2022 ONTD Reading Challenge discussion

Just finished this one for the month of February.

I was struck by how much it is about what it is not known as what is known. I might not have come out of this on par with Einstein but I found myself interested in what I didn't know about science.

favorite quote: "Once again, the world seems to be less about objects than about interactive relationship"

Have you read it? What was your favorite quote or idea?

Melanie, do you need to know much about physics to understand this book? I want to read it, but physics was never my strongest subject in school :/

Lea wrote: "Melanie, do you need to know much about physics to understand this book? I want to read it, but physics was never my strongest subject in school :/"

Hi Lea! The author assumes that you have heard of physics concepts (i.e. general relativity, thermodynamics) but do not understand them at all. He does use some high-brow vocab, but all his science terms are explained in enough detail to make them make sense to a layman. The aim of the book is not to teach you physics but to help you understand how physics relates to the universe, matter, the natural world, and you as a human.

I hope that helped.

Thank you Melanie, that does help. I looked it up and it was actually on sale so I bought it for a very reasonable price.

Let me know what you think when you finish it! :D

I read it two months ago and my favorite thought was that the big bang was following the life cycle of a star, essentially/kind of. :) It was an expansion from one point, but what if everything had condensed into that one point. What if it is this cyclical happening? So cool.

Anyway, I believe this started off as a newspaper column that the author wrote and then expanded to make a book. So ideally it should be an entry point for a good number of readers.

I did find the last chapter a bit of a chore but maybe because it's more based in philosophy than science, iirc, is why I didn't connect.