Probable Impossibilities

Musings on Beginnings and Endings

By: Alan Lightman

Narrated by: Christopher Grove

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.

Critic reviews

“In Probable Impossibilities, the poetic physicist Alan Lightman sieves four centuries of scientific breakthroughs with a soulful reverence for the poetry of existence . . . In an echo of one of the book’s subtlest yet profoundest undertones, Lightman challenges our binary view of life and death . . . Altogether luminous.”—Maria Popova, Brainpickings

“His latest collection of essays, [has a] syncretic spirit, tackling big questions like the origin of the universe and the nature of consciousness, always in an entertaining and easily digestible way . . . Consistently thought-provoking.”—Wall Street Journal

"A series of essays on creation, consciousness, and our place in the universe, Lightman turns his attention to some of our biggest questions about infinity and nothingness."—Buzzfeed

“Lightman has two gifts that stand out. One is for analogy . . . In isolation, physics can get pretty weird at its extremes, but Lightman makes it seem familiar and accessible . . . His other gift involves bridging the scientific and the personal . . . Savvy . . . Probable Impossibilities stands as a beautiful argument against the old Romantic-era notion that science kills wonder. In the hands of Lightman, science only multiplies it.”—American Scholar

“Galactic wonder radiates through these essays by the renowned theoretical physicist, whose writing proves companionable and illuminating.”—Christian Science Monitor

"A roaming, eye-opening, insightful, and literate collection of science writing . . . Complex science made accessible."—Kirkus Reviews

“Lightman’s awe about the physical world is infectious. He speaks with the authority of a scientist, specifically a former Harvard astrophysicist, and the eloquence of a novelist . . . Probable Impossibilities offers a primer on many of modern science’s most mind-blowing discoveries, incorporating profiles of scientists performing cutting-edge research. Lightman weaves his own story and voice though the book.”—Publishers Weekly

“Radient . . . Provocative . . . Lightman, matching fact with awe, pilots readers on enlivening and enlightening thought voyages into such realms as quantum physics, genetics, miracles, and the expanding universe, each foray offering new coordinates, evocative vistas, and deepened understanding.”—Booklist

Perfection

The best book I've listened to in quite a while. Good explanations of our universe.

Infinity will never be solved because it is infinite

What does being infinite mean? It means that an infinite thing never had a beginning, and always existed. It means that it will never have an end either. An infinity also means that the thing that is infinite. Does it have any edges either on the top or the bottom all the sides. Infinity is infinity and it will never be mathematically, understood by science or mathematicians.

Just okay

Lightman is a fantastic popularizer of science and an excellent communicator, but this book fell flat. First…I’m not even sure what it was suppose to be about. Second, I was a bit bothered by some things he asserts as settled that are very much still being sorted.

Finite Infinities

Alan Lightman is a professor of physics who was educated at Princton College and received his PHD at California Institute of Technology. He is highly educated and working also at MIT and Harvard Universities he brings to the table a subject that has challenged great thinkers since Anaximander. I enjoyed this audio and have listened several times to appreciate all the valuable lessons taught. You will get to travel through time and examine all the major players in this arena. Who could image that Einstein could be wrong, but the answer is that Einstein himself admitted when he has errored. It took a very special personality to present this mistake to Albert Einstein in 1927, a Belgium Catholic priest named Goerges Henri Lemaitre. Lemaitre found not only one, but two mistakes by the great professor. This and many other stories are just part of the journey through this audio. I highly recommend this audio book and the narrator; Christopher Grove does an excellent job by bringing his talent as part of this audio book. If you enjoy the challenges of science, philosophy & learning, then you will enjoy this book. One last thought, my title on finite infinites sounds like a contradiction, however when it comes to shape and size of the Universe, this is the current hypnosis. Listen carefully to this amazing audio to fully understand.

A solid collection of writings

Well performed, this comes across as a series of essays by Professor Lightman that were collected into one volume

I found that hearing this learned man of science and letters speak in a very direct and forthright way about -- not just the science -- but about what it might mean to us as human beings, was both engaging and educational.