A Sense of the Mysterious: Science and the Human Spirit

Along the way, including albert einstein, Edward Teller, Richard Feynman, he provides in-depth portraits of some of the great geniuses of our time, and astronomer Vera Rubin. From the bestselling author of einstein's Dreams comes this lyrical and insightful collection of science writing that delves into the mysteries of the scientific process--physics, astronomy, mathamatics--and exposes its beauty and intrigue.

In these brilliant essays, the creative moment, the power of imagination, Lightman explores the emotional life of science, and the alternate ways in which scientists and humanists think about the world. Thoughtful, beautifully written, and wonderfully original, A Sense of the Mysterious confirms Alan Lightman's unique position at the crossroads of science and art.

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The Accidental Universe: The World You Thought You Knew

He looks at the 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 separated us from direct experience of the world; and our resistance to the view that our bodies and minds can be explained by scientific logic and laws.

Behind all of these considerations is the suggestion--at once haunting and exhilarating--that what we see and understand of the world is only a tiny piece of the extraordinary, perhaps unfathomable whole. Vintage. With passion and curiosity, Alan Lightman explores the emotional and philosophical questions raised by recent discoveries in science.

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Searching for Stars on an Island in Maine

From the acclaimed author of einstein's dreams, here is an inspires, lyrical meditation on religion and science that explores the tension between our yearning for permanence and certainty, and the modern scientific discoveries that demonstrate the impermanent and uncertain nature of the world. As a physicist, alan Lightman has always held a scientific view of the world.

He draws on sources ranging from saint augustine's conception of absolute truth to Einstein's theory of relativity, from the unity of the once-indivisible atom to the multiplicity of subatomic particles and the recent notion of multiple universes. Searching for stars on an Island in Maine is Lightman's exploration of these seemingly contradictory impulses.

Vintage. But one summer evening, lightman was overcome by the overwhelming sensation that he was merging with something larger than himself—a grand and eternal unity, while looking at the stars from a small boat at sea, a hint of something absolute and immaterial. What he gives us is a profound inquiry into the human desire for truth and meaning, and a journey along the different paths of religion and science that become part of that quest.

As a teenager experimenting in his own laboratory, he was impressed by the logic and materiality of a universe governed by a small number of disembodied forces and laws that decree all things in the world are material and impermanent.

Einstein's Dreams

In another, there is a place where time stands still, visited by lovers and parents clinging to their children. As the defiant but sensitive young genius is creating his theory of relativity, a new conception of time, he imagines many possible worlds. Vintage. Vintage. A modern classic, einstein’s dreams is a fictional collage of stories dreamed by Albert Einstein in 1905, about time, relativity and physics.

In poetic vignettes, it explores the connections between science and art, the process of creativity, and ultimately the fragility of human existence. In one, time is circular, so that people are fated to repeat triumphs and failures over and over. In another, time is a nightingale, sometimes trapped by a bell jar.

Now translated into thirty languages, Einstein’s Dreams has inspired playwrights, musicians, dancers, and painters all over the world.

In Praise of Wasting Time TED Books

In his 1949 autobiography, albert Einstein described how his thinking involved letting his mind roam over many possibilities and making connections between concepts that were previously unconnected. Vintage. We take our iPhones and laptops with us on vacation. Vintage. We check email at restaurants or our brokerage accounts while walking in the park.

Gustav mahler routinely took three or four-­hour walks after lunch, stopping to jot down ideas in his notebook. Especially in the west, we have created a frenzied lifestyle in which the twenty-­four hours of each day are carved up, dissected, and reduced down to ten minute units of efficiency. Carl jung did his most creative thinking and writing when he visited his country house.

Yet in the face of our time-driven existence, ” of letting the mind lie fallow for some periods, a great deal of evidence suggests there is great value in “wasting time, of letting minutes and even hours go by without scheduled activities or intended tasks. With in praise of wasting time, professor alan lightman documents the rush and heave of the modern world, for creative thought, suggests the technological and cultural origins of our time-­driven lives, and examines the many values of “wasting time”—for replenishing the mind, and for finding and solidifying the inner self.

In this timely and essential book that offers a fresh take on the qualms of modern day life, Professor Alan Lightman investigates the creativity born from allowing our minds to freely roam, without attempting to accomplish anything and without any assigned tasks. We are all worried about wasting time. When the school day ends, our children are overloaded with “extras.



