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A Sense of the Mysterious
Splendidly illuminating... Imprinted with Lightman's scientific wonderment and poetic grace."
--"San Francisco Chronicle"
"Original. . . . Heartfelt. . . . Illuminating. . . . Lightman writes with his characteristic, unmannered leanness. His style takes something from the scientists who 'want to hear that call of certain truth, that clear note of a struck bell.'" --"St. Louis Post-Dispatch"
"A fine introduction to the excitement and pleasures of science by a scientist who is a humanist in the noblest sense of the word."--"Los Angeles Times"
"This slender volume mixes insightful scientific biographies with revealing autobiographical accounts and leavens them both with clearly told physics lessons for lay readers." --"The Boston Globe"
"Wonderfully perceptive. . . . Finely chiseled essays." --"Scientific American" "From the Trade Paperback edition.
--"San Francisco Chronicle"
"Original. . . . Heartfelt. . . . Illuminating. . . . Lightman writes with his characteristic, unmannered leanness. His style takes something from the scientists who 'want to hear that call of certain truth, that clear note of a struck bell.'" --"St. Louis Post-Dispatch"
"A fine introduction to the excitement and pleasures of science by a scientist who is a humanist in the noblest sense of the word."--"Los Angeles Times"
"This slender volume mixes insightful scientific biographies with revealing autobiographical accounts and leavens them both with clearly told physics lessons for lay readers." --"The Boston Globe"
"Wonderfully perceptive. . . . Finely chiseled essays." --"Scientific American" "From the Trade Paperback edition.
240 pages, ebook
First published January 1, 2005
53 people are currently reading
1316 people want to read
About the author
Alan Lightman
49 books1,305 followersAlan Lightman is an American writer, physicist, and social entrepreneur. Born in 1948, he was educated at Princeton and at the California Institute of Technology, where he received a PhD in theoretical physics. He has received five honorary doctoral degrees. Lightman has served on the faculties of Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and was the first person at MIT to receive dual faculty appointments in science and in the humanities. He is currently professor of the practice of the humanities at MIT. His scientific research in astrophysics has concerned
black holes, relativity theory, radiative processes, and the dynamics of systems of stars. His essays and articles have appeared in the Atlantic, Granta, Harper’s, the New Yorker, the New York Review of Books, Salon, and many other publications. His essays are often chosen by the New York Times as among the best essays of the year. He is the author of 6 novels, several collections of essays, a memoir, and a book-length narrative poem, as well as several books on science. His novel Einstein’s Dreams was an international bestseller and has been the basis for dozens of independent theatrical and musical adaptations around the world. His novel The Diagnosis was a finalist for the National Book Award. His most recent books are The Accidental Universe, which was chosen by Brain Pickings as one of the 10 best books of 2014, his memoir Screening Room, which was chosen by the Washington Post as one of the best books of the year for 2016,
and Searching for Stars on an Island in Maine (2018), an extended meditation on science and religion – which was the basis for an essay
on PBS Newshour. Lightman is an elected fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He is also the founder of the Harpswell Foundation, a nonprofit organization whose mission is “to advance a new generation of women leaders in Southeast Asia.” He has received the gold medal for humanitarian service from the government of Cambodia.
black holes, relativity theory, radiative processes, and the dynamics of systems of stars. His essays and articles have appeared in the Atlantic, Granta, Harper’s, the New Yorker, the New York Review of Books, Salon, and many other publications. His essays are often chosen by the New York Times as among the best essays of the year. He is the author of 6 novels, several collections of essays, a memoir, and a book-length narrative poem, as well as several books on science. His novel Einstein’s Dreams was an international bestseller and has been the basis for dozens of independent theatrical and musical adaptations around the world. His novel The Diagnosis was a finalist for the National Book Award. His most recent books are The Accidental Universe, which was chosen by Brain Pickings as one of the 10 best books of 2014, his memoir Screening Room, which was chosen by the Washington Post as one of the best books of the year for 2016,
and Searching for Stars on an Island in Maine (2018), an extended meditation on science and religion – which was the basis for an essay
on PBS Newshour. Lightman is an elected fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He is also the founder of the Harpswell Foundation, a nonprofit organization whose mission is “to advance a new generation of women leaders in Southeast Asia.” He has received the gold medal for humanitarian service from the government of Cambodia.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 83 reviews
March 3, 2013
This book is a pleasant collection of essays about being a scientist, and the relationship between science and the humanities. Alan Lightman describes what it feels like to work in science, to make discoveries, and to fail to get decent results. He writes about the joy of making a real scientific discovery--the realization that one has found something beautiful, and perhaps elegant. That joy might be tempered by the thought that if one scientist did not make the discovery, another would likely do so in the near future. He describes how he had intensively worked out a wonderful theory of the kinematics of globular clusters. Then, just before submitting his results for publication, he learned that he had been "scooped" by two Japanese scientists.
Lightman describes the personal prejudices of scientists for one viewpoint or another, and sometimes these prejudices can lead a scientist astray. The scientific method does not really apply to individual scientists, but to the community of scientists, who criticize and test each others' work.
Besides a collection of personal memoirs, the book also contains brief biographies of a few physicists; Albert Einstein, Richard Feynman, Edward Teller, and Vera Rubin. Each of these chapters is fascinating. I very much appreciated his chapter on "Metaphor in Science". Here, Lightman retells the story of how James Clerk Maxwell used an elaborate mechanical model, or metaphor, to understand the phenomena of electricity and magnetism. Maxwell theorized a "displacement current", not because consistency in the mathematics required it, but because his mechanical model suggested it.
