12 Essential Scientific Concepts

By: The Great Courses, Indre Viskontas

Narrated by: Indre Viskontas

Length: 12 hrs and 5 mins

Publisher's summary

Science is such a vast arena of knowledge that people looking for a better grasp of its secrets often wonder where to begin. The answer: with the essentials. Now, finally satisfy your desire for scientific inquiry in a way that makes this enormous field accessible, understandable, and undeniably captivating.

Professor Viskontas boils down the scientific world into 12 key concepts every educated person should know. Devoting two lectures to each concept to give you more time to engage with it, her 24-lecture series is an engaging and enlightening introduction to everything from the behavior of subatomic particles to the latest theories about the Big Bang.

Throughout, you'll get accessible looks at key building blocks of scientific knowledge, including brain plasticity, fluid mechanics, electromagnetism, genetics, quantum theory, emergence, evolution, thermodynamics, the Big Bang, and the nature of matter. Each concept is presented in a clear, concise way that will inform and delight you, and that will give you the opportunity to probe the invisible life of living cells, visit the universe seconds after its birth, and much more.

Concepts that may have eluded you in school, that you may not be familiar with, or that you simply never appreciated for their intricate beauty are now brought to vivid life in a way that sticks. Welcome to the world of science - reduced to its powerful essence.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your Library section along with the audio.

©2014 The Great Courses (P)2014 The Teaching Company, LLC

Thoroughly Enjoyable

The author provides a rich set of metaphors to help bring scientific concepts into better focus. Thoroughly enjoyed the listen and definitely increased my thirst for more!

Love science.

Great for all tha do love the subject of science and keep thinking toward the future.

Absolutely amazing!

Loved every bit of this well presented and logically structured course. Can’t wait to take their next offering.

Excellent overview of major science concepts

Would you listen to 12 Essential Scientific Concepts again? Why?

Yes

Have you listened to any of Professor Indre Viskontas’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

Yes - I'm a fan of her podcast, Inquiring Minds

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

The last two lectures on emergence

Any additional comments?

Professor Indre Viskontas provides a deft overview of 12 major science concepts, ranging from the macro - the creation of the universe, principles of physics and black holes to the micro - the human neuron and quantum mechanics. She communicates her excitement for the subject matter throughout, while acknowledging the limitations of current science and potential for future advancement.

The final two lectures, on the new science of emergence, were particularly fascinating to me, as it was a completely new topic to me, unlike some of the others.
The only flaws in the recording were a few missed edit points in later lectures - one line repeated twice.

A little too advanced, but worth the effort.

While I found the content presented a little too advanced in the short time it was covered (unless you've got a decent scientific foundation), I was able to take away enough information to advance my understanding of big concepts from biology to physics.

Any Science Beyond High School? Don't Bother Then

What did you like best about 12 Essential Scientific Concepts? What did you like least?

Probably the best part of this book was the subjects that were chosen to be covered. The problem is that, unless you have only a very rudimentary general knowledge of science you will find this to be almost a children's book. And, if you can put yourself in the place of someone who would NOT already know most of the subject material, then you would be vexed by the speed at which a LOT of good basic stuff was covered... so it would be much better as a printed book than as an audio book.

If you’ve listened to books by The Great Courses before, how does this one compare?

This was my first Great Courses audio book.

Who would you have cast as narrator instead of Professor Indre Viskontas?

Literally anyone who can correctly pronounce a word that begins with the letter "S" and who understands that, as an audio book, the material needs to be presented a bit more slowly.

Could you see 12 Essential Scientific Concepts being made into a movie or a TV series? Who should the stars be?

Uh, ... I don't think so.

Any additional comments?

This was very disappointing to me. I thought it would skip some of the more rudimentary stuff and what subjects I did not already know were covered too quickly with terms unique to the topic left undefined much too often. I would have tried to cover much less, more thoroughly. This would very likely be much better as a printed book.

Amazing entertainment

I like smart entertainment, and this book offers exactly that. The topics are interesting and approaches with simplicity and a little depth. The narrator is full of passion and really know how to tell a history.

I strongly recommend.

Don't trust me, I'm a fan

Okay, I could probably listen to Indre Viskontas list the contents of a shampoo bottle. Much like Neil deGrasse Tyson, it's no surprise she's done well sharing the dryness of science to a broader audience due to her natural and infectious enthusiasm and ability to inflect interest, fascination, and passion into [seemingly] every subject. My hope is we'll one day see her making the rounds on late night TV so that more can benefit from her hopeful outlook and considerable knowledge.

As for "12 Essential Scientific Concepts", it's perfectly acceptable as a more-than-lay overview of foundational science and how, from start to present, these concepts interrelate and/or correlate. Such books are tougher on a listening audience for the shear quantity of information being shared, but this is where Dr Viskontas excels at making an arduous journey a much more friendly trip. Not a replacement for class-time, but a welcome refresher on how our universe works and why that's cool.

On your mark, get ready, go.

Extremely good broad strokes of scientific emperical thought. It is parallel to taking a drink from a fire hose of science. Strap yourself to bull ride of science ... say pull... and hold on for the ride of your life. You may get thrown off ... but if you enjoy science ... you will enjoy the ride.

Great course! A little hard to grasp.

Indre does a great job narrating this great course and is very thorough. However, some of the concepts are a little hard to understand without seeing visuals. The only other thing is the most important one--God. God is completely left out of the beautiful and complex picture of our universe. Too bad.