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The Great Unknown
- Seven Journeys to the Frontiers of Science
- Narrated by: Marcus du Sautoy
- Length: 14 hrs and 41 mins
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Publisher's summary
A captivating journey to the outer reaches of human knowledge
Ever since the dawn of civilization, we have been driven by a desire to know - to understand the physical world and the laws of nature. But are there limits to human knowledge? Are some things simply beyond the predictive powers of science? Or are those challenges the next big discovery waiting to happen?
In The Great Unknown, one of the world's most beloved mathematicians takes us into the minds of science's greatest innovators as he probes the many deep mysteries we have yet to solve. He reminds us that major breakthroughs were often ridiculed at the time of their discovery and takes us on a whirlwind tour of seven frontiers of knowledge, where scientists are grappling with the unknown. Can you locate consciousness in the brain? Is our universe infinite? What is dark energy made of? What happens to time in space? Is it possible to beat ageing?
At once exhilarating and mind bending, The Great Unknown will challenge you to think in new ways about every aspect of the known world. It invites us to consider big questions - about who we are and the nature of God - that even the most creative scientists have yet to answer definitively.
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Already internationally acclaimed for his elegant, lucid writing on the most challenging notions in modern physics, Sean Carroll is emerging as one of the greatest humanist thinkers of his generation as he brings his extraordinary intellect to bear not only on the Higgs boson and extra dimensions but now also on our deepest personal questions. Where are we? Who are we? Are our emotions, our beliefs, and our hopes and dreams ultimately meaningless out there in the void?
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ABSOLUTE MUST READ!
- By serine on 05-12-16
By: Sean Carroll
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A Beginner’s Guide to Reality
- Exploring Our Everyday Adventures in Wonderland
- By: Jim Baggott
- Narrated by: Victor Bevine
- Length: 9 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
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A unique fusion of philosophy and metaphysics set against the backdrop of contemporary culture. Have you ever wondered if the world is really there when you're not looking? We tend to take the reality of our world very much for granted. This book will lead you down the rabbit hole in search of something we can point to, hang our hats on, and say this is real.
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A real great listen on the nature of reality
- By Patrick Mabry, Jr. on 07-30-14
By: Jim Baggott
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The Universe in the Rearview Mirror
- How Hidden Symmetries Shape Reality
- By: Dave Goldberg
- Narrated by: Chris Sorensen
- Length: 10 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
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A physicist speeds across space, time, and everything in between showing that our elegant universe from the Higgs boson to antimatter to the most massive group of galaxies is shaped by hidden symmetries that have driven all our recent discoveries about the universe and all the ones to come. Why is the sky dark at night? Is it possible to build a shrink-ray gun? If there is antimatter, can there be antipeople? Why are past, present, and future our only options? Are time and space like a butterfly's wings? No one but Dave Goldberg, the coolest nerd physicist on the planet, could give a hyper-drive tour of the universe like this one.
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Good, but for whom?
- By Michael on 08-31-13
By: Dave Goldberg
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The Unknown Universe
- A New Exploration of Time, Space and Cosmology
- By: Stuart Clark
- Narrated by: Stephen Hoye
- Length: 8 hrs and 22 mins
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On March 21, 2013, the European Space Agency released a map of the afterglow of the big bang. Taking in 440 sextillion kilometers of space and 13.8 billion years of time, it is physically impossible to make a better map: We will never see the early universe in more detail. On the one hand, such a view is the apotheosis of modern cosmology; on the other, it threatens to undermine almost everything we hold cosmologically sacrosanct.
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Everything, Absolutely Everything!
- By Gillian on 03-09-17
By: Stuart Clark
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About Time
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The Big Bang is all but dead, and we do not yet know what will replace it. Our universe's "beginning" is at an end. What does this have to do with us here on Earth? Our lives are about to be dramatically shaken again - as altered as they were with the invention of the clock, the steam engine, the railroad, the radio and the Internet.
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More fluff than science
- By Ivan the Reviewer on 04-15-13
By: Adam Frank
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The Physics of Star Trek
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- Narrated by: Larry McKeever
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What actually happens when the words, "beam me up, Scottie" are uttered? What "warps" when something travels at warp speed? Internationally renowned theoretical physicist and educator Lawrence M. Krauss provides matter-of-fact scientific explanations of the physics of Star Trek in this highly creative and informative guide for both the devoted Trekkie and the physics novice.