Lightman describes the personal prejudices of scientists for one viewpoint or another, and sometimes these prejudices can lead a scientist astray. The scientific method does not really apply to individual scientists, but to the community of scientists, who criticize and test each others' work.
Besides a collection of personal memoirs, the book also contains brief biographies of a few physicists; Albert Einstein, Richard Feynman, Edward Teller, and Vera Rubin. Each of these chapters is fascinating. I very much appreciated his chapter on "Metaphor in Science". Here, Lightman retells the story of how James Clerk Maxwell used an elaborate mechanical model, or metaphor, to understand the phenomena of electricity and magnetism. Maxwell theorized a "displacement current", not because consistency in the mathematics required it, but because his mechanical model suggested it.
September 11, 2012
I've been wondering if the (un)discipline of physics has suffered the fate that so commonly befalls victims: that is, to become the bully. In the jostle for space and acceptance today by religion and science, may one speculate that this is what has happened? I keep meeting physicists who don’t even seem to realise that they are acting in ways which are not dissimilar to the methods of the administration of Christianity and some other religions against which they fought for so long. If only all scientists were forced to do some study of ethics, philosophy, sociology, etc. They don’t seem to understand that just as suspicious, ignorant Christians might once have seen this thing called science as bewitched hokery-pokery, they now appear in that position themselves, unwilling – unable? – to understand anything past their tiny area and therefore rejecting its possible legitimacy.
There are those like Rees who, in contrast to the Dawkins ‘type’ (not a physicist, but a spokesman for the more belligerent of them), modestly see areas such as religion and philosophy as outside their purview. Then again, there must be some who are capable in a modern Renaissance way to reflect upon both in an illuminating way and Lightman is one of these. This collection begins with thoughts on the relationship of science to philosophy. Lightman, being both a novelist of note as well as physicist, is entirely comfortable with discussing the nature of words, the differentiated notion of concept for the novelist and the scientist. I don’t know that I altogether agree with his ideas here, but they are thought-provoking. His loving, caring sketches of various eminent men in the field of physics are followed by his laments about his life, his chosen fields, the changed nature of life. I was utterly happy to be up at 5am today engrossed in his lovely prose, his easy way of making me feel like I had half a clue about physics and maths – nothing I’ve been reading lately has come close to giving me an idea about these things. If only I could get across what an accomplishment that is!
Five star. Reading another by him now.
There are those like Rees who, in contrast to the Dawkins ‘type’ (not a physicist, but a spokesman for the more belligerent of them), modestly see areas such as religion and philosophy as outside their purview. Then again, there must be some who are capable in a modern Renaissance way to reflect upon both in an illuminating way and Lightman is one of these. This collection begins with thoughts on the relationship of science to philosophy. Lightman, being both a novelist of note as well as physicist, is entirely comfortable with discussing the nature of words, the differentiated notion of concept for the novelist and the scientist. I don’t know that I altogether agree with his ideas here, but they are thought-provoking. His loving, caring sketches of various eminent men in the field of physics are followed by his laments about his life, his chosen fields, the changed nature of life. I was utterly happy to be up at 5am today engrossed in his lovely prose, his easy way of making me feel like I had half a clue about physics and maths – nothing I’ve been reading lately has come close to giving me an idea about these things. If only I could get across what an accomplishment that is!
Five star. Reading another by him now.
July 31, 2021
This is a thought provoking group of essays written over a span of years that (when brought together) ponder the intersection of the disciplines of physics and the humanities. I sense this grouping is very personal for Lightman since this intersection is where he makes sense of his professional life. Each essay is interesting and can stand on its own, and together they are more than the the sum of their parts. Included are essays about the luminaries of physics, including Einstein, Feynman, Teller, and, most interesting to me, Vera Rubin.
October 10, 2019
Alan Lightman is one of the more insecure white boy scientists I've read, and he likes to write about insecure white boy scientists, too -- including, as all name-droppers do, himself. This essay collection is largely an exercize in "I missed my physics prime" whining, while trying to hop on the "kk I'll just be a novelist/humanist, then" train. It's infuriating, because Lightman claims again and again that the humanities are so necessary and important, but so SO clearly prefers the pure sciences that he undermines all his points and comes off as an utterly pretentious douchebag. Listen: at least you can admit you didn't excel at physics. You also haven't excelled at fiction, buddy -- Einstein's Dreams was a one-off, and the rest of your work is cliched at best, outright bad at neutral. So stop using literature as your saving grace: it ain't, and you don't understand it, either.
Physics and the humanities, particularly literature and the arts, dovetail beautifully. They just do. Which is why it's so wildly frustrating when a physicist trying to defend the humanities just comes off bratty, uninformed, and wistful. Lightman gets at the very very surface of everything the comparison of science and art has to offer -- there's nothing else here. Except, I guess, some biographies of famous scientists you could also read on Wikipedia. I am giving him two stars for his intent, but tbh it's one for execution: stop protesting too much, start writing about literature instead of how science and literature are kind of alike, maybe???, and then the humanities people you're trying to reach will have an actual foothold ----- then you'll maybe have something to actually say.
