Conjuring the Universe, Peter Atkins
Conjuring the Universe, Peter Atkins
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Conjuring the Universe
The Origins of the Laws of Nature

Author: Peter Atkins

Narrator: Chris Sorensen

Unabridged: 6 hr 10 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 08/14/2018

Synopsis

The marvelous complexity of the Universe emerges from several deep laws and a handful of fundamental constants that fix its shape, scale, and destiny. There is a deep structure to the world which at the same time is simple, elegant, and beautiful. Where did these laws and these constants come from? And why are the laws so fruitful when written in the language of mathematics?

Peter Atkins considers the minimum effort needed to equip the Universe with its laws and its constants. He explores the origin of the conservation of energy, of electromagnetism, of classical and quantum mechanics, and of thermodynamics, showing how all these laws spring from deep symmetries. The revolutionary result is a short but immensely rich weaving together of the fundamental ideas of physics. With his characteristic wit, erudition, and economy, Atkins sketches out how the laws of Nature can spring from very little. Or arguably from nothing at all.

About Peter Atkins

Peter Atkins is a fellow of Lincoln College in the University of Oxford and the author of about seventy books for students and a general audience. His texts are market leaders around the globe. A frequent lecturer in the United States and throughout the world, he has held visiting professorships in France, Israel, Japan, China, and New Zealand. He was the founding chairman of the Committee on Chemistry Education of the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry and was a member of IUPAC's Physical and Biophysical Chemistry Division. Peter was the 2016 recipient of the American Chemical Society's Grady-Stack Award for science journalism.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Brian on March 28, 2018

It's rare that I'd use the term 'tour de force' when describing a popular science book, but it sprang to mind when I read Conjuring the Universe. It's not that the book's without flaws, but it does something truly original in a delightful way. What's more, the very British Peter Atkins hasn't fallen......more

Goodreads review by Jose on September 04, 2018

This is a honest, rather original popular science book. It is honest in the sense that it is not a fancy phisics book,all physics here is widely tested and widely accepted,it dont claims to have the ultimate source of the physical laws,for now it belongs to the realm of metaphysics. It is original bec......more

Goodreads review by Eric on December 05, 2018

TL;DR Excellent technical yet readable book that adds to the case for nothing being the beginning. Disclosure Oxford University Press provided an advanced electronic copy in exchange for an honest review. Review cross-posted at my website: PrimmLife Review Why do the laws of physics exist? Ou......more

Goodreads review by Cav on July 16, 2020

I didn't like this one. Conjuring the Universe is the kind of book I don't well at all with; long-winded, esoteric, dry and arduous... Others here seemed to like it, but I did not. A book needs to have effective communication to be good (in my humble opinion), and this book did not meet that standard......more

Goodreads review by Natasha on October 14, 2018

The problem with reading a popular science book as a scientist is that every single point would be much more easily and succinctly expressed with an equation, a diagram, or both. Mathematical hypotheses can be tested by accumulating data and seeing whether they match. I'd go so far as to say there i......more

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