A gorgeously illustrated exploration of the science behind the universe’s most stunning natural phenomena—from atoms and parameciums to rainbows, snowflakes, spider webs, the rings of Saturn, galaxies, and moreNature is capable of extraordinary phenomena. Standing in awe of those phenomena, we experience a feeling of connection to the cosmos. For acclaimed physicist and novelist Alan Lightman, just as remarkable is that all of what we see around us—soap bubbles, sc...

**NATIONAL BESTSELLER • A modern classic explores the connections between science and art, the process of creativity, and ultimately the fragility of human existence.“A magical, metaphysical realm ... Captivating, enchanting, delightful.” —The New York Times**Einstein’s Dreams is a fictional collage of stories dreamed by Albert Einstein in 1905, about time, relativity and physics. As the defiant but sensitive young genius is creating his theory of relativi...

The bestselling author of Einsteins Dreams explores the emotional and philosophical questions raised by recent discoveries in science with passion and curiosity.He looks at the dialogue between science and religion; the conflict between our human desire for permanence and the impermanence of nature; the possibility that our universe is simply an accident; the manner in which modern technology has separated us from direct experience of the world; and our resistance ...

The acclaimed author of Einstein’s Dreams tackles "big questions like the origin of the universe and the nature of consciousness ... in an entertaining and easily digestible way” (Wall Street Journal) with a collection of meditative essays on the possibilities—and impossibilities—of nothingness and infinity, and how our place in the cosmos falls somewhere in between.Can space be divided into smaller and smaller units, ad infinitum? Does space exte...

From the acclaimed author of Einstein’s Dreams comes a rich, fascinating answer to the question, Can the scientifically inclined still hold space for spirituality?“Lightman…belongs to a noble tradition of science writers, including Oliver Sacks and Lewis Thomas, who can poke endlessly into a subject and…stir up fresh embers of wonder.” —The Wall Street JournalGazing at the stars, falling in love, or listening to music, we ...

“VERDICT A vivid and moving book-length narrative poem that places the reader inside of a universe of wonder; of interest to poetry readers and beyond.” —Library JournalFrom the author of international bestseller Einstein's Dreams and National Book Award nominee The Diagnosis.After decades of living “hung like a dried fly,” emptied and haunted by his past, the narrator, a man who has lost his faith in all things f...

From the bestselling author of Einstein's Dreams—“an elegant and moving paean to our spiritual quest for meaning in an age of science" (The New York Times Book Review). • The basis for the public television series SEARCHING with Alan Lightman.As a physicist, Alan Lightman has always held a scientific view of the world. But one summer evening, while looking at the stars from a small boat at sea, Lightman was overcome by the overwhelming se...

The internationally bestselling author of Einstein's Dreams presents a celebration of the highs and lows of existence, on the grandest possible scale: the story of Creation, as told by God.Once before time existed, Mr g woke up from a nap and decided to create the universe. In the shimmering Void, where he lives with his Aunt Penelope and Uncle Deva, he creates time, space, and matter. Soon follow stars, planets, animate matter, consciousness,and intellige...

A “piercing . . . important story of global women’s rights,” family ties, and the resiliency of the human spirit—from the author of the international bestseller Einstein’s Dreams (Annie Proulx).In Cambodia, three generations of a rural farming family grapple with the encroachment of the modern world.Three Flames portrays the struggles of a Cambodian farming family against the extreme patriarchal attitudes of their society ...

From the internationally bestselling author of Einstein’s Dreams comes a deeply compelling story about the lives of a Cambodian family―set between 1973, just before the Cambodian Genocide by the Khmer Rouge―to 2015.The stories of one Cambodian family are intricately braided together in Alan Lightman’s haunting Three Flames, his first work of fiction in six years.Three Flames portrays the struggles of a Cambodian farming family aga...

In this timely and essential book that offers a fresh take on the qualms of modern day life, Professor Alan Lightman investigates the creativity born from allowing our minds to freely roam, without attempting to accomplish anything and without any assigned tasks.We are all worried about wasting time. Especially in the West, we have created a frenzied lifestyle in which the twenty-four hours of each day are carved up, dissected, and reduced down to ten minute units ...

In this timely and essential book that offers a fresh take on the qualms of modern day life, Professor Alan Lightman investigates the creativity born from allowing our minds to freely roam, without attempting to accomplish anything and without any assigned tasks.We are all worried about wasting time. Especially in the West, we have created a frenzied lifestyle in which the twenty-four hours of each day are carved up, dissected, and reduced down to ten minute units ...