The Dancing Universe

The Dancing Universe
Author: Marcelo Gleiser
Publisher: UPNE
Total Pages: 354
Release: 2005
Genre: Science
ISBN: 158465466X

Surveying scientists' and philosophers' ideas about the universe over the past twenty-five centuries, a prominent physicist plumbs the relationship between science and mythology, showing how recent theories of the universe's origin recall ancient creation myths.

The Dancing Universe

The Dancing Universe
Author: Marcelo Gleiser
Publisher: UPNE
Total Pages: 354
Release: 2012-09-04
Genre: Science
ISBN: 1611683955

Available again, with a new preface, a physicist's "exceptionally clear summary of 2,500 years of science and a fascinating account of the ways in which it often does intersect with spiritual beliefs" --Kirkus Reviews

A Tear at the Edge of Creation

A Tear at the Edge of Creation
Author: Marcelo Gleiser
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 306
Release: 2010-04-06
Genre: Science
ISBN: 1439127867

For millennia, shamans and philosophers, believers and nonbelievers, artists and scientists have tried to make sense of our existence by suggesting that everything is connected, that a mysterious Oneness binds us to everything else. People go to temples, churches, mosques, and synagogues to pray to their divine incarnation of Oneness. Following a surprisingly similar notion, scientists have long asserted that under Nature’s apparent complexity there is a simpler underlying reality. In its modern incarnation, this Theory of Everything would unite the physical laws governing very large bodies (Einstein’s theory of relativity) and those governing tiny ones (quantum mechanics) into a single framework. But despite the brave efforts of many powerful minds, the Theory of Everything remains elusive. It turns out that the universe is not elegant. It is gloriously messy. Overturning more than twenty-five centuries of scientific thought, award-winning physicist Marcelo Gleiser argues that this quest for a Theory of Everything is fundamentally misguided, and he explains the volcanic implications this ideological shift has for humankind. All the evidence points to a scenario in which everything emerges from fundamental imperfections, primordial asymmetries in matter and time, cataclysmic accidents in Earth’s early life, and duplication errors in the genetic code. Imbalance spurs creation. Without asymmetries and imperfections, the universe would be filled with nothing but smooth radiation. A Tear at the Edge of Creation calls for nothing less than a new "humancentrism" to reflect our position in the universal order. All life, but intelligent life in particular, is a rare and precious accident. Our presence here has no meaning outside of itself, but it does have meaning. The unplanned complexity of humankind is all the more beautiful for its improbability. It’s time for science to let go of the old aesthetic that labels perfection beautiful and holds that "beauty is truth." It’s time to look at the evidence without centuries of monotheistic baggage. In this lucid, down-to-earth narrative, Gleiser walks us through the basic and cutting-edge science that fueled his own transformation from unifier to doubter—a fascinating scientific quest that led him to a new understanding of what it is to be human.

The Island of Knowledge

The Island of Knowledge
Author: Marcelo Gleiser
Publisher: Civitas Books
Total Pages: 370
Release: 2014-06-03
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 0465031714

Why discovering the limits to science may be the most powerful discovery of allHow much can we know about the world? In this book, physicist Marcelo Gleiser traces our search for answers to the most fundamental questions of existence, the origin of the universe, the nature of reality, and the limits of knowledge. In so doing, he reaches a provocative conclusion: science, like religion, is fundamentally limited as a tool for understanding the world. As science and its philosophical interpretations advance, we face the unsettling recognition of how much we don't know. Gleiser shows that by aband.

The Dancing Wu Li Masters

The Dancing Wu Li Masters
Author: Gary Zukav
Publisher: Random House
Total Pages: 482
Release: 2012-12-31
Genre: Science
ISBN: 1448175070

This is an account of the essential aspects of the new physics for those with little or no knowledge of mathematics or science. It describes current theories of quantum mechanics, Einstein's special and general theories of relativity and other speculations, alluding throughout to parallels with modern psychology and metaphorical abstractions to Buddhism and Taoism. The author has also written "The Seat of the Soul".

