Astronomy & Physics Audiobooks | Science & Technology

The surprising story of eccentric young scientists who stood up to convention-and changed the face of modern physics. In the 1970s, amid severe cutbacks in physics funding, a small group of underemployed physicists in Berkeley decided to throw off the constraints of academia and explore the wilder side of science. Dubbing themselves the "Fundamental Fysiks Group," they pursued a freewheeling, speculative approach to physics. Some dabbled with LSD while conducting experiments. They studied quantum theory alongside Eastern mysticism and psychic mind reading, discussing the latest developments while lounging in hot tubs. Unlikely as it may seem, this quirky band of misfits altered the course of modern physics, forcing mainstream physicists to pay attention to the strange but exciting underpinnings of quantum theory. Their work on Bell's theorem and quantum entanglement helped pave the way for today's advances in quantum information science. A lively and entertaining Cinderella story, How the Hippies Saved Physics takes us to a time when only the unlikeliest heroes could break the science world out of its rut. "How the Hippies Saved Physics takes readers on a mind-bending trip to the far horizons of science-a place where the counterculture's search for a New Age of consciousness opened the door to a new era in physics. Who knew that the discipline that brought us the atom bomb had also glimpsed Utopia? Amazing."-Fred Turner, author of From Counterculture to Cyberculture

David Kaiser (Author), Sean Runnette (Narrator)

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How the Hippies Saved Physics: Science, Counterculture, and the Quantum Revival

The surprising story of eccentric young scientists who stood up to convention-and changed the face of modern physics In the 1970s, amid severe cutbacks in physics funding, a small group of underemployed physicists in Berkeley decided to throw off the constraints of academia and explore the wilder side of science. Dubbing themselves the "Fundamental Fysiks Group," they pursued a freewheeling, speculative approach to physics. Some dabbled with LSD while conducting experiments. They studied quantum theory alongside Eastern mysticism and psychic mind reading, discussing the latest developments while lounging in hot tubs. Unlikely as it may seem, this quirky band of misfits altered the course of modern physics, forcing mainstream physicists to pay attention to the strange but exciting underpinnings of quantum theory. Their work on Bell's theorem and quantum entanglement helped pave the way for today's advances in quantum information science. A lively and entertaining Cinderella story, How the Hippies Saved Physics takes us to a time when only the unlikeliest heroes could break the science world out of its rut.

David Kaiser (Author), Sean Runnette (Narrator)

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Cycles of Time

From the best-selling author of The Emperor's New Mind and The Road to Reality, a groundbreaking book that provides new views on three of cosmology's most profound questions: What, if anything, came before the Big Bang? What is the source of order in our universe? What is its ultimate future? Current understanding of our universe dictates that all matter will eventually thin out to zero density, with huge black holes finally evaporating away into massless energy. Roger Penrose one of the most innovative mathematicians of our time turns around this predominant picture of the universe's heat death, arguing how the expected ultimate fate of our accelerating, expanding universe can actually be reinterpreted as the Big Bang of a new one. Along the way to this remarkable cosmological picture, Penrose sheds new light on basic principles that underlie the behavior of our universe, describing various standard and nonstandard cosmological models, the fundamental role of the cosmic microwave background, and the key status of black holes. Ideal for both the amateur astronomer and the advanced physicist with plenty of exciting insights for each Cycles of Time is certain to provoke and challenge. Intellectually thrilling and accessible, this is another essential guide to the universe from one of our preeminent thinkers.

Roger Penrose (Author), Bruce Mann (Narrator)

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Josie Long's All Of The Planet's Wonders Astronomy For Dummies (BBC Radio 4 Comedy)

The first episode, 'Astronomy for Dummies', of the BBC Radio 4 comedy series, 'All of the Planet's Wonders', in which award-winning comedian Josie Long attempts to better herself through learning from reference books, with help from Irish comedian Maeve Higgins. Originally broadcast 18 February 2009 and repeated on 28 December 2010. In this episode Josie uses the book 'Astronomy for Dummies' to try and unravel the greater mysteries of the cosmos.

