Download Why Does the World Exist? by Jim Holt in PDF Full Free and published by National Geographic Books. This book was released on 2013-04-16 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Washington Post Notable Non-Fiction of 2013 “I can imagine few more enjoyable ways of thinking than to read this book.”—Sarah Bakewell, New York Times Book Review, front-page review Tackling the “darkest question in all of philosophy” with “raffish erudition” (Dwight Garner, New York Times), author Jim Holt explores the greatest metaphysical mystery of all: why is there something rather than nothing? This runaway bestseller, which has captured the imagination of critics and the public alike, traces our latest efforts to grasp the origins of the universe. Holt adopts the role of cosmological detective, traveling the globe to interview a host of celebrated scientists, philosophers, and writers, “testing the contentions of one against the theories of the other” (Jeremy Bernstein, Wall Street Journal). As he interrogates his list of ontological culprits, the brilliant yet slyly humorous Holt contends that we might have been too narrow in limiting our suspects to God versus the Big Bang. This “deft and consuming” (David Ulin, Los Angeles Times) narrative humanizes the profound questions of meaning and existence it confronts.

Download Why Does the World Exist? by Jim Holt in PDF Full Free and published by . This book was released on 2013 with total page 307 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 'Why is there a world rather than nothing at all?' remains the most curious and most enduring of all metaphysical mysteries. Moving away from the narrower paths of Christopher Hitchens, Roger Penrose and Stephen Hawking, the celebrated essayist Jim Holt now enters this fascinating debate with his broad, lively and deeply informed narrative that traces all our efforts to grasp the origins of the universe.With sly humour and a highly original personal approach Holt takes on the role of cosmological detective. Suggesting that we might have been too narrow in limiting our suspects to God and the Big Bang, he tracks down, among others, an eccentric Oxford philosopher, a Nobel Laureate physicist, a French Buddhist monk, and John Updike just before he died, to pursue this cosmic puzzle from every angle. As he pieces together a solution - while offering useful insights into time, consciousness, and eternity - he sheds fascinating new light on the meaning of existence.

Download Why Does the World Exist?: An Existential Detective Story by Jim Holt in PDF Full Free and published by W. W. Norton & Company. This book was released on 2012-07-16 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Washington Post Notable Non-Fiction of 2013 “I can imagine few more enjoyable ways of thinking than to read this book.”—Sarah Bakewell, New York Times Book Review, front-page review Tackling the “darkest question in all of philosophy” with “raffish erudition” (Dwight Garner, New York Times), author Jim Holt explores the greatest metaphysical mystery of all: why is there something rather than nothing? This runaway bestseller, which has captured the imagination of critics and the public alike, traces our latest efforts to grasp the origins of the universe. Holt adopts the role of cosmological detective, traveling the globe to interview a host of celebrated scientists, philosophers, and writers, “testing the contentions of one against the theories of the other” (Jeremy Bernstein, Wall Street Journal). As he interrogates his list of ontological culprits, the brilliant yet slyly humorous Holt contends that we might have been too narrow in limiting our suspects to God versus the Big Bang. This “deft and consuming” (David Ulin, Los Angeles Times) narrative humanizes the profound questions of meaning and existence it confronts.

Download Why Does the World Exist? by Jim Holt in PDF Full Free and published by Profile Books. This book was released on 2012-06-21 with total page 312 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 'Why is there a world rather than nothing at all?' remains the most curious and most enduring of all metaphysical mysteries. Moving away from the narrower paths of Christopher Hitchens, Roger Penrose and Stephen Hawking, the celebrated essayist Jim Holt now enters this fascinating debate with his broad, lively and deeply informed narrative that traces all our efforts to grasp the origins of the universe. With sly humour and a highly original personal approach Holt takes on the role of cosmological detective. Suggesting that we might have been too narrow in limiting our suspects to God and the Big Bang, he tracks down, among others, an eccentric Oxford philosopher, a Nobel Laureate physicist, a French Buddhist monk, and John Updike just before he died, to pursue this cosmic puzzle from every angle. As he pieces together a solution - while offering useful insights into time, consciousness, and eternity - he sheds fascinating new light on the meaning of existence. A New York Times bestseller on first publication, this new paperback edition provides a much-needed new take on history's greatest conundrum, in the vein of previous bestsellers like Michael Brooks' 13 Things that Don't Make Sense.

Download Creation and Contingency in Early Patristic Thought by Joseph Torchia,, O.P. in PDF Full Free and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2019-04-10 with total page 264 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book assumes an interdisciplinary character, providing a window into the subtle relationship between faith and reason in early patristic thought and its relevance for forging the doctrine of creation ex nihilo. In so doing, it highlights the extent to which early Christian thinkers found a common ground with the Greek philosophical tradition.

