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neilcake 's review for:
A Universe from Nothing: Why There Is Something Rather Than Nothing
by Lawrence M. Krauss
I was never very good at science at school, but that didn't mean I wasn't plenty interested in questions of where the universe came from and how it all worked. So in my latest phase of interest in reading, I've taken to reading science books. "Pop science" I've heard them called, which makes me feel like a bit of an idiot, because it suggests science for people who only want to scratch the surface of science, in the same way that pop music is for people who haven't discovered real music yet. Well, as we've already ascertained, I'm not really smart enough to understand real particle physics and quantum theory, so the "pop" version is just going to have to do.
I'm hoping that the more of these I read, the more clear everything will become because so far, it's a case of "yeh... oh yeh... with you... got it... no, you've lost me. I'll just keep reading." And so it was with this book.
Here, Krauss seeks to explain where we are up to currently with our knowledge of the universe, and how we got there - without any difficult mathematical equations, but with a whole lot of complicated theory, and the acknowledgement that when it comes to where the universe came from and whether it came from nothing... we don't really know. But we're looking into it. So that's nice. Yes, I completely understand our current scientific knowledge... as long as there are absolutely no further questions.
In all honesty though, I'm getting there. I just need to keep picking up pop science books in charity shops.
So yeh, this was quite good. I've read a number of reviews where people make a lot out of Krauss' argument against God, and how you feel about that no doubt hinges upon your beliefs, but I will say; he makes some good points. Even if certain aspects of modern scientific theory are a little shaky, most of the rest is solid enough to suggest we do know how we got from the Big Bang to where we are now, even if we aren't certain about where the Big Bang came from. The bits we are certain about certainly suggest God wasn't the cause of it all. If he was, why not tell us about that in the Bible which is, after all supposed to be "The Word of God", instead of making up all that crap about creating the world in 7 days? Anyway, I'm not here to argue about creation. Make up your own mind.
If you are interested in science and big questions, this would be a decent choice.
I'm hoping that the more of these I read, the more clear everything will become because so far, it's a case of "yeh... oh yeh... with you... got it... no, you've lost me. I'll just keep reading." And so it was with this book.
Here, Krauss seeks to explain where we are up to currently with our knowledge of the universe, and how we got there - without any difficult mathematical equations, but with a whole lot of complicated theory, and the acknowledgement that when it comes to where the universe came from and whether it came from nothing... we don't really know. But we're looking into it. So that's nice. Yes, I completely understand our current scientific knowledge... as long as there are absolutely no further questions.
In all honesty though, I'm getting there. I just need to keep picking up pop science books in charity shops.
So yeh, this was quite good. I've read a number of reviews where people make a lot out of Krauss' argument against God, and how you feel about that no doubt hinges upon your beliefs, but I will say; he makes some good points. Even if certain aspects of modern scientific theory are a little shaky, most of the rest is solid enough to suggest we do know how we got from the Big Bang to where we are now, even if we aren't certain about where the Big Bang came from. The bits we are certain about certainly suggest God wasn't the cause of it all. If he was, why not tell us about that in the Bible which is, after all supposed to be "The Word of God", instead of making up all that crap about creating the world in 7 days? Anyway, I'm not here to argue about creation. Make up your own mind.
If you are interested in science and big questions, this would be a decent choice.