Fire in the Mind: Science, Faith, and the Search for Order

Author: George Johnson
Publisher: Random House USA Inc
Category: Religion: General, Philosophy Of Religion, Religion & Science, Religious Groups: Social & Cultural Aspects, Science: General Issues, Philosophy Of Science
Book Format: Paperback

Are there really laws governing the universe? Or is the order we see a mere artifact of the way evolution wired the brain? And is what we call science only a set of myths in which quarks, DNA, and information fill the role once occupied by gods? These questions lie at the heart of George Johnson's audacious exploration of the border between science and religion, cosmic accident and timeless law. Northern New Mexico is home both to the most provocative new enterprises in quantum physics, information science, and the evolution of complexity and to the cosmologies of the Tewa Indians and the Catholic Penitentes. As it draws the reader into this landscape, juxtaposing the systems of belief that have taken root there, Fire in the Mind into a gripping intellectual adventure story that compels us to ask where science ends and religion begins.


A must for all those seriously interested in the key ideas at the frontier of scientific discourse.--Paul Davies

Table Of Contents
Introduction: Kivas, Moradas, and the Secrets of the Nuclear Age
I. Four Magic Mountains

1. Phaedrus's Ghosts

2. The Depth of the Atom

3. The Height of the Sky

Tesuque Interlude: The Riddle of the Camel
II. "The Cold, Gray Cave of Abstraction"

4. The Demonology of Information

5. The Undetermined World

6. The Democracy of Measurement

San Ildefonso Interlude: The Mystery of Other minds
III. "A Fever Matter"

7. The Dawn of Recognition

8. The Arrival of the Fittest

9. In Search of Complexity

10. In the Eye of the Beholder

Truchas Interlude: The Leap into the Unknown
Conclusion: The Ruins of Los Alamos
About George Johnson
George Johnson writes regularly about science for the New York Times. He has also written for National Geographic, Slate, Discover, Scientific American, Wired, and the Atlantic, and his work has been included in The Best American Science Writing. A former Alicia Patterson fellow, he has received awards from PEN and the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and his books were twice finalists for the Royal Society's book prize. He lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

(BK-9780679740216)

SKU BK-9780679740216
Barcode # 9780679740216
Brand Random House USA Inc
Artist / Author George Johnson
Shipping Weight 0.3900kg
Shipping Width 0.130m
Shipping Height 0.020m
Shipping Length 0.200m
Assembled Length 20.200m
Assembled Height 2.100m
Assembled Width 13.200m
Type Paperback

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