| A Sense of the Mysterious: Science and the Human Spirit Contributor(s): Lightman, Alan (Author) |
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ISBN: 1400078199 ISBN-13: 9781400078196 Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group OUR PRICE: $18.05 Product Type: Paperback - Other Formats Published: January 2006 Annotation: Unusually gifted as both a physicist and a novelist, Alan Lightman has lived in the dual worlds of science and art for much of his life. In these brilliant essays, the two worlds meet. In A Sense of the Mysterious, Lightman records his personal struggles to reconcile certainty with uncertainty, logic with intuition, questions with answers and questions without. Lightman explores the emotional life of science, the power of metaphor and imagination in science, the creative moment, the different uses of language in science and literature, and the alternate ways in which scientists and humanists think about the world. Included are in-depth portraits of some of the great scientists of our time: Albert Einstein, Richard Feynman, Edward Teller, and astronomer Vera Rubin. Rather than finding a forbidding gulf between the two cultures, as did the physicist and novelist C. P. Snow fifty years ago, Lightman discovers complementary ways of looking at the world, both part of being human. Original, thoughtful, and beautifully written, A Sense of the Mysterious confirms Alan Lightman's unique position at the crossroads of science and art. "From the Hardcover edition. |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - Science | Philosophy & Social Aspects - Science | History - Science | Essays |
| Dewey: 501 |
| Physical Information: 0.6" H x 5.28" W x 8.08" (0.59 lbs) 224 pages |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher 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, mathamatics--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. |