Lee Smolin Livres

A daring new vision of the quantum universe emerges from Canada's leading mind on contemporary physics. Quantum physics, the cornerstone of modern science, underpins our understanding of atoms, radiation, and much more, yet it has long been a source of intense debate among intellectual giants like Albert Einstein and Stephen Hawking. The paradoxes of quantum theory, such as Schrödinger's cat—simultaneously dead and alive—challenge our fundamental assumptions about reality. In this vibrant and accessible exploration, renowned theoretical physicist Lee Smolin provocatively argues that the enduring problems of quantum physics stem from its incompleteness. He asserts that more discoveries await us, urging a shift beyond current theories to achieve a coherent atomic-scale description of the universe. Smolin guides readers through the basics of quantum physics, recounting pivotal experiments and figures that have shaped the field, while addressing the puzzles they present. He illuminates existing theories that may resolve these issues and offers his vision of common sense realism. To complete the revolution Einstein initiated nearly a century ago, we must transcend conventional quantum mechanics and seek a comprehensive understanding of nature. Smolin's insights bring us closer to resolving one of the greatest scientific controversies of our time.

"It would be hard to imagine a better guide to this difficult subject."--Scientific American In Three Roads to Quantum Gravity, Lee Smolin provides an accessible overview of the attempts to build a final "theory of everything." He explains in simple terms what scientists are talking about when they say the world is made from exotic entities such as loops, strings, and black holes and tells the fascinating stories behind these discoveries: the rivalries, epiphanies, and intrigues he witnessed firsthand. "Provocative, original, and unsettling." --New York Review of Books "An excellent writer, a creative thinker."--Nature

With clarity, passion, and authority, renowned theoretical physicist Smolin charts the rise and fall of string theory and takes a fascinating look at what will replace it.

A radically new view of the nature of the universe that suggests that the cosmosas a whole is best understood not as mechanical and clockwork, but as complete and evolving, more akin to a living entity than a machine. Comparable in its acope and ambition to Roger Penrose and Stephen Hawking, and readable than either.

Roberto Mangabeira Unger and Lee Smolin argue for a revolution in our cosmological ideas. Ideal for non-scientists, physicists and cosmologists.

Nothing seems more real than time passing. We experience life as a succession of moments. But just as some of us see God as eternal, so physicists understand the truths of mathematics and the laws of nature as constant, transcending time. These laws dictate how the future will evolve: there is no freedom, no uncertainty about the future at all. Yet, argues Lee Smolin, this denial of time is holding back both physics, and our understanding of the universe. We need a major revolution in scientific thought: one that embraces the reality of time and places it at the centre of our thinking. Time, he concludes, is not an illusion: indeed, it is the best clue that we have to fundamental reality. Time Reborn explains how the true nature of time impacts on us, our world, and our universe.

"It would be hard to imagine a better guide to this difficult subject." --Scientific American In Three Roads to Quantum Gravity , Lee Smolin provides an accessible overview of the attempts to build a final "theory of everything." He explains in simple terms what scientists are talking about when they say the world is made from exotic entities such as loops, strings, and black holes and tells the fascinating stories behind these discoveries: the rivalries, epiphanies, and intrigues he witnessed firsthand. "A mix of science, philosophy and science fiction, [this] is at once entertaining, thought-provoking, fabulously ambitious and fabulously speculative." - The New York Times "Provocative, original, and unsettling." - The New York Review of Books "An excellent writer, a creative thinker."- Nature

In This Explains Everything, John Brockman, founder and publisher of Edge.org, asked experts in numerous fields and disciplines to come up with their favorite explanations for everyday occurrences. Why do we recognize patterns? Is there such a thing as positive stress? Are we genetically programmed to be in conflict with each other? Those are just some of the 150 questions that the world's best scientific minds answer with elegant simplicity. With contributions from Jared Diamond, Richard Dawkins, Nassim Taleb, Brian Eno, Steven Pinker, and more, everything is explained in fun, uncomplicated terms that make the most complex concepts easy to comprehend.