Fire In The Mind

Science, Faith, and the Search for Order

Science, Faith, and the Search for Order

By George Johnson

By George Johnson

Category: Science | Religion

Category: Science | Religion

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Fire In The Mind by George Johnson

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Paperback $17.95

Sep 17, 1996 | 402 Pages

Ebook $13.99

Oct 06, 2010 | 400 Pages

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    About Fire In The Mind

    Are there really laws governing the universe? Or is the order we see a mere artifact of the way evolution wired the brain? And is what we call science only a set of myths in which quarks, DNA, and information fill the role once occupied by gods? These questions lie at the heart of George Johnson’s audacious exploration of the border between science and religion, cosmic accident and timeless law. Northern New Mexico is home both to the most provocative new enterprises in quantum physics, information science, and the evolution of complexity and to the cosmologies of the Tewa Indians and the Catholic Penitentes. As it draws the reader into this landscape, juxtaposing the systems of belief that have taken root there, Fire in the Mind into a gripping intellectual adventure story that compels us to ask where science ends and religion begins.



    "A must for all those seriously interested in the key ideas at the frontier of scientific discourse."–Paul Davies

    About Fire In The Mind

    Are there really laws governing the universe? Or is the order we see a mere artifact of the way evolution wired the brain? And is what we call science only a set of myths in which quarks, DNA, and information fill the role once occupied by gods? These questions lie at the heart of George Johnson’s audacious exploration of the border between science and religion, cosmic accident and timeless law. Northern New Mexico is home both to the most provocative new enterprises in quantum physics, information science, and the evolution of complexity and to the cosmologies of the Tewa Indians and the Catholic Penitentes. As it draws the reader into this landscape, juxtaposing the systems of belief that have taken root there, Fire in the Mind into a gripping intellectual adventure story that compels us to ask where science ends and religion begins.



    "A must for all those seriously interested in the key ideas at the frontier of scientific discourse."–Paul Davies


    From the Trade Paperback edition.

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    Table Of Contents

    Introduction: Kivas, Moradas, and the Secrets of the Nuclear Age

    I. Four Magic Mountains
    1. Phaedrus’s Ghosts
    2. The Depth of the Atom
    3. The Height of the Sky
    Tesuque Interlude: The Riddle of the Camel

    II. "The Cold, Gray Cave of Abstraction"
    4. The Demonology of Information
    5. The Undetermined World
    6. The Democracy of Measurement
    San Ildefonso