29 Best Best Physics Books
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Ask the Experts: Physics and Math
- By: Scientific American
- Narrator: Graham Halstead
- Length: 3 hours 52 minutes
- Publisher: Blackstone Publishing
- Publish date: January 01, 2021
- Language: English
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3.95(40 ratings)
3.95(40 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0014.95 USDFor going on two decades, Scientific American’s “Ask the Experts” column has been answering reader questions on all fields of science. We’ve taken your questions from the basic to the esoteric and reached out to topFor going on two decades, Scientific American’s “Ask the Experts” column has been answering reader questions on all fields of science. We’ve taken your questions from the basic to the esoteric and reached out to top scientists, professors, and researchers to find out why the sky is blue or whether we really only use 10 percent of our brains.
Now, we’ve combed through our archives and have compiled some of the most interesting questions (and answers) into a series of books. Organized by subject, each title provides short, easily digestible answers to questions on that particular branch of the sciences.
The first title in our series–Physics and Math–explains a wide range of natural phenomena and mathematical concepts. Have you ever wondered what exactly antimatter is? How about game theory, quantum mechanics, and the origin of pi? Mathematicians and professors from universities across the country tackle these topics, drawing on their extensive expertise to give answers that are at once accurate and comprehensible by those who haven’t studied physics or math since high school.
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Atomic Accidents
- By: James Mahaffey
- Narrator: Tom Weiner
- Length: 15 hours 54 minutes
- Publisher: Blackstone Publishing
- Publish date: January 01, 2014
- Language: English
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4.22(1534 ratings)
4.22(1534 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0029.95 USDA gripping narrative of nuclear mishaps and meltdowns around the globe, all of which have proven pivotal to the advancement of nuclear science From the moment radiation was discovered in the late nineteenth century, nuclear science has had a richA gripping narrative of nuclear mishaps and meltdowns around the globe, all of which have proven pivotal to the advancement of nuclear science
From the moment radiation was discovered in the late nineteenth century, nuclear science has had a rich history of innovative scientific exploration and discovery, coupled with mistakes, accidents, and downright disasters. Mahaffey, a long-time advocate of continued nuclear research and nuclear energy, looks at each incident in turn and analyzes what happened and why, often discovering where scientists went wrong when analyzing past meltdowns.
Every incident has led to new facets of understanding about the mighty atom–and Mahaffey puts forth what the future should be for this final frontier of science that still holds so much promise.
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Dark Matter and the Dinosaurs
- By: Lisa Randall
- Narrator: Carrington MacDuffie
- Length: 12 hours 32 minutes
- Publisher: HarperAudio
- Publish date: October 27, 2015
- Language: English
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3.67(2146 ratings)
3.67(2146 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0024.99 USDIn this brilliant exploration of our cosmic environment, the renowned particle physicist and New York Times bestselling author of Warped Passages and Knocking on Heaven’s Door uses her research into dark matter to illuminate the startlingIn this brilliant exploration of our cosmic environment, the renowned particle physicist and New York Times bestselling author of Warped Passages and Knocking on Heaven’s Door uses her research into dark matter to illuminate the startling connections between the furthest reaches of space and life here on Earth.
Sixty-six million years ago, an object the size of a city descended from space to crash into Earth, creating a devastating cataclysm that killed off the dinosaurs, along with three-quarters of the other species on the planet. What was its origin? In Dark Matter and the Dinosaurs, Lisa Randall proposes it was a comet that was dislodged from its orbit as the Solar System passed through a disk of dark matter embedded in the Milky Way. In a sense, it might have been dark matter that killed the dinosaurs.
Working through the background and consequences of this proposal, Randall shares with us the latest findings–established and speculative–regarding the nature and role of dark matter and the origin of the Universe, our galaxy, our Solar System, and life, along with the process by which scientists explore new concepts. In Dark Matter and the Dinosaurs, Randall tells a breathtaking story that weaves together the cosmos’ history and our own, illuminating the deep relationships that are critical to our world and the astonishing beauty inherent in the most familiar things.
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Dreams of a Final Theory
- By: Steven Weinberg
- Narrator: Stuart Langton
- Length: 9 hours 28 minutes
- Publisher: Blackstone Publishing
- Publish date: January 01, 2009
- Language: English
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4.08(3110 ratings)
4.08(3110 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0019.95 USDThis is the story of a grand scientific quest: the quest for a unifying theory of nature–one that can explain forces as different as the cohesion inside the atom and the gravitational tug between the sun and the earth. Writing with dazzlingThis is the story of a grand scientific quest: the quest for a unifying theory of nature–one that can explain forces as different as the cohesion inside the atom and the gravitational tug between the sun and the earth. Writing with dazzling elegance and clarity, Nobel Prize-winning physicist Steven Weinberg retraces the steps that have led modern scientists from relativity theory and quantum mechanics to the notion of superstrings and the idea that our universe may coexist with others. Along the way, he voices the questions that are always present: Why does each explanation of the way nature works point to other, deeper explanations? Why are the best theories not only logical but beautiful? And what implications will a final theory have for our philosophy and religious faith?
