the Physics Department of the University of Bari, Italy. He is the author of more than 200 publications on gravitational theory, high-energy physics, and cosmology, and has twice won an "Award for Essays on Gravitation" from the Gravity Research Foundation (1996 and 1998). His former posts include a permanent position in the Department of Theoretical Physics at the University of Turin, and three appointments as Scientific Associate at CERN, Theory Division (1993, 1996 and 2005). He has already published 6 books with Springer.