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    Paradox: The Nine Greatest Enigmas in Physics
    Paradox: The Nine Greatest Enigmas in Physics
    Paradox: The Nine Greatest Enigmas in Physics
    Audiobook6 hours

    Paradox: The Nine Greatest Enigmas in Physics

    Written by Jim Al-Khalili

    Narrated by Matthew Waterson

    4/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    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 listener 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.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherTantor Media, Inc
    Release dateMar 5, 2019
    ISBN9781977342409
    Paradox: The Nine Greatest Enigmas in Physics
    Author

    Jim Al-Khalili

    Jim Al-Khalili OBE is an Iraqi-born British theoretical physicist, author and broadcaster. He is currently Professor of Theoretical Physics and Chair in the Public Engagement in Science at the University of Surrey. He has hosted several BBC productions about science, including BBC Radio 4's The Life Scientific.

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    Reviews for Paradox

    4/5

    57 ratings7 reviews

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    • 4/5
      This book needs to be translated from englithmatics to clear English.
    • 3/5
      This was interesting but not terribly stimulating.
    • 3/5
      As I've said countless times lately, I received this book in a GoodReads giveaway. With the popularity of shows like "The Big Bang Theory" it's not surprising that books of this sort are making their way increasingly into the awareness of the reading public. In a nutshell, I think this book tries to cover too much ground in too little time. For most of the topics covered a 300-page book just for one topic is not usually sufficient so to attempt to summarize this much material in 220 pages for 9 such topics is a breathtakingly complex undertaking. That said, it is reasonably executed given the Herculean nature of the task. Rather than critique further let me try to guide the reader part by part.Chapter 1 is rather an outlier. Potentially interesting but with a distinct mathematical bent that will leave many readers scratching their heads. Do NOT judge the book based on the first chapter. Just politely skip it if it gives you flashbacks to statistics class.Chapters 2-4 work together as examples from classical physics. They stand alone but comprise a skippable grouping of their own if they don't sit well with you.Chapters 5-7 represent Einstein's General and Special Relativity. As concepts they are massively intriguing but again, if they don't appeal then they are a skippable grouping.Chapter 8 is really more philosophical than physical.Chapter 9 is the most referred to bit of physics in the past 50 years in popular culture. If you read nothing else then read this.Chapter 10 is for the UFO crowd.Chapter 11 is a bit of a throw away. Perhaps a tease for a next book.In summation, I think that like any book of this type it's straddling a fine line. As someone who has been reading books of this ilk since he was 10 it's just a rehash of topics I've read half a dozen times before. There's no new information here. For the uninitiated I think it tries to be too broad in scope and will leave a lot of head scratching. I will say though that with the exception of the first chapter the author has successfully eradicated the mathematics from these topics. That in itself is an accomplishment not to be sneezed at.
    • 5/5
      Informative, captivating and thought-provoking. I wish there'd be more details and depth in some parts of the book but overall it was a very nice reading experience.
    • 5/5
      Quantum physicist and author Jim al-Kahli explains early on that the nine paradoxes of this book aren't really paradoxes because though they seem counterintuitive they can be resolved with careful reasoning, and then he proceeds to take the reader through those sometimes mindbending steps in ways I could actually grasp, though sometimes my understanding could only flicker in and out of existence like some kind of quantum particle. The oldest are Zeno's paradoxes about motion and the most recent is Fermi's paradox concerning the likelihood of life forms elsewhere in the universe. Thought provoking and mind teasing, the book is filled with helpful diagrams and since reading it I've been able to add wormholes, perpetual motion machines, multiverses, Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle and parallel worlds to my conversational vocabulary.The paradoxes investigate properties of the physical world with colorful mind experiments that feature demons who control trapdoors, cats that may be simultaneously dead and alive, pole vaulters who can run at the speed of light and grandfathers awaiting death at the hands of a time traveling grandchild. The questions explored range from childlike ponderings to philosophical inquiries. Why does it get dark at night? What proof is there for the "big bang"? Are we alone in the universe? Could you see your reflection in a mirror if you were traveling at the speed of light? Is the future determined? Do we have free will? Can a butterfly cause a hurricane? I was especially fascinated to read about how time travel might be possible, what changes occur during travel near the speed of light and when I can expect (or not) to meet an extraterrestrial life form.
    • 4/5
      One of my favorite words. How could I pass up this book, with a title like that? Even if, when I really thought about it, I knew it would probably be way over my head. Way, way over my head.And, of course, it was. But that's okay. I loved it anyway. The little bit that I understood. You are probably much smarter than me and you will absolutely adore it. I'm pretty sure.
    • 4/5
      Ever wonder if it is possible to time-travel, why the night sky is not brighter, why it is impossible to build a perpetual motion machine, or why we have not had any communication from intelligent beings from other planets? This little book by Jim Al-Khalili, a quantum physicist at the University of Surrey, answers these and several other difficult questions in easy to read language with no equations. Paradoxes are puzzles that are logical brainteasers, and the author utilizes them in his effort to bring physics to a broader audience; that is, to show that not only can physics be fun, but that once you understand the nature of a paradox, everything becomes much more clear.The author treats nine classic physics quandaries and a few more philosophical conundrums with comprehensible analysis, showing that they are not actually unresolveable, but merely difficult problems subject to resolution with careful thinking. His explanations, such as why you can’t go back to the past and kill your grandfather, are witty as well as illuminating. (Like other physics popularizers, he includes the wonderful 1923 limerick by Reginald Buller in his text), viz:"There was a young lady named BrightWho traveled far faster than light.She went out one dayIn a relative wayAnd returned the previous night.”The author's musings on the tension between determinism and free will are especially enlightening. As a special bonus, he also provides an intelligible solution to the famous “Monte Hall” problem that bothered game show fans for years, in the process giving us a painless lesson in probability calculation. Evaluation: This book is deceptively profound, appearing simple because the writing is so lucid. The author, in addition to having a resume that would make most scientists blush, is a regular radio and television science commentator - not surprising given his flair for rendering the abstruse lively and accessible. I highly recommend it to anyone with an interest in the philosophy of science.