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3.74 AVERAGE
3.74 AVERAGE
Unsurprisingly, a wonderful book by Krauss. The complexity of the topics he talks about varies from relatively elementary stuff (if you are a science literate) to concepts I know I'll need to reread a few times before I have a firm general idea what's going on.
My only problem - and this was the main reason I bought the book - was his deepest and most controversial idea. He claims that given only a theory of quantum gravity, our (and every other) universe could spawn out of complete nothingness, and each universe that spawns could have its own laws of physics. Which I am fine with, but it still feels to me like the quantum gravity he assumes to be preexisting is one of those laws - so where did that come from?
But other than that, everything else has been a really nice read. At times it gets a little bit too (theoretically) technical, but then I don't think this book is meant to be read by people who lack even a basic scientific education. So it's all good.
My only problem - and this was the main reason I bought the book - was his deepest and most controversial idea. He claims that given only a theory of quantum gravity, our (and every other) universe could spawn out of complete nothingness, and each universe that spawns could have its own laws of physics. Which I am fine with, but it still feels to me like the quantum gravity he assumes to be preexisting is one of those laws - so where did that come from?
But other than that, everything else has been a really nice read. At times it gets a little bit too (theoretically) technical, but then I don't think this book is meant to be read by people who lack even a basic scientific education. So it's all good.
Wow
I gotta admit I lost this guy about halfway through Chapter 2, but this was a page turner. I read all of it almost in one day just for the entertainment value of trying to keep up with the science.
One of the biggest takeaways is from the last chapter:
It’s important to recognize whether you’re asking “How?” Or “Why?”
The domain of science is to try to develop theories of how things work. Those theories might be replaced with better theories and explanations, but the goal is to understand via testable data more about the universe: what is in it, how it fits together.
This book really made me think about what I ask from God, and how to understand God in relationship to what we can know from science. How do we know things? What constitutes as “proof?” for God, or things in the world?
I gotta admit I lost this guy about halfway through Chapter 2, but this was a page turner. I read all of it almost in one day just for the entertainment value of trying to keep up with the science.
One of the biggest takeaways is from the last chapter:
It’s important to recognize whether you’re asking “How?” Or “Why?”
The domain of science is to try to develop theories of how things work. Those theories might be replaced with better theories and explanations, but the goal is to understand via testable data more about the universe: what is in it, how it fits together.
This book really made me think about what I ask from God, and how to understand God in relationship to what we can know from science. How do we know things? What constitutes as “proof?” for God, or things in the world?
challenging
informative
slow-paced
Amazingly teached me everything i had to know about nothing ✌️
I would like to first that Lawrence Krauss is a very intelligent man and that I have a lot of respect for him as an author, scientist, and intellectual.
Secondly, this book was somewhat an enigma to me (bear with me for a few before marking me as a English major with little science background). I went into reading this book with my own well formed bias and skepticism towards the subject matter - can something can from nothing? Why this book is an enigma is that Krauss wants to support his arguments as backed by well reasoned, scientifically sound arguments, but he often contradicts himself and oversimplifies the material in order to do so to appeal to a larger audience. The contradictions are subtle, for instance, he goes into great detail early on in the book about how usually the scientific community is highly skeptic and harsh towards new science and should be, but then he bases a good portion of his argument on Stephen Hawking's postulates on how something can come from nothing. Now as a scientist, I want experimental verification for these theories before I fully accept them and the theories that branch from the original. Krauss would probably love to go into detail and full mathematical explanations in his book, but he doesn't, and by generalizing his subject matter, he loses some of his validity (in my mind). Am I convinced that something can come from nothing and we no longer need the existence of a good to support the creation of the universe? Not in the slightest; however, Krauss did make me think about this topic and question my own personal beliefs and rationalizations.
What I really took from this book and grew from was Einstein's opinion on the origins of the universe about half way through the book -
"For Einstein, the existence of order in the universe provided a sense of such profound wonder that he felt a spiritual attachment to it, which he labeled with the moniker "God"" This struck me as such a beautiful concept and phrased in a way that I had been previously unable to do so - God is a representation of the structure of our universe. There is nothing to suggest that God is an active presence in our daily lives; yet, there may be something to that God is a term used to describe the ultimate simplicity and relational concepts that define physics - God is what makes things work, what connects aspects of our lives to the reality we perceive. I guess God could be the Grand Unified Theorem (I'm sure that would be a well received publication title...).
Overall, I enjoyed this book. Krauss keeps it relatively focused, and even if you hate thinking philosophically about the origins of the universe or about the science behind it, I believe you could still find enjoyment in A Universe from Nothing. I would really recommend this to anyone - it's a solid 3.5 stars and is definitely an intellectual and thought provoking read with a lot of excellent science nuggets of gold in it. As a physicist, I craved more mathematical reasoning and maybe even a few paper citations, but as a member of a general public, I appreciate Krauss's ability to explain things without losing his audience.
Secondly, this book was somewhat an enigma to me (bear with me for a few before marking me as a English major with little science background). I went into reading this book with my own well formed bias and skepticism towards the subject matter - can something can from nothing? Why this book is an enigma is that Krauss wants to support his arguments as backed by well reasoned, scientifically sound arguments, but he often contradicts himself and oversimplifies the material in order to do so to appeal to a larger audience. The contradictions are subtle, for instance, he goes into great detail early on in the book about how usually the scientific community is highly skeptic and harsh towards new science and should be, but then he bases a good portion of his argument on Stephen Hawking's postulates on how something can come from nothing. Now as a scientist, I want experimental verification for these theories before I fully accept them and the theories that branch from the original. Krauss would probably love to go into detail and full mathematical explanations in his book, but he doesn't, and by generalizing his subject matter, he loses some of his validity (in my mind). Am I convinced that something can come from nothing and we no longer need the existence of a good to support the creation of the universe? Not in the slightest; however, Krauss did make me think about this topic and question my own personal beliefs and rationalizations.