Intellectually daring, rich in anecdote and aphorism, Dreams of a Final Theory launches us into a new cosmos and helps us make sense of what we find there.
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Falling Felines and Fundamental Physics
- By: Gregory J. Gbur
- Narrator: David Stifel
- Length: 9 hours 18 minutes
- Publisher: Blackstone Publishing
- Publish date: January 01, 2020
- Language: English
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3.83(88 ratings)
3.83(88 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0019.95 USDHow do cats land on their feet? Discover how this question stumped brilliant minds and how its answer helped solve other seemingly impossible puzzles. The question of how falling cats land on their feet has intrigued humans since at least the middleHow do cats land on their feet? Discover how this question stumped brilliant minds and how its answer helped solve other seemingly impossible puzzles.
The question of how falling cats land on their feet has intrigued humans since at least the middle of the nineteenth century. In this playful and eye-opening history, physicist and cat parent Gregory Gbur explores how attempts to understand the cat-righting reflex have provided crucial insights into puzzles in mathematics, geophysics, neuroscience, and human space exploration.
The result is an engaging tumble through physics, physiology, photography, and robotics to uncover, through scientific debate, the secret of the acrobatic performance known as cat-turning, the cat flip, and the cat twist. Listeners learn the solution, but also discover that the finer details still inspire heated arguments. As with other cat behavior, the more we investigate, the more surprises we discover.
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Fantastic Numbers and Where to Find Them
- By: Antonio Padilla
- Narrator: Antonio Padilla
- Length: 13 hours 53 minutes
- Publisher: Macmillan Audio
- Publish date: July 26, 2022
- Language: English
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3.77(244 ratings)
3.77(244 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0026.99 USDThis program is read by the author. A fun, dazzling exploration of the strange numbers that illuminate the ultimate nature of reality. For particularly brilliant theoretical physicists like James Clerk Maxwell, Paul Dirac, or Albert Einstein, theThis program is read by the author.
A fun, dazzling exploration of the strange numbers that illuminate the ultimate nature of reality.
For particularly brilliant theoretical physicists like James Clerk Maxwell, Paul Dirac, or Albert Einstein, the search for mathematical truths led to strange new understandings of the ultimate nature of reality. But what are these truths? What are the mysterious numbers that explain the universe?
In Fantastic Numbers and Where to Find Them, the leading theoretical physicist and YouTube star Antonio Padilla takes us on an irreverent cosmic tour of nine of the most extraordinary numbers in physics, offering a startling picture of how the universe works. These strange numbers include Graham’s number, which is so large that if you thought about it in the wrong way, your head would collapse into a singularity; TREE(3), whose finite nature can never be definitively proved, because to do so would take so much time that the universe would experience a Poincare Recurrence–resetting to precisely the state it currently holds, down to the arrangement of individual atoms; and 10^{-120}, measuring the desperately unlikely balance of energy needed to allow the universe to exist for more than just a moment, to extend beyond the size of a single atom–in other words, the mystery of our unexpected universe.
Leading us down the rabbit hole to a deeper understanding of reality, Padilla explains how these unusual numbers are the key to understanding such mind-boggling phenomena as black holes, relativity, and the problem of the cosmological constant–that the two best and most rigorously tested ways of understanding the universe contradict one another. Fantastic Numbers and Where to Find Them is a combination of popular and cutting-edge science–and a lively, entertaining, and even funny exploration of the most fundamental truths about the universe.
A Macmillan Audio production from Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
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Genesis
- By: Edward O. Wilson
- Length: 3 hours 8 minutes
- Publisher: Recorded Books, Inc.
- Publish date: March 19, 2019
- Language: English
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3.87(867 ratings)
3.87(867 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0010.99 USDAsserting that religious creeds and philosophical questions can be reduced to purely genetic and evolutionary components, and that the human body and mind have a physical base obedient to the laws of physics and chemistry, Genesis demonstrates thatAsserting that religious creeds and philosophical questions can be reduced to purely genetic and evolutionary components, and that the human body and mind have a physical base obedient to the laws of physics and chemistry, Genesis demonstrates that the only way for us to fully understand human behavior is to study the evolutionary histories of nonhuman species. Of these, Wilson demonstrates that at least seventeen?among them the African naked mole rat and the sponge- dwelling shrimp?have been found to have advanced societies based on altruism and cooperation. Whether writing about midges who “dance about like acrobats” or schools of anchovies who protectively huddle “to appear like a gigantic fish,” or proposing that human society owes a debt of gratitude to “postmenopausal grandmothers” and “childless homosexuals,” Genesis is a pithy yet path-breaking work of evolutionary theory, braiding twenty-first-century scientific theory with the lyrical biological and humanistic observations for which Wilson is known.