Even More Notes From the Universe

Even More Notes From the Universe
Author: Mike Dooley
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 227
Release: 2012-12-11
Genre: Body, Mind & Spirit
ISBN: 1471105814

Prominent contributor to The Secret, Mike Dooley offers more insightful, entertaining messages to amuse and inspire you. While the first book spoke primarily about new beginnings, and the second book's focus was about traditions, Even MoreNotes from the Universespeaks on the theme of change, growth and decision-making. Many of the notes echo the overarching theme of personal empowerment, giving readers the help from the cosmos that most of us have needed at one point or another. But throughout the third book, Mike Dooley shares his philosophy of change - when you come to the point in your life where you have a choice between doing what you want to do, and what you have to do, always do what you want, he says. What started in 1998 as a little poem sent out once a week to a handful of email addresses has evolved into an inspiring anecdote delivered to over 150,000 subscribers from 169 countries. Mike Dooley serves as an interpreter for the Universe. Notes from the Universe: Book 3is the third and final book in the three-volume set that is brimful with powerful affirmations that will have you thinking positively, feeling confident, and walking the path to personal success. When readers discover the truths the Universe is unveiling, they will begin living happier, more fulfilling lives.

Dancing at the Edge of the World

Dancing at the Edge of the World
Author: Ursula K. Le Guin
Publisher: Open Road + Grove/Atlantic
Total Pages: 361
Release: 2017-07-18
Genre: Literary Collections
ISBN: 0802165664

“Ursula Le Guin at her best . . . This is an important collection of eloquent, elegant pieces by one of our most acclaimed contemporary writers.” —Elizabeth Hand, The Washington Post Book World “I have decided that the trouble with print is, it never changes its mind,” writes Ursula K. Le Guin in her introduction to Dancing at the Edge of the World. But she has, and here is the record of that change in the decade since the publication of her last nonfiction collection, The Language of the Night. And what a mind—strong, supple, disciplined, playful, ranging over the whole field of its concerns, from modern literature to menopause, from utopian thought to rodeos, with an eloquence, wit, and precision that makes for exhilarating reading. “If you are tired of being able to predict what a writer will say next, if you are bored stiff with minimalism, if you want excess and risk and intelligence and pure orneriness, try Le Guin.” —Mary Mackey, San Francisco Chronicle

The Simple Beauty of the Unexpected

The Simple Beauty of the Unexpected
Author: Marcelo Gleiser
Publisher: Brandeis University Press
Total Pages: 205
Release: 2022-02-26
Genre: Nature
ISBN: 1684581087

"Personal and engaging, The Simple Beauty of the Unexpected is a scientist's tribute to nature, an affirmation of humanity's deep connection with and debt to Earth, and an exploration of the meaning of existence, from atom to trout to cosmos"--

Dance of the Photons

Dance of the Photons
Author: Anton Zeilinger
Publisher: Macmillan + ORM
Total Pages: 398
Release: 2010-10-12
Genre: Science
ISBN: 1429963794

The Nobel laureate in physics explains his experiments in quantum entanglement: “An accessible popular account of this fascinating field.” —Science Einstein’s steadfast refusal to accept certain aspects of quantum theory was rooted in his insistence that physics has to be about reality. Accordingly, he once derided as “spooky action at a distance” the notion that two elementary particles far removed from each other could nonetheless influence each other’s properties—a hypothetical phenomenon his fellow theorist Erwin Schrödinger termed “quantum entanglement.” In a series of ingenious experiments conducted in various locations—from a dank sewage tunnel under the Danube River to the balmy air between a pair of mountain peaks in the Canary Islands—the author and his colleagues have demonstrated the reality of such entanglement using photons, or light quanta, created by laser beams. In principle the lessons learned may be applicable in other areas, including the eventual development of quantum computers. In Dance of the Photons, Anton Zeilinger guides us on a “rewarding exploration of the weird world of quantum physics” (Kirkus Reviews). “This delightful little book, by one of the world’s leading practitioners in this area, explains these recent advances in a way that should be accessible even to readers with no physics background.” —Anthony J. Leggett, winner of the 2003 Nobel Prize in Physics