Also of note: this collection is so dated. I hate that the early aughts have become dated but like, here we are. He writes a "praise me, mommy!" essay about a female scientist (groan) and then whinges poetic about how technology is moving too quickly and his 2002 university students WITHOUT EXCEPTION all accept progress as their defining virtue, and expect and desire things to move more quickly. Motherfucker I started university in 2005 and was both praising & bitching about technology's side effects from then on. But oh wait -- I majored in literature. I guess we should all take a page from the humanities, h u h
p.s. i'm kidding, most people in my age range all had the same nuance and complexity of thought around technology and how it profoundly affected our generation, it was just a fun way to end the review ok guys
Physics and the humanities, particularly literature and the arts, dovetail beautifully. They just do. Which is why it's so wildly frustrating when a physicist trying to defend the humanities just comes off bratty, uninformed, and wistful. Lightman gets at the very very surface of everything the comparison of science and art has to offer -- there's nothing else here. Except, I guess, some biographies of famous scientists you could also read on Wikipedia. I am giving him two stars for his intent, but tbh it's one for execution: stop protesting too much, start writing about literature instead of how science and literature are kind of alike, maybe???, and then the humanities people you're trying to reach will have an actual foothold ----- then you'll maybe have something to actually say.
Also of note: this collection is so dated. I hate that the early aughts have become dated but like, here we are. He writes a "praise me, mommy!" essay about a female scientist (groan) and then whinges poetic about how technology is moving too quickly and his 2002 university students WITHOUT EXCEPTION all accept progress as their defining virtue, and expect and desire things to move more quickly. Motherfucker I started university in 2005 and was both praising & bitching about technology's side effects from then on. But oh wait -- I majored in literature. I guess we should all take a page from the humanities, h u h
p.s. i'm kidding, most people in my age range all had the same nuance and complexity of thought around technology and how it profoundly affected our generation, it was just a fun way to end the review ok guys
November 4, 2008
Hah, is there any way I can give Alan Lightman neutron stars rather than just normal stars? His writing shines like a supernova, attracts like a black hole and flows smoothly like liquid helium. Ok, enough for my experiment with physicsy hyperbole. But of course, I’m no Lightman. He is a rare talent with both an impressive physics background and an elegant style of writing. If you believe physics and literary prose are two parallel lines that never meet, Lightman proves you wrong, life isn’t boring Euclidean geometry. This is a collection of essays on science Lightman has penned over the course of more than twenty years. He starts off by recounting his fascination with science as a child and later, as a physics major. He captures the ineffable charmingly with his accounts of his personal discoveries and the euphoria and obsession physics brought him. But science never sufficed to satisfy his enriched spirit, on arts he writes:
“Mathematics contrasted strongly with the ambiguities and contradictions in people. The world of people had no certainty or logic… The ambiguities and complexities of the human mind are what give fiction and perhaps all art its power. A good novel gets under our skin, provokes us and haunts us long after the first reading, because we never fully understand the characters. The arts and humanities require experience with life and the awkward contradictions of people, experience that accumulates and deepens with age.
Science brims with colorful personalities, but the most important thing about a scientific result is not the scientist who found it but the result itself. For me, this impersonal, disembodied character of science is both its great strength and its great weakness. I loved the grandeur, the power, the beauty, the logic and precision of science, but i also ached to express something of myself, my individuality, the particular way that I saw the world.”
Many have accused scientists of taking away the beauty and the mysteries of the universe, but I believe otherwise: science has added the richness in our appreciation of nature and pushed back the boundaries of ignorance, revealing the world with all its splendid simplicity and structure. This whole book is about the very human side of science: science is not just the cold, amoral, objective laws of nature but the practice of it is a “human affair, complicated by all the bedraggled but marvelous psychology that makes us human.”
The last part of the book brings a nostalgic vibe to me as Lightman reflects on his life as a scientist:
“I miss the purity. Theoretical physicists, and many other kinds of scientists, work in a world of the mind. It is a mathematical world without bodies, without people, without the vagaries of human emotion. The equations have a precision and elegance, a magnificent serenity, an indisputable rightness… When in the throes of a new problem, i was driven night and day, compelled because I knew there was a definite answer. That certainty and power and the intensity of the effort it causes i dearly miss.
Sometimes I wonder if what i really miss is my youth. Purity, exhilaration, intensity-these are aspects of the young. It is not possible at age fifty for me to look back on myself in my twenties and early thirties and understand anything more than the delicious feeling of immortality, the clarity of youth, the feeling that everything was possible.”
But it is not the usual nostalgia of a middle-aged man, what he has lost is not just his youth or its blitheness, but the tranquility of the mind and the patience to simply sit down and calmly look back. That is not just his personal tragedy, but the tragedy of a society, of an era, fully wired but loosely connected, that connection of nature and man, man and man, man and his inner self:
“Sometimes I picture America as a person and think that our entire nation has an inner self. If so, does our nation recognize that it has an inner self, does it nourish that inner self, listen to its breathing in order to know who America is and what it believes in and where it is going? If our nation cannot listen to its inner self, how can it listen to others? If our nation cannot itself true inner freedom, then how can it allow freedom for others? How can it bring itself into a respectful understanding and harmonious coexistence with other nations and cultures, so that we might truly contribute to peace in the world?”
