At the Edge of Uncertainty

11 Discoveries Taking Science by Surprise

By: Michael Brooks

Narrated by: Sean Runnette

Length: 9 hrs and 12 mins

Publisher's summary

The best-selling author of Free Radicals takes listeners on a whirlwind tour of the most controversial areas of modern science.

The atom, the big bang, DNA, natural selection - all are ideas that have revolutionized science; and all were dismissed out of hand when they first appeared. The surprises haven't stopped in recent years, and in At the Edge of Uncertainty, best-selling author Michael Brooks investigates the new wave of radical insights that are shaping the future of scientific discovery.

Brooks takes us to the extreme frontiers of what we understand about the world. He journeys from the observations that might rewrite our story of how the cosmos came to be, through the novel biology behind our will to live, and on to the physiological root of consciousness. Along the way, he examines how it's time to redress the gender imbalance in clinical trials, explores how merging humans with other species might provide a solution to the shortage of organ donors, and finds out whether the universe really is like a computer or if the flow of time is a mere illusion.

©2014 Michael Brooks (P)2015 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Adequete but mostly rehash of other books

Zombies aren't real and they don't help in explaining consciousness, quantum computers and epigenetics are real (and cool), gender makes a difference in drug efficacy, entanglement is cool, time is not a part of physics, and the big bang theory doesn't explain everything and has some problems. All those concepts are explored in this book and probably are familiar to any regular listener of Audible's pop science books.

Science is not perfect and speculation beyond what we currently accept is worth while, but to make a book really worth my while tell me things I don't already know. This book fails at telling me things I haven't read elsewhere.

If you're not too familiar with pop science books, this book provides a good essay approach to a lot of interesting topics (with a little bit too much speculation, though), but for almost everyone else I would recommend skipping this book. (Except, the section on epigenetics did standout and the understanding about the importance of epigenetics needs to be more widely understood).

Interesting content, wrong narrator.

Nearly stopped listening because the narrator read in such an old-fashioned manner. Too sing-song and smooth. He sounded like a grandfather with slightly loose dentures reading a bed-time story. WHY? This is supposed to be cutting-edge science- let's interject some edge to the narration.

Annoying Reader

The cadence of the reader is repetitive and fatiguing to listen to. And he sounds like Kermit the frog.

Amazing Scary Cutting Edge Science

This book is a must read for anyone who wants to be knowledgeable on the newest trends in science. The book clearly demonstrates how science and particularly cosmology are constantly evolving as disciplines, and the theories are in challenge. I found Michael Brooks's material to be fascinating. I am sure that my IQ went up 10 points just from listening to this book on Audible, as it was so intelligently and engagingly written. Sean Runnette's reading was top notch as well.

Wanting more

Good narration. Plenty of entertainment for both the non science and science inclined individual. Difficult to stop listening to these great stories.

Not what I expected but super Interesting to listen too

I was expecting something very different but was pleased to learn details about our Universe and a better understanding of the theories that got us here.

I thought the narrator had a familiar, soothing voice that was easy to hear and gave the information authority.

Was a good 2 days spent.

Played too fast and loose

I found the first part of the book informative and interesting. However, as it got to later sections I felt that the author was torturing facts to fit a narrative. Too often a minority view was presented as more dominant and some “facts” were either wrong or not right in the way. An explanation that was of the problem of simultaneity was presented as the problem of causality. That is only for an issue of problems with Post Hoc Ergo Propter Hoc, which does not actually tell us about causality.

I had to reassess what was presented earlier because I feel like I cannot place enough faith in the Edgar was said and presented as facts.

Sean Runnette makes any story fascinating!

Expand the boundaries of your understanding of the universe as we know it. Mr Runnette makes it easy to absorb.

human or not

a good listen and a very interesting look at humanity from both the inside and outside

Thought provoking and accessible

Really enjoyed this rabbit-hole rich review of scientists' latest battlefields. Well written, competently read. Excellent fuel for curiosity.