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On Being
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Review
a paean to science (Times Literary Supplement )
genuine enjoyment (Times Higher Education Supplement )
Peter Atkins answers...succinctly and elegantly. (Nature )
An effortless read - a real page turner. (BBC Focus )
genuine enjoyment (Times Higher Education Supplement )
Peter Atkins answers...succinctly and elegantly. (Nature )
An effortless read - a real page turner. (BBC Focus )
Product Description
In this scientific 'Credo', Peter Atkins considers the universal questions of origins, endings, birth, and death to which religions have claimed answers. With his usual economy, wit, and elegance, unswerving before awkward realities, Atkins presents what science has to say. While acknowledging the comfort some find in belief, he declares his own faith in science's capacity to reveal the deepest truths.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
A sweep through the past, present and future,
By Nozza (UK) - See all my reviews
This review is from: On Being: A scientist's exploration of the great questions of existence (Hardcover)
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Programme (What's this?)
This is a well thought through book looking at some of the great questions for mankind; how did we get here? Why are we here?, and finally, Where are we going? A secularist book, Atkins delves into his view of the answers with clarity. The book's style can make it hard going - it's as if he is lecturing to an audience of grammar school adults, and sometimes this comes through as being a little patronising. But this is the author's didactic voice coming through, his professional lecturing techniques being used to underline or illustrate the narrative.And it is the narrative that comes to the fore throughout this book. In places this is a tough book to read through, with complex ideas and thoughts, requiring explanation, being dealt with in detail. But ultimately Atkins is successful. He argues his points well, and his voice is consistent along the way. This is no Professor Brian Cox approach, no populist easy reading, but an academic work with breadth and vision that ultimately leaves the reader thinking and wondering about the universe of which we are part. Definitely worth a read and it is a book I shall be returning to.
20 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Great (...but no walk in the cosmic park).,
By
This review is from: On Being: A scientist's exploration of the great questions of existence (Hardcover)
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Programme (What's this?)
Any book with the mission statement 'a scientist's exploration' in the sub-head should tell you something. Yet I came at this with an open mind... and within a mere ten-pages found myself having to work at enjoying this. But if you can apply yourself, and you have the time to give it, there is much to be gained from On Being.On the whole, On Being is a great idea: colliding the secular/scientific with the inevitability of answering such a gigantic question about existence in a world possessed of spirituality, to present an entire over-view of what existence surely can be. It's just the right length (perhaps, novella is an apt gauge), and is nicely concise in terms of scope, preferring to include the author's personal preferences instead of provide a one-stop list to the subject of existence thinking. Yet, for me, On Being fell down because it is just so utterly prosaic. Not so much like a thesis, where scientific jargon renders the work exclusive to the already converted, but more in the line of overly poetic. Don't get me wrong, there's a great deal to commend about this work, and I have absolutely no opinion that the author is anything other than a very smart and crucial thinker. It's just that this book feels a bit too much like a labour of love: The love landing on the author's side, and the labour handed a bit too far over to the reader to affect the required inclusiveness such great thought demands. Which is a shame, because On Being is a rather brilliant, and somewhat individual take on the idea of romance of great thinking; is free from excess baggage, presenting itself as a kind of anchored, poetic musing when it could so easily have been a chewy thesis. But it does tend to operate like a thesis at times, with the author tending to introduce a question, then immediately spending just a tad too long dissecting the question's base meaning, in order to move on without confusion. Which is all fine and dandy, but does tend to slow the pace right down to a crawl - a motion which could so easily risk losing some readers along the way, as they wonder who exactly this work is intended for. That said, On Being is a good example of excellent writing: smart, informed and passionate. It's just a little too much at times. A bit like a very rich chocolate mousse, when a bit more basic sustenance is required and no other food is on hand.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Good but not an easy read,
By
This review is from: On Being: A scientist's exploration of the great questions of existence (Hardcover)
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Programme (What's this?)
In many respects this is a super book. I am very much a person of faith and come from a science background. So Peter Atkins style of writing is one I am familar with. Mr Atkins shows us well his background as a scientist. Plus how that mixes with his views of the meaning of existence. I am not sure that Mr Atkins is fully 'sure' himself - which is fine and makes for a good read. This is not a book to read just before bedtime!It takes time, often reading a page twice. The section when the Atkins looks at his own death at first I found uncomfortable - but on re reading it can fully understand why it was written like this as it makes me think hard about my ending, my death. Which of course will come - so this read became personal. Even life changing ??? Not a long book.
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