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How the Hippies Saved Physics
- By: David Kaiser
- Narrator: Sean Runnette
- Length: 12 hours 2 minutes
- Publisher: Blackstone Publishing
- Publish date: January 01, 2011
- Language: English
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3.53(606 ratings)
3.53(606 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0022.95 USDThe surprising story of eccentric young scientists who stood up to convention—and changed the face of modern physics In the 1970s, amid severe cutbacks in physics funding, a small group of underemployed physicists in Berkeley decided to throwThe surprising story of eccentric young scientists who stood up to convention—and changed the face of modern physics
In the 1970s, amid severe cutbacks in physics funding, a small group of underemployed physicists in Berkeley decided to throw off the constraints of academia and explore the wilder side of science. Dubbing themselves the “Fundamental Fysiks Group,” they pursued a freewheeling, speculative approach to physics. Some dabbled with LSD while conducting experiments. They studied quantum theory alongside Eastern mysticism and psychic mind reading, discussing the latest developments while lounging in hot tubs. Unlikely as it may seem, this quirky band of misfits altered the course of modern physics, forcing mainstream physicists to pay attention to the strange but exciting underpinnings of quantum theory. Their work on Bell’s theorem and quantum entanglement helped pave the way for today’s advances in quantum information science.
A lively and entertaining Cinderella story, How the Hippies Saved Physics takes us to a time when only the unlikeliest heroes could break the science world out of its rut.
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How to Die in Space
- By: Paul M. Sutter
- Narrator: Paul M. Sutter
- Length: 12 hours 41 minutes
- Publisher: Blackstone Publishing
- Publish date: January 01, 2020
- Language: English
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3.9(211 ratings)
3.9(211 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0022.95 USDA brilliant and breathtakingly vivid tour of the universe, describing the physics of the dangerous, the deadly, and the scary in the cosmos So you’ve fallen in love with space and now you want to see it for yourself, huh? You want to witnessA brilliant and breathtakingly vivid tour of the universe, describing the physics of the dangerous, the deadly, and the scary in the cosmos
So you’ve fallen in love with space and now you want to see it for yourself, huh? You want to witness the birth of a star, or visit the black hole at the center of our galaxy? You want to know if there are aliens out there, or how to travel through a wormhole? You want the wonders of the universe revealed before your very eyes?
Well stop, because all that will probably kill you.
From mundane comets in our solar backyard to exotic remnants of the Big Bang, from dying stars to young galaxies, the universe may be beautiful, but it’s treacherous. Through metaphors and straightforward language, How to Die in Space breathes life into astrophysics, unveiling how particles and forces and fields interplay to create the drama in the heavens above us.
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Neutrino Hunters
- By: Ray Jayawardhana
- Narrator: Bronson Pinchot
- Length: 6 hours 3 minutes
- Publisher: Blackstone Publishing
- Publish date: January 01, 2013
- Language: English
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4.02(482 ratings)
4.02(482 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0016.95 USDDetective thriller meets astrophysics in this adventure into neutrinos and the scientists who pursue them. For more than eighty years, brilliant and eccentric scientists around the world have been searching for the incredibly small bits of matter weDetective thriller meets astrophysics in this adventure into neutrinos and the scientists who pursue them.
For more than eighty years, brilliant and eccentric scientists around the world have been searching for the incredibly small bits of matter we call neutrinos. Trillions of these ghostly particles pass through our bodies every second, but they are so pathologically shy that neutrino hunters have to use Olympic-size pools deep underground and a gigantic cube of Antarctic ice to catch just a handful. Neutrinos may hold the secrets to the nature of antimatter and what the universe was like just seconds after the big bang, but they are extremely elusive and difficult to pin down–much like the adventurous scientists who doggedly pursue them.
In Neutrino Hunters, renowned astrophysicist and award-winning author Ray Jayawardhana takes us on a thrilling journey into the shadowy world of neutrinos and the colorful lives of those who chase them. Demystifying particle science along the way, Jayawardhana tells a detective story with cosmic implications–interweaving the tales of the irascible Casanova Wolfgang Pauli; the troubled genius Ettore Majorana, who disappeared without a trace; and Bruno Pontecorvo, whose defection to the Soviet Union caused a Cold War ruckus. Ultimately, Jayawardhana reveals just how significant these fast-moving particles are to the world we live in and why the next decade of neutrino hunting will redefine how we think about physics, cosmology, and our lives on Earth.
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Spooky Action at a Distance
- By: George Musser
- Narrator: William Hughes
- Length: 8 hours 37 minutes
- Publisher: Blackstone Publishing
- Publish date: January 01, 2015
- Language: English
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3.79(669 ratings)
3.79(669 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0019.95 USDWhat is space? It isn’t a question that most of us normally stop to ask. Space is the venue of physics; it’s where things exist, where they move and take shape. Yet over the past few decades, physicists have discovered a phenomenon thatWhat is space? It isn’t a question that most of us normally stop to ask. Space is the venue of physics; it’s where things exist, where they move and take shape. Yet over the past few decades, physicists have discovered a phenomenon that operates outside the confines of space and time. The phenomenon–the ability of one particle to affect another instantly across the vastness of space–appears to be almost magical. Einstein grappled with this oddity and couldn’t quite resolve it, describing it as “spooky action at a distance.” But this strange occurrence has direct connections to black holes, particle collisions, and even the workings of gravity. If space isn’t what we thought it was, then what is it?
