Knocking on Heaven's Door: How Physics and Scientific Thinking Illuminate the Universe and the Modern World - Softcover

Randall, Lisa

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0061723738 ISBN 13: 9780061723735

Publisher: Ecco Press, 2012

Synopsis

"Science has a battle for hearts and minds on its hands....How good it feels to have Lisa Randall's unusual blend of top flight science, clarity, and charm on our side."
--Richard Dawkins

"Dazzling ideas....Read this book today to understand the science of tomorrow."
--Steven Pinker

The bestselling author of Warped Passages, one of Time magazine's "100 Most Influential People in the World," and one of Esquire's "75 Most Influential People of the 21st Century," Lisa Randall gives us an exhilarating overview of the latest ideas in physics and offers a rousing defense of the role of science in our lives. Featuring fascinating insights into our scientific future born from the author's provocative conversations with Nate Silver, David Chang, and Scott Derrickson, Knocking on Heaven's Door is eminently readable, one of the most important popular science books of this or any year. It is a necessary volume for all who admire the work of Stephen Hawking, Michio Kaku, Brian Greene, Simon Singh, and Carl Sagan; for anyone curious about the workings and aims of the Large Hadron Collider, the biggest and most expensive machine ever built by mankind; for those who firmly believe in the importance of science and rational thought; and for anyone interested in how the Universe began...and how it might ultimately end.

About this title

Product Description:

Title: Knocking on Heaven's Door <>Binding: Paperback <>Author: Lisa Randall <>Publisher: VINTAGE

Review:

"Full of passion and jaw-dropping facts. . . . A fascinating account of modern particle physics, both theoretical and practical."--The Independent on Sunday

"Beautifully written. . . . An impressive overview of what scientists (of any kind) get up to, how they work and why science is an inherently creative endeavor."--Times Higher Education (London)

"Randall's witty, accessible discussion reveals the effort and wonder at hand as scientists strive to learn who we are and where we came from."--Publishers Weekly

"Randall manages to transform . . . experiments at distant and unfamiliar scales into crucial acts in a cosmic drama."--Daily Beast

"Written with dry wit and ice-cool clarity. . . . "Knocking on Heaven's Door" is a book that anyone at all interested in science must read. This is surely the science book of the year."--Sunday Times (London)

"[Randall is] one of the more original theorists at work in the profession today. . . . She gives a fine analysis of the affinity between scientific and artistic beauty, comparing the broken symmetries of a Richard Serra sculpture to those at the core of the Standard Model."--New York Times Book Review

"Offers the reader a glimpse of the future. . . . An enlightening and exciting read."--San Francisco Book Review

"Valuable and engaging. . . . Randall's generous cornucopia of ideas, her engaging style, and above all her deep excitement about physics make this a book that deserves a wide readership."--American Scientist

"Explores some of the biggest ideas in contemporary physics and how they undergird such everyday matters as risk assessment, logic and even our understanding of beauty."--Time magazine

"[V]ery accessible, readable, and appealing to a broad audience. . . . Randall's passion and excitement for science and physics is infectious and welcome in our digital age."--New York Journal of Books

About this edition

• Publisher: Ecco Press
• Publication date: 2012
• ISBN 10: 0061723738
• ISBN 13: 9780061723735
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 480