Download Something Old, Something New by Wayne Glausser in PDF Full Free and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2018 with total page 225 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Entanglement : an introduction (with Starbucks cups and stem cells) -- The rhetoric of new atheism -- The rhetoric of faithful science -- Christians and adversaries in the evolving Norton anthology of English literature : old-time religion and the new academic market -- The curious case of Pope Francis -- The seven deadly sins : summa theologica meets scientific American -- Psychedelic last rites

Download Mystery 101 by Richard H. Jones in PDF Full Free and published by SUNY Press. This book was released on 2018-02-01 with total page 216 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Delineates the knowable from the unknowable in philosophy, science, and theology. Offering readers much to ponder, Richard H. Jones approaches the “big questions” of philosophy such as the nature of reality, consciousness, free will, the existence of God, and the meaning of life not by weighing the merits of leading arguments in these debates, but instead by questioning the extent to which we are even in a position to answer such questions in the first place. Regardless of continuous technical and even groundbreaking advances in knowledge, there will always be gaps in what we can fully understand. Distinguishing true mysteries from problems yet to be solved but within the scope of our intellectual grasp, Jones provides a penetrating and high-level overview of the scope and limits of scientific and philosophical inquiry. “Exceptionally original, Mystery 101 specializes in questions rather than answers but also analyzes in fascinating detail a whole host of putative answers to the fundamental questions it raises. The book is a wide-ranging, thought-provoking treat. It shows why daunting, seemingly unfathomable mysteries underlie many of our most confident assumptions and claims to truth. And it counsels us wisely on how to live in the face of this fact. The scholarship is impeccable, drawing on many sources, including those of religion (and not just Western religion), philosophy (and not just Western philosophy), science, and literature. An insightful and enjoyable read.” — Donald A. Crosby, author of The Extraordinary in the Ordinary: Seven Types of Everyday Miracle “Jones takes us on an interesting journey through all the big questions that perplex people. We end up knowing a lot but, as Socrates, knowing that we do not and indeed cannot know enough. Clear, engaging, and accessible, the book is a bit of a tour de force.” — George Allan, author of Modes of Learning: Whitehead’s Metaphysics and the Stages of Education

Download Library Lin's Curated Collection of Superlative Nonfiction by Linda Maxie in PDF Full Free and published by Spoon Creek Press. This book was released on 2022-05-05 with total page 416 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Trust a librarian to help you find books you’ll want to read Library Lin’s Curated Collection of Superlative Nonfiction is a librarian’s A-list of nonfiction books organized by subject area—just like a library. Linda Maxie (Library Lin) combed through 65 best books lists going back a century. She reviewed tens of thousands of books, sorted them according to the Dewey Decimal Classification system, and selected an entire library’s worth for you to browse without leaving home. Here you’ll find • Summaries of outstanding titles in every subject • Suggestions for locating reading material specific to your needs and interests In this broad survey of all the nonfiction categories, you will find titles on everything from the A-bomb to Zen Buddhism. You might find yourself immersed in whole subject areas that you never thought you’d be interested in.

Download Embodiment and the Cosmic Perspective in Twentieth-Century Fiction by Marco Caracciolo in PDF Full Free and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2020-07-01 with total page 232 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In dialogue with groundbreaking technologies and scientific models, twentieth century fiction presents readers with a vast mosaic of perspectives on the cosmos. The literary imagination of the world beyond the human scale, however, faces a fundamental difficulty: if, as researchers in both cognitive science and narrative theory argue, fiction is a practice geared toward the human embodied mind, how can it cope with scientific theories and concepts— the Big Bang, quantum physics, evolutionary biology, and so on—that resist our common-sense intuitions and appear discontinuous, in spatial as well as temporal terms, with our bodies? This book sets out to answer this question by showing how the embodiment of mind continues to matter even as writers— and readers—are pushed out of their terrestrial comfort zone. Offering thoughtful commentary on work by both mainstream literary authors and science fiction writers (from Primo Levi to Jeanette Winterson, from Olaf Stapledon to Pamela Zoline), Embodiment and the Cosmic Perspective in Twentieth-Century Fiction explores the multiple ways in which narrative can radically defamiliarize our bodily experience and bridge the gap with cosmic realities. This investigation affords an opportunity to reflect on the role of literature as it engages with science and charts its epistemological and ethical ramifications.