In Spooky Action at a Distance, George Musser sets out to answer that question, offering a provocative exploration of nonlocality and a celebration of the scientists who are trying to understand it. Musser guides us on an epic journey of scientific discovery into the lives of experimental physicists observing particles acting in tandem, astronomers discovering galaxies that look statistically identical, and cosmologists hoping to unravel the paradoxes surrounding the big bang. Their conclusions challenge our understanding not only of space and time but of the origins of the universe–and their insights are spurring profound technological innovation and suggesting a new grand unified theory of physics.
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Strange New Worlds
- By: Ray Jayawardhana
- Narrator: Bronson Pinchot
- Length: 6 hours 38 minutes
- Publisher: Blackstone Publishing
- Publish date: January 01, 2014
- Language: English
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3.83(305 ratings)
3.83(305 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0019.95 USDIn Strange New Worlds, renowned astronomer Ray Jayawardhana brings news from the front lines of the epic quest to find planets–and alien life–beyond our solar system. Only in the past two decades, after millennia of speculation, haveIn Strange New Worlds, renowned astronomer Ray Jayawardhana brings news from the front lines of the epic quest to find planets–and alien life–beyond our solar system. Only in the past two decades, after millennia of speculation, have astronomers begun to discover planets around other stars–thousands in fact. Now they are closer than ever to unraveling distant twins of the Earth. In this book, Jayawardhana vividly recounts the stories of the scientists and the remarkable breakthroughs that have ushered in this extraordinary age of exploration. He describes the latest findings, including his own, that are challenging our view of the cosmos and casting new light on the origins and evolution of planets and planetary systems. He reveals how technology is rapidly advancing to support direct observations of Jupiter-like gas giants and super-Earths–rocky planets with several times the mass of our own planet–and how astronomers use biomarkers to seek possible life on other worlds.
Strange New Worlds provides an insider’s look at the cutting-edge science of today’s planet hunters, our prospects for discovering alien life, and the debates and controversies at the forefront of extrasolar-planet research.
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The 4 Percent Universe
- By: Richard Panek
- Narrator: Ray Porter
- Length: 10 hours 7 minutes
- Publisher: Blackstone Publishing
- Publish date: January 01, 2011
- Language: English
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3.89(227 ratings)
3.89(227 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0019.95 USDOver the past few decades, a handful of scientists have been racing to explain a disturbing aspect of our universe: only four percent of it consists of the matter that makes up you, me, our books, and every star and planet. The rest is completelyOver the past few decades, a handful of scientists have been racing to explain a disturbing aspect of our universe: only four percent of it consists of the matter that makes up you, me, our books, and every star and planet. The rest is completely unknown.
Richard Panek tells the dramatic story of the quest to find this “dark” matter and an even more bizarre substance called “dark energy.” This is perhaps the greatest mystery in all of science, and solving it will bring fame, funding, and certainly a Nobel Prize. Based on in-depth reporting and interviews with the major players—from Berkeley’s feisty, excitable Saul Perlmutter and Harvard’s witty but exacting Robert Kirshner to the doyenne of astronomy, Vera Rubin—the book offers an intimate portrait of the bitter rivalries and fruitful collaborations, the eureka moments and blind alleys, that have fueled their search, redefined science, and reinvented the universe.
The stakes couldn’t be higher. Our view of the cosmos is profoundly wrong, and Copernicus was only the beginning: not just Earth, but all common matter is a marginal part of existence. Panek’s fast-paced narrative, filled with original reporting and behind-the-scenes details, brings this epic story to life for the very first time.
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The Accidental Universe
- By: Alan Lightman
- Narrator: Bronson Pinchot
- Length: 3 hours 51 minutes
- Publisher: Blackstone Publishing
- Publish date: January 01, 2014
- Language: English
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3.85(3347 ratings)
3.85(3347 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0019.95 USDFrom the acclaimed author of Einstein’s Dreams and Mr. g comes a meditation on the unexpected ways in which recent scientific findings have shaped our understanding of ourselves and our place in the cosmos. With all the passion, curiosity, andFrom the acclaimed author of Einstein’s Dreams and Mr. g comes a meditation on the unexpected ways in which recent scientific findings have shaped our understanding of ourselves and our place in the cosmos.
With all the passion, curiosity, and precise yet lyrical prose that have marked his previous books, Alan Lightman here explores the emotional and philosophical questions raised by discoveries in science, focusing most intently on the human condition and the needs of humankind. He looks at the difficult dialogue between science and religion, the conflict between our human desire for permanence and the impermanence of nature, the possibility that our universe is simply an accident, the manner in which modern technology has separated us from direct experience of the world, and our resistance to the view that our bodies and minds can be explained by scientific logic and laws. And behind all of these considerations is the suggestion–at once haunting and exhilarating–that what we see and understand of the world is only a tiny piece of the extraordinary, perhaps unfathomable whole.
