Lake Views: This World and the Universe - Hardcover

Weinberg fans will find nuggets of insight and wisdom. Publishers Weekly 20091102 Many of the themes in Weinberg's work remain timeless. He is in his element at the interface between science and philosophy, such as musing what will happen when science reaches a "final theory" that explains all knowable phenomena. The answer? Well, it involves an extended riff including both nuclear-particle decay and Shakespeare, but Weinberg brilliantly illuminates why he thinks humanity can still find purpose in studying the universe through scientific methods...Weinberg can, within several eloquent pages, distill the essence of why science is important...Unlike nearly any writer living today, Weinberg interpolates science, philosophy and history into a rich and meaningful tapestry of our world. -- Alexandra Witze Dallas Morning News 20100117 Of all top-class theoretical physicists no one, apart from Freeman Dyson, writes with the same combination of authority and grace...The overwhelming impression one has when reading Weinberg is that we are seeing the world through the eyes of someone who not only loves physics but regards the physicist's way of looking at the world as uniquely valuable...All physicists will take pleasure from this book. Many others will enjoy it, too...Dawkins' admirers [should] read Weinberg if they are in the least bit curious about modern physics and how a great physicist thinks about science policy. Lake Views is an excellent place to start. -- Graham Farmelo Times Higher Education 20100128 This collection of essays proves once again that Weinberg is more than just a top--tier physicist. He is also one of the few scientists brave enough--and knowledgeable enough--to successfully take on the role of public intellectual...It's essential reading. -- Dan Falk New Scientist 20100206 Steven Weinberg is famous as a scientist, but he thinks deeply and writes elegantly about many other things besides science. This collection of his writings is concerned with history, politics, and science in roughly equal measure. -- Freeman Dyson New York Review of Books 20100610

Just as Henry David Thoreau 'traveled a great deal in Concord', Nobel Prize-winning physicist Steven Weinberg sees much of the world from the window of his study overlooking Lake Austin. In "Lake Views" Weinberg, considered by many to be the preeminent theoretical physicist alive today, continues the wide-ranging reflections that have also earned him a reputation as, in the words of "New York Times" reporter James Glanz, 'a powerful writer of prose that can illuminate - and sting'. This collection presents Weinberg's views on topics ranging from problems of cosmology to assorted world issues - military, political, and religious. Even as he moves beyond the bounds of science, each essay reflects his experience as a theoretical physicist. And as in the celebrated "Facing Up", the essays express a viewpoint that is rationalist, reductionist, realist, and secular. A new introduction precedes each essay, explaining how it came to be written and bringing it up to date where necessary. As an essayist, Weinberg insists on seeing things as they are, without despair and with good humor. Sure to provoke his readers - postmodern cultural critics, enthusiasts for manned space flight or missile defense, economic conservatives, sociologists of science, anti-Zionists, and religious zealots - this book nonetheless offers the pleasure of a sustained encounter with one of the most interesting scientific minds of our time.