What I really took from this book and grew from was Einstein's opinion on the origins of the universe about half way through the book -
"For Einstein, the existence of order in the universe provided a sense of such profound wonder that he felt a spiritual attachment to it, which he labeled with the moniker "God"" This struck me as such a beautiful concept and phrased in a way that I had been previously unable to do so - God is a representation of the structure of our universe. There is nothing to suggest that God is an active presence in our daily lives; yet, there may be something to that God is a term used to describe the ultimate simplicity and relational concepts that define physics - God is what makes things work, what connects aspects of our lives to the reality we perceive. I guess God could be the Grand Unified Theorem (I'm sure that would be a well received publication title...).
Overall, I enjoyed this book. Krauss keeps it relatively focused, and even if you hate thinking philosophically about the origins of the universe or about the science behind it, I believe you could still find enjoyment in A Universe from Nothing. I would really recommend this to anyone - it's a solid 3.5 stars and is definitely an intellectual and thought provoking read with a lot of excellent science nuggets of gold in it. As a physicist, I craved more mathematical reasoning and maybe even a few paper citations, but as a member of a general public, I appreciate Krauss's ability to explain things without losing his audience.
This book(let?) is an expansion of that famous hour-long physics lecture on YouTube. While the lecture had frustrating moments when Krauss skipped expanding on interesting themes due to time pressure, this book is not actually as much fun as the lecture. The jokes are the same but the delivery in prose suffers compared to the video. So, you should watch the video, and then maybe come back to this afterward. With that said, there's a wealth of fascinating material in here, and it is quite engrossing in its own right; it's just by contrast that it suffers.
I'm holding my prejudices away here for the sake of reason. it's an amusing read, you'll get a compact shot if this is your first book of that sort and would be intrigued for more. Krauss definitely delivers what he promised and by the end of the book you'll probably see how crazy it would be for it to go any different. What I particularly find irritating about this sort of books is how they offer no scoop into the arguments. Sure I'm persuaded but it remains one of those books where I find myself so close yet so far away from actual science. All in all : a defined recommend.
adventurous
challenging
informative
reflective
slow-paced
With no background in physics it would be difficult to understand sometimes. But overall good arguments and an interesting read.
As most reviewers have pointed out, this book came to be after the enormous success that a lecture by Krauss had on Youtube on the same subject. I haven't seen it personally, but I must admit that I am inclined to recommend you to see it instead of reading this book. Or listening to it, which is what I did.
Now, don't get me wrong, I found the topic very fascinating and, while I think it could've used a better audiobook narrator (it is Krauss in my version), Krauss' writing was quite engaging and accessible. However, the book didn't need to be as long as it was, and I got the gist of it pretty quickly. Especially because in Krauss' exploration of the topic, he decided to go beyond physics to more philosophical meanderings, but his superficial approach of these didn't add much to the argument. In fact, I feel like it might have detracted from its objectiveness. Some of his key concepts, e.g. nothingness and flat universe, I think could've used more explanation. I also don't think he actually answered the main question of "why" something emerges from 'nothingness'. I might have missed something, but I'm pretty sure he just said "because it can".
Besides that, I found some of his remarks... slightly unnerving, let's say. Most likely something very entwined in my personal experience, but for example when he talked about how coincidental acts that are interpreted by some people as having meaning, really don't have any. Namely, someone dreaming of something and that exact thing happens the day after. Paraphrasing here: "oh, in such an immense span of space and time, anything can happen, so don't take that as some sort of sign". Hmm, ok? I don't even think that has anything to do with his argument, so that seems kind of a jerk move to me.
There are really interesting points of discussion presented in this book, nonetheless, and in its majority I found it enjoyable. Namely, I liked the discussion on dark energy, dark matter and general relativity. But I probably should've just watched the lecture.
Now, don't get me wrong, I found the topic very fascinating and, while I think it could've used a better audiobook narrator (it is Krauss in my version), Krauss' writing was quite engaging and accessible. However, the book didn't need to be as long as it was, and I got the gist of it pretty quickly. Especially because in Krauss' exploration of the topic, he decided to go beyond physics to more philosophical meanderings, but his superficial approach of these didn't add much to the argument. In fact, I feel like it might have detracted from its objectiveness. Some of his key concepts, e.g. nothingness and flat universe, I think could've used more explanation. I also don't think he actually answered the main question of "why" something emerges from 'nothingness'. I might have missed something, but I'm pretty sure he just said "because it can".
Besides that, I found some of his remarks... slightly unnerving, let's say. Most likely something very entwined in my personal experience, but for example when he talked about how coincidental acts that are interpreted by some people as having meaning, really don't have any. Namely, someone dreaming of something and that exact thing happens the day after. Paraphrasing here: "oh, in such an immense span of space and time, anything can happen, so don't take that as some sort of sign". Hmm, ok? I don't even think that has anything to do with his argument, so that seems kind of a jerk move to me.
There are really interesting points of discussion presented in this book, nonetheless, and in its majority I found it enjoyable. Namely, I liked the discussion on dark energy, dark matter and general relativity. But I probably should've just watched the lecture.
challenging
informative
slow-paced