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Ultimate Physics
- By: Scientific American
- Narrator: William Hughes
- Length: 7 hours 5 minutes
- Publisher: Blackstone Publishing
- Publish date: January 01, 2020
- Language: English
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4.36(40 ratings)
4.36(40 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0016.95 USDThe fundamental outlines of the physical world, from its tiniest particles to massive galaxy clusters, have been apparent for decades. Does this mean physicists are about to tie it all up into a neat package? Not at all. Just when you thinkThe fundamental outlines of the physical world, from its tiniest particles to massive galaxy clusters, have been apparent for decades. Does this mean physicists are about to tie it all up into a neat package? Not at all. Just when you think you’re figuring it out, the universe begins to look its strangest, and this audiobook illustrates how answers often lead to more questions and open up new paths to insight.
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The Physics of Star Wars
- By: Patrick Johnson
- Narrator: Jonathan Davis
- Length: 7 hours 51 minutes
- Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio
- Publish date: January 01, 2017
- Language: English
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3.76(284 ratings)
3.76(284 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0017.99 USDExplore the physics behind the world of Star Wars, with engaging topics and accessible information that shows how we’re closer than ever before to creating technology from the galaxy far, far away–perfect for every Star Wars fan!EverExplore the physics behind the world of Star Wars, with engaging topics and accessible information that shows how we’re closer than ever before to creating technology from the galaxy far, far away–perfect for every Star Wars fan!
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Ever wish you could have your very own lightsaber like Luke Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi? Or that you could fly through space at the speed of light like Han Solo and Poe Dameron?
Well, those ideas aren’t as outlandish as you think.
In The Physics of Star Wars, you’ll explore the mystical power of the Force using quantum mechanics, find out how much energy it would take for the Death Star or Starkiller Base to destroy a planet, and discover how we can potentially create our very own lightsabers. The fantastical world of Star Wars may become a reality! -
Astrophysics for People in a Hurry
- By: Neil deGrasse Tyson
- Narrator: Neil deGrasse Tyson
- Length: 3 hours 41 minutes
- Publisher: Blackstone Publishing
- Publish date: January 01, 2017
- Language: English
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4.09(153162 ratings)
4.09(153162 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0014.95 USDThe essential universe, from our most celebrated and beloved astrophysicist. What is the nature of space and time? How do we fit within the universe? How does the universe fit within us? There’s no better guide through these mind-expandingThe essential universe, from our most celebrated and beloved astrophysicist.
What is the nature of space and time? How do we fit within the universe? How does the universe fit within us? There’s no better guide through these mind-expanding questions than acclaimed astrophysicist and bestselling author Neil deGrasse Tyson.
But today, few of us have time to contemplate the cosmos. So Tyson brings the universe down to Earth succinctly and clearly, with sparkling wit, in digestible chapters consumable anytime and anywhere in your busy day.
While waiting for your morning coffee to brew, or while waiting for the bus, the train, or the plane to arrive, Astrophysics for People in a Hurry will reveal just what you need to be fluent and ready for the next cosmic headlines: from the Big Bang to black holes, from quarks to quantum mechanics, and from the search for planets to the search for life in the universe.
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The Black Hole War
- By: Leonard Susskind
- Narrator: Ray Porter
- Length: 12 hours 46 minutes
- Publisher: Blackstone Publishing
- Publish date: January 01, 2008
- Language: English
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4.12(9849 ratings)
4.12(9849 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0022.95 USDThis is the inside account of the battle over the true nature of black holes–with nothing less than our understanding of the entire universe at stake. What happens when something is sucked into a black hole? Does it disappear? Three decadesThis is the inside account of the battle over the true nature of black holes–with nothing less than our understanding of the entire universe at stake.
What happens when something is sucked into a black hole? Does it disappear? Three decades ago, a young physicist named Stephen Hawking claimed that it did–and in doing so, put at risk everything we know about the fundamental laws of the universe. Leonard Susskind and Gerard ‘t Hooft realized the threat and responded with a counterattack that changed the course of physics.
The Black Hole War is the thrilling story of their united effort to reconcile Hawking’s theories of black holes with their own sense of reality, an effort that would eventually result in Hawking admitting he was wrong and Susskind and ‘t Hooft realizing that our world is a hologram projected from the outer boundaries of space. A brilliant book about the deepest mysteries of modern physics, The Black Hole War is mind-bending and exhilarating reading.
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The Boy Who Played with Fusion
- By: Tom Clynes
- Narrator: P. J. Ochlan
- Length: 12 hours 27 minutes
- Publisher: Blackstone Publishing
- Publish date: January 01, 2015
- Language: English
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4.15(449 ratings)
4.15(449 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0019.95 USDThis is the story of how an American teenager became the youngest person ever to build a working nuclear fusion reactor. By the age of nine, Taylor Wilson had mastered the science of rocket propulsion. At eleven, his grandmother’s cancerThis is the story of how an American teenager became the youngest person ever to build a working nuclear fusion reactor.
