A Beginner's Guide to Reality - Softcover

Baggott, Jim

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0141019301 ISBN 13: 9780141019307

Publisher: Penguin, 2005

Synopsis

A Beginner's Guide to Reality is an introduction to philosophy for people who don't read philosophy. Jim Baggott's sources range from Aristotle to The Matrix. He examines the major developments in Western philosophical thought on the nature of reality, at each of three levels - social, perceptual and physical. (Do money, colour, or photons exist?) The book systematically investigates these levels, peeling away the assumptions we make about those parts of reality that we take for granted.

About this title

Review:

Jim Baggott has done a real service to the community of questing souls. He gives a lucid, thoughtful, and helpful account of one of this century s great conundrums. (Times Literary Supplement) "

Baggott has an entertaining style, with clever use of analogies and diagrams. The book s realist honesty shines like a beacon through the fog of contemporary mystical speculations. (New Scientist) "

Reading this book is like having an informal, intimate conversation with and informed thinker. Enthusiastically recommended... (Library Journal, starred review) "

About the Author:

Jim Baggott worked as an academic and in the oil industry for 11 years before setting up his own independent management consultancy practice. He was awarded the Marlow Medal by the Royal Society of Chemistry in 1989 and a Glaxo Science Writer's prize in 1992. His previous books include Beyond Measure: Modern Physics, Philosophy and the Meaning of Quantum Theory, The Meaning of Quantum Theory: a Guide for Students of Chemistry and Physics and Perfect Symmetry: The Accidental Discovery of Buckminsterfullerene.

About this edition

• Publisher: Penguin
• Publication date: 2005
• ISBN 10: 0141019301
• ISBN 13: 9780141019307
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 272