Paradox: The Nine Greatest Enigmas in Physics
Author(s): Jim Al-Khalili
A fun and fascinating look at great scientific paradoxes. Throughout history, scientists have come up with theories and ideas that just don't seem to make sense. These we call paradoxes. The paradoxes Al-Khalili offers are drawn chiefly from physics and astronomy and represent those that have stumped some of the finest minds. For example, how can a cat be both dead and alive at the same time? Why will Achilles never beat a tortoise in a race, no matter how fast he runs? And how can a person be ten years older than his twin? With elegant explanations that bring the reader inside the mind of those who've developed them, Al-Khalili helps us to see that, in fact, paradoxes can be solved if seen from the right angle. Just as surely as Al-Khalili narrates the enduring fascination of these classic paradoxes, he reveals their underlying logic. In doing so, he brings to life a select group of the most exciting concepts in human knowledge. Paradox is mind-expanding fun.
Product Information
'This book is about my own personal favourite puzzles and conundrums in science' Jim al-Khalili
"The wizardry of Jim Al-Khalili is irresistible. Marvel at the mind-bending Zeno's paradox! The amazing ambiguity of Schrodinger's Cat! The preposterous postulations of perpetual motion! The extraterrestrial extrapolations of Fermi's paradox! and other wonders of physics, philosophy, even poetry. "I have had tremendous fun writing this book," says Professor Jim. Reading it is the best fun you can have beyond a pop-science comic book and a home particle accelerator" The Times "A master of making the complex simple" Independent on Sunday "Al-Khalili leads into the harder science, but does so with such deceptive ease that before you know it you're mulling over the expanding universe, staring down quantum theory and pondering Schrodinger's Cat - and enjoying it" Financial Times "Al-Khalili is the ideal guide through these seeming mysteries of modern science" New Scientist "[A] field guide to some of the most important and fascinating conundrums in physics" Science
General Fields
- :
- : Transworld Publishers Limited
- : Black Swan
- : 0.21
- : 20 March 2013
- : 198mm X 127mm X 19mm
- : United Kingdom
- : 01 June 2013
- : books
Special Fields
- : 304
- : 1307
- : Paperback
- : Jim Al-Khalili