By the age of nine, Taylor Wilson had mastered the science of rocket propulsion. At eleven, his grandmother’s cancer diagnosis drove him to investigate new ways to produce medical isotopes. And by fourteen, Wilson had built a 500-million-degree reactor and become the youngest person in history to achieve nuclear fusion. How could someone so young achieve so much, and what can Wilson’s story teach parents and teachers about how to support high-achieving kids?
In The Boy Who Played with Fusion, science journalist Tom Clynes narrates Taylor’s extraordinary journey–from his Arkansas home where his parents fully supported his intellectual passions; to a unique Reno, Nevada, public high school just for academic superstars; to the present, when now nineteen-year-old Wilson is winning international science competitions with devices designed to prevent terrorists from shipping radioactive material into the country. Along the way, Clynes reveals how our education system shortchanges gifted students–and what we can do to fix it.
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Physics for Poets
- By: Richard T. Kouzes
- Narrator: Richard T. Kouzes
- Length: 3 hours 15 minutes
- Publisher: Recorded Books, Inc.
- Publish date: August 01, 2014
- Language: English
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3(7 ratings)
3(7 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0019.99 USDFor many with a background in humanities, the thought of exploring the sciences can seem to be daunting at best. This can be especially true with regard to physics which often incorporates complex mathematical formulas as well. But thatFor many with a background in humanities, the thought of exploring the sciences can seem to be daunting at best. This can be especially true with regard to physics which often incorporates complex mathematical formulas as well. But that doesn’t have to be the case. In fact, many of the most significant principles of physics can be broken down and understood in very easy-to-understand terms. That is exactly the manner in which Professor Richard Kouzes handles the subject in this engaging series of lectures. Exploring many of the most significant concepts in physics, Professor Kouzes explains each in a very straightforward and approachable manner. He begins by examining the history of physics – the “knowledge of nature,” – as a science which encompasses the study of matter and all of the phenomena that are observed in our universe. He also explores the origins of physics, tracing it back to the ancient world. Subsequent lectures then delve into some of the major principles of physics such as the Laws of Motion, Energy, Thermodynamics, and Electromagnetism. Building upon these, Professor Kouzes then guides listeners to a better understanding of some of the more complex applications of physics such as Nuclear Physics and Quantum Mechanics and the ways in which physics impacts each of lives on a daily basis.
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The Character of Physical Law
- By: Richard P. Feynman
- Narrator: Sean Runnette
- Length: 5 hours 57 minutes
- Publisher: Blackstone Publishing
- Publish date: January 01, 2013
- Language: English
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4.31(6158 ratings)
4.31(6158 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0016.95 USDIn these Messenger Lectures, originally delivered at Cornell University and recorded for television by the BBC, Richard Feynman offers an overview of selected physical laws and gathers their common features into one broad principle of invariance. HeIn these Messenger Lectures, originally delivered at Cornell University and recorded for television by the BBC, Richard Feynman offers an overview of selected physical laws and gathers their common features into one broad principle of invariance. He maintains at the outset that the importance of a physical law is not “how clever we are to have found it out but…how clever nature is to pay attention to it” and steers his discussions toward a final exposition of the elegance and simplicity of all scientific laws. Rather than an essay on the most significant achievements in modern science, The Character of Physical Law is a statement of what is most remarkable in nature. Feynman’s enlightened approach, his wit, and his enthusiasm make this a memorable exposition of the scientist’s craft. The law of gravitation is the author’s principal example. Relating the details of its discovery and stressing its mathematical character, he uses it to demonstrate the essential interaction of mathematics and physics. He views mathematics as the key to any system of scientific laws, suggesting that if it were possible to fill out the structure of scientific theory completely, the result would be an integrated set of mathematical axioms. The principles of conservation, symmetry, and time irreversibility are then considered in relation to developments in classical and modern physics, and in his final lecture, Feynman develops his own analysis of the process and future of scientific discovery.
Like any set of oral reflections, The Character of Physical Law has special value as a demonstration of the mind in action. The reader is particularly lucky in Richard Feynman–one of the most eminent and imaginative modern physicists.
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Three Roads to Quantum Gravity
- By: Lee Smolin
- Narrator: Lee Smolin
- Length: 8 hours 42 minutes
- Publisher: Recorded Books, Inc.
- Publish date: September 14, 2018
- Language: English
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4.18(6253 ratings)
4.18(6253 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0019.99 USDIn Three Roads to Quantum Gravity, Lee Smolin provides an accessible overview of the attempts to build a final “theory of everything.” He explains in simple terms what scientists are talking about when they say the world is made fromIn Three Roads to Quantum Gravity, Lee Smolin provides an accessible overview of the attempts to build a final “theory of everything.” He explains in simple terms what scientists are talking about when they say the world is made from exotic entities such as loops, strings, and black holes and tells the fascinating stories behind these discoveries: the rivalries, epiphanies, and intrigues he witnessed firsthand.
