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uderecife's review against another edition
3.0
As with a previous title by the same author, 13 Things That Don't Make Sense, this book explores, as the title suggests, scientific ideas that are at the edge of our understanding. If you're a science buff and you have a tendency to favor non-conformist ideas about how things work, this book will take you through a ride on many (11, at the top level of uncertainty) such ideas and theories that ultimately can change the way you (or we, as whole) think about the universe we happen to inhabit.
Michael Brooks writing is very engaging. Though many subjects here treated are not easy to understand, his approach makes them very much palatable for those of us who are outsiders to the specific developments of the many branches of science. In that sense, this book, besides providing an easy read (as easy as your understanding can go, but accessible nonetheless), also provides you with a wealth of information about science edgy topics that will make at the least challenge some of your philosophical assumptions and bring about some useful and meaningful doubts about the way you understand life, the universe and everything* else.
*Douglas Adams passage cited on this book.
Michael Brooks writing is very engaging. Though many subjects here treated are not easy to understand, his approach makes them very much palatable for those of us who are outsiders to the specific developments of the many branches of science. In that sense, this book, besides providing an easy read (as easy as your understanding can go, but accessible nonetheless), also provides you with a wealth of information about science edgy topics that will make at the least challenge some of your philosophical assumptions and bring about some useful and meaningful doubts about the way you understand life, the universe and everything* else.
*Douglas Adams passage cited on this book.
rojaed's review against another edition
3.0
This book looks at the frontiers of science in various disciplines. There are questions that we still don’t know the answers to. The biology essays were easier to understand (gender differences in medicine, epigenetics etc) were easier to understand. Some of the physics was over my head (time is an illusion, there are problems with the Big Bang theory, and hypercomputers.
He writes well, but I think more background than I possess is required.
He writes well, but I think more background than I possess is required.
mrkapunzu's review against another edition
challenging
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
5.0
Really loved the way he makes it personal
shawnwhy's review against another edition
5.0
superfun and short, reading all of these far out ideas gives me ideas
- Metichonria and cell
-human brain is a quantum machine,
-we might be a synthesis of quantum machine and matter like cells are hybrid of two organisms
- now i realize that this is a very old idea
- Metichonria and cell
-human brain is a quantum machine,
-we might be a synthesis of quantum machine and matter like cells are hybrid of two organisms
- now i realize that this is a very old idea
david611's review against another edition
4.0
At The Edge Of Uncertainty describes eleven discoveries (or possibilities) within eleven chapters that the scientific world knows about but does not clearly understand how or why exactly do they happen to be. They are at this point at the edge of uncertainty. Personally, I felt wonderful as long as it remains 'magic' and the answers are unclear to mankind.
The chapters are themselves very well structured: they start off with a preface to the topic in which the writer pulls you towards its introduction from simply anywhere else; then introduces you to the main precursor ideas (and/or their original discoverers or thinkers) of the topic in history; and then move on to explain the same in the sense of the scientific perception that the topic takes contemporarily. Speculations and proven facts are regular ingredients throughout the book.
The topics dealt in the book are -
Consciousness
Animal Personalities and Animal Culture
Chimeras
Epigenetics
Gender-based Medicine
Will Power
Quantum Phenomena in Biological Kingdoms
Quantum Information Theory
Alternative Creation Theories & Anomalies in the Universe
Hypercomputer
The Illusion of Time
This particular book certainly took me away to exotic topics all at once, that is not usually dealt with so easily in science (through books). The book displays no pictures, diagrams or any graphical information for that matter, whose inclusion could have been helpful at times and increased the rating of the book. Since the book is a new publication (2014), it keeps the user pretty much updated until its current time.
Readers who already have some knowledge of the topics dealt within the book, may not find it amazing, but others definitely would! Lots of names and dates have been included, to which it sometimes becomes boring (at least for me it did). I was personally mesmerized by only three (new) topics (Quantum Biology, Quantum Information Theory, Hypercomputer), since I have had come across most of the remaining topics in my earlier readings. Others were good too, they did contain information which was new to me, although sometimes I found it uninteresting. The writer does not go too deep into a topic, but being superficial should help for people who are interested in general. I personally wished the topics would have been slightly more intense.
The chapters are themselves very well structured: they start off with a preface to the topic in which the writer pulls you towards its introduction from simply anywhere else; then introduces you to the main precursor ideas (and/or their original discoverers or thinkers) of the topic in history; and then move on to explain the same in the sense of the scientific perception that the topic takes contemporarily. Speculations and proven facts are regular ingredients throughout the book.
The topics dealt in the book are -
Consciousness
Animal Personalities and Animal Culture
Chimeras
Epigenetics
Gender-based Medicine
Will Power
Quantum Phenomena in Biological Kingdoms
Quantum Information Theory
Alternative Creation Theories & Anomalies in the Universe
Hypercomputer
The Illusion of Time
This particular book certainly took me away to exotic topics all at once, that is not usually dealt with so easily in science (through books). The book displays no pictures, diagrams or any graphical information for that matter, whose inclusion could have been helpful at times and increased the rating of the book. Since the book is a new publication (2014), it keeps the user pretty much updated until its current time.
Readers who already have some knowledge of the topics dealt within the book, may not find it amazing, but others definitely would! Lots of names and dates have been included, to which it sometimes becomes boring (at least for me it did). I was personally mesmerized by only three (new) topics (Quantum Biology, Quantum Information Theory, Hypercomputer), since I have had come across most of the remaining topics in my earlier readings. Others were good too, they did contain information which was new to me, although sometimes I found it uninteresting. The writer does not go too deep into a topic, but being superficial should help for people who are interested in general. I personally wished the topics would have been slightly more intense.
car0's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
informative
inspiring
reflective
relaxing
medium-paced
4.0
ansh92's review against another edition
4.0
Good brief overview of some important advances into scientific murky waters. Could have been structured better.
jojesweden's review against another edition
2.0
A number of times, throughout the chapters covering stuff I am already quite familiar with, I thought "that's NOT how it works". Generally it was small things but at least once the confusion basically invalidated the point the author was trying to make. Made me lose confidence in the parts I was less familiar with as well.
___puddin's review against another edition
4.0
This book was absolutely shocking, and although it seemed more science fiction than real life, not a word of it was a lie. Took me years to finish, though. The revelations were too world bending.
roskelld's review against another edition
3.0
I got a lot of enjoyment out of the book, and I certainty learned some new stuff. I feel like it would have worked better as a TV show more than a book, I often wished that I could see the work being presented with visual as well.
The topics shift a fair bit during the course, so it probably pays to digest them individually to let each sink in before moving on. I went through the book in a single sitting and feel like I didn't give it enough time to absorb each chapter.
The topics shift a fair bit during the course, so it probably pays to digest them individually to let each sink in before moving on. I went through the book in a single sitting and feel like I didn't give it enough time to absorb each chapter.