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Knocking on Heaven's Door: How Physics and Scientific Thinking Illuminate the Universe and the Modern World Audiobook
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(3.02) - 452 listener ratings
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Publisher Description
The latest developments in physics have the potential to radically revise our understanding of the world: its makeup, its evolution, and the fundamental forces that drive its operation. Knocking on Heaven's Door is an exhilarating and accessible overview of these developments and an impassioned argument for the significance of science.
There could be no better guide than Lisa Randall. The bestselling author of Warped Passages is an expert in both particle physics (the study of the smallest objects we know of) and cosmology (the study of the largest). In Knocking on Heaven's Door, she explores how we decide which scientific questions to study and how we go about answering them. She examines the role of risk, creativity, uncertainty, beauty, and truth in scientific thinking through provocative conversations with leading figures in other fields (such as the chef David Chang, the forecaster Nate Silver, and the screenwriter Scott Derrickson), and she explains with wit and clarity the latest ideas in physics and cosmology. Randall describes the nature and goals of the largest machine ever built: the Large Hadron Collider, the enormous particle accelerator below the border of France and Switzerland—as well as recent ideas underlying cosmology and current dark matter experiments.
The most sweeping and exciting science book in years, Knocking on Heaven's Door makes clear the biggest scientific questions we face and reveals how answering them could ultimately tell us who we are and where we came from.
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"Really interesting summation of where we are in regards to particle physics. While not nearly as dense as Randall's previous work Warped Passages, it does contain a large amount of technical information about the LHC and the way that particle colliders work. Randall doesn't ever talk down to the reader, which is refreshing but challenging. This is not a quick beach read, but well worth the effort if you are interested in the subject."
— Corinna (4 out of 5 stars)
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This volume should appeal to experts and nonexperts alike intrigued by the latest scientific advances in our understanding of the cosmos.
— Library Journal -
“Lisa Randall has written Knocking on Heaven’s Door in the same witty, informal style with which she explains physics in person, making complex ideas fascinating and easy to understand. Her book…just might make you think differently—and encourage you to make smarter decisions about the world.”
— Bill Clinton -
“The general reader’s indispensable passport to the frontiers of science.”
— Booklist, starred review -
“A whip-smart inquiry into the scientific work being conducted in particle physics…[Randall] brings a thrumming enthusiasm to the topic, but she is unhurried and wryly humorous…[Knocking on Heaven’s Door] dazzles like the stars.”
— Kirkus Reviews, starred review -
“Written with dry wit and ice-cool clarity. A book anyone at all interested in science must read. Surely the science book of the year.”
— Sunday Times -
“Startlingly honest [and] beautifully written…Randall’s calm authority and clarity of explanation are exemplary…Like being taken behind the curtain in Oz and given a full tour by the wizard.”
— New Scientist -
“[Randall is] one of the more original theorists at work in the profession today…She gives a fine analysis of the affinity between scientific and artistic beauty, comparing the broken symmetries of a Richard Serra sculpture to those at the core of the Standard Model.”
— New York Times Book Review -
“[Randall’s] eloquent book details the trials and tribulations of the [Large Hadron Collider], from conception to implementation, and takes us on a grand tour of the underlying science.”
— Nature -
“Offers the reader a glimpse of the future…An enlightening and exciting read.”
— San Francisco Book Review -
“Valuable and engaging…Randall’s generous cornucopia of ideas, her engaging style, and above all her deep excitement about physics make this a book that deserves a wide readership.”
— American Scientist
Knocking on Heaven's Door Listener Reviews
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" Excellent book. Lisa Randall does a great job explaining the subjects in this awesome book. "
— Dave, 2/13/2014 -
" Excellent. Although funny to read how she tries to maintain some compromise between science- and faith truth. Watch 2012/2013 for the discovery of her predicted KK particle and perhaps then a Nobel Prize? "
— Marius, 1/5/2014 -
" Reads a little to much like a textbook at times. "
— Michael, 1/1/2014 -
" Randall is brilliant. I am not. Excellent book. "
— Dysmonia, 11/22/2013 -
" Good book. All over the place but interesting. I especially enjoyed the sections on the LHC. "
— Bryan, 11/13/2013 -
" Great resource for laymen and women who want to get the scoop on the newest in sub-atomic physics and hear a leading scientist's reflections on what "scientific thinking" is. Not so articulate or sophisticated when she occasionally stumbles around into the dialogue between science and religion. "
— Colleen, 1/21/2013 -
" Stephen says it was amazing. Enjoy, physics people. "
— Scputval, 6/6/2012
About Lisa Randall
Lisa Randall is a professor of physics at Harvard University. She is one of today’s most influential and highly cited theoretical physicists, and has received numerous awards and honors for her contributions. Her work has been featured in Time magazine, the New York Times, Rolling Stone, Esquire, Vogue, the Economist, Scientific American, and elsewhere. Randall is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the American Philosophical Society, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the American Physical Society, and is the recipient of several honorary degrees. When not solving the problems of the universe, she can be found rock climbing, skiing, or contributing to art-science connections. Hypermusic Prologue, a small opera for which she wrote the libretto, premiered in the Pompidou Center in 2009, and Measure for Measure, an art exhibit she co-curated, opened in Los Angeles in 2010.
About Carrington MacDuffie
Carrington MacDuffie is a voice actor and recording artist who has narrated over two hundred audiobooks, received numerous AudioFile Earphones Awards, and has been a frequent finalist for the Audie Award, including for her original audiobook, Many Things Invisible. Alongside her narration work, she has released a new album of original songs, Only an Angel.