Big Picture

Included on Brain Picking's The Greatest Science Books of 2016 List Included on NPR Science Friday's The Best Science Books of 2016 List Weaving the threads of astronomy, physics, chemistry, biology, and philosophy into a seamless narrative tapestry, Sean Carroll enthralls us with what we've figured out in the universe and humbles us with what we don't yet understand. Yet in the end, it's the meaning of it all that feeds your soul of curiosity.-Neil deGrasse Tyson, host of Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey With profound intelligence and lucid, unpretentious language, Sean Carroll beautifully articulates the worldview suggested by contemporary naturalism. Thorny issues like free will, the direction of time, and the source of morality are clarified with elegance and insight. The Big Picture shows how the scientific worldview enriches our understanding of the universe and ourselves. A reliable account of our knowledge of the universe, it is also a serene meditation on our need for meaning. This is a book that should be read by everybody.-Carlo Rovelli, author of Seven Brief Lessons on Physics Vivid . . . impressive. . . . Splendidly informative. -The New York Times Book Review Never hectoring, always tolerant, the author presents a seductively attractive picture of a universe whose ultimate laws lie within our grasp. . . . [Carroll] gives us a highly enjoyable and lucid tour through a wide range of topics. . . . Even if you don't agree with what he says, you are unlikely to be enraged by such an urbane and engaging lecturer; more likely, you will be enthralled.- The Wall Street Journal A nuanced inquiry into 'how our desire to matter fits in with the nature of reality at its deepest levels,' in which Carroll offers an assuring dose of what he calls 'existential therapy' reconciling the various and often seemingly contradictory dimensions of our experience. - Maria Popova , Brain Pickings [ The Big Picture is] a tour de force that offers a comprehensive snapshot of the human situation in our infinitely strange universe, and it does this with highly accessible language and engaging storytelling.- Salon Sean Carroll's holistic vision accommodates the sciences and the humanities and has a high probability of provoking readers into clarifying their own views about the complex relations among science, religion, and morality.- The Times Literary Supplement The Big Picture impresses. Carroll is a lively and sympathetic author who writes as well about biology and philosophy as he does about his own field of physics.- Financial Times Carroll is the perfect guide on this wondrous journey of discovery. A brilliantly lucid exposition of profound philosophical and scientific issues in a language accessible to lay readers.- Kirkus Reviews (starred review) Carroll presents a means through which people can better understand themselves, their universe, and their conceptions of a meaningful life.- Publishers Weekly Guides us through several centuries' worth of scientific discoveries to show how they have shaped our understanding and indeed how the laws of nature are linked to the most fundamental human questions of life, death, and our place in the cosmos.- Library Journal (prepub alert) Intensely insightful.- Scientific American With its delightful blend of evocative love paens and four-dimensional integrals, The Big Picture offers a uniquely physical vision of life's meaning. This is poetry. -- Physics Today [Carroll] sets out to show how various phenomena, including thought, choice, consciousness, and value, hang together with the scientific account of reality that has been developed in physics in the past 100 years. He attempts to do all this without relying on specialized jargon from philosophy and physics and succeeds spectacularly in achieving both aims.- Science True to the grand scope of its title. . . . Anyone who enjoys asking big questions will find a lot