Thinking About Space and Time
Thinking About Space and Time

Author: Claus Beisbart

Publisher: Springer Nature

Published: 2020-09-25

Total Pages: 277

ISBN-13: 3030477827

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This volume offers an integrated understanding of how the theory of general relativity gained momentum after Einstein had formulated it in 1915. Chapters focus on the early reception of the theory in physics and philosophy and on the systematic questions that emerged shortly after Einstein's momentous discovery. They are written by physicists, historians of science, and philosophers, and were originally presented at the conference titled Thinking About Space and Time: 100 Years of Applying and Interpreting General Relativity, held at the University of Bern from September 12-14, 2017. By establishing the historical context first, and then moving into more philosophical chapters, this volume will provide readers with a more complete understanding of early applications of general relativity (e.g., to cosmology) and of related philosophical issues. Because the chapters are often cross-disciplinary, they cover a wide variety of topics related to the general theory of relativity. These include: Heuristics used in the discovery of general relativity Mach's Principle The structure of Einstein's theory Cosmology and the Einstein world Stability of cosmological models The metaphysical nature of spacetime The relationship between spacetime and dynamics The Geodesic Principle Symmetries Thinking About Space and Time will be a valuable resource for historians of science and philosophers who seek a deeper knowledge of the (early and later) uses of general relativity, as well as for physicists and mathematicians interested in exploring the wider historical and philosophical context of Einstein's theory.

Mind in Motion
Mind in Motion

Author: Barbara Tversky

Publisher: Basic Books

Published: 2019-05-21

Total Pages: 389

ISBN-13: 0465093078

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An eminent psychologist offers a major new theory of human cognition: movement, not language, is the foundation of thought When we try to think about how we think, we can't help but think of words. Indeed, some have called language the stuff of thought. But pictures are remembered far better than words, and describing faces, scenes, and events defies words. Anytime you take a shortcut or play chess or basketball or rearrange your furniture in your mind, you've done something remarkable: abstract thinking without words. In Mind in Motion, psychologist Barbara Tversky shows that spatial cognition isn't just a peripheral aspect of thought, but its very foundation, enabling us to draw meaning from our bodies and their actions in the world. Our actions in real space get turned into mental actions on thought, often spouting spontaneously from our bodies as gestures. Spatial thinking underlies creating and using maps, assembling furniture, devising football strategies, designing airports, understanding the flow of people, traffic, water, and ideas. Spatial thinking even underlies the structure and meaning of language: why we say we push ideas forward or tear them apart, why we're feeling up or have grown far apart. Like Thinking, Fast and Slow before it, Mind in Motion gives us a new way to think about how--and where--thinking takes place.

A Universe from Nothing
A Universe from Nothing

Author: Lawrence Maxwell Krauss

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Published: 2013

Total Pages: 226

ISBN-13: 145162445X

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This is a provocative account of the astounding new answers to the most basic philosophical question: Where did the universe come from and how will it end?

Probable Impossibilities
Probable Impossibilities

Author: Alan Lightman

Publisher: Vintage

Published: 2022-04-19

Total Pages: 209

ISBN-13: 0593081323

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The acclaimed author of Einstein’s Dreams tackles "big questions like the origin of the universe and the nature of consciousness ... in an entertaining and easily digestible way” (Wall Street Journal) with a collection of meditative essays on the possibilities—and impossibilities—of nothingness and infinity, and how our place in the cosmos falls somewhere in between. Can space be divided into smaller and smaller units, ad infinitum? Does space extend to larger and larger regions, on and on to infinity? Is consciousness reducible to the material brain and its neurons? What was the origin of life, and can biologists create life from scratch in the lab? Physicist and novelist Alan Lightman, whom The Washington Post has called “the poet laureate of science writers,” explores these questions and more—from the anatomy of a smile to the capriciousness of memory to the specialness of life in the universe to what came before the Big Bang. Probable Impossibilities is a deeply engaged consideration of what we know of the universe, of life and the mind, and of things vastly larger and smaller than ourselves.

