In a dazzling, lyrical mixture of science and philosophy, acclaimed science writer David Darling makes a provocative case for the workings of human consciousness, its origins, and its destiny when the next Big Bang precipitates a quantum leap in evolution. Equations of Eternity rethinks thought and the existence of intelligence in a way that will give readers a lot to think about.

"An accessible and engaging exploration of the mysteries of time." -Brian Greene, author of The Elegant Universe Twenty years ago, Stephen Hawking tried to explain time by understanding the Big Bang. Now, Sean Carroll says we need to be more ambitious. One of the leading theoretical physicists of his generation, Carroll delivers a dazzling and paradigm-shifting theory of time's arrow that embraces subjects from entropy to quantum mechanics to time travel to information theory and the meaning of life. From Eternity to Here is no less than the next step toward understanding how we came to exist, and a fantastically approachable read that will appeal to a broad audience of armchair physicists, and anyone who ponders the nature of our world.

This book introduces ten equations that transcend the boundaries of time and space. It takes readers through a journey of self-discovery where they will learn the history, science, and significance of these equations in the context of their lives. Moreover, the mathematical beauty of these equations is presented in a profoundly modest fashion to highlight the idea that equations are eternal but humans are transient. Each chapter offers readers a sublime experience and provides insights into the laws of nature that address the ever-expanding intricacy of our universe. The history of humankind, according to Franz Kafka, is the instant between two strides taken by a traveler. Therefore, what remains eternal when we finish our journey on this tiny rocky planet is our deep desire to connect with everything else in this universe. These equations capture the essence of that aspiration and remain everlasting while we continue our trivial human pursuits. These equations change the way we live and view the world and will outlast even the most enduring signs of our civilization. They have the potential to take us from planet to planet and perhaps to make us a cosmic species. They can destroy the last strand of DNA to terminate life as we know it and generate life again from the fundamental laws of nature. While these equations remain intangible, they can create a tangible world yet remain truly eternal.

To many people, the main question about extraterrestrial life is whether or not it exists. But to the scientific community, that question has already been answered: It does. So confident are scientists of the existence of life on other planets that they've invested serious amounts of money, time and prestige in finding and studying it. NASA has started an Institute of Astrobiology, for instance, and the University of Washington, Seattle, began in September 1999 to accept graduate students into its Department of Astrobiology. Life Everywhere is the first book to lay out for a general reader what the new science of astrobiology is all about. It asks the fascinating questions researchers are asking themselves and one another: u What is life? u How does it originate? u How often does life survive once it arises?u How does evolution work?u What determines whether complex or even intelligent life will emerge from more primitive forms?Informed by interviews with most of the experts in this nascent subject, Life Everywhere introduces readers to one of the most important scientific disciplines of the coming century.

Connecting Humans to Equations: A Reinterpretation of the Philosophy of Mathematics presents some of the most important positions in the philosophy of mathematics, while adding new dimensions to this philosophy. Mathematics is an integral part of human and social life, meaning that a philosophy of mathematics must include several dimensions. This book describes these dimensions by the following four questions that structure the content of the book: Where is mathematics? How certain is mathematics? How social is mathematics? How good is mathematics? These four questions refer to the ontological, epistemological, social, and ethical dimension of a philosophy of mathematics. While the ontological and epistemological dimensions have been explored in all classic studies in the philosophy of mathematics, the exploration of the book is unique in its social and ethical dimensions. It argues that the foundation of mathematics is deeply connected to human and social actions and that mathematics includes not just descriptive but also performative features. This human-centered and accessible interpretation of mathematics is relevant for students in mathematics, mathematics education, and any technical discipline and for anybody working with mathematics.

What happens when we die? Does everything we are just stop? Is consciousness lost forever? Or does some vital spark inside us, a spirit or a soul, live on? We find it almost impossible to think about not having a mind, of our awareness being snuffed out like a candle. Yet the stark fact is that within a century or so, everyone alive today - all six billion of us - will be dead. Humans are the only creatures on earth that know they are going to die. But that foreknowledge has come fairly recently and it flies in the face of four billion years of evolution. Those eons have genetically conditioned us to do all we can to preserve ourselves and our kin. The result is that we are caught in a dilemma. We are programmed to survive by our genes yet made painfully aware of our mortality by our forward-looking brain. If we admit that death is inevitable, then our will to survive may be fatally weakened. On the other hand, if we deny death, we have to turn a blind eye to a patent fact of the real world. Only one avenue of escape is possible - belief in an afterlife. With this we can face the nightmare that death poses to the rational mind. We distance ourselves from death by institutionalizing it. Whereas in earlier times most people spent their last days at home in the bosom of family and friends, today four-fifths of us are removed to hospitals or nursing homes. We are hidden from the gaze of the young and healthy and tended to by strangers. As the end approaches, we are discreetly moved to wards for the terminally ill and plugged into life-support machines. Technology takes over. And when we do eventually die, it is often the inadequacy of the equipment or the shortcomings of the treatment that are blamed. Instead of accepting death as a natural and inevitable fact of life, we are in danger of convincing ourselves that, given further medical advances, we shall be able to stave it off for as long as we like. "Some people want to achieve immortality through their works or their descendants," said Woody Allen. "I want to achieve it through not dying." Now, for the first time, science seems to be holding out the slender hope of cheating death. Already, some of our vital parts can be replaced with natural or synthetic substitutes. In time, it seems, the transplant surgeon will be able to do for a human being what any competent mechanic in a well-equipped garage can do for a car. Key words - Death, Reincarnation, Consciousness, Cosmos, Science, Soul, Afterlife, Universe Author Bio - David Darling is the author of more than 40 titles including narrative science titles: Megacatastrophes!, We Are Not Alone, Gravity's Arc, Equations of Eternity, a New York Times Notable Book, and Deep Time. He is also the author of the bestseller-The Universal Book of Mathematics: From Abracadabra to Zeno's Paradoxes. Darling's other titles include The Universal Book of Astronomy, and The Complete Book of Spaceflight, as well as more than 30 children's books. His articles and reviews have appeared in Astronomy, Omni, Penthouse, New Scientist, the New York Times, and the Guardian, among others. David Darling was born in Glossop, Derbyshire, England, on July 29, 1953, and grew up in the beautiful Peak District, close to Kinder Scout for those who know the area. He went to New Mills Grammar School and then on to Sheffield University, where he earned his B.Sc. in physics in 1974, and Manchester University, for my Ph.D. in astronomy in 1977. David Darling's interests, apart from his work and family, include singing, song-writing, and playing guitar, walking, and travel.

Acerbic dark humour meets hardcore science in this mind-boggling exploration of the nine worst ways the world could end Discover the mind-boggling science of the coming apocalypse! 'Curiously pleasurable… this will help you get your everyday problems into perspective.' Independent Which will get us first? The supervolcano in Yellowstone National Park? An asteroid hurtling through outer space? Black holes from CERN gobbling up the solar system? An army of deranged, super-intelligent AI? Or – who knows – alien invasion? Armed with lavish illustrations and their one-of-a-kind 'Catastrophometer', Dr David Darling and Dr Dirk Schulze-Makuch introduce the disasters you never saw coming, unpicking the science that makes them genuine possibilities, and providing everything from survival tips to danger ratings. So sit back, face the inevitable, and discover the delights of the nine oddest ways the world could end.