The Dream Universe cover art

The Dream Universe

How Fundamental Physics Lost Its Way

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The Dream Universe

Written by: David Lindley
Narrated by: John Lee
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About this listen

A vivid and captivating narrative about how modern science broke free of ancient philosophy, and how theoretical physics is returning to its unscientific roots

In the early 17th century, Galileo broke free from the hold of ancient Platonic and Aristotelian philosophy. He drastically changed the framework through which we view the natural world when he asserted that we should base our theory of reality on what we can observe rather than pure thought. In the process, he invented what we would come to call science. This set the stage for all the breakthroughs that followed - from Kepler to Newton to Einstein. But in the early 20th century when quantum physics, with its deeply complex mathematics, entered into the picture, something began to change. Many physicists began looking to the equations first and physical reality second. As we investigate realms further and further from what we can see and what we can test, we must look to elegant, aesthetically pleasing equations to develop our conception of what reality is. As a result, much of theoretical physics today is something more akin to the philosophy of Plato than the science to which the physicists are heirs.

In The Dream Universe, Lindley asks what is science when it becomes completely untethered from measurable phenomena?

©2020 David Lindley (P)2020 Random House Audio
Astronomy & Space Science Physics Science

Critic Reviews

"A striking examination of an important scientific question: 'What, exactly, are scholars of fundamental physics today trying to achieve?'.... A delightful addition to a widespread, ongoing scientific debate." (Kirkus, starred review)

"[An] eye-opening treatise.... Lindley's probing work raises important questions about what science should be, and how it should be approached." (Publishers Weekly)

"A thoughtful, captivating analysis of the history of physics. Lindley makes the fascinating point that present-day fundamental physics has become more akin to Platonic philosophy than to Galileo’s, Newton's, and Faraday's notion of laws deduced from experiments and observations. A wonderful read." (Mario Livio, New York Times best-selling author of Brilliant Blunders and the forthcoming Galileo and the Science Deniers)

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