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Interesting Book. Quite Technical
- By Christopher B. on 12-07-04
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Knocking on Heaven's Door
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- By: Lisa Randall
- Narrated by: Carrington MacDuffie
- Length: 14 hrs and 24 mins
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The latest developments in physics have the potential to radically revise our understanding of the world: its makeup, its evolution, and the fundamental forces that drive its operation. Knocking on Heaven's Door is an exhilarating and accessible overview of these developments and an impassioned argument for the significance of science. There could be no better guide than Lisa Randall.
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Too Political
- By Allan on 12-14-11
By: Lisa Randall
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The Science of Discworld
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Not just another science audiobook and not just another Discworld novella, The Science of Discworld is a creative, mind-bending mash-up of fiction and fact, that offers a wizard’s-eye view of our world that will forever change how you look at the universe.
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Not the best Pratchett, but gets there in the end
- By Rachel on 07-30-14
By: Terry Pratchett, and others
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The World According to Physics
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Shining a light on the most profound insights revealed by modern physics, Jim Al-Khalili invites us all to understand what this crucially important science tells us about the universe and the nature of reality itself. Al-Khalili begins by introducing the fundamental concepts of space, time, energy, and matter, and then describes the three pillars of modern physics - quantum theory, relativity, and thermodynamics - showing how all three must come together if we are ever to have a full understanding of reality.
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excellent book
- By Anonymous User on 05-10-21
By: Jim Al-Khalili
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The Quantum Story
- A History in 40 Moments
- By: Jim Baggott
- Narrated by: Mike Pollock
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Utterly beautiful. Profoundly disconcerting. Quantum theory is quite simply the most successful account of the physical universe ever devised. Its concepts underpin much of the 21st-century technology that we now take for granted. But at the same time it has completely undermined our ability to make sense of the world at its most fundamental level.
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who's the target reader?
- By Hannah on 09-17-11
By: Jim Baggott
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The Grand Biocentric Design
- How Life Creates Reality
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What is consciousness? Why are we here? Where did it all come from - the laws of nature, the stars, the universe? Humans have been asking these questions forever, but science hasn't succeeded in providing many answers - until now. In The Grand Biocentric Design, Robert Lanza, one of Time magazine's "100 Most Influential People", is joined by theoretical physicist Matej Pavšic and astronomer Bob Berman to shed light on the big picture that has long eluded philosophers and scientists alike.
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Should be in the fiction section.
- By Frank on 12-29-20
By: Robert Lanza, and others
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drones on and on for hours!
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What listeners say about The Great Unknown
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Amazon Customer
- 09-03-18
Excellent work
easy to follow the arguments, even if you don't know much physics, even in this audio version.
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- Seth K
- 02-26-18
good story, uneven narration
great story. good introduction to fascinating topics in physics, cosmology, math and philosophy to guide deeper investigations. the narrator is quite animated and on the whole engaging. however he has an odd habit of reading any quote with a very exaggerated, almost cartoonish voice which in many cases comes off as disrespectful to the party being quoted. some may enjoy it.. I found it off-putting as the book went on.
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4 people found this helpful
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- PMonaco
- 12-03-17
Good overview from the viewpoint of a mathematian
Prof Marcus du Sautoy gives an excellent review of how mathematics can help us understand universe. It is worthwhile hearing the story from the point-of-view of a mathematian. The author traces several important mathematical concepts through history, which is an amazing story. I learned a great deal from the book, and I highly recommend it.
Unfortunately, Prof. du Sautoy is not a physicist and he struggles with his explaination of quantum physics and relativity. For example, he falsely states that General Relativity (GR) is required to describe the motion of an accelerating reference system. GR describes gravity through an equivalence principal that relates gravity to an accelerating reference frame. He also gives a wrong explanation of the so called "twin paradox." Twins who take different paths through spacetime will experience different elapsed times because they change reference frames, not because one twin accelerates at a turnaround point. Both of these errors are common misconceptions. Prof du Sautoy should have asked a physicist to review his book.
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2 people found this helpful
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- gryrvn
- 10-26-18
Interesting Good book.
Well read by author himself.
Stories of scientists and their struggles/triumphs
over history are surprising and in some cases shocking.
Puts human face on very intelligent men and women.
Delves deep into the mysterious questions that plague
us to this day.
I have listen to it several times already just to begin take it all in.
Thx:-)
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- Chad Lisle
- 07-11-17
The author being the narrator is great.
The author is a brilliant man and hearing the narration of the book by him is pretty amazing.
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- wbiro
- 10-12-17
Hit the Spot
Satisfied my fix for the frontiers of physics and cosmology. Explained a few topics more clearly than all the muddled attempts I've encountered.
I had to get used to his (Irish?) accent, which didn't take long.