Download Reflections on a Surprising Universe by Richard Conrad Dieter in PDF Full Free and published by John Hunt Publishing. This book was released on 2019-11-29 with total page 177 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Reflections on a Surprising Universe takes the reader beyond the headlines of the latest scientific breakthroughs, translating complicated topics into an understandable narrative. It covers a wide array of scientific developments in clear and concise language sharing a sense of wonder felt by the author about the universe we find ourselves in. The book covers such developments as the size and expansion of the universe, black holes, gravitational waves, the relativity of spacetime, the multiverse, exoplanets and the possibility of extraterrestrial life, DNA, fundamental particles, quantum mechanics and quantum computers, all in an accessible narrative. Do you feel a sense of excitement and awe in learning about both the vastness and intricacies of the world around you? Then let Richard Dieter guide you through the unique synthesis of recent scientific discoveries and what they reveal about us.

Download Propositions in the Making by Roland Faber in PDF Full Free and published by Lexington Books. This book was released on 2019-12-15 with total page 237 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How do we make ourselves a Whiteheadian proposition? This question exposes the multivalent connections between postmodern thought and Whitehead’s philosophy, with particular attention to his understanding of propositions. Edited by Roland Faber, Michael Halewood, and Andrew M. Davis, Propositions in the Making articulates the newest reaches of Whiteheadian propositions for a postmodern world. It does so by activating interdisciplinary lures of feeling, living, and co-creating the world anew. Rather than a “logical assertion,” Whitehead described a proposition as a “lure for feeling” for a collectivity to come. It cannot be reduced to the verbal content of logical justifications, but rather the feeling content of aesthetic valuations. In creatively expressing these propositions in wide relevance to existential, ethical, educational, theological, aesthetic, technological, and societal concerns, the contributors to this volume enact nothing short of “a Whiteheadian Laboratory.”

Download Understanding Human Conduct by Sam S. Rakover in PDF Full Free and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2021-10-06 with total page 199 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Understanding Human Conduct: The Innate and Acquired Meaning of Life develops the Consciousness-Meaning (CM) model, which aims to explain why most human beings are able to lead a meaningful life without undergoing an existentialist life crisis.

Download Controversies in Exercise Science by Thomas Rowland in PDF Full Free and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2018-10-09 with total page 292 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Controversies in Exercise Science introduces a series of selected unresolved issues in the field of human exercise science. The common thread to all of these topics is that, in their ultimate resolution, they offer promise of insights into the essential principles of physiological systems and how these respond to the stresses of exercise. Each case study includes an examination of research surrounding each issue; the innovative aspect, however, will be that each of these controversies will be presented in the context of an historical and/or philosophical perspective. These chapter include topics related to basic exercise physiology, sports, physical activity, and exercise health. Underlying each of these debates lie clues which may offer insights into the basic nature of living beings. Aimed at both academics and practitioners in the fields of exercise science, biology, and related sports science disciplines, Controversies in Exercise Science provides arguments for both sides of several selected contemporary controversies in the field of exercise science and, while no ultimate resolution will be provided, the goal is, rather, to offer the reader sufficient "raw material" on which he or she might make their own judgement on the matters presented.

Download Circling the Elephant by John J. Thatamanil in PDF Full Free and published by Fordham University Press. This book was released on 2020-06-02 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Christian theologians have for some decades affirmed that they have no monopoly on encounters with God or ultimate reality and that other religions also have access to religious truth and transformation. If that is the case, the time has come for Christians not only to learn about but also from their religious neighbors. Circling the Elephant affirms that the best way to be truly open to the mystery of the infinite is to move away from defensive postures of religious isolationism and self-sufficiency and to move, in vulnerability and openness, toward the mystery of the neighbor. Employing the ancient Indian allegory of the elephant and blind(folded) men, John J. Thatamanil argues for the integration of three often-separated theological projects: theologies of religious diversity (the work of accounting for why there are so many different understandings of the elephant), comparative theology (the venture of walking over to a different side of the elephant), and constructive theology (the endeavor of re-describing the elephant in light of the other two tasks). Circling the Elephant also offers an analysis of why we have fallen short in the past. Interreligious learning has been obstructed by problematic ideas about “religion” and “religions,” Thatamanil argues, while also pointing out the troubling resonances between reified notions of “religion” and “race.” He contests these notions and offers a new theory of the religious that makes interreligious learning both possible and desirable. Christians have much to learn from their religious neighbors, even about such central features of Christian theology as Christ and the Trinity. This book envisions religious diversity as a promise, not a problem, and proposes a new theology of religious diversity that opens the door to robust interreligious learning and Christian transformation through encountering the other.