Science and technology are not the culprit, but in many ways, our technology has progressed so much that it barely takes into account the improvement of human life. Embellishment, perhaps. Technology in the service of humanity is no longer the ultimate goal. Despite increasing affluence, we work longer and faster, forever plugged in a frenzied world, hopelessly belittled by the dizzying pace of technology and overflowing commodities. Lightman renders exactly what I have been feeling about our modern world, with amazing clarity and insight. It made me sit for hours thinking about how i’ve been living my life, exactly the way he’s been living his: always busy, unable to waste a single minute, and too impatient to allow myself simple enjoyments. But isn't it never too late to sit back, and think, and start a revolution with yourself?
“Mathematics contrasted strongly with the ambiguities and contradictions in people. The world of people had no certainty or logic… The ambiguities and complexities of the human mind are what give fiction and perhaps all art its power. A good novel gets under our skin, provokes us and haunts us long after the first reading, because we never fully understand the characters. The arts and humanities require experience with life and the awkward contradictions of people, experience that accumulates and deepens with age.
Science brims with colorful personalities, but the most important thing about a scientific result is not the scientist who found it but the result itself. For me, this impersonal, disembodied character of science is both its great strength and its great weakness. I loved the grandeur, the power, the beauty, the logic and precision of science, but i also ached to express something of myself, my individuality, the particular way that I saw the world.”
Many have accused scientists of taking away the beauty and the mysteries of the universe, but I believe otherwise: science has added the richness in our appreciation of nature and pushed back the boundaries of ignorance, revealing the world with all its splendid simplicity and structure. This whole book is about the very human side of science: science is not just the cold, amoral, objective laws of nature but the practice of it is a “human affair, complicated by all the bedraggled but marvelous psychology that makes us human.”
The last part of the book brings a nostalgic vibe to me as Lightman reflects on his life as a scientist:
“I miss the purity. Theoretical physicists, and many other kinds of scientists, work in a world of the mind. It is a mathematical world without bodies, without people, without the vagaries of human emotion. The equations have a precision and elegance, a magnificent serenity, an indisputable rightness… When in the throes of a new problem, i was driven night and day, compelled because I knew there was a definite answer. That certainty and power and the intensity of the effort it causes i dearly miss.
Sometimes I wonder if what i really miss is my youth. Purity, exhilaration, intensity-these are aspects of the young. It is not possible at age fifty for me to look back on myself in my twenties and early thirties and understand anything more than the delicious feeling of immortality, the clarity of youth, the feeling that everything was possible.”
But it is not the usual nostalgia of a middle-aged man, what he has lost is not just his youth or its blitheness, but the tranquility of the mind and the patience to simply sit down and calmly look back. That is not just his personal tragedy, but the tragedy of a society, of an era, fully wired but loosely connected, that connection of nature and man, man and man, man and his inner self:
“Sometimes I picture America as a person and think that our entire nation has an inner self. If so, does our nation recognize that it has an inner self, does it nourish that inner self, listen to its breathing in order to know who America is and what it believes in and where it is going? If our nation cannot listen to its inner self, how can it listen to others? If our nation cannot itself true inner freedom, then how can it allow freedom for others? How can it bring itself into a respectful understanding and harmonious coexistence with other nations and cultures, so that we might truly contribute to peace in the world?”
Science and technology are not the culprit, but in many ways, our technology has progressed so much that it barely takes into account the improvement of human life. Embellishment, perhaps. Technology in the service of humanity is no longer the ultimate goal. Despite increasing affluence, we work longer and faster, forever plugged in a frenzied world, hopelessly belittled by the dizzying pace of technology and overflowing commodities. Lightman renders exactly what I have been feeling about our modern world, with amazing clarity and insight. It made me sit for hours thinking about how i’ve been living my life, exactly the way he’s been living his: always busy, unable to waste a single minute, and too impatient to allow myself simple enjoyments. But isn't it never too late to sit back, and think, and start a revolution with yourself?
December 19, 2020
A wonderful collection of essays written over a few decades where the Physicist/Writer Alan Lightman talks about his personal relationship with physics, and also about a few great foundational physicists. What makes this book remarkable is that it comes from the mind of someone who had been a serious astrophysicist, going through the process of scientific discoveries, while at the same time being a successful literary writer. This allowed him to compare the creative processes of these two intellectual domains, and bring the readers very close to how it feels to be at the verge of a scientific discovery, and what it feels to practice artistic creativity. This is a rare glimpse, and he does it so very well.
February 17, 2022
Interesting choice of people and their stories. Not adore if it was because of the author’s field of study but it felt restricted
April 30, 2019
This book was published in 2006, so some of the information is a little out of date. For example, gravitational waves had been theorized, but not yet measured. This did little to dampen my enthusiasm for the book, though, and I especially liked the profiles of such luminaries as Albert Einstein (the family housekeeper thought him "stupid"), Richard Feynman (the Michael Jordan of physics) and Edward Teller (his life slogan, "Trust nobody."), and discovered things that I did not know about each. Lightman writes with such a sense of awe, it is easy to be captivated and carried away with him as he describes black holes, dark matter and other mysteries of the universe. We even learn a bit about Lightman himself.
May 19, 2022
Lightman is an American writer, physicist, and social entrepreneur who served on the faculties of Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and was the first person at MIT to receive dual faculty appointments in science and in the humanities. From these two vantage points he views the world with wonder. While considering the joys of problem-solving and reasoning he marks the difference of this rewarding life of the mind with the distracting modern world. Along the way he discusses the private and professional lives of Richard P. Feynman (who did not share Lightman's appreciation of the humanities), Einstein (similarly introverted), impressive individualistic mentor Kip Thorne, irascible and controversial Edward Teller, and more.