Josie Long (Author), Josie Long (Narrator)

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Physics of the Future

Imagine, if you can, the world in the year 2100. In Physics of the Future, Michio Kaku the New York Times bestselling author of Physics of the Impossible gives us a stunning, provocative, and exhilarating vision of the coming century based on interviews with over three hundred of the world's top scientists who are already inventing the future in their labs. The result is the most authoritative and scientifically accurate description of the revolutionary developments taking place in medicine, computers, artificial intelligence, nanotechnology, energy production, and astronautics. In all likelihood, by 2100 we will control computers via tiny brain sensors and, like magicians, move objects around with the power of our minds. Artificial intelligence will be dispersed throughout the environment, and Internet-enabled contact lenses will allow us to access the world's information base or conjure up any image we desire in the blink of an eye. Meanwhile, cars will drive themselves using GPS, and if room-temperature superconductors are discovered, vehicles will effortlessly fly on a cushion of air, coasting on powerful magnetic fields and ushering in the age of magnetism. Using molecular medicine, scientists will be able to grow almost every organ of the body and cure genetic diseases. Millions of tiny DNA sensors and nanoparticles patrolling our blood cells will silently scan our bodies for the first sign of illness, while rapid advances in genetic research will enable us to slow down or maybe even reverse the aging process, allowing human life spans to increase dramatically. In space, radically new ships needle-sized vessels using laser propulsion could replace the expensive chemical rockets of today and perhaps visit nearby stars. Advances in nanotechnology may lead to the fabled space elevator, which would propel humans hundreds of miles above the earth's atmosphere at the push of a button. But these astonishing revelations are only the tip of the iceberg. Kaku also discusses emotional robots, antimatter rockets, X-ray vision, and the ability to create new life-forms, and he considers the development of the world economy. He addresses the key questions: Who are the winner and losers of the future? Who will have jobs, and which nations will prosper? All the while, Kaku illuminates the rigorous scientific principles, examining the rate at which certain technologies are likely to mature, how far they can advance, and what their ultimate limitations and hazards are. Synthesizing a vast amount of information to construct an exciting look at the years leading up to 2100, Physics of the Future is a thrilling, wondrous ride through the next 100 years of breathtaking scientific revolution. From the Hardcover edition.

Michio Kaku (Author), Feodor Chin (Narrator)

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You Are Here: A Portable History of the Universe

You Are Here is a dazzling exploration of the universe and our relationship to it. It is the story of how something evolved from nothing, and how something became everything. It is the story of science: the greatest story ever told. Here, for the first time in a single span, is the life of the universe, from quarks to galaxy super-clusters, and from slime to Homo sapiens. The universe was once a moment of perfect symmetry, and is now 13.7 billion years of history. Clouds of gas were woven into whatever complexity we find in the universe today: the hierarchies of stars, or the brains of mammals. With wit and erudition, Christopher Potter takes us on a voyage beyond even time and space, to present the state of scientific knowledge at its most up-to-date and exhilarating.

Christopher Potter (Author), Richard Mitchley (Narrator)

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Genius

From the author of the national bestseller Chaos comes an outstanding biography of one of the most dazzling and flamboyant scientists of the 20th century that "not only paints a highly attractive portrait of Feynman but also . . . makes for a stimulating adventure in the annals of science" (The New York Times).

James Gleick (Author), Dick Estell (Narrator)

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Chaos

James Gleick's groundbreaking bestseller introduces to a whole newaudience the story of one of the most significant waves of scientific knowledge in our time. By focusing on the key figures whose genius converged to chart an innovative direction for science, Gleick makes the story of chaos theory not only fascinating but also accessible, and opens our eyes to a surprising new view of the universe.

James Gleick (Author), Rob Shapiro (Narrator)

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Paradigm Shift: Consciousness, Meditation and Quantum Physics: A Conversation with Samuel Avery

In this engaging conversation, Samuel Avery explores the compelling ideas in his new audiobook The Buddha and the Quantum. He takes us on a brief journey through the 100 year history of quantum physics and the 3,000 year history of Buddhist meditation to show us that the discoveries of the Buddha and physicist Max Planck were one and the same.

