Billerica Public Library

The greatest story ever told--so far, why are we here?, by Lawrence M. Krauss

eng

no index present

non fiction

The greatest story ever told--so far

975487831

by Lawrence M. Krauss

Thorndike Press large print popular and narrative nonfiction

why are we here?

Internationally renowned, award-winning theoretical physicist, New York Times bestselling author of A Universe from Nothing , and passionate advocate for reason, Lawrence Krauss tells the dramatic story of the discovery of the hidden world of reality--a grand poetic vision of nature--and how we find our place within it. In the beginning there was light. But more than this, there was gravity. After that, all hell broke loose... In A Universe from Nothing , Krauss revealed how our entire universe could arise from nothing. Now, he reveals what that something--reality--is. And, reality is not what we think or sense--it's weird, wild, and counterintuitive; it's hidden beneath everyday experience; and its inner workings seem even stranger than the idea that something can come from nothing. In a landmark, unprecedented work of scientific history, Krauss leads us to the furthest reaches of space and time, to scales so small they are invisible to microscopes, to the birth and rebirth of light, and into the natural forces that govern our existence. His unique blend of rigorous research and engaging storytelling invites us into the lives and minds of the remarkable, creative scientists who have helped to unravel the unexpected fabric of reality--with reason rather than superstition and dogma. Krauss has himself been an active participant in this effort, and he knows many of them well. The Greatest Story challenges us to re-envision ourselves and our place within the universe, as it appears that "God" does play dice with the universe. In the incisive style of his scintillating essays for The New Yorker , Krauss celebrates the greatest intellectual adventure ever undertaken--to understand why we are here in a universe where fact is stranger than fiction

Part 1: Genesis. From the armoire to the cave ; Seeing in the dark ; Through a glass, lightly ; There, and back again ; A stitch in time ; The shadows of reality ; A universe stranger than fiction ; A wrinkle in time ; Decay and rubble ; From here to eternity : shedding light on the sun -- Part 2: Exodus. Desperate times and desperate measure ; March of the titans ; Endless forms most beautiful : symmetry strikes back ; Cold, stark reality : breaking bad or beautiful? ; Living inside a superconductor ; The bearable heaviness of being : symmetry broken, physics fixed -- Part 3: Revelation. The wrong place at the right time ; The fog lifts ; Free at last ; Spanking the vacuum ; Gothic cathedrals of the twenty-first century ; More questions than answers ; From a beer party to the end of time ; Cosmic humility