January 21, 2024
If you’re looking for someone to explain physics concepts so that you can at least sort of understand, look no further than Alan Lightman. This book of essays does that, but more important to me, it also delves into the lives of some famous scientists — Einstein, Teller, Rubin, Feynman… — and shows the individual behind the science. This has been a very helpful collection of essays for me, sparking lots of ideas for an upcoming presentation that has nothing to do with the topics of Lightman’s book.
November 9, 2022
i might be a little too dumb for this but i like the words he says
September 5, 2014
I read Einstein's dreams in Jr. High. Loved it. Always said I wanted to read more Alan Lightman. I love his use of words.
Here's the thing. I have never been interested in science. But I am now married to a man who loves it. So we've been watching cosmos and listen to SGU. I love cosmos but only somewhat enjoy SGU. Anyways, what I have realized is that the reason I always thought I didn't like science was because of how it was taught to me. My teachers insisted I needed whatever it was they were teaching me but I don't remember a bit of it and have never once felt the lack of it. I know a few friends who thoroughly enjoyed the formulas and stayed in the field or my husband who doesn't work in the field but enjoys the topic but for the most part I find people who don't remember whatever it was that came up in the classroom and don't have a reason to believe they are missing out. I wish there were options for us. My science classes dragged down my GPA and filled me with a loathing for the subject.
And yet as an adult I've found that there are areas of science that I am interested in. I wish I had learned about them before I was done with school. I would have enjoyed studying food science. Given the rate of Type II Diabetes I think everyone would benefit from a basic nutrition course. Or even a science history class - because I'm grateful for the people who have brought us scientific advances, I just don't want to recreate them.
And so books like this are bittersweet for me. On the one hand, I enjoy the book. Lightman's biographies of scientists are a great blend of their personal and professional lives. He only hits the highlights but they are meant to be snapshots not full length bios. He leaves me wanting to learn more. On the other hand, I can't help but be reminded that this is a subject that should be handled better in schools.
Here's the thing. I have never been interested in science. But I am now married to a man who loves it. So we've been watching cosmos and listen to SGU. I love cosmos but only somewhat enjoy SGU. Anyways, what I have realized is that the reason I always thought I didn't like science was because of how it was taught to me. My teachers insisted I needed whatever it was they were teaching me but I don't remember a bit of it and have never once felt the lack of it. I know a few friends who thoroughly enjoyed the formulas and stayed in the field or my husband who doesn't work in the field but enjoys the topic but for the most part I find people who don't remember whatever it was that came up in the classroom and don't have a reason to believe they are missing out. I wish there were options for us. My science classes dragged down my GPA and filled me with a loathing for the subject.
And yet as an adult I've found that there are areas of science that I am interested in. I wish I had learned about them before I was done with school. I would have enjoyed studying food science. Given the rate of Type II Diabetes I think everyone would benefit from a basic nutrition course. Or even a science history class - because I'm grateful for the people who have brought us scientific advances, I just don't want to recreate them.
And so books like this are bittersweet for me. On the one hand, I enjoy the book. Lightman's biographies of scientists are a great blend of their personal and professional lives. He only hits the highlights but they are meant to be snapshots not full length bios. He leaves me wanting to learn more. On the other hand, I can't help but be reminded that this is a subject that should be handled better in schools.
December 23, 2024
What little of Alan Lightman’s work I’ve read, I’ve truly enjoyed. I should think about him more when thinking of the next thing. He writes dense, yet simply accessible essays about why different matters of science should matter to non-scientists. But there’s enough to entice the more intellectually curious of those for whom the science is elementary. In this collection, Lightman ponders the wonder of being a student doing truly original research, the kind of which had likely often been attempted but not yet achieved. He also gives us substantively concise thumbnail sketches of significant physicists and explains their philosophical differences in understandable sentences.
This would be a great book to give as a present to a young high school-to-early medical school student who thinks deeply about their career choices or are in the process of doing so. It conveys the message that becoming enthralled in and with your subject is more than half the battle toward being satisfied with the choices you will make. And for older fogies like me, wish these kinds of insights had been around when I was younger.
This would be a great book to give as a present to a young high school-to-early medical school student who thinks deeply about their career choices or are in the process of doing so. It conveys the message that becoming enthralled in and with your subject is more than half the battle toward being satisfied with the choices you will make. And for older fogies like me, wish these kinds of insights had been around when I was younger.
February 16, 2018
Interesting bio sketches of important physicists, less interesting reflections on his own career, and a good final chapter of the perils of capitalism and modern technology to the self . Uneven.
From the bestselling author of Einstein's Dreams comes this lyrical and insightful collection of science writing that delves into the mysteries of the scientific process and exposes its beauty and intrigue.In these brilliant essays, Lightman explores the emotional life of science, the power of imagination, the creative moment, and the alternate ways in which scientists and humanists think about the world. Along the way, he provides in-depth portraits of some of the great geniuses of our time, including Albert Einstein, Richard Feynman, Edward Teller, and astronomer Vera Rubin. Thoughtful, beautifully written, and wonderfully original, A Sense of the Mysterious confirms Alan Lightman's unique position at the crossroads of science and art. (less)
From the bestselling author of Einstein's Dreams comes this lyrical and insightful collection of science writing that delves into the mysteries of the scientific process and exposes its beauty and intrigue.In these brilliant essays, Lightman explores the emotional life of science, the power of imagination, the creative moment, and the alternate ways in which scientists and humanists think about the world. Along the way, he provides in-depth portraits of some of the great geniuses of our time, including Albert Einstein, Richard Feynman, Edward Teller, and astronomer Vera Rubin. Thoughtful, beautifully written, and wonderfully original, A Sense of the Mysterious confirms Alan Lightman's unique position at the crossroads of science and art. (less)
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 12, 2021
Author Alan Lightman’s “A Sense of the Mysterious” is his pause of reflection. After starting out as a promising young scientist, he feels, at middle age, that his best work is behind him. He lists famous scientists who did their best work at younger ages than his own. So he becomes a writer in the mold of Henry David Thoreau, believing that writers can be older when they do their best work.
