The Marginalian
The Marginalian

Reads tagged with “Alan Lightman”

Physicist Alan Lightman on the Illusion of Absolute Rest
Physicist Alan Lightman on the Illusion of Absolute Rest

The beautiful and disorienting science of why we are mostly restlessness and empty space.

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Song of Two Worlds: Alan Lightman’s Poetic Ode to Science, the Unknown, and Our Search for Meaning, Illustrated by a Teenager in India
Song of Two Worlds: Alan Lightman’s Poetic Ode to Science, the Unknown, and Our Search for Meaning, Illustrated by a Teenager in India

“One thousand questions, and each gives an answer, which then forms a question.”

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The Best Science Books of 2014
The Best Science Books of 2014

The math of soul mates, the psychology of nothing, the physics of faith, and more illuminating insights on the universe and our place in it.

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The Cosmic Accident of Life: Alan Lightman on Dark Energy, the Multiverse, and Why We Exist
The Cosmic Accident of Life: Alan Lightman on Dark Energy, the Multiverse, and Why We Exist

How we drew the one we have from the zillions of possible universes in the cosmic lottery hat.

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Alan Lightman on Science, Genius, and Common Sense
Alan Lightman on Science, Genius, and Common Sense

A homemade rocket, a Feynman fiasco, and why genius and common sense don’t always coexist.

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Alan Lightman on the Longing for Absolutes in a Relative World and What Gives Lasting Meaning to Our Lives
Alan Lightman on the Longing for Absolutes in a Relative World and What Gives Lasting Meaning to Our Lives

“We are idealists and we are realists. We are dreamers and we are builders. We are experiencers and we are experimenters. We long for certainties, yet we ourselves are full of the ambiguities of the Mona Lisa and the I Ching. We ourselves are a part of the yin-yang of the world.”

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Physicist and Writer Alan Lightman on the Shared Psychology of Creative Breakthrough in Art and Science
Physicist and Writer Alan Lightman on the Shared Psychology of Creative Breakthrough in Art and Science

An exquisite account of those moments that feel “like a great hand has suddenly grabbed hold and flung you across the surface like a skimming stone.”

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Alan Lightman on Immortality and Our Touching Longing for Permanence in a Universe of Constant Change
Alan Lightman on Immortality and Our Touching Longing for Permanence in a Universe of Constant Change

A heartening perspective on mortality by way of the physics of the cosmos and the poetics of the night-blooming cereus cactus.

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The Osprey and the Meaning of Life: The Poetic Physicist Alan Lightman on Science and Our Spiritual Bond with Nature
The Osprey and the Meaning of Life: The Poetic Physicist Alan Lightman on Science and Our Spiritual Bond with Nature

“Faith is the willingness to give ourselves over, at times, to things we do not fully understand… the full engagement with this strange and shimmering world.”

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