I enjoyed his mathematical perspective, noting that he took a lot at face value, simply repeating the usual fare, which a novice reader will not notice or mind. I enjoyed his math jokes.
He inserted far, far too much God and religion - the book could have done without it. If he's going for the Templeton Prize, I'll forgive him (it is a whopper).
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- Mike
- 04-26-17
Science Museum in a Book (this is a compliment :)
Any additional comments?
Under another publisher this book is titled "What We Cannot Know". This speaks to the philosophizing at the end of the book, where Du Sautoy summarizes his thoughts on the "Seven Journeys" mentioned in the alternate title. This alternate title better reflects the broader character of the book - like a walk through a science museum, the reader is generally left to explore and make up his or her own mind as we encounter Du Sautoy's seven topics: Chaos, Matter, Quantum Physics, the Universe, Time, Consciousness, and Infinity.
This is where Du Sautoy shines - you can practically see him in the inevitable BBC documentary pointing out lab equipment and sipping tea as he visits enlightened colleagues. If you love this kind of stuff - science museums and BBC or PBS documentaries - you'll love this book. There are even some cutting edge surprises here: Rovelli's Thermal Time and Tononi's Integrated Information Theory are two standouts I found myself researching further after Du Sautoy's mentions.
So, what of this overall "What We Cannot Know" thesis? Du Sautoy saves most of this discussion for the final chapter, which is largely too short for a rigorous philosophical treatment. As is right for a mathematician, he invokes Gödel's incompleteness theorems, mentions Alonzo Church, and generally hedges his bets. Interestingly, where Du Sautoy feels eggshells beneath his feet the most is at the "small" end of the spectrum, briefly mentioning the limitation of Plank length, whereas I found myself feeling very solid about our collective ability to discover further and further fundamentals of Quanta and Matter, but less sure about our future understanding of the Universe and Infinity. This is a good feeling at the end of a science and philosophy-of-science book, when you are confident to be slightly at odds with the author, while having thoroughly enjoyed the ride.
On final note: having recently completed a History of Science: 1700 to 1900 by Frederick Gregory, I can tell you these two books are excellent back-to-back reads. For all we can and cannot know, I can at least say that with certainty ;)
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- Linh-Thao
- 12-17-19
Broad but not insightful, written like a blog post
Sautoy brings together a vast array of topics that challenge current understanding about the universe, logic/mathematics, and consciousness. Although there is a good variety of topics, none of them is explored in depth to truly understand the issue at heart.
For example, in the section about quantum mechanics, Sautou casually mentions that "non-commutativity leads to uncertainty" and does nothing to justify the statement, even though only those familiar with the uncertainty principle could make sense of what was said...which is strange since this book is presumably an introduction to such topics.
Moreover, Sautoy presents many philosophically questionable and emotionally motivated views of religion and God. Although he is not openly hostile to belief, he has a condescending view of "traditional religion" and ends the book defining God as "what we cannot know."
This would be fine, but Sautou himself states in the book why this could be problematic, but simply dismisses the objections to his idea of God as nonsensical rather than actually addressing the objections in a meaningful manner--the same problem with all the other topics in the book.
Overall, the book, although superficially interesting, is written as if it were a combination of several interrelated op-eds containing his thoughts and opinions on various topics he considers grand and deceptively labeled what we cannot know.
The book should be titled "What I as Marcus Sautoy do not know and what I think about it, and also here's my idea of God, it's pretty cool"
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- R Durero
- 06-16-17
A nice journey through the history os science
A longitudinal and transversal review of all of science. Marcus being the Professor for the Public Understanding of Science, does a good job at that. He goes a little wider and a little deeper than most science divulging treatises I've read so far, with quite a few interesting things I didn't know. A god read if you are a science buff
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- Matthew White
- 02-12-18
Narration Was Awful!
What would have made The Great Unknown better?
Marcus du Sautoy narrates his own books and his voice was awful. He has an extremely nasally voice. It was the opposite of calm and soothing like an audio book is supposed to be. I could not pay attention to the story. I stopped listening after one chapter, because his voice was so bad. It sucks because it sounded like an interesting topic.
Moral of the story- DO NOT NARRATE YOUR OWN BOOKS! Pay a professional to do it.
If you’ve listened to books by Marcus du Sautoy before, how does this one compare?
I have not listened to previous books by this author
Who would you have cast as narrator instead of Marcus du Sautoy?
Anybody but the author.
If you could play editor, what scene or scenes would you have cut from The Great Unknown?
I would cut Marcus du Sautoy from doing the narration
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