October 4, 2021
This is a set of essays about physics and math with some nice philosophical thoughts and some nice biographies of famous physicists. Mr. Lightman is definitely a very smart man. I'll never have his grasp of science and probably never will write at his level, but he just doesn't bring enough of a new perspective to the table to keep it interesting. I already knew or had thought about 99% of the things in this book. I want more than that in my science books.
However, there are a couple of things that I didn't know that I found interesting: 1. Einstein had a child by his first wife before they were married, and in the world of that time the child was considered illegitimate so she was given up for adoption, and the baby Liesl has been lost to history. It's interesting to imagine that Liesl somehow managed to thrive and have children of her own so that there could be grandchilden alive today with Einstein's genes who have no idea of their famous grandfather. This could be the basis for an interesting bit of speculative fiction. And 2. there is a school of thought among the people who think about the uncanny way in which mathematics seems to accurately describe the natural world that this phenomenon is just an expression of the human ego. In this way of thinking our math is no more than the words of a language. We could as easily have a totally different language with equal (or greater) descriptive power. Maybe. I tend to think that there is somehing more powerful going on here, but maybe I'm just being mystical.
However, there are a couple of things that I didn't know that I found interesting: 1. Einstein had a child by his first wife before they were married, and in the world of that time the child was considered illegitimate so she was given up for adoption, and the baby Liesl has been lost to history. It's interesting to imagine that Liesl somehow managed to thrive and have children of her own so that there could be grandchilden alive today with Einstein's genes who have no idea of their famous grandfather. This could be the basis for an interesting bit of speculative fiction. And 2. there is a school of thought among the people who think about the uncanny way in which mathematics seems to accurately describe the natural world that this phenomenon is just an expression of the human ego. In this way of thinking our math is no more than the words of a language. We could as easily have a totally different language with equal (or greater) descriptive power. Maybe. I tend to think that there is somehing more powerful going on here, but maybe I'm just being mystical.
January 24, 2026
I bought a used copy of this book. At some point about halfway through the book, I turned the page and a small business card fell out. There were random phrases scrawled on this business card: “people don’t ‘get’ credit card debt”, “Manliness”, “D TRAIN TO 55TH ST”.
Other than that business card, I didn’t find anything in this book to be mysterious. Certainly the essays were not inspiring. About half of the essays were mostly-interesting (and sometimes personalized) accounts of famous physicists. But the rest of the author’s essays on his ideas/autobiography were kind of bland.
- My favorite was “Words” (about 4 pages), which points out that scientists and novelists have opposite approaches to using words for well-defined concepts. This resonated with me; I was trained as a physicist, and so this idea just “clicked” and gave me a new appreciation for dealing with concepts that are not well-defined.
- There was another essay about him quitting physics because he turned 35 and feared watching himself slide into mediocrity after not having made a big enough impact. I appreciate the vulnerability, but damn this says a lot about his sources of inspiration and motivation.
- “Prisoner of the wired world” belongs to a now-common genre of literature that grapples with our relationship to technology (and capitalism). The arguments are fair and reasonable, and just that.
It was alright, not a slog but neither a source of joy nor "lightbulb" moments that I look forward to in essays. ⅗
May 2, 2021
This is a difficult book to place - both in terms of where it fits (private musings, pop-science, biography, or?) and how I rate it. I'd say it's a 2.75 for me; it's enjoyable enough, almost meditative in a way, but it's a stretch to really say I like it. However, I like parts of it, so...
First off, it's a collection of essays, so the cohesiveness is a bit lacking. The writing itself is ok, but not great to me. Lightman is trying to marry science and the humanities/arts. It's a so-so go at it. I also think it's a little whiny where, I'm assuming, he was shooting for introspective vulnerability. So, in style, I was left unfulfilled by this little book.
However, Lightman shares a few really good points and insights. For example, that it helps to separate science from the pursuit of science, and how - sometimes - progress in the pursuit of science happens because of the fallibility of the scientist, not despite it. I like this a lot, and it's a great argument for why it's important to not dismiss the humanities in the pursuit of science.
While conveying a point, some of the essays also serve as short mini-biographies of a few giants in various scientific fields. And, to be frank, these alone makes the book worth reading. Still, despite the undeniable value contained within, this book left me feeling more short-changed than enriched.
First off, it's a collection of essays, so the cohesiveness is a bit lacking. The writing itself is ok, but not great to me. Lightman is trying to marry science and the humanities/arts. It's a so-so go at it. I also think it's a little whiny where, I'm assuming, he was shooting for introspective vulnerability. So, in style, I was left unfulfilled by this little book.
