From the author of Are You Smart Enough to Work at Google?, a fascinating look at how an equation that foretells the future is transforming everything we know about life, business, and the universe.In
From the author of Are You Smart Enough to Work at Google?, a fascinating look at how an equation that foretells the future is transforming everything we know about life, business, and the universe.In the 18th century, the British minister and mathematician Thomas Bayes devised a theorem that allowed him to assign probabilities to events that had never happened before. It languished in obscurity for centuries until computers came along and made it easy to crunch the numbers. Now, as the foundation of big data, Bayes' formula has become a linchpin of the digital economy.But here's where things get really interesting: Bayes' theorem can also be used to lay odds on the existence of extraterrestrial intelligence; on whether we live in a Matrix-like counterfeit of reality; on the "many worlds" interpretation of quantum theory being correct; and on the biggest question of all: how long will humanity survive?The Doomsday Calculation tells how Silicon Valley's profitable formula became a contr
From the author of Are You Smart Enough to Work at Google?, a fascinating look at how an equation that foretells the future is transforming everything we know about life, business, and the universe.In
If you’ve ever been interested in the night sky and the wonders above our heads, search no further: your ultimate resource for all things in the universe is here. From David Dickinson and Fraser Cain,
Who dug those canals on Mars? What was the biblical Star of Bethlehem? Were the pyramids built by extraterrestrials? From the ancients who charted the heavens to Star Trek, The X-Files, and Apollo 13,
Cosmology is in crisis. The more we discover, the more puzzling the universe appears to be. How and why are the laws of nature what they are? A philosopher and a physicist, world-renowned for their radical ideas in their fields, argue for a revolution. To keep cosmology scientific, we must replace the old view in which the universe is governed by immutable laws by a new one in which laws evolve. Then we can hope to explain them. The revolution that Roberto Mangabeira Unger and Lee Smolin propose relies on three central ideas. There is only one universe at a time. Time is real: everything in the structure and regularities of nature changes sooner or later. Mathematics, which has trouble with time, is not the oracle of nature and the prophet of science; it is simply a tool with great power and immense limitations. The argument is readily accessible to non-scientists as well as to the physicists and cosmologists whom it challenges.
Cosmology is in crisis. The more we discover, the more puzzling the universe appears to be. How and why are the laws of nature what they are? A philosopher and a physicist, world-renowned for their radical ideas in their fields, argue for a revolution. To keep cosmology scientific, we must replace the old view in which the universe is governed by immutable laws by a new one in which laws evolve. Then we can hope to explain them. The revolution that Roberto Mangabeira Unger and Lee Smolin propose relies on three central ideas. There is only one universe at a time. Time is real: everything in the structure and regularities of nature changes sooner or later. Mathematics, which has trouble with time, is not the oracle of nature and the prophet of science; it is simply a tool with great power and immense limitations. The argument is readily accessible to non-scientists as well as to the physicists and cosmologists whom it challenges.
The first part discusses the origins of everything, from the Big Bang to humankind. It follows the long course of evolution - from original matter to the formation of more complex structures, from the
All the matter and light we can see in the universe makes up a trivial 5 per cent of everything. The rest is hidden. This could be the biggest puzzle that science has ever faced.Since the 1970s, astro
George and his best friend, Annie have been selected as junior astronauts - part of a programme that trains up young people for a trip to Mars in the future. This is everything they've ever wanted - t
Learn everything you need to know about Albert Einstein, the genius who created the Theory of Relativity and calculated mass-energy equivalence.101 Things You Didn’t Know About Einstein provides in-de
A fun, fascinating, and amazingly photographic exploration of the periodic table, for curious kids who want to understand how atoms and elements make up everything in the universe.In this very special
Discover everything there is to know about THE LEGO® MOVIE 2™ with this totally awesome guide to all the characters, vehicles and locations.The ultimate companion to the highly anticipated THE LEGO MO
Discover everything there is to know about THE LEGO® MOVIE 2(TM) with this totally awesome guide to all the characters, vehicles and locations.The ultimate companion to the highly anticipated THE
To the ancient Greeks the universe consisted of earth, air, fire, and water. To Saint Augustine it was the Word of God. To many modern scientists it is the dance of atoms and waves, and in years to come it may be different again. What then is the real Universe? History shows that in every age each society constructs its own universe, believing it to be the real and final Universe. Yet each universe is only a model or mask of the unknown Universe. Originally published in 2003, this book brings together fundamental scientific, philosophical, and religious issues in cosmology, raising thought-provoking questions. In every age people have pitied the universes of their ancestors, convinced that they have at last discovered the ultimate truth. Does the modern model stand at the threshold of discovering everything, or will it, like all the rest, come to be pitied?
A fun, fascinating, and amazingly photographic exploration of the periodic table, for curious kids who want to understand how atoms and elements make up everything in the universe. In this very specia
The award-winning "Ask a Physicist" columnist for io9.com explains how space, time and everything in between are shaped by hidden symmetries that have driven recent discoveries about the universe, sha
The elements are what we - and everything around us - are made of. But how many elements have you seen in their pure, raw, uncombined form? This book presents photographic representations of the 118 e
