Probable impossibilities : musings on beginnings and endings Cover Image

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Probable impossibilities : musings on beginnings and endings / Alan Lightman.

Lightman, Alan P., 1948- (author.).

Summary:

"Before the discovery of quarks, we hadn't imagined anything smaller than protons and neutrons. Are quarks the end of the line, the smallest imaginable objects in nature? Can the universe be divided into infinitely smaller units in the same way the universe is ever-expanding? Alan Lightman explores these questions in his characteristic accessible and lyrical prose, considering the igniting element behind consciousness, the origin of life, the anatomy of a smile, our fickle memories. Probable Impossibilities brings together recently published and four original essays. Throughout, Lightman guides a discussion on what we know of the universe, life, the mind, and the conception of things vastly larger than ourselves in time and space"-- Provided by publisher.

Record details

ISBN: 9781524749019
ISBN: 152474901X
Physical Description: 197 pages ; 20 cm
Edition: First edition.
Publisher: New York : Pantheon Books, [2021]

Content descriptions

Bibliography, etc. Note:	Includes bibliographical references.
Formatted Contents Note:	Probable impossibilities -- Between nothingness and infinity -- What came before the big bang? -- On nothingness -- Atoms -- Modern Prometheus -- One hundred billion -- Smile -- The anatomy of attention -- Immortality -- The ghost house of my childhood -- In defense of disorder -- Miracles -- Our lonely home in nature -- Is life special? -- Cosmic biocentrism -- The man who knows infinity.
Awards Note:	A Junior Library Guild Selection.