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The Pleasure of Finding Things Out
- By: Richard P. Feynman
- Narrator: Sean Runnette
- Length: 8 hours 23 minutes
- Publisher: Blackstone Publishing
- Publish date: January 01, 2013
- Language: English
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4.23(10064 ratings)
4.23(10064 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0019.95 USDThe Pleasure of Finding Things Out is a magnificent treasury of the best short works of Richard P. Feynman, from interviews and speeches to lectures and printed articles. A sweeping, wide-ranging collection, it presents an intimate and fascinatingThe Pleasure of Finding Things Out is a magnificent treasury of the best short works of Richard P. Feynman, from interviews and speeches to lectures and printed articles. A sweeping, wide-ranging collection, it presents an intimate and fascinating view of a life in science–a life like no other. From his ruminations on science in our culture to his Nobel Prize acceptance speech, this book will delight anyone interested in the world of ideas.
“From the irregular trivia of ordinary life mixed with a bit of scientific doodling and failure to the intense dramatic concentration as one closes in on the truth and the final elation (plus, with gradually decreasing frequency, the sudden sharp pangs of doubt)–that is how science is done.”–Richard P. Feynman to James D. Watson
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The Edge of the Sky
- By: Roberto Trotta
- Narrator: Bronson Pinchot
- Length: 1 hours 29 minutes
- Publisher: Blackstone Publishing
- Publish date: January 01, 2014
- Language: English
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3.44(387 ratings)
3.44(387 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.009.95 USDFrom the big bang to black holes, from dark matter to dark energy, from the origins of the universe to its ultimate destiny, The Edge of the Sky tells the story of the most important discoveries and mysteries in modern cosmology–with a twist.From the big bang to black holes, from dark matter to dark energy, from the origins of the universe to its ultimate destiny, The Edge of the Sky tells the story of the most important discoveries and mysteries in modern cosmology–with a twist. The book’s lexicon is limited to the thousand most common words in the English language, even excluding physics, energy, galaxy, and universe. Through the eyes of a fictional scientist (Student-People) hunting for dark matter with one of the biggest telescopes (Big-Seers) on Earth (Home-World), cosmologist Roberto Trotta explores the most important ideas about our universe (All-There-Is) in language simple enough for anyone to understand.
A unique blend of literary experimentation and science popularization, this delightful book is a perfect gift for any aspiring astronomer. The Edge of the Sky tells the story of the universe on a human scale, and the result is out of this world.
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The Field Updated Ed
- By: Lynne McTaggart
- Narrator: Lynne McTaggart
- Length: 10 hours 12 minutes
- Publisher: HarperAudio
- Publish date: February 25, 2014
- Language: English
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4.07(289 ratings)
4.07(289 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0027.99 USDIn this groundbreaking classic, investigative journalist Lynne McTaggart reveals a radical new paradigm–that the human mind and body are not separate from their environment but a packet of pulsating power constantly interacting with this vastIn this groundbreaking classic, investigative journalist Lynne McTaggart reveals a radical new paradigm–that the human mind and body are not separate from their environment but a packet of pulsating power constantly interacting with this vast energy sea, and that consciousness may be central in shaping our world. The Field is a highly readable scientific detective story presenting a stunning picture of an interconnected universe and a new scientific theory that makes sense of supernatural phenomena. Documented by distinguished sources, The Field is a book of hope and inspiration for today’s world.
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The Perfect Theory
- By: Pedro G. Ferreira
- Narrator: Sean Runnette
- Length: 10 hours 22 minutes
- Publisher: Blackstone Publishing
- Publish date: January 01, 2014
- Language: English
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4.13(882 ratings)
4.13(882 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0022.95 USDHow did one elegant theory incite a scientific revolution? Physicists have been exploring, debating, and questioning the general theory of relativity ever since Albert Einstein first presented it in 1915. Their work has uncovered a number of theHow did one elegant theory incite a scientific revolution?
Physicists have been exploring, debating, and questioning the general theory of relativity ever since Albert Einstein first presented it in 1915. Their work has uncovered a number of the universe’s more surprising secrets, and many believe further wonders remain hidden within the theory’s tangle of equations, waiting to be exposed. In this sweeping narrative of science and culture, astrophysicist Pedro Ferreira brings general relativity to life through the story of the brilliant physicists, mathematicians, and astronomers who have taken up its challenge. For these scientists, the theory has been both a treasure trove and an enigma, fueling a century of intellectual struggle and triumph.
Einstein’s theory, which explains the relationships among gravity, space, and time, is possibly the most perfect intellectual achievement of modern physics, yet studying it has always been a controversial endeavor. Relativists were the target of persecution in Hitler’s Germany, hounded in Stalin’s Russia, and disdained in 1950s America. Even today, doctorate students are warned that specializing in general relativity will make them unemployable.
Despite these pitfalls, general relativity has flourished, delivering key insights into our understanding of the origin of time and the evolution of all the stars and galaxies in the cosmos. Its adherents have revealed what lies at the farthest reaches of the universe, shed light on the smallest scales of existence, and explained how the fabric of reality emerges. Dark matter, dark energy, black holes, and string theory are all progeny of Einstein’s theory.
