About the Book
Where did the universe come from? What was there before it? What will the future bring? And finally, why is there something rather than nothing?
Lawrence Krauss' provocative answers to these and other timeless questions in a wildly popular lecture now on YouTube have attracted almost a million viewers. The last of these questions in particular has been at the center of religious and philosophical debates about the existence of God, and it's the supposed counterargument to anyone who questions the need for God. Scientists have, however, historically focused on other, more pressing issues--such as figuring out how the universe actually functions, which can ultimately help us to improve the quality of our lives.
Now, in a cosmological story that rivets as it enlightens, pioneering theoretical physicist Lawrence Krauss explains the groundbreaking new scientific advances that turn the most basic philosophical questions on their head. One of the few prominent scientists today to have actively crossed the chasm between science and popular culture, Krauss reveals that modern science is addressing the question of why there is something rather than nothing, with surprising and fascinating results. The staggeringly beautiful experimental observations and mind-bending new theories are all described accessibly in A Universe from Nothing, and they suggest that not only can something arise from nothing, something will always arise from nothing.
With his characteristic wry humor and wonderfully clear explanations, Krauss takes us back to the beginning of the beginning, presenting the most recent evidence for how our universe evolved--and the implications for how it's going to end. It will provoke, challenge, and delight readers as it looks at the most basic underpinnings of existence in a whole new way. And this knowledge that our universe will be quite different in the future from today has profound consequences and directly affects how we live in the present. As Richard Dawkins has described it, this could potentially be the most important scientific book with implications for supernaturalism since Darwin.
A fascinating antidote to outmoded philosophical and religious thinking, A Universe from Nothing is a provocative, game-changing entry into the debate about the existence of God--and everything else. "Forget Jesus," says Krauss, "the stars died so you could be born."
About the Author :
Lawrence M. Krauss is the director of the Origins Initiative at Arizona State University and has written more than three hundred scientific publications and seven books, including The Physics of Star Trek. He has won numerous awards, including the Gravity Research Foundation First Prize Award and the Presidential Investigator Award. He lives in Tempe, Arizona, and Shaker Heights, Ohio.
Richard Dawkins, an acclaimed biologist, is a fellow of the Royal Society and was the inaugural holder of the Charles Simonyi Chair of Public Understanding of Science at Oxford University. He is the author of numerous books, including The Selfish Gene, Climbing Mount Improbable, Unweaving the Rainbow, The Ancestor's Tale, The God Delusion, and The Greatest Show on Earth. He has received a number of honorary doctorates from colleges and universities around the world and has received many awards and honors throughout his career, most notably a Finlay Innovation Award, the Michael Faraday Award, the Nakayama Prize, the Kistler Prize, and the Nierenberg Prize for Science in the Public Interest.
Simon Vance is an award-winning actor and an AudioFile Golden Voice with over fifty Earphones Awards and thirteen prestigious Audie Awards. He was named Booklist's very first Voice of Choice in 2008 and an AudioFile Best Voice of 2009.
Review :
"A series of brilliant insights and astonishing discoveries have rocked the universe in recent years, and Lawrence Krauss has been in the thick of it. With his characteristic verve, and using many clever devices, he's made that remarkable story remarkably accessible. The climax is a bold scientific answer to the great question of existence: why is there something rather than nothing?"
-- "Frank Wilczek, Nobel Laureate and Herman Feshbach professor at MIT"
"Astronomers at the beginning of the twentieth century were wondering whether there was anything beyond our Milky Way galaxy. As Lawrence Krauss lucidly explains, astronomers living two trillion years from now will perhaps be pondering precisely the same question! Beautifully navigating through deep intellectual waters, Krauss presents the most recent ideas on the nature of our cosmos and of our place within it. A fascinating read."
-- "Mario Livio, author of Is God a Mathematician?"
"In this clear and crisply written book, Lawrence Krauss outlines the compelling evidence that our complex cosmos has evolved from a hot, dense state and how this progress has emboldened theorists to develop fascinating speculations about how things really began."
-- "Martin Rees, author of Our Final Hour"
"We have been living through a revolution in cosmology as wondrous as that initiated by Copernicus. Here is the essential, engrossing, and brilliant guide."
-- "Ian McEwan, New York Times bestselling author"
"With characteristic wit, eloquence, and clarity Lawrence Krauss gives a wonderfully illuminating account of how science deals with one of the biggest questions of all: how the universe's existence could arise from nothing. It is a question that philosophy and theology get themselves into a muddle over, but that science can offer real answers too, as Krauss' lucid explanation shows. Here is the triumph of physics over metaphysics, reason and enquiry over obfuscation and myth, made plain for all to see: Krauss gives us a treat as well as an education in fascinating style."
-- "A. C. Grayling, author of The Good Book"
[An] excellent guide to cutting-edge physics...detailed but lucid, thorough but not stodgy...readable, informative, and topical.
-- "New Scientist"
A thrilling introduction to the current state of cosmology...a brilliant and disarming book.
-- "Sam Harris, New York Times bestselling author"
Nothing is not nothing. Nothing is something. That's how a cosmos can be spawned from the void-a profound idea conveyed in A Universe from Nothing that unsettles some yet enlightens others.
-- "Neil deGrasse Tyson, astrophysicist and #1 New York Times bestselling author"
Readers interested in the evolution of the universe will find Krauss' account lively and humorous as well as informative.
-- "Publishers Weekly"
The author delivers plenty of jolts in this enthusiastic and lucid but demanding overview of the universe, which includes plenty of mysteries-but its origin isn't among them...A thoughtful, challenging book.
-- "Kirkus Reviews"
