Liam A

Wonderful and Thought-provoking

Revisado: 01-10-23

The world is more complex than it seems, yet asymptotically approaches a broader simplicity. This engaging journey of discovery takes the listener on a captivating voyage that extends from a family to nations to the seemingly infinite arc of primate history that we are all throwing feces about.

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The Kinetic Ritual Explained

Revisado: 01-08-23

Look, it takes several hours to break this down. You just have to listen.

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Explanatory Power for How We Human

Revisado: 10-22-22

I found this book to be surprisingly engaging, and it really hit a "sweet spot" in my interests, blending mathematical models with the aspects of human psychology and behavior that have seemed illogical or nonsensical to me. Now, I can at least grasp some reasoning behind a lot of the things we do.

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Surrounded by Mean-Looking Toyotas

Revisado: 09-24-22

Was hoping for a meal, got an airhorn blast that smelled vaguely like an IKEA cafeteria. Not a lot of depth here, and not especially insightful. I am not even sure whoever the hell this author is lives on the same planet as most of us. I would save your money for a better book.

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Is Dr. H Predictable?

Revisado: 08-14-22

There's a lot of pseudoscientific or a-scientific stuff out there. It behooves the informed individual to understand what science is, where its limits are, and what it can/can't tell us about deeply philosophical questions we tend to ask. Does free will exist? Are humans predictable? What can science say about the creation of the universe, how it will end, and what happened before? Sabine Hossenfelder is incisive in cutting through the more speculative stuff to something less decorated with bullcrap. I find this refreshing.

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esto le resultó útil a 8 personas

Prepare To Have Your Mind Blown

Revisado: 05-29-22

There are two reasons I was reluctant to make this purchase. First, the cover, which I assume Tegmark insisted on, looks like it was rendered decades ago. Second, while I respect the mathematical underpinnings of physics and cosmology, I was hesitant to listen to some humdrum, warmed over recapitulation about the unreasonable effectiveness of mathematics.

I. Was. Completely. Wrong. From the first chapter, this book distinguishes itself with flair, enthusiasm, irreverence, and incredible teaching. I had no idea this book would get into areas of cosmology where multiverses are multilayered and continually mind-blowing. Tegmark not only explained cosmology in a way I was not expecting, but introduced so many exciting concepts I was unfamiliar with that (to paraphrase an old Snoop Dogg song) I had to back up off of it and set my book down. Wow.

Tegmark's vibrant enthusiasm is infectious. I highly recommend giving this book a try.

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Succinct

Revisado: 05-08-22

I would go to Brief History of Time if you liked this. Or even better, Susskind's The Black Hole War, where you get to hear about this and a few great Hawking stories to boot

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Exceptional

Revisado: 05-03-22

Who would start an intellectual "war" with Hawking? Susskind (and his collaborators). An insider's perspective on the black hole information paradox, full of both reverence and its converse.

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Still A Must Read

Revisado: 04-26-22

If you are fascinated by the physics of the cosmos, I think this book is always a good (if, by now, a bit dated) overview of the quest for such understanding. Greene puts forth an engaging tale of the history of his profession with humorous analogies and a focus on the deceptively simple experiment ivolving water in a rotating bucket. From this, he opens the door to ideas about the fundamental nature of the universe, which remains a compelling and very active area of research. Naturally, he turns to string theory, which may (this needs an asterisk, as it is one of several theories still in development) provide a mathematical foundation to explore and quantify physics at its most fundamental levels.

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Accessible and Humour-Filled Guided Tour

Revisado: 10-24-21

There have been a lot of developments in theoretical physics over the past several decades that appear mystifying to all but a select few with seemingly rarefied intellect and the possession of secret knowledge. In truth, it's all science up to the point that it agrees with measurements, coupled with varying degrees of speculation that range from simple extrapolation to the more wild ideas near the border of metaphysics. Before you go to any other book or article about the big answered questions of physics, it's helpful to have a mental map, and Dr. Lincoln is among the best cartographers for intrigued outsiders like myself. He breaks things down in a common-sense manner, providing helpful analogies and comprehensible deductions to explain important points. The book is probably best when it is viewed as a video, although the very detailed accompanying PDF was fine for me. Highly, enthusiastically recommend!

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