“A fine introduction to the excitement and pleasures of science by a scientist who is a humanist in the noblest sense of the word.” Los Angeles Times
Description
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, mathematics—and exposes its beauty and intrigue.
In these brilliant essays, Lightman explores the emotional life of science, the power of imagination, the creative moment, and the alternate ways in which scientists and humanists think about the world. Along the way, he provides in-depth portraits of some of the great geniuses of our time, including Albert Einstein, Richard Feynman, Edward Teller, and astronomer Vera Rubin. Thoughtful, beautifully written, and wonderfully original, A Sense of the Mysterious confirms Alan Lightman’s unique position at the crossroads of science and art.
Praise
“A fine introduction to the excitement and pleasures of science by a scientist who is a humanist in the noblest sense of the word.” Los Angeles Times
“Wonderfully perceptive…Finely chiseled essays.” Scientific American
“Splendidly illuminating…Imprinted with Lightman’s scientific wonderment and poetic grace.” San Francisco Chronicle
“Lightman writes with his characteristic, unmannered leanness. His style takes something from the scientists who ‘want to hear that call of certain truth, that clear note of a struck bell.’" St. Louis Post-Dispatch
“Mixes insightful scientific biographies with revealing autobiographical accounts and leavens them both with clearly told physics lessons for lay readers.” Boston Globe
Details
| Language | English |
|---|---|
| Release Day | Sep 17, 2018 |
| Release Date | September 18, 2018 |
| Release Date Machine | 1537228800 |
| Imprint | Blackstone Publishing |
| Provider | Blackstone Publishing |
| Categories | Science & Engineering, Science, Nonfiction - Adult, Nonfiction - All |
Author Bio
Alan Lightman is the author of several novels, including Einstein’s Dreams, a New York Times and international bestseller, and The Diagnosis, a finalist for the 2000 National Book Award. He is also the author of several collections of essays and numerous books on science. His work has appeared in the Atlantic, 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.
Narrator Bio
Bronson Pinchot, Audible’s Narrator of the Year for 2010, has won Publishers Weekly Listen-Up Awards, AudioFile Earphones Awards, Audible’s Book of the Year Award, and Audie Awards for several audiobooks, including Matterhorn, Wise Blood, Occupied City, and The Learners. A magna cum laude graduate of Yale, he is an Emmy- and People’s Choice-nominated veteran of movies, television, and Broadway and West End shows. His performance of Malvolio in Twelfth Night was named the highlight of the entire two-year Kennedy Center Shakespeare Festival by the Washington Post. He attended the acting programs at Shakespeare & Company and Circle-in-the-Square, logged in well over 200 episodes of television, starred or costarred in a bouquet of films, plays, musicals, and Shakespeare on Broadway and in London, and developed a passion for Greek revival architecture.
Overview
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, mathematics—and exposes its beauty and intrigue.
In these brilliant essays, Lightman explores the emotional life of science, the power of imagination, the creative moment, and the alternate ways in which scientists and humanists think about the world. Along the way, he provides in-depth portraits of some of the great geniuses of our time, including Albert Einstein, Richard Feynman, Edward Teller, and astronomer Vera Rubin. 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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