The Scientific Sublime: Popular Science Unravels the Mysteries of the Universe
By Alan G. Gross
Read by Bob Souer
-
3 Formats: Digital Download
-
3 Formats: CD
-
3 Formats: MP3 CD
-
Regular Price: $19.99
Special Price $15.99
or 1 CreditISBN: 9781684415830
$12.99 With Membership: Learn More -
$44.99Available on 03/01/2021
ISBN: 9781665133098
-
$39.99Available on 03/01/2021
ISBN: 9781665133081
The sublime evokes our awe, our terror, and our wonder. Applied first in ancient Greece to the heights of literary expression, in the 18th-century the sublime was extended to nature and to the sciences, enterprises that viewed the natural world as a manifestation of God's goodness, power, and wisdom. In The Scientific Sublime, Alan Gross reveals the modern-day sublime in popular science. He shows how the great popular scientists of our time—Richard Feynman, Stephen Hawking, Steven Weinberg, Brian Greene, Lisa Randall, Rachel Carson, Stephen Jay Gould, Steven Pinker, Richard Dawkins, and E. O. Wilson—evoke the sublime in response to fundamental questions: How did the universe begin? How did life? How did language? These authors maintain a tradition initiated by Joseph Addison, Edmund Burke, Immanuel Kant, and Adam Smith, towering 18th-century figures who adapted the literary sublime first to nature, then to science—though with one crucial difference: religion has been replaced wholly by science. In a final chapter, Gross explores science's attack on religion, an assault that attempts to sweep permanently under the rug two questions science cannot answer: What is the meaning of life? What is the meaning of the good life?
Learn More- Only $12.99/month gets you 1 Credit/month
- Cancel anytime
- Hate a book? Then we do too, and we'll exchange it.
Summary
Summary
Winner of an AudioFile Earphones Award
In The Scientific Sublime, Alan Gross reveals the modern-day sublime in popular science. He shows how the great popular scientists of our time—Richard Feynman, Stephen Hawking, Steven Weinberg, Brian Greene, Lisa Randall, Rachel Carson, Stephen Jay Gould, Steven Pinker, Richard Dawkins, and E. O. Wilson—evoke the sublime in response to fundamental questions: How did the universe begin? How did life? How did language? These authors maintain a tradition initiated by Joseph Addison, Edmund Burke, Immanuel Kant, and Adam Smith, towering 18th-century figures who adapted the literary sublime first to nature, then to science—though with one crucial difference: religion has been replaced wholly by science.
In a final chapter, Gross explores science's attack on religion, an assault that attempts to sweep permanently under the rug two questions science cannot answer: What is the meaning of life? What is the meaning of the good life?
Editorial Reviews
Editorial Reviews
Details
Details
Available Formats : | Digital Download, CD, MP3 CD |
Category: | Nonfiction/Science |
Runtime: | 10.35 |
Audience: | Adult |
Language: | English |
To listen to this title you will need our latest app
Due to publishing rights this title requires DRM and can only be listened to in the Downpour app