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

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.

Les mer
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.
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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]

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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
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.
Les mer

Physicist and novelist Alan Lightman explores the unexpected ways in which recent scientific findings have shaped our understanding of ourselves and our place in the cosmos.

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, Alan Lightman’s The Accidental Universe is a beautiful and profound meditation on what we see and understand of the world – and ourselves.

£9.99

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Produktdetaljer

ISBN
9781472109187
Publisert
2014
Utgiver
Little, Brown Book Group; Corsair
Vekt
268 gr
Høyde
206 mm
Bredde
154 mm
Dybde
18 mm
Aldersnivå
00, G, 01
Språk
Product language
Engelsk
Format
Product format
Innbundet
Antall sider
176

Forfatter

Om bidragsyterne

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.