FIRE IN THE MIND: Science, Faith, And The Search For Order.

Johnson, George

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Language: English

Published by NY. 1995. Knopf., 1995

0679411925 / 9780679411925

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Seller: Chris Fessler, Bookseller, Howell, MI, U.S.A.Chris Fessler, Bookseller

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dark grey & black ½ cloth hardbound 8vo. dustwrapper in protective plastic. fine cond. binding square & tight. covers clean. edges clean. 3 page corner turndowns, otherwise contents free of all markings. dustwrapper in fine cond. not worn or torn or price clipped. first edition so stated. first printing (nap). large b&w map at front~ "the kingdom of the Tewa". decorative title pg. 379p.+author bio note & colophon. acknowl. notes. biblio. index. physics. cosmology. metaphysics. philosophy. history of science. quantum electrodynamics. murray gell~mann. niels bohr. einstein. atomic bomb project. anasazi. ~Are there really laws governing the universe? Or is the order we see imposed by the prisms of our nervous system, a mere artifact of the way evolution wired the brain? Do the patterns found by science hold some claim to universal truth, or would a visitor from another galaxy find them as quaint and culturally determined, as built on faith, as the world's religions? In this stunningly original book, set among the mountains and canyonlands of northern New Mexico, George Johnson explores the human hunger for pattern, the innate drive to find (or impose) order in our capricious world. In this land of strange juxtapositions where magic and science, religion and reason, constantly bump up against each other, Johnson introduces us to an amazing diversity of people who see the world through varied lenses, who find vastly different pictures in the night sky. Just north of Santa Fe, the Tewa pueblo of San Ildefonso sits at the bottom of the plateau on which stands the laboratory city of Los Alamos. While the people of San Ildefonso carry out secret ceremonies in their kivas and dance to the rhythms of the seasons, the physicists of Los Alamos struggle with some of the most complex ideas of quantum theory, particle physics, and a new science called the physics of information, which seeks to understand the very source of pattern and order in the world. Los Alamos and San Ildefonso are just two pieces in this jigsaw puzzle of world views. In the dizzying heights of the Sangre de Cristo (Blood of Christ) Mountains, the faithful flock to an old Catholic church for samples of holy soil said to cure all ills. Descending from this land of miracles to the foothills around Santa Fe, we visit a revolutionary think tank called the Santa Fe Institute. Here scientists are focusing their research on questions that seem to hover within the penumbra between science and religion: How, from the random jostling of molecules, did life arise and evolve to the point where it can contemplate its own beginnings? Are we accidents of the universe~miracles~or is there a reason for us to be here? By examining some of the most radical new theories of physics and biology emanating from the laboratories of northern New Mexico and comparing them to the intricate belief systems of the Tewa Indians, a Catholic sect called the Penitentes, and other inhabitants of this land, Johnson casts the scientific enterprise in a startling new light. The result is an intellectual adventure story of the highest order, a journey to the far reaches of the scientific frontier where the human soul struggles to make sense of life's deepest mysteries.…

Seller Inventory # 1171101

Title
FIRE IN THE MIND: Science, Faith, And The Search For Order.
Author
Johnson, George
Publisher
NY. 1995. Knopf.
Publication year
1995
Dust jacket
Dust Jacket Included
Binding
Hardcover
Language
English
ISBN 10
0679411925
ISBN 13
9780679411925
Edition
1st Edition

Chris Fessler, Bookseller

Howell, MI, U.S.A.

5-star seller

AbeBooks seller since March 17, 1998

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