Physics Philosophy

What is consciousness? This audiobook presents an understanding of life that transcends matter. More importantly, it transcends the difference between what you are and what I am. Despite its reliance on what is known through Western Science, it is a transcendence of the Western understanding of reality. It does not begin with a world and then try to figure out how life evolved within it; it begins with life and extrapolates where the world came from.

Is there such a thing as a fundamental reality, something which was around before our universe came into existence and which will still remain when all matter, time, and space itself ultimately disappear? Something fundamental which, in turn, can make space and time and matter arise from seemingly nothing? Under most cosmological and physical models, the last known remnants of reality are the disembodied laws of mathematics - beyond which it is extremely difficult to probe further.

A sweeping account of the century of experimentation that confirmed Einstein's general theory of relativity, bringing to life the science and scientists at the origins of relativity, the development of radio telescopes, the discovery of black holes and quasars, and the still unresolved place of gravity in quantum theory.

For centuries, electricity was seen as little more than a curious property of certain substances that sparked when rubbed. Then, in the 1790s, Alessandro Volta began the scientific investigation that ignited an explosion of knowledge and invention. The force that once seemed inconsequential was revealed to be responsible for everything from the structure of the atom to the functioning of our brains. In harnessing its power, we have created a world of wonders—complete with roller coasters and radar, computer networks and psychopharmaceuticals.

In Overcomplicated, complexity scientist Samuel Arbesman offers a fresh, insightful field guide to living with complex technologies that defy human comprehension. As technology grows more complex, Arbesman argues, its behavior mimics the vagaries of the natural world more than it conforms to a mathematical model. If we are to survive and thrive in this new age, we must abandon our need for governing principles and rules and accept the chaos.

The question of how falling cats land on their feet has intrigued humans since at least the middle of the 19th 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 message of modern physics is that physical reality has, at its frontiers, all the aspects of a transcendent order. At the foundation of things, elementary particles can exert instantaneous long-distance influences on each other, can be meaningfully said to have mind-like properties, and can exist in states which are, as Heisenberg wrote, "not quite real, but between the idea of a thing and a real thing."

The idea that the world is an illusion that betrays its real origin has a long tradition and can be found in the writings of Hindu rishis, early Greek philosophers, and Christian Gnostics. What is perhaps surprising is to find such a rich literature on the subject in neuroscience and quantum physics. The latest, and perhaps most provocative, idea to gain some currency in varying scientific disciplines is the hypothesis that the universe is the result of a computational simulation....

Offering a unique insight into human behaviour, this book explains why we behave the way we do and what happens when humans interact with the world and each other. Starting with evolutionary biology and what it physically means to be a human being, this book moves on to include a wide range of topics such as artificial intelligence, virtual reality and how we are evolving as we interact with new technology.

In The Scientific Sherlock Holmes, James O'Brien provides an in-depth look at Sherlock Holmes's use of science in his investigations. Indeed, one reason for Holmes's appeal is his frequent use of the scientific method and the vast scientific knowledge which he drew upon to solve mysteries. For instance, in heart of the audiobook, the author reveals that Holmes was a pioneer of forensic science, making use of fingerprinting well before Scotland Yard itself had adopted the method.

The secrets of science meet the drama of the high seas. Amir D. Aczel - the distinguished science writer behind God's Equation and Mystery of the Aleph - turns detective as he uncovers the fascinating story of the invention of the compass.

In the early 17th century, Galileo broke free from the hold of ancient Platonic and Aristotelian philosophy. He drastically changed the framework through which we view the natural world when he asserted that we should base our theory of reality on what we can observe rather than pure thought. In the process, he invented what we would come to call science. This set the stage for all the breakthroughs that followed - from Kepler to Newton to Einstein.

In this fascinating collection of articles and speeches, Albert Einstein reflects not only on the scientific method at work in his own theoretical discoveries, but eloquently expresses a great appreciation for his scientific contemporaries and forefathers, including Johannes Kepler, Isaac Newton, James Clerk Maxwell, Max Planck, and Niels Bohr. While Einstein is renowned as one of the foremost innovators of modern science, his discoveries uniquely his own, through his own words it becomes clear that Einstein viewed himself as only the most recent in a long line of scientists driven to create new ways of understanding the world and to prove their scientific theories.

Author Cary Kirastar Ellis entices us to venture into the deeper secrets of who we are, why we're here, and where we're going...and, as we tumble down the veritable rabbit hole, we learn how thoughts "create reality" from an amazing, infinite Field of Possibilities. Discover real keys to true vitality, abundance, and well-being. Journey into the ultimate expression of our true design: love.

I recently came upon an old book entitled Famous Men in Science by Sarah Knowles Bolton that was first published in 1889. In her enjoyable and easy to read text, Bolton provides a glimpse of 14 distinguished thinkers, ranging from such luminaries as Carl Linnaeus to Louis Agassiz. Since the book is not readily available, here at the MSAC Philosophy Group we thought it might be helpful to select four biographies from Famous Men in Science and republish them in a new and readable format.

One of the fundamental laws of physics is that a force is met with an equal and opposite force. Since Galileo rescued science from religion, science has done battle with religion: knowledge vs. belief. This audiobook will celebrate the wisdom held by each of these two worlds and attempt to highlight the blind spots that have kept the two sides from forming a partnership.

There are innumerable ways to gather knowledge about the cosmos we inhabit. What makes science so powerful is that it allows for such findings to be publicly aired and scrutinized and tested, not only with the world it is trying to understand, but with other vying alternative models which differ from each other. Perhaps science's greatest contribution is that at its best it is open to refutation and is thereby open to change.

The real nature of time is still a mystery, even after thousands of years of philosophers and scientists analyzing it and proposing theories about it. Prophecy has existed for most of humanity’s time on Earth, and there is a lot of reason to think that seeing the future does reveal some of what happens and is about to happen. I also wrote two books on this subject, including the history of prophecy and my own experiences.

This book explores the famous quantum debate between Albert Einstein and Niels Bohr. A clear and precise exposition of a most complicated issue concerning the implications of indeterminacy and photon entanglement.

I have had the wonderful privilege of introducing Einstein's theory of relativity to thousands of college students in my Introduction to Philosophy courses at Mt. San Antonio College and in my upper division course on Science and Religion at California State University, Long Beach. Although Einstein's concept is difficult to grasp at first, given enough time and study it becomes easier to understand over time.