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The Big Picture

On the Origins of Life, Meaning, and the Universe Itself

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The Big Picture

Written by: Sean Carroll
Narrated by: Sean Carroll
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*An instant New York Times Bestseller*
*Publishers Weekly #1 Most Anticipated Science Book of Spring 2016*
"You will be enthralled." — Wall Street Journal
"A tour de force." — Salon.com

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 Higgs bosons 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? Does human purpose and meaning fit into a scientific worldview?

In short chapters filled with intriguing historical anecdotes, personal asides, and rigorous exposition, readers learn the difference between how the world works at the quantum level, the cosmic level, and the human level--and then how each connects to the other. Carroll's presentation of the principles that have guided the scientific revolution from Darwin and Einstein to the origins of life, consciousness, and the universe is dazzlingly unique.

Carroll shows how an avalanche of discoveries in the past few hundred years has changed our world and what really matters to us. Our lives are dwarfed like never before by the immensity of space and time, but they are redeemed by our capacity to comprehend it and give it meaning.

The Big Picture is an unprecedented scientific worldview, a tour de force that will sit on shelves alongside the works of Stephen Hawking, Carl Sagan, Daniel Dennett, and E. O. Wilson for years to come.

*Includes a Bonus PDF with charts and images. Astronomy & Space Science Physics Science Cosmology Mathematics Astronomy Black Hole Consciousness Humanism Morality
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Great book. More philosophical and less dive-into-the science than I was expecting, but still a great listen.

Deserves 5 stars for the appendix alone

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I enjoyed and was stimulated throughout. There is some conceptual unease around the notion of poetic naturalism and the apparent tendency to reduce worldviews to language and stories. Of course, humanity has been doing that a long time. The insistence on the physicality of consciousness is a terrific chapter and thought. Worth it.

great fun, thinking and challenge - some unease.

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Pretty good description of current state of affairs in physics and its influence on biology, conscience and believes

Nice read

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Mind blowing read. He covers all the most thought-provoking questions about life, the universe, and the super natural and explains it using theory from history, quantum physics, philosophy, mathematics, computer science, biology, and genetics.

My New Favourite Book of All Time

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loved it!! Sean Carroll changed my life, this book and his podcast must be listened to by as many people as possible

Incredible

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