You Are Here: A Portable History of the Universe
4/5
()
Currently unavailable
Currently unavailable
About this ebook
“You Are Here is not just physics for poets, but as close to poetry or music as science is ever likely to get. Christopher Potter’s narrative is as imaginative, ingenious, and elegantly concise as it is user-friendly.” — Sylvia Nasar, author of A Beautiful Mind
“A personal, brilliant, and often amusing account . . . . An idiosyncratic, encyclopedic blitzkrieg of a book.” —The Boston Globe
“The Verdict: Read.” — Time
Christopher Potter’s You Are Here is a lively and accessible biography of the universe—how it fits together and how we fit into it—in the style of science writers like Richard Dawkins, Bill Bryson, and Richard Feynman, as seen through the lens of today’s most cutting-edge scientific thinking.
Christopher Potter
Christopher Potter spent almost a quarter of a century in publishing, over 17 of those years at the independent publishing house Fourth Estate, where he became publisher and managing director. His first book was the much-praised ‘You Are Here, A Portable History of the Universe’. ‘How To Make a Human Being’ is his second.
Read more from Christopher Potter
You Are Here: A Portable History of the Universe Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Earth Gazers Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5
Related to You Are Here
Related ebooks
How to Love the Universe: A Scientist's Odes to the Hidden Beauty Behind the Visible World Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Matchbox That Ate a Forty-Ton Truck: What Everyday Things Tell Us About the Universe Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5All These Worlds Are Yours: The Scientific Search for Alien Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5My Life as an Experiment Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5How We'll Live on Mars Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Mystery of Edwin Drood, Part II, The Solution Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Sour Grapes: A Book of Poems Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Lost Continent: Travels in Small Town America Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Flappers and Philosophers Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Leaves of Grass Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Journal of a Disappointed Man Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWalking in the Gray: How to Succeed When the Rules Are Not Black and White Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDeath: Philosophical Soundings Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWalden Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Thanks A Thousand: A Gratitude Journey Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Go Down Moses Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Poetry of William Carlos Williams - Volume II - Al Que Quiere! Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsStruck by Genius: How a Brain Injury Made Me a Mathematical Marvel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Why Time Flies: A Mostly Scientific Investigation Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Decameron Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5In Praise of Wasting Time Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5A Philosophy of Walking Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Goldilocks Enigma: Why Is the Universe Just Right for Life? Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsReflections of Alan Turing: A Relative Story Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Brief Welcome to the Universe: A Pocket-Sized Tour Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Crime and Punishment Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHideki Smith, Demon Queller Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Stalking Kilgore Trout Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Essential Bertrand Russell Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTough Mothers: Amazing Stories of History's Mightiest Matriarchs Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Technology & Engineering For You
The Big Book of Hacks: 264 Amazing DIY Tech Projects Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Art of War Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Night to Remember: The Sinking of the Titanic Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Longitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Vanderbilt: The Rise and Fall of an American Dynasty Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Big Book of Maker Skills: Tools & Techniques for Building Great Tech Projects Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Art of War Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Invisible Rainbow: A History of Electricity and Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Ultralearning: Master Hard Skills, Outsmart the Competition, and Accelerate Your Career Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Logic Pro X For Dummies Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Right Stuff Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The 48 Laws of Power in Practice: The 3 Most Powerful Laws & The 4 Indispensable Power Principles Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Selfie: How We Became So Self-Obsessed and What It's Doing to Us Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/580/20 Principle: The Secret to Working Less and Making More Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Artificial Intelligence: A Guide for Thinking Humans Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Fast Track to Your Technician Class Ham Radio License: For Exams July 1, 2022 - June 30, 2026 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Systems Thinker: Essential Thinking Skills For Solving Problems, Managing Chaos, Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The ChatGPT Millionaire Handbook: Make Money Online With the Power of AI Technology Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA History of the American People Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5How to Disappear and Live Off the Grid: A CIA Insider's Guide Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe CIA Lockpicking Manual Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Death in Mud Lick: A Coal Country Fight against the Drug Companies That Delivered the Opioid Epidemic Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Complete Titanic Chronicles: A Night to Remember and The Night Lives On Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5U.S. Marine Close Combat Fighting Handbook Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Electrical Engineering 101: Everything You Should Have Learned in School...but Probably Didn't Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Reviews for You Are Here
31 ratings2 reviews
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5A lucid, readable explanation of the physics of the universe. The author does a particularly good job of explaining relativity in easy to understand terms, which is a valuable service. I did find the approach of the book somewhat unedifying and, in many places, dull, as he carried out his ever increasing discussions of size and time. I think there are other ways this could have been approached which would have been more interesting and compelling. I also thought some of his ruminations on science, philosophy, and religion were a bit mushy and light-headed for someone who had written such a strongly evidence-based science book. I do agree that science needs philosophy, and vice versa, but the author makes no compelling argument as to why science needs religion; indeed, he basically just makes statements that are not supported by anything that could be called logical argumentation. He appears to just assume the reader will accept his formulations. This is not acceptable in a book dealing with topics that so require critical thinking to understand. Mysticism has pervaded way too much of physics in recent years, and would have been much better left out of this work altogether. And the quote from Jastrow in the final chapter about science climbing a peak and finding theologians have been there for centuries is laughable, particularly coming as it does at the end of a book that has provided plenty of evidence to the contrary, but doesn't seem to recognize it. In fact, every time scientists climb a peak, they find it was the Greeks, or the Egyptians, or some other early civilization that was there before, or that the peak is empty, and just now being conquered. They then yank the theologians along by the hair of their head, with them (the theologians) kicking and screaming the whole way until they finally reach the peak; then, those same theologians assume the moral high ground, and claim they were there all along, even when the historical records plainly dictate otherwise. And there will always be someone like this author perfectly willing to play their game, take them at their word, and gamely help them create new truths out of whole cloth.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5A lucid, readable explanation of the physics of the universe. The author does a particularly good job of explaining relativity in easy to understand terms, which is a valuable service. I did find the approach of the book somewhat unedifying and, in many places, dull, as he carried out his ever increasing discussions of size and time. I think there are other ways this could have been approached which would have been more interesting and compelling. I also thought some of his ruminations on science, philosophy, and religion were a bit mushy and light-headed for someone who had written such a strongly evidence-based science book. I do agree that science needs philosophy, and vice versa, but the author makes no compelling argument as to why science needs religion; indeed, he basically just makes statements that are not supported by anything that could be called logical argumentation. He appears to just assume the reader will accept his formulations. This is not acceptable in a book dealing with topics that so require critical thinking to understand. Mysticism has pervaded way too much of physics in recent years, and would have been much better left out of this work altogether. And the quote from Jastrow in the final chapter about science climbing a peak and finding theologians have been there for centuries is laughable, particularly coming as it does at the end of a book that has provided plenty of evidence to the contrary, but doesn't seem to recognize it. In fact, every time scientists climb a peak, they find it was the Greeks, or the Egyptians, or some other early civilization that was there before, or that the peak is empty, and just now being conquered. They then yank the theologians along by the hair of their head, with them (the theologians) kicking and screaming the whole way until they finally reach the peak; then, those same theologians assume the moral high ground, and claim they were there all along, even when the historical records plainly dictate otherwise. And there will always be someone like this author perfectly willing to play their game, take them at their word, and gamely help them create new truths out of whole cloth.