Download Political Questions by Larry Arnhart in PDF Full Free and published by Waveland Press. This book was released on 2015-08-28 with total page 609 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this enhanced edition, Larry Arnhart continues to ask thought-provoking questions that illuminate the philosophies of some of the most prominent political thinkers throughout history. This clear, well-written guide is an ideal supplement to the original texts he recommends at the beginning of each chapter. In addition to his analysis of Plato, Aristotle, Augustine, Aquinas, Machiavelli, Descartes, Rousseau, Hegel, Marx, Nietzsche, and Rawls, the author’s well-organized and insightful approach provides an even more comprehensive overview than the earlier editions: • Supplementing the discussion of Leviathan, the chapter on Thomas Hobbes covers Behemoth. • The chapter on John Locke includes his Letter Concerning Toleration as well as the original discussion of Second Treatise of Government. • A chapter on Adam Smith has been added, which discusses Theory of Moral Sentiments and Wealth of Nations. • Leo Strauss is featured, with an examination of Persecution and the Art of Writing and Natural Right and History. • A final chapter analyzes Steven Pinker’s The Better Angels of Our Nature.

Download An Embarrassment of Riches by Alexander Green in PDF Full Free and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2013-11-06 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Tune into the news and you’ll hear stories of war, disease, natural disasters, corruption, violence, poverty, crime, nuclear proliferation, terrorism and political dysfunction in Washington. Polls show many believe the American dream is fading, our children face limited opportunities, and the country is decidedly on the wrong track. Yet this dour perspective – one recycled 24/7 by the national media – is a gross distortion of the world we live in today. As national investment expert and bestselling author Alexander Green reveals in this engrossing and provocative new book, the human race has never had it so good. In the West today, we work shorter hours, have more purchasing power, enjoy goods and services in almost limitless supply, and have more leisure time than ever before. Living standards are the highest they have ever been. The human life span has nearly doubled over the past hundred years. Literacy and education levels – even I.Q.’s – are at all-time highs. Technology and medicine are revolutionizing our lives. All forms of pollution – with the exception of greenhouse gases – are in decline. Access to the arts has never been greater. Crime is in a long-term cycle of decline. And the risk of death by violence has never been smaller for most of humanity. By almost every measure, our lives today are wealthy beyond measure. We are all heir to an embarrassment of riches. Yet – thanks in large part the drumbeat of negative media coverage – most of us don’t realize it. Green compares the average citizen to “a lottery winner whose ticket is lost in some upstairs drawer.” The consequences of adopting the cynical but popular worldview are many, including needless pessimism, missed investment opportunities, and – surprisingly – even poorer health. Yet An Embarrassment of Riches provides a powerful antidote. Green begins with a robust survey of the many ways our lives are becoming longer, easier, safer, healthier and more prosperous. He then embarks on a wide-ranging exploration of the ideas and the many men and women – both living and dead – that are still enriching our lives today. Among the many subjects explored are American exceptionalism, the extraordinary power of economic freedom, the lifesaving role of medicine and technology, the life-extending benefits of optimism, the radical theology of Thomas Jefferson, the keys to civility and greatness, the wisdom of Confucius and Aristotle, the ability of beauty to enrich our lives, and even one artist’s thought-provoking take on “how to defeat death.” In An Embarrassment of Riches, New York Times bestselling author Alexander Green offers a holistic approach to wealth – and offers a welcome perspective that allows us to live fuller, richer lives.

Download When Einstein Walked with Gödel by Jim Holt in PDF Full Free and published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux. This book was released on 2018-05-15 with total page 384 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From Jim Holt, the New York Times bestselling author of Why Does the World Exist?, comes an entertaining and accessible guide to the most profound scientific and mathematical ideas of recent centuries in When Einstein Walked with Gödel: Excursions to the Edge of Thought. Does time exist? What is infinity? Why do mirrors reverse left and right but not up and down? In this scintillating collection, Holt explores the human mind, the cosmos, and the thinkers who’ve tried to encompass the latter with the former. With his trademark clarity and humor, Holt probes the mysteries of quantum mechanics, the quest for the foundations of mathematics, and the nature of logic and truth. Along the way, he offers intimate biographical sketches of celebrated and neglected thinkers, from the physicist Emmy Noether to the computing pioneer Alan Turing and the discoverer of fractals, Benoit Mandelbrot. Holt offers a painless and playful introduction to many of our most beautiful but least understood ideas, from Einsteinian relativity to string theory, and also invites us to consider why the greatest logician of the twentieth century believed the U.S. Constitution contained a terrible contradiction—and whether the universe truly has a future.