We are intelligent beings. This is why we are preoccupied with these questions: Who are we? Where are we coming from? Where are we going? But besides intelligence we are endowed with yet another quality of the mind and this is why we are troubled by even more enigmatic problems: Does God exist? Do we, humans, have a soul or are we just the superior product of evolution of matter, simply emerged from the Big Bang? This book is a provocation: set aside your intelligence for a while, at least for the duration of the journey we invite you on. We will travel as far as possible and surprisingly, we are not going to navigate with our intelligence but with the other quality of our mind. It will guide us to the last frontier of matter, to the last frontier of time and to the last frontier of knowledge. We will set out on this trip armed on one hand with what scientists tell us they discovered digging deep inside our universe, deep inside matter and deep inside time and on the other hand also with what religion reveals for us. Who is telling the truth: science or religion? In the end we will be surprised to find out that atheists and believers contradict each other absolutely in vain. In fact, they all say the exact same thing. Do you think this is a paradox? You are right. This is what your intelligence thinks! But this paradox is an impediment only for your intelligence. Our skillful guide will help us overcome this apparent set-back. Do you want to know how? Open the book.

Introduces the superstring theory that attempts to unite general relativity and quantum mechanics.

No scientific quest is as compelling as the search for the key to understand the universe—the elusive unified “Theory of Everything”—a theory so concise it could fit on a T-shirt. Lively and thought-provoking, Universe on a T-Shirt tells the fascinating story of the search for the Holy Grail of physics. Dan Falk places this intriguing story in its historical context, tracing the quest from ancient Greece to the breakthroughs of Newton, Maxwell, and Einstein, to the excitement over string theory and today’s efforts to merge quantum theory with general relativity. With as much emphasis on history as on science, Falk’s accessible approach is ideal for anyone intrigued by the advances in modern physics but still wondering what theoretical physicists are searching for, and why. Today’s physicists use sophisticated methods, but their goal—the search for simplicity—has not changed since the time of the ancient Greeks. Universe on a T-Shirt is filled with quirky personalities, brilliant minds, and bold ideas—high science and high drama. "An admirably concise and comprehensive overview of cosmology . . . [that] offers intriguing insights into the philosophic and personal outlooks motivating the scientists involved, from the ancient Greeks through Newton and Einstein . . . [and] Stephen Hawking and Ed Witten.”—Booklist

The existence of intelligent extraterrestrial life has been a subject of debate since the dawn of recorded history. The Last Frontier, originally published in German in 1983 and now available in Helen Atkins's sensitive English translation, traces the development of the idea that Earth is not the only planet inhabited by intelligent beings, but that there might be a plurality or even an infinity of "worlds" with human or humanoid life. Focusing on the seventeenth to the twentieth century and taking into account theological, philosophical, scientific, popular, and literary writings from American, British, French, and German sources, Karl S. Guthke demonstrates the continuing importance of this question to the process of human self-definition.

Samanta Chandra Sekhar (1835-1904) occupies a special position in Ancient Indian Astronomy, being the last link in a long chain of illustrious astronomers commencing with Aryabhata (5th century AD). The book describes how he identified errors accumulated over the ages, eradicated them and brought the subject to final perfection. The discovery of the three anomalies in the motion of the moon, hiking of the Earth-Sun distance by more than ten times the value taken by his predecessors and his novel planetary model with heliocentric motion of the planets are some of his major contributions. How astronomy developed in ancient civilizations of the world, and the frontier topics in astrophysics like Dark Matter etc. discussed in a few articles help in developing an integral perspective of the reader.

Stephen W. Hawking, widely believed to have been one of be one of the world’s greatest minds, presents a series of seven lectures— covering everything from big bang to black holes to string theory—. These lectures not only capture the brilliance of Hawking’'s mind, but his characteristic wit as well. In The Illustrated Theory of Everything, Hawking begins with a history of ideas about the universe, from Aristotle’s determination that the Earth is round to Hubble’s discovery, more than 2,000 years later, that the universe is expanding. Using that as a launching pad, he explores the reaches of modern physics, including theories on the origin of the universe (e.g., the Big Bang), the nature of black holes, and space-time. Finally, he poses the questions left unanswered by modern physics, especially how to combine all the partial theories into a “unified theory of everything.” “If we find the answer to that,” he claims, “it would be the ultimate triumph of human reason.” A great popularizer of science as well as a brilliant scientist, Hawking believes that advances in theoretical science should be “understandable in broad principle by everyone, not just a few scientists.” In this book, he offers a fascinating voyage of discovery about the cosmos and our place in it. It is a book for anyone who has ever gazed at the night sky and wondered what was up there and how it came to be.

What is it to be human? It's not possessing a brain, walking upright, or 2.5% DNA differences with animals. It's humankind's creativity, imagination, reasoning and many other unparalleled cognitive abilities. According to the World Health Organization, mental health is the number one health issue worldwide. COVID-19 is a serious physical illness. But it's leaving untold mental misery in its wake. Whether it's health, education, or our employment environment, we're sidetracked by our pulse, facts and profit. We've set mental serenity on the back-burner. Audit of Humankind brings psychological factors down-to-earth. It reveals what human nature, consciousness and mind are. The dynamic humming motor of humans. Step back from the flashy body and go in-depth to discover what makes humans human. Our mental singular innards, how humanity function, our unique socialization, humanity's unsurpassed achievements, both good and bad. How your mind reasons based on observation, science, philosophy or religion. Whether it's right or wrong. Gain genuine insight into what it is to be human, how to thrive as a mentally stable and flourishing individual and family contributing to the welfare of society.