We are in the midst of a momentous transformation in modern physics. As scientists look farther and more clearly into space than ever before, The Perfect Theory reveals the greater relevance of general relativity, showing us where it started, where it has led, and where it can still take us.
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The Higgs Boson
- By: Scientific American
- Narrator: Alex Boyles
- Length: 12 hours 50 minutes
- Publisher: Blackstone Publishing
- Publish date: January 01, 2021
- Language: English
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4.09(45 ratings)
4.09(45 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0022.95 USDOne of the biggest discoveries in physics, the quest for the Higgs boson demonstrates the value of a good theory. In July 2012, a Higgs-like particle was found near the energies scientists predicted. Now, armed with better evidence and betterOne of the biggest discoveries in physics, the quest for the Higgs boson demonstrates the value of a good theory. In July 2012, a Higgs-like particle was found near the energies scientists predicted. Now, armed with better evidence and better questions, the scientific process continues. In this audiobook, we’ve gathered our best reporting to explain that process–the theories, the search, the discovery, and the ongoing questions.
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The Dispossessed
- By: Ursula K. Le Guin
- Narrator: Don Leslie
- Length: 13 hours 25 minutes
- Publisher: HarperAudio
- Publish date: September 14, 2010
- Language: English
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4.24(87374 ratings)
4.24(87374 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0029.99 USD“One of the greats….Not just a science fiction writer; a literary icon.” – Stephen King From the brilliant and award-winning author Ursula K. Le Guin comes a classic tale of two planets torn apart by conflict and mistrust“One of the greats….Not just a science fiction writer; a literary icon.” – Stephen King
From the brilliant and award-winning author Ursula K. Le Guin comes a classic tale of two planets torn apart by conflict and mistrust — and the man who risks everything to reunite them.
A bleak moon settled by utopian anarchists, Anarres has long been isolated from other worlds, including its mother planet, Urras–a civilization of warring nations, great poverty, and immense wealth. Now Shevek, a brilliant physicist, is determined to reunite the two planets, which have been divided by centuries of distrust. He will seek answers, question the unquestionable, and attempt to tear down the walls of hatred that have kept them apart.
To visit Urras–to learn, to teach, to share–will require great sacrifice and risks, which Shevek willingly accepts. But the ambitious scientist’s gift is soon seen as a threat, and in the profound conflict that ensues, he must reexamine his beliefs even as he ignites the fires of change.
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The Quantum Moment
- By: Robert P. Crease
- Narrator: Sean Runnette
- Length: 9 hours 32 minutes
- Publisher: Blackstone Publishing
- Publish date: January 01, 2014
- Language: English
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3.61(379 ratings)
3.61(379 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0022.95 USDThe fascinating story of how quantum mechanics went mainstream The discovery of the quantum–the idea, born in the early 1900s in a remote corner of physics, that energy comes in finite packets instead of infinitely divisibleThe fascinating story of how quantum mechanics went mainstream
The discovery of the quantum–the idea, born in the early 1900s in a remote corner of physics, that energy comes in finite packets instead of infinitely divisible quantities–planted a rich set of metaphors in the popular imagination.
Quantum imagery and language now bombard us like an endless stream of photons. Phrases such as multiverse, quantum leap, alternate universe, the uncertainty principle, and Schrodinger’s cat get reinvented continually in cartoons and movies, coffee mugs and T-shirts, and fiction and philosophy–phrases reinterpreted by each new generation of artists and writers.
Is a quantum leap big or small? How uncertain is the uncertainty principle? Is this barrage of quantum vocabulary pretentious and wacky or a fundamental shift in the way we think?
All of the above, say Robert P. Crease and Alfred Scharff Goldhaber in this groundbreaking book. The authors–one a philosopher, the other a physicist–draw on their training and six years of co-teaching to dramatize the quantum’s rocky path from scientific theory to public understanding. Together, they and their students explored missteps, mistranslations, jokes, and gibberish in public discussions of the quantum. Their book explores the quantum’s manifestations in everything from art and sculpture to the prose of John Updike and David Foster Wallace. The authors reveal the quantum’s implications for knowledge, metaphor, intellectual exchange, and the contemporary world. Understanding and appreciating quantum language and imagery, and recognizing its misuse, is part of what it means to be an educated person today.
The result is a celebration of language at the interface of physics and culture, perfect for anyone drawn to the infinite variety of ideas.
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Cliff Weitzman
Cliff Weitzman is a dyslexia advocate and the CEO and founder of Speechify, the #1 text-to-speech app in the world, totaling over 100,000 5-star reviews and ranking first place in the App Store for the News & Magazines category. In 2017, Weitzman was named to the Forbes 30 under 30 list for his work making the internet more accessible to people with learning disabilities. Cliff Weitzman has been featured in EdSurge, Inc., PC Mag, Entrepreneur, Mashable, among other leading outlets.
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