The Consolations of Physics
Why the Wonders of the Universe Can Make You Happy
Published on 23. August 2018
Book
Hardback
192 pages
978-1-4736-5816-5 (ISBN)
Description
'A book more about life and passion than physics. People who have never cared a jot for physics (like me) must read this book.' SUZANNE O'SULLIVAN
'A beautifully crafted love letter to physics.' Nature
The Consolations of Physics is an eloquent manifesto for physics. In an age where uncertainty and division is rife, Tim Radford, science editor of the Guardian for twenty-five years, turns to the wonders of the universe for consolation.
'A beautiful, inspiring reflection on science, humanity, space, and matter.' SARAH BAKEWELL
From the launch of the Voyager spacecraft and how it furthered our understanding of planets, stars and galaxies to the planet composed entirely of diamond and graphite and the sound of a blacksmith's anvil; from the hole NASA drilled in the heavens to the discovery of the Higgs Boson and the endeavours to prove the Big Bang, The Consolations of Physics will guide you from a tiny particle to the marvels of outer space.
'A beautifully crafted love letter to physics.' Nature
The Consolations of Physics is an eloquent manifesto for physics. In an age where uncertainty and division is rife, Tim Radford, science editor of the Guardian for twenty-five years, turns to the wonders of the universe for consolation.
'A beautiful, inspiring reflection on science, humanity, space, and matter.' SARAH BAKEWELL
From the launch of the Voyager spacecraft and how it furthered our understanding of planets, stars and galaxies to the planet composed entirely of diamond and graphite and the sound of a blacksmith's anvil; from the hole NASA drilled in the heavens to the discovery of the Higgs Boson and the endeavours to prove the Big Bang, The Consolations of Physics will guide you from a tiny particle to the marvels of outer space.
Reviews / Votes
Tim Radford's The Consolations of Physics is a love letter to the Voyager space probes. The poetry of their journey stimulated Radford to wax lyrical about the purpose of science. It is a beautiful, moving book that roams through the grand physics of recent decades. -- Michael Brooks * New Statesman, Books of the Year * Lyrical hymn to space exploration, knowledge and the enquiring mind... Helps quench our curiosity, yet deepens the mystery, about the cosmos and our attempts to discover more about it. -- Darragh McManus * Irish Independent * Beautiful, joyful, inspiring. A celebration of physicists' quest to understand the universe, from one of the best science writers around. -- Jo Marchant, New York Times bestselling author of CURE It's rare that you get a book that connects Dante's Divine Comedy to the Higgs boson and the geology of limestone cliffs, and this weaving together of two thousand's years of intellectual thought is one of the many delights of this book. It's a hymn to scientific endeavour. -- Professor Mark Miodownik, New York Times bestselling author of STUFF MATTERS Wow... Tim Radford's writing is so beautiful, it reads like poetry. A book more about life and passion than physics. People who have never cared a jot about physics (like me) must read this book. -- Suzanne O'Sullivan, Wellcome Prize-winning author of IT'S ALL IN YOUR HEAD A beautiful, inspiring reflection on science, humanity, space, and matter - this would blow Boethius's mind. -- Sarah Bakewell, Sunday Times-bestselling author of HOW TO LIVE and AT THE EXISTENTIALIST'S CAFE An appreciative survey of the vast canvas on which physicists do their creative work - the entire observable universe, from the beginning of time to its end (assuming there is one)... Beneath his jocularity, Radford is an unapologetic intellectual. -- Graham Farmelo * Guardian * Beautifully crafted 'love letter to physics'... His deft narrative interweaves discoveries such as the Higgs boson, the Hubble Deep Field and gravitational waves with Dante Alighieri's epic fourteenth-century poem The Divine Comedy, which intuited the laws of motion found by Galileo Galilei some 300 years later. -- Barbara Kiser * Nature * Engaging and delightful... In Radford's persuasive and genial company, as he roams from the initial singularity to dark energy, from Saint Augustine's City of God to Dante's The Divine Comedy, from the Higgs bosun to the multiverse, it's hard not to be moved by the fact that there are those who are capable of dreaming up and executing complex undertakings that explore the order that underpins creation. -- Manjit Kumar * Observer * Physics may not be a subject many people find consoling, but in this poetic paean to mankind's quest to make sense of the universe Tim Radford...might convert a few. -- Rob Kingston * Sunday Times *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Hodder & Stoughton
Target group
College/higher education
Professional and scholarly
Dimensions
Height: 207 mm
Width: 162 mm
Thickness: 21 mm
Weight
278 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-4736-5816-5 (9781473658165)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
Tim Radford joined the New Zealand Herald as a reporter aged sixteen and moved to the UK in 1961. He is a freelance journalist and a founding editor of Climate News Network. He worked for the Guardian for thirty-two years, becoming - among other things - letters editor, arts editor, literary editor and science editor. He won the Association of British Science Writers award for British Science Writer of the Year four times and a lifetime achievement award in 2005. He is an honorary Fellow of the British Science Association, and a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society. He is the author of The Crisis of Life on Earth: Our Legacy from the Second Millennium and The Address Book: Our Place in the Scheme of Things.