The Great Unknown

Seven Journeys to the Frontiers of Science

By: Marcus du Sautoy

Narrated by: Marcus du Sautoy

“An engaging voyage into some of the great mysteries and wonders of our world." --Alan Lightman, author of Einstein’s Dream and The Accidental Universe

“No one is better at making the recondite accessible and exciting.” —Bill Bryson

Brain Pickings and Kirkus Best Science Book of the Year

Every week seems to throw up a new discovery, shaking the foundations of what we know. But are there questions we will never be able to answer—mysteries that lie beyond the predictive powers of science? In this captivating exploration of our most tantalizing unknowns, Marcus du Sautoy invites us to consider the problems in cosmology, quantum physics, mathematics, and neuroscience that continue to bedevil scientists and creative thinkers who are at the forefront of their fields.

At once exhilarating, mind-bending, and compulsively readable, The Great Unknown challenges us to consider big questions—about the nature of consciousness, what came before the big bang, and what lies beyond our horizons—while taking us on a virtuoso tour of the great breakthroughs of the past and celebrating the men and women who dared to tackle the seemingly impossible and had the imagination to come up with new ways of seeing the world.

Excellent work

easy to follow the arguments, even if you don't know much physics, even in this audio version.

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:-)

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.

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.

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.