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?
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“Several popular audiobooks attempt to explain contemporary science, the best known being Bill Bryson’s A Short History of Nearly Everything. In this work Gross is unique in his focus on one central feature, the sublime—in nature, in the theories of scientists, and in scientific writing. Bob Souer proves an excellent choice as narrator for this challenging and provocative text. Some of the theory is difficult to grasp; some of Gross’ judgments are unsparing. Even so, the notion of the sublime opens up new channels in the mind and puts into a simple but profound context so much of contemporary science that seems beyond understanding. Lucid, effectively read, rich in detail and insight, this highly rewarding title crosses the borders of science, biography, and literary criticism. Winner of the AudioFile Earphones Award.”
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