Mr g: A Novel About the Creation Vintage Contemporaries

Vintage. As mr g’s favorite universe grows, he discovers how an act of creation can change everything in the world—including the creator himself. But the creation of space and time has unintended consequences, including the arrival of Belhor, a clever and devious rival. In the shimmering void, he creates time, where he lives with his Aunt Penelope and Uncle Deva, space, and matter.

Belhor delights in needling mr g, demanding explanations for the inexplicable, offering his own opinions on the fledgling universes, and maintaining the necessity of evil. Vintage. Once before time existed, Mr g woke up from a nap and decided to create the universe. Alan lightman,  the internationally bestselling author of Einstein's Dreams, on the grandest possible scale: the story of Creation, presents Mr g, a celebration of the highs and lows of existence, as told by God.

. Soon follow stars, consciousness, planets, animate matter, and intelligent beings with moral dilemmas.

Dance for Two: Essays

Vintage. The author of einstein's dreams now presents a collection of essays, written over the past 20 years, that displays his genius for bringing literary and scientific concerns into ringing harmony. Sometimes provocative, always elegantly conceived and written, sometimes fanciful, these meditations offer readers a fascinating look into the creative compulsions shared by the scientist and the artist.

Reading tour. Vintage.

The Discoveries: Great Breakthroughs in 20th-Century Science, Including the Original Papers

Here is science writing at its best–beautiful, lyrical and completely accessible. Vintage. Here are einstein, paul ing, fleming, Watson and Crick, Bohr, McClintock, Heisenberg and many others. It brings the process of discovery to life before our very eyes. Finally he includes a fascinating and unique guided tour through the original papers in which the discoveries were revealed.

With remarkable insight, portrays the human drama of discovery, Lightman charts the intellectual and emotional landscape of the time, and explains the significance and impact of the work. Vintage. In this captivating and lucid book, novelist and science writer Alan Lightman chronicles twenty-four great discoveries of twentieth-century science--everything from the theory of relativity to mapping the structure of DNA.

These discoveries radically changed our notions of the world and our place in it.

Fermi Buffalo Pitt Poetry

Vintage. Portland, Or. Annotation copyright Book News, Inc. The final collection of poetry by the late Louise McNeill, West Virginia's Poet Laureate from 1979 until her death in 1993. Vintage. Used book in Good Condition.

The Character of Physical Law The MIT Press

Used book in Good Condition. Mit. The character of physical law, drawn from feynman's famous 1964 series of Messenger Lectures at Cornell, offers an introduction to modern physics―and to Feynman at his witty and enthusiastic best. In this classic book originally published in 1967, feynman offers an overview of selected physical laws and gathers their common features, arguing that the importance of a physical law is not “how clever we are to have found it out” but “how clever nature is to pay attention to it.

He discusses such topics as the interaction of mathematics and physics, the puzzle of symmetry, the principle of conservation, and the process of scientific discovery. Vintage. Vintage. Awarded the nobel prize for physics in 1965, and briefly a star on the evening news for his presence on the commission investigating the explosion of the space shuttle Challenger, celebrated for his spirited and engaging lectures, Feynman is best known for his contributions to the field of quantum electrodynamics.

An introduction to modern physics and to Richard Feynman at his witty and enthusiastic best, discussing gravitation, irreversibility, symmetry, and the nature of scientific discovery. Richard feynman was one of the most famous and important physicists of the second half of the twentieth century. A foreword by 2004 physics nobel laureate frank Wilczek updates some of Feynman's observations―noting, however, “the need for these particular updates enhances rather than detracts from the book.

In the character of physical law, Feynman chose to grapple with issues at the forefront of physics that seemed unresolved, important, and approachable.

Song of Two Worlds

After decades of living “hung like a dried fly, first turning to the world of science and then to the world of philosophy, religion, awakens one morning revitalized and begins a Dante-like journey to find something to believe in, the narrator, ” emptied and haunted by his past, a man who has lost his faith in all things following a mysterious personal tragedy, and human life.

Verdict a vivid and moving book-length narrative poem that places the reader inside of a universe of wonder; of interest to poetry readers and beyond. Library journal from the author of international bestseller Einstein's Dreams and National Book Award nominee The Diagnosis. Vintage. An exciting new illustrated edition of a unique narrative poem.

Mit. Vintage. As his personal story is slowly revealed, we confront the great questions of the cosmos and of the human heart, little by little, some questions with answers and others without. Used book in Good Condition.