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Tim Radford

The Consolations of Physics: Why the Wonders of the Universe Can Make You Happy Paperback – 13 Jun. 2019

by Tim Radford (Author)

35 ratings

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The Consolations of Physics is an eloquent manifesto for physics. In an age where uncertainty and division is rife, Tim Radford, science editor of the Guardian for twenty-five years, turns to the wonders of the universe for consolation.

From the launch of the Voyager spacecraft and how it furthered our understanding of planets, stars and galaxies to the planet composed entirely of diamond and graphite and the sound of a blacksmith's anvil; from the hole NASA drilled in the heavens to the discovery of the Higgs Boson and the endeavours to prove the Big Bang, The Consolations of Physics will guide you from a tiny particle to the marvels of outer space.

Print length

192 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Sceptre
Publication date

13 Jun. 2019
Dimensions

12.6 x 1.22 x 19.8 cm
ISBN-10

1473658918
ISBN-13

978-1473658912
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Review

Tim Radford's The Consolations of Physics is a love letter to the Voyager space probes. The poetry of their journey stimulated Radford to wax lyrical about the purpose of science. It is a beautiful, moving book that roams through the grand physics of recent decades. -- Michael Brooks ― New Statesman, Books of the Year

Lyrical hymn to space exploration, knowledge and the enquiring mind... Helps quench our curiosity, yet deepens the mystery, about the cosmos and our attempts to discover more about it. -- Darragh McManus ― Irish Independent

Beautiful, joyful, inspiring. A celebration of physicists' quest to understand the universe, from one of the best science writers around. -- Jo Marchant, New York Times bestselling author of CURE

It's rare that you get a book that connects Dante's Divine Comedy to the Higgs boson and the geology of limestone cliffs, and this weaving together of two thousand's years of intellectual thought is one of the many delights of this book. It's a hymn to scientific endeavour. -- Professor Mark Miodownik, New York Times bestselling author of STUFF MATTERS

Wow... Tim Radford's writing is so beautiful, it reads like poetry. A book more about life and passion than physics. People who have never cared a jot about physics (like me) must read this book. -- Suzanne O'Sullivan, Wellcome Prize-winning author of IT'S ALL IN YOUR HEAD

A beautiful, inspiring reflection on science, humanity, space, and matter - this would blow Boethius's mind. -- Sarah Bakewell, Sunday Times-bestselling author of HOW TO LIVE and AT THE EXISTENTIALIST'S CAFE

An appreciative survey of the vast canvas on which physicists do their creative work - the entire observable universe, from the beginning of time to its end (assuming there is one)... Beneath his jocularity, Radford is an unapologetic intellectual. -- Graham Farmelo ― Guardian

Beautifully crafted 'love letter to physics'... His deft narrative interweaves discoveries such as the Higgs boson, the Hubble Deep Field and gravitational waves with Dante Alighieri's epic fourteenth-century poem The Divine Comedy, which intuited the laws of motion found by Galileo Galilei some 300 years later. -- Barbara Kiser ― Nature

Engaging and delightful... In Radford's persuasive and genial company, as he roams from the initial singularity to dark energy, from Saint Augustine's City of God to Dante's The Divine Comedy, from the Higgs bosun to the multiverse, it's hard not to be moved by the fact that there are those who are capable of dreaming up and executing complex undertakings that explore the order that underpins creation. -- Manjit Kumar ― Observer

Physics may not be a subject many people find consoling, but in this poetic paean to mankind's quest to make sense of the universe Tim Radford...might convert a few. -- Rob Kingston ― Sunday Times

Book Description

A wise and inspiring manifesto about why understanding physics can make you happier, by one of the leading science writers of our time.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Sceptre (13 Jun. 2019)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 192 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1473658918
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1473658912
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 12.6 x 1.22 x 19.8 cm

Best Sellers Rank: 815,638 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- 4,005 in Astronomy & Cosmology
- 4,491 in Popular Science Physics
- 8,157 in Physics (Books)