However, Lightman shares a few really good points and insights. For example, that it helps to separate science from the pursuit of science, and how - sometimes - progress in the pursuit of science happens because of the fallibility of the scientist, not despite it. I like this a lot, and it's a great argument for why it's important to not dismiss the humanities in the pursuit of science.
While conveying a point, some of the essays also serve as short mini-biographies of a few giants in various scientific fields. And, to be frank, these alone makes the book worth reading. Still, despite the undeniable value contained within, this book left me feeling more short-changed than enriched.
July 13, 2019
This is both Alan Lightman's historical memoir of scientific development as he sees it progressing, and a glimpse into the relationship with the inner self, science, the humanities, and society in general. He reviews his own experience with mathematics, physics, and writing in addition to the relationship between all these subjects and his personal and academic life. Some of the time, Lightman refers to the lives of other well-known scientists to get a point across. He elegantly feeds readers information subconsciously. No wonder this book is so enjoyable: he's a writer! The author challenges political viewpoints within science. Furthermore, he describes a harsh reality that seeped into the lives of students and academics alike. He poses questions that are deep (not philosophically, but just because society rejects to actually put thought into these questions/take action when they know there's something wrong with the way we're doing things). The final chapter was truly golden: the internet does have flaws we have to acknowledge. WE, and science, have flaws that need to be seen. If we hide it from ourselves, there is not chance for self/societal improvement. The topics discussed can easily be applied to the lives of scientists and people seeking to better themselves in general.
Read
September 28, 2020Are you sure there's a feeling of the mysterious surrounding Edward Teller's paranoia? Or Vera Rubin's waltz against misogyny in the scientific establishment? or Albert Einstein's banal elitism?
Where the book starts off strongly in favour of what the title promises (a deep excitement about science and discovery, a sublime suspension of the mundane in the experience of what we don't know - yet), it soon veers into the realm of biography and speculative personal essays.
There are too many books recounting the lives of people whose only accomplishments are in their professional spheres. Especially people like Einstein and Feynman. I can't stand to read another biography about them, if only because everyone only wants to talk about them. Let alone that we don't need to hear about how shitty these people were/are and disguise it as us humanizing giants. And by no means is this book an attempt at relating to people like Einstein contributing to any "sense of the mysterious."
I loved segments of this book, and couldn't wait to get through others. Maybe this would have worked better with a more unifying theme, instead of piling unrelated topics, styles, and perspectives under a title that really only applies to a small portion of the whole.
Where the book starts off strongly in favour of what the title promises (a deep excitement about science and discovery, a sublime suspension of the mundane in the experience of what we don't know - yet), it soon veers into the realm of biography and speculative personal essays.
There are too many books recounting the lives of people whose only accomplishments are in their professional spheres. Especially people like Einstein and Feynman. I can't stand to read another biography about them, if only because everyone only wants to talk about them. Let alone that we don't need to hear about how shitty these people were/are and disguise it as us humanizing giants. And by no means is this book an attempt at relating to people like Einstein contributing to any "sense of the mysterious."
I loved segments of this book, and couldn't wait to get through others. Maybe this would have worked better with a more unifying theme, instead of piling unrelated topics, styles, and perspectives under a title that really only applies to a small portion of the whole.
December 31, 2019
Loved this short book of essays by the writer of Einstein’s Dreams. The essays range from philosophy of science, bio-sketches of scientists, and what I especially enjoyed: stuff on art & science. (Lightman was a scientist, then that ended in his mid 30’s and he’s been a writer/novelist ever since.)
So there are explorations into how science and art differ as vocations, how science and art use names/words differently, and other essays on creativity/ideation in art/science (as well as looking at the various creative/working modes of different scientists.)
In his short career as a scientist in the 70s/80s, he worked with or came into contact with lots of big characters in science (like Feynman), so he had some great first hand accounts.
I listened to the audiobook, need to grab the physical book make some notes/highlights. (The reader was good, but slow, first book I bumped up to 2x speed occasionally.)
So there are explorations into how science and art differ as vocations, how science and art use names/words differently, and other essays on creativity/ideation in art/science (as well as looking at the various creative/working modes of different scientists.)
In his short career as a scientist in the 70s/80s, he worked with or came into contact with lots of big characters in science (like Feynman), so he had some great first hand accounts.
I listened to the audiobook, need to grab the physical book make some notes/highlights. (The reader was good, but slow, first book I bumped up to 2x speed occasionally.)
August 24, 2022
Alan Lightman, kurš uzrakstīja A Sense of the Mysterious: Science and the Human Spirit un Maria Popova, kura uzrakstīja Figuring ir aizveduši mani pie Veras Rubin. Jo nedomāt par Tumšo Matēriju un Dzīves Jēgu vairs nav iespējams.
Par Tumšo Matēriju. Par Klusumu. Par Zvaigznēm. Par Dzeju. Un to, ko darīt savā Dzīvē.
Rakstīt - noteikti ir viena apsvēršanas vērta nodarbe.
Par Tumšo Matēriju. Par Klusumu. Par Zvaigznēm. Par Dzeju. Un to, ko darīt savā Dzīvē.
Rakstīt - noteikti ir viena apsvēršanas vērta nodarbe.