Samuel Avery (Author), Samuel Avery (Narrator)

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The Hidden Reality

There was a time when universe meant all there is. Everything. Yet, in recent years discoveries in physics and cosmology have led a number of scientists to conclude that our universe may be one among many. With crystal-clear prose and inspired use of analogy, Brian Greene shows how a range of different multiverse proposals emerges from theories developed to explain the most refined observations of both subatomic particles and the dark depths of space: a multiverse in which you have an infinite number of doppelgängers, each reading this sentence in a distant universe; a multiverse comprising a vast ocean of bubble universes, of which ours is but one; a multiverse that endlessly cycles through time, or one that might be hovering millimeters away yet remains invisible; another in which every possibility allowed by quantum physics is brought to life. Or, perhaps strangest of all, a multiverse made purely of mathematics. Greene, one of our foremost physicists and science writers, takes us on a captivating exploration of these parallel worlds and reveals how much of reality's true nature may be deeply hidden within them.

Brian Greene (Author), Brian Greene (Narrator)

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The 4 Percent Universe: Dark Matter, Dark Energy, and the Race to Discover the Rest of Reality

Over the past few decades, a handful of scientists have been racing to explain a disturbing aspect of our universe: only four percent of it consists of the matter that makes up you, me, our books, and every star and planet. The rest is completely unknown. Richard Panek tells the dramatic story of the quest to find this "dark" matter and an even more bizarre substance called "dark energy." This is perhaps the greatest mystery in all of science, and solving it will bring fame, funding, and certainly a Nobel Prize. Based on in-depth reporting and interviews with the major players-from Berkeley's feisty, excitable Saul Perlmutter and Harvard's witty but exacting Robert Kirshner to the doyenne of astronomy, Vera Rubin-the book offers an intimate portrait of the bitter rivalries and fruitful collaborations, the eureka moments and blind alleys, that have fueled their search, redefined science, and reinvented the universe. The stakes couldn't be higher. Our view of the cosmos is profoundly wrong, and Copernicus was only the beginning: not just Earth, but all common matter is a marginal part of existence. Panek's fast-paced narrative, filled with original reporting and behind-the-scenes details, brings this epic story to life for the very first time. "Richard Panek has made this cosmic quest exciting and understandable."-Walter Isaacson, New York Times bestselling author of Einstein: His Life and Universe

Richard Panek (Author), Ray Porter (Narrator)

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How I Killed Pluto and Why It Had It Coming

The solar system most of us grew up with included nine planets, with Mercury closest to the sun and Pluto at the outer edge. Then, in 2005, astronomer Mike Brown made the discovery of a lifetime: a tenth planet, Eris, slightly bigger than Pluto. But instead of its resulting in one more planet being added to our solar system, Brown's find ignited a firestorm of controversy that riled the usually sedate world of astronomy and launched him into the public eye. The debate culminated in the demotion of Pluto from real planet to the newly coined category of "dwarf" planet. Suddenly Brown was receiving hate mail from schoolchildren and being bombarded by TV reporters-all because of the discovery he had spent years searching for and a lifetime dreaming about. Filled with both humor and drama, How I Killed Pluto and Why It Had It Coming is Mike Brown's engaging first-person account of the most tumultuous year in modern astronomy-which he inadvertently caused. As it guides readers through important scientific concepts and inspires us to think more deeply about our place in the cosmos, it is also an entertaining and enlightening personal story: While Brown sought to expand our understanding of the vast nature of space, his own life was changed in the most immediate, human ways by love, birth, and death. A heartfelt and personal perspective on the demotion of everyone's favorite farflung planet, How I Killed Pluto and Why It Had It Coming is the book for anyone, young or old, who has ever dreamed of exploring the universe-and who among us hasn't?

Mike Brown (Author), Ryan Gesell (Narrator)

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Astronomy & Physics Audiobooks in Science & Technology