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mrblackbean11 's review for:
A Universe from Nothing: Why There Is Something Rather Than Nothing
by Lawrence M. Krauss
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.