June 4, 2018
I learned about this book from a Goodreads member when I was reading comments on Uncle Petros. In that blog, an excerpt from A Sense of ... on why mathematicians were unhappy people was shared. That intrigued me into loaning it from the library at the same time I checked out Uncle Petros. The author, Lightman was a much better established academic than me. He observed at the age of 35 that like an athlete his mental agility was slightly receding, a phenomenon observed among top researchers. I think I was never that bright but I also am afraid of the same yet the chances for me to direct my career to creative writing are dimmer than his. It was okay to read about weird scientists, Einstein, Feynman, Teller, also dark matter that I heard about very recently. I will keep on reading popular science books just like I always try to read in four languages at any time.
December 18, 2021
Absolutely incredible.
Listened to via the Audible Plus Catalogue, and read by Bronson Pinchot.
I went in expecting a general science/quantum physics overview through some old and also modern history. What I discovered was partly that, but also a much more prescient perspective take on how that historical inertia has permeated our new Information Age.
The pace of life before our age was very different, and has become oddly diffuse for all the improvements made in search of further defining them. Capitalism is a force that has pushed much of the technology through, but has also constrained it.
Towards the last 5th of the book, Lightman really breaks out the big guns of comparison; Gamow, Bethe, Kafka, Thoreau, Wordsworth etc.
If you've seen this one on your lists, get it. You'll likely not be disappointed.
Rav.
Listened to via the Audible Plus Catalogue, and read by Bronson Pinchot.
I went in expecting a general science/quantum physics overview through some old and also modern history. What I discovered was partly that, but also a much more prescient perspective take on how that historical inertia has permeated our new Information Age.
The pace of life before our age was very different, and has become oddly diffuse for all the improvements made in search of further defining them. Capitalism is a force that has pushed much of the technology through, but has also constrained it.
Towards the last 5th of the book, Lightman really breaks out the big guns of comparison; Gamow, Bethe, Kafka, Thoreau, Wordsworth etc.
If you've seen this one on your lists, get it. You'll likely not be disappointed.
Rav.
June 20, 2025
This book feels like 3 separate books that were mashed together—certainly not the best thing I’ve ever read, but the first section being the first of this kind I’ve read makes it noteworthy. The first half was brilliant, brilliant. A first foray into more philosophical texts on the intersection between art and science, everything that was promised when I downloaded the book, a shame that I forget where I heard about it from. The next section was a bit tedious, some really interesting short biographies of famous physicists, though my critique is probably structural and systemic but there was a clear bias towards certain demographics that I just stopped caring about once the names didn’t ring any bells. A random assortment of short self-reflective essays about self, purpose and technologies rounds off the book, with an amusing take on technology from the 2005 perspective.
February 20, 2021
Like most collections of essays, this is a mixed bag. Some of these - like the power of metaphor and the role of mathematics were great. Others - like the history of Einstein - was alright. Others - like most of them, where he sort of humblebrag whines about how great of a novelist he is (that's his opinion, I don't think I've liked any of his novels except Einstein's Dream) and how he had to make a choice between novelist and physicist - are sort of meh. Others - like the last one about capitalism and how bad it is - are awful. That the one on capitalism came last probably colored it more in my mind than others - this is the dude talking about how he thinks deep thoughts while sailing on a yacht on the Aegean Sea complaining that capitalism prizes materialism too much? Okay.
November 28, 2019
Lightman's collection of essays and biographical articles shows him to be a talented writer with keen insight. My favorite essays include the two framing pieces, the first, the title essay and the final essay, "Prisoner of the Wired World." In between these, he has biographical sketches of Einstein, Feynman, Vera Rubin, Edward Teller--there are also a couple of autobiographical essays.
It's the final essay, "Prisoner of the Wired World," that stays with me the most. We assume progress brings freedom but instead it enslaves. Thoreau knew this, Wordsworth, Emerson, that we gift enslavement to technology. Capitalism as a system exploits and consumes.
Powerful.
It's the final essay, "Prisoner of the Wired World," that stays with me the most. We assume progress brings freedom but instead it enslaves. Thoreau knew this, Wordsworth, Emerson, that we gift enslavement to technology. Capitalism as a system exploits and consumes.
Powerful.
June 23, 2021
A Unique Take on the Scientific Project.
Lightman brings a Liberal Arts perspective to the scientist’s experience. He establishes his street cred early on to explain his initial attraction to the mysteries science probes and follows up with tales of some of the most fascinating figures of the Twentieth Century. These stories bring their motivations and accomplishments to life and convince the reader that the stereotypical view of scientific pursuits as dull number-crunching fit only for nerds who can’t make the football team is nonsense.
He finishes with some insights into Technological Society’s future that we should all think about. All in all an interesting Four Star read.
Lightman brings a Liberal Arts perspective to the scientist’s experience. He establishes his street cred early on to explain his initial attraction to the mysteries science probes and follows up with tales of some of the most fascinating figures of the Twentieth Century. These stories bring their motivations and accomplishments to life and convince the reader that the stereotypical view of scientific pursuits as dull number-crunching fit only for nerds who can’t make the football team is nonsense.
He finishes with some insights into Technological Society’s future that we should all think about. All in all an interesting Four Star read.
March 29, 2023
I am wondering if the author had read "Zen in the Art of Writing" by Ray Bradbury and took his advice to heart. A lot of this book has fire in it, usually when the author is talking about his own life, his fears, joys, and so forth. When he talks about others, the writing is less fiery, but still good.
This is a book about science and the biographies of scientists including the author. I really liked it.
I'll probably read this book again.
This is a book about science and the biographies of scientists including the author. I really liked it.
I'll probably read this book again.
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