Customer reviews:
35 ratings

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4.4 out of 5

35 global ratings

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Dr. R. J. Simmonds

Starts well, tails off toward the middle, but ends OK

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on 26 August 2018

Verified Purchase

The author's premise is simple: start off with the Voyager probes, using this 1970's cutting edge project as an exemplar of mankind's constant questioning and quest for answers and meaning, and of our ability to cooporate in these (huge) ventures without seeking any reward save intellectual satisfaction. This, and similar endevours, will, the author maintains, provide a huge consolation in a universe that can be frightening and puzzling, and is a bulwark against the evils of human society and our insignificance of our condition. Not sure ....this is probably only true if you have a positive outlook to start with!
The descriptions of the Voyager projects, the large Hadron collider, LIGO (and the results thereof) are all that could be expected of this experienced science journalist. I myself loved the references to Boehius, Dante, C S Lewis and the Bible (others may be annoyed by them).
But my attention wandered in the middle of the book, where the prose just isn't interesing enough. But the science is accurate (though the reference to Wagner's Reingold is wrong!)
If you want a good, and occasionally thrilling, review of the latest thinking in cosmology then it is well worth reading. If you want consoling, you might need to go back to Boethius!

9 people found this helpful

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Steven

An amiable ramble through the incredible

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on 5 September 2018

Verified Purchase

I enjoyed the book but I did become tired of the repetition. Still, good to have the mind well and truly boggled. Some assertions were annoying such as Christian faith depends on unquestioned dogma! Which it really does not.

One person found this helpful

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E

Fabulous & uplifting read

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on 13 July 2019

Verified Purchase

Gorgeous reading

One person found this helpful

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Dr Barry Clayton

Physics Permits Us To Dream, Investigate and Escape.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on 2 September 2018

The author is a freelance journalist. He is a former Guardian reporter and science editor. He won the Association of British Science Writers award for British Science Writer of the Year four times. He is a Fellow of the RGS. Tim has written other several books.

In this book he writes about: a journey to the stars, adventures with a time machine, the planet factory, among other topics of scientific interest. He writes of the joy and excitement of exploring what is beyond the horizon. It is a book thst serenades curiosity. As he rightly says, science is about asking questions such as: how did we get here? and where are we going?. He focuses on physics and how it explores the unknown. Physics builds a mosaic of small answers, a pattern and a model. He cites the apt metaphor that likens our globe to a book, one that is only open at the present page. Tim discusses Voyager, an experiment in physics and cosmology that began 40 years ago to explore the solar system.

This book is a love letter to physics. Voyager features because it is testimony to 300 years of scientific enlightenment. Voyager is now receding from the sun at over 17km a second or around 62,000km per hour. It was launched in 1977 along with another Voyager because all the outer planets were on the same side of the sun; this occurs only once every 200 years.The energy of Jupiter's gravitational field accelerated Voyager to an unbelievable speed. Tim quotes the late, great Carl Sagan's famous hymn, it is superb, all ought to read it and its criticism of ' our posturing, our imagined self-importance....'.

Voyager is a stark reminder that we are capable of selfless cooperation. Radford has taken his book's title from a piece written by a Roman senator while in jail and awaiting death.

This is a truly delightful book by a man who clearly loves science. The writing is clear and is not replete with more scientific terminology than is necessary. Radford also displays an understanding of literature, and religion, and how they have together with science much in common.

This is a book that all those studying science should read.

3 people found this helpful

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Mr. D. Maclean

Fascinating Read

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on 1 October 2018

Gets a little bit technical at times (Hadron Collider), but the voyager excerpts and the cosmic aspects are fascinating, if mind blowing at times. If you're interested in the cosmos, this book is accessible and entertaining. Recommended.

5 people found this helpful

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Reader

Beautiful beyond words

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on 28 August 2018

Made me see physics wildly differently

2 people found this helpful

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