Space, Time and Number in the Brain
Space, Time and Number in the Brain

Author: Elizabeth Brannon

Publisher: Academic Press

Published: 2011-05-31

Total Pages: 375

ISBN-13: 0123859484

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The study of mathematical cognition and the ways in which the ideas of space, time and number are encoded in brain circuitry has become a fundamental issue for neuroscience. How such encoding differs across cultures and educational level is of further interest in education and neuropsychology. This rapidly expanding field of research is overdue for an interdisciplinary volume such as this, which deals with the neurological and psychological foundations of human numeric capacity. A uniquely integrative work, this volume provides a much needed compilation of primary source material to researchers from basic neuroscience, psychology, developmental science, neuroimaging, neuropsychology and theoretical biology. The first comprehensive and authoritative volume dealing with neurological and psychological foundations of mathematical cognition Uniquely integrative volume at the frontier of a rapidly expanding interdisciplinary field Features outstanding and truly international scholarship, with chapters written by leading experts in a variety of fields

The Biggest Ideas in the Universe
The Biggest Ideas in the Universe

Author: Sean Carroll

Publisher: Penguin

Published: 2022-09-20

Total Pages: 305

ISBN-13: 0593186583

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INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER “Most appealing... technical accuracy and lightness of tone... Impeccable.”—Wall Street Journal “A porthole into another world.”—Scientific American “Brings science dissemination to a new level.”—Science The most trusted explainer of the most mind-boggling concepts pulls back the veil of mystery that has too long cloaked the most valuable building blocks of modern science. Sean Carroll, with his genius for making complex notions entertaining, presents in his uniquely lucid voice the fundamental ideas informing the modern physics of reality. Physics offers deep insights into the workings of the universe but those insights come in the form of equations that often look like gobbledygook. Sean Carroll shows that they are really like meaningful poems that can help us fly over sierras to discover a miraculous multidimensional landscape alive with radiant giants, warped space-time, and bewilderingly powerful forces. High school calculus is itself a centuries-old marvel as worthy of our gaze as the Mona Lisa. And it may come as a surprise the extent to which all our most cutting-edge ideas about black holes are built on the math calculus enables. No one else could so smoothly guide readers toward grasping the very equation Einstein used to describe his theory of general relativity. In the tradition of the legendary Richard Feynman lectures presented sixty years ago, this book is an inspiring, dazzling introduction to a way of seeing that will resonate across cultural and generational boundaries for many years to come.

The Universe in a Nutshell
The Universe in a Nutshell

Author: Stephen W. Hawking

Publisher:

Published: 2005-01

Total Pages:

ISBN-13: 9780552213516

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Stephen Hawking s A Brief History of Time was a publishing phenomenon. Translated into thirty languages, it has sold over nine million copies worldwide. It continues to captivate and inspire new readers every year. When it was first published in 1988 the ideas discussed in it were at the cutting edge of what was then known about the universe. In the intervening years there have been extraordinary advances in our understanding of the space and time. The technology for observing the micro- and macro-cosmic world has developed in leaps and bounds. During the same period cosmology and the theoretical sciences have entered a new golden age. Professor Stephen Hawking has been at the heart of this new scientific renaissance. Now, in The Universe in a Nutshell, Stephen Hawking brings us fully up-to-date with the advances in scientific thinking. We are now nearer than we have ever been to a full understanding of the universe. In a fascinating and accessible discussion that ranges from quantum mechanics, to time travel, black holes to uncertainty theory, to the search for science s Holy Grail the unified field theory (or in layman s terms the theory of absolutely everything ) Professor Hawking once more takes us to the cutting edge of modern thinking. Beautifully illustrated throughout, with original artwork commissioned for this project, The Universe in a Nutshell is guaranteed to be the biggest science book of 2001.

Thinking Color in Space
Thinking Color in Space

Author: Kerstin Schultz

Publisher: Birkhäuser

Published: 2018-12-03

Total Pages: 368

ISBN-13: 3035618402

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The interaction between color and architecture determines our perception of space, and defines the tectonic relationships. The fascinating spatial potential of color, and the multi-layered dimensions of interpretation in the experience of color are design and communication means which, however, are often not fully used – color oscillates between autonomy and functional purpose, and should be understood as a distinct "material" that can be used as part of the design. The book focuses both on the tangible aspects and design criteria of color, and on its indeterminate nature and its experience value. Using examples in art and architecture, the spatial interdependency of color is illustrated, as is its interaction with structure, light, and geometry.

Imagining the Tenth Dimension
Imagining the Tenth Dimension

Author: Rob Bryanton

Publisher: Talking Dog Studios

Published: 2006

Total Pages: 224

ISBN-13: 097803970X

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"A fascinating excursion into the multiverse - clear, elegant, personal, provocative." - (Hugo and Nebula award-winning author Greg Bear.) Read the book whose companion website (tenthdimension.com) has already achieved worldwide popularity.