
Existential Physics
A Scientist's Guide to Life's Biggest Questions
No se pudo agregar al carrito
Add to Cart failed.
Error al Agregar a Lista de Deseos.
Error al eliminar de la lista de deseos.
Error al añadir a tu biblioteca
Error al seguir el podcast
Error al dejar de seguir el podcast
3 meses gratis
Compra ahora por $18.00
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrado por:
-
Gina Daniels
A contrarian scientist wrestles with the big questions that modern physics raises, and what physics says about the human condition.
Not only can we not currently explain the origin of the universe, it is questionable we will ever be able to explain it. The notion that there are universes within particles, or that particles are conscious, is ascientific, as is the hypothesis that our universe is a computer simulation. On the other hand, the idea that the universe itself is conscious is difficult to rule out entirely.
According to Sabine Hossenfelder, it is not a coincidence that quantum entanglement and vacuum energy have become the go-to explanations of alternative healers, or that people believe their deceased grandmother is still alive because of quantum mechanics. Science and religion have the same roots, and they still tackle some of the same questions: Where do we come from? Where do we go to? How much can we know? The area of science that is closest to answering these questions is physics. Over the last century, physicists have learned a lot about which spiritual ideas are still compatible with the laws of nature. Not always, though, have they stayed on the scientific side of the debate.
In this lively, thought-provoking book, Hossenfelder takes on the biggest questions in physics: Does the past still exist? Do particles think? Was the universe made for us? Has physics ruled out free will? Will we ever have a theory of everything? She lays out how far physicists are on the way to answering these questions, where the current limits are, and what questions might well remain unanswerable forever. Her book offers a no-nonsense yet entertaining take on some of the toughest riddles in existence, and will give the listener a solid grasp on what we know—and what we don’t know.
* This audiobook includes a downloadable PDF with key visual figures included in the book.
PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.
©2022 Sabine Hossenfelder (P)2022 Penguin AudioListeners also enjoyed...




















Reseñas de la Crítica
"Part gonzo journalist, part curious child, part teacher, and part accomplished researcher, Sabine Hossenfelder is a unique writing talent and a unique science popularizer. One cannot help being provoked reading her prose, as she knows how to push your buttons. But she also abhors bullshit, which makes her take on the deepest human questions and what physics has to say about them worth looking at, and also ensures that it will be different than those other physics books of grand verbosity about frontier physics. You might agree with her. You might not. But you will come away from the experience enriched, and will think about the world differently than you did before.” (Lawrence Krauss, best-selling author of The Physics of Star Trek, A Universe from Nothing, and The Physics of Climate Change)
Las personas que vieron esto también vieron:


















It was a fun read and got me thinking. I argued back with my own thoughts about things. Those are the best books, really.
I especially loved her answer to multiple universes.
I wish the author had read the book
Se ha producido un error. Vuelve a intentarlo dentro de unos minutos.
Great as long as focused on physics
Se ha producido un error. Vuelve a intentarlo dentro de unos minutos.
Genuine and honest
Se ha producido un error. Vuelve a intentarlo dentro de unos minutos.
One take-away from this book is that there are scientists out there who are not judgmental but rather spend their time investigating our universe and explaining it to us non-scientists in a very understandable way.
I would recommend this book to anyone and would invite educators, especially those who specialize in elementary education, to adapt the early chapters of this book to a required curriculum for their students.
Very Interesting Take on Science
Se ha producido un error. Vuelve a intentarlo dentro de unos minutos.
I also appreciate her dry wit and general sense of humor, which comes through in her YouTube videos, and interviews. However, for me, the narrator changes the tone of the text so frequently from the kind of tone Dr. Hossenfelder uses, and to such an extent, that it was distracting enough to give up on the audiobook less than half-way through and go back to the text.
To explain the kind of tone I'm talking about, consider how one could say: "I'm looking forward to seeing you." The tone could be, to various degrees, heartfelt, sarcastic, monotone, even angry. I think the narrator was trying to capture Dr. Hossenfelder's conversational style which is not typical "academic lecture" and includes dry wit and even whimsy, but the narrator frequently makes the tone in turns sarcastic, disdainful, and whatever that tone is that some adults take on when talking to children or telling a fairy tale. It felt like someone was telling me an office story: "So you know how Accounting doesn't care whether your numbers have any relation to reality, right? As long as you 'fill out every little bit of part B on form XYZ and blah-blah.' So like who cares? So I just tell them..."
If you've never heard Dr. H. talk about the many profound and/or fascinating subjects discussed in the book, the narrator's tone may make no difference to you, or maybe the tone simply won't bother you. If you think think there might be a problem, however, and there's any way to preview the narrator's performance, I'd do that first.
Excellent book, narrator's tone 'way off
Se ha producido un error. Vuelve a intentarlo dentro de unos minutos.
Awesome book
Se ha producido un error. Vuelve a intentarlo dentro de unos minutos.
"Essential Physics" may help some get closer to understanding the current state of science's explanation of life, but one may choose to be skeptical because sciences' pursuit of understanding life remains a work-in-progress. Physics study to date offers no answer to the meaning or destination of life. The truth remains in an "uncanny valley", a psychological concept of human unease, most recently compounded by genetics discoveries, computer animations, and A.I. influence on life.
UNCANNY VALLEY
Se ha producido un error. Vuelve a intentarlo dentro de unos minutos.
Is Dr. H Predictable?
Se ha producido un error. Vuelve a intentarlo dentro de unos minutos.
Welcome to the Pantheon, Dr Hossenfelder
Se ha producido un error. Vuelve a intentarlo dentro de unos minutos.
Fantastic book
Se ha producido un error. Vuelve a intentarlo dentro de unos minutos.