On Being: A Scientist's Journey Through Life's Greatest Questions by Peter Atkins 2011 Hardcover-image
On Being: A Scientist's Journey Through Life's Greatest Questions by Peter Atkins 2011 Hardcover-image

On Being: A Scientist's Journey Through Life's Greatest Questions by Peter Atkins 2011 Hardcover

$ 3.47

Item Width: 5.7 in Format: Hardcover Synopsis: In this short book Peter Atkins considers the universal questions to which religions have claimed answers. With economy, wit, and elegance, unswerving before awkward realities, Atkins presents what science has to say. While acknowledging the comfort some find in belief, he declares his own faith in science's capacity to reveal the deepest truths., Peter Atkins is the shining exception to the rule that scientists make poor writers. A Fellow at Oxford and a leading chemist, he has won admiration for his precise, lucid, and yet rigorous explanations of science. Now he turns his forensic mind to the greatest--and most controversial--questions of human existence: birth, death, the origin of reality, and its end. In On Being , Atkins makes a provocative contribution to the great debate between religion and science. Atkins makes his position clear from the very first sentence: "The scientific method can shed light on every and any concept, even those that have troubled humans since the earliest stirrings of consciousness," he writes. He takes a materialist approach to the great questions of being that have inspired myth and religion, seeking to "dispel their mystery without diminishing their grandeur." In placing scientific knowledge in such cosmic perspective, he takes us on an often dizzying tour of existence. For example, he argues that "the substrate of existence is nothing at all." The total electrical charge of the universe, among other things, must be nothing--zero--he writes, or else the universe would have blasted itself apart. "Charge was not created at the creation: electrical Nothing separated into equal and opposite charges." He explores breathtaking questions--asking the purpose of the universe--with wit and learning, touching on Sanskrit scriptures and John Updike along the way., In this scientific 'Credo', Peter Atkins considers the universal questions of origins, endings, birth, and death to which religions have claimed answers. With his usual economy, wit, and elegance, unswerving before awkward realities, Atkins presents what science has to say. While acknowledging the comfort some find in belief, he declares his own faith in science's capacity to reveal the deepest truths. LCCN: 2010-943346 Publisher: Oxford University Press, Incorporated Reviews: "A paean to science." --Times Literary Supplement "An effortless read--a real page turner." --BBC Focus "Few can match the chiseled beauty of Peter Atkins's prose as he reflects on the nature of life and death, of beginnings and endings." --Richard Dawkins "A delight to read. Who else can cover the grand sweep of existence with such clarity and wit as Peter Atkins? The text sparkles with lively metaphors and arresting insights." --Paul Davies "Crisp with good sense, clear with scientific knowledge effortlessly imparted, and delicious with the sort of wit that makes you stop and put the book down just to enjoy it the more fully. It presents a vision of life and death, of matter and space and time that is honest and consistent and miracle-free." --Philip Pullman Item Weight: 17.6 Oz Topic: General, Metaphysics, Research & Methodology Intended Audience: Trade Dewey Decimal: 113/.8 ISBN-13: 9780199603367 Dewey Edition: 23 Publication Year: 2011 Book Title: On Being : a Scientist's Exploration of the Great Questions of Existence Author: Peter Atkins Genre: Philosophy, Science LC Classification Number: BD331 Language: English gtin13: 9780199603367 Item Length: 8 in ISBN-10: 0199603367 Number of Pages: 128 Pages brand: Oxford University Press, Incorporated Item Height: 0.6 in

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  1. This book is a brilliant dive into life's biggest mysteries, written with clarity and depth. Atkins blends science and philosophy in a way that’s both thought-provoking and accessible. A must-read for curious minds!

    MROQUADRATUS

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