A series of beautifully written, intellectually thrilling essays ( in the literary scientific tradition of Richard Feynman and Carl Sagan) by award-winning physicist and novelist Alan Lightman: The Accidental Universe is a meditation on the unexpected ways in which recent scientific findings have shaped our understanding of ourselves and our place in the cosmos.
A series of beautifully written, intellectually thrilling essays (in the literary scientific tradition of Richard Feynman and Carl Sagan) by award-winning physicist and novelist Alan Lightman: The Accidental Universe is a meditation on the unexpected ways in which recent scientific findings have shaped our understanding of ourselves and our place in the cosmos.
PRODUCT INFORMATION
Summary
A series of beautifully written, intellectually thrilling essays ( in the literary scientific tradition of Richard Feynman and Carl Sagan) by award-winning physicist and novelist Alan Lightman: The Accidental Universe is a meditation on the unexpected ways in which recent scientific findings have shaped our understanding of ourselves and our place in the cosmos.
A series of beautifully written, intellectually thrilling essays (in the literary scientific tradition of Richard Feynman and Carl Sagan) by award-winning physicist and novelist Alan Lightman: The Accidental Universe is a meditation on the unexpected ways in which recent scientific findings have shaped our understanding of ourselves and our place in the cosmos.
Description
In The Accidental Universe, physicist and novelist Alan Lightman explores the emotional and philosophical questions raised by discoveries in science, focusing most intently on the human condition and the needs of humankind.
Here, in a collection of exhilarating essays, Lightman shows us our own universe from a series of fascinating and diverse perspectives. He takes on the difficult dialogue between science and religion; the conflict between our human desire for permanence and the impermanence of nature; the possibility that our universe is simply an accident; the manner in which modern technology has divorced us from enjoying a direct experience of the world; and our resistance to the view that our bodies and minds can be explained by scientific logic and laws alone.
With his customary passion, precision, lyricism and imagination, in The Accidental Universe Alan Lightman leaves us with the suggestion - heady and humbling - that what we see and understand of the world and ourselves is only a tiny piece of the extraordinary, perhaps unfathomable whole.
Praise for Alan Lightman:
'...a gem of a novel that is strange witty erudite and alive with Lightman's playful genius.' Junot Diaz.
'It would not seem possible for Alan Lightman to match his earlier tour de force, Einstein's Dreams, but in Mr g he has done so - with wit, imagination, and transcendent beauty.' Anita Desai.
Critic Reviews
“Alan Lightman might be the only writer who can dance through not just one but seven universes in a book not much larger than a human hand. - The Columbus Dispatch”
About the Author
Alan Lightman is the author of six novels including Einstein's Dreams which was an international bestseller, and The Diagnosis, a finalist for the US National Book Award. He is also the author of two collections of essays, and several books on science. His work has appeared in the Atlantic Monthly, Granta, the New Yorker, The New York Review of Books, and Nature, among many other publications. A theoretical physicist as well as a writer, he has served on the faculties of Harvard and MIT, where he was the first person to receive a dual faculty appointment in science and the humanities. He lives in the Boston area.
Back Cover
Praise for Alan Lightman: 'Lightman is an artist who paints with the notion of time.' Los Angeles Times 'Captivating, enchanting, delightful.' New York Times 'It would not seem possible for Alan Lightman to match his earlier tour de force, Einstein's Dreams , but in Mr g he has done so - with wit, imagination, and transcendent beauty.' Anita Desai 'Just as he did with his incomparable Einstein's Dreams , Alan Lightman again surprises us with a work that is utterly original in both form and content. Mr g is a philosophical fable which is at turns hilarious and moving, rendered with a literary hand so deft that the weightiest metaphysical topics levitate into pure delight.' Rebecca Newberger Goldstein [Barcode: 9781472109187]
In The Accidental Universe , physicist and novelist Alan Lightman explores the emotional and philosophical questions raised by discoveries in science, focusing most intently on the human condition and the needs of humankind.Here, in a collection of exhilarating essays, Lightman shows us our own universe from a series of fascinating and diverse perspectives. He takes on the difficult dialogue between science and religion; the conflict between our human desire for permanence and the impermanence of nature; the possibility that our universe is simply an accident; the manner in which modern technology has divorced us from enjoying a direct experience of the world; and our resistance to the view that our bodies and minds can be explained by scientific logic and laws alone.With his customary passion, precision, lyricism and imagination, in The Accidental Universe Alan Lightman leaves us with the suggestion - heady and humbling - that what we see and understand of the world and ourselves is only a tiny piece of the extraordinary, perhaps unfathomable whole.Praise for Alan Lightman:'...a gem of a novel that is strange witty erudite and alive with Lightman's playful genius.' Junot Diaz.'It would not seem possible for Alan Lightman to match his earlier tour de force, Einstein's Dreams , but in Mr g he has done so - with wit, imagination, and transcendent beauty.' Anita Desai.
Product Details
Returns
This item is eligible for free returns within 30 days of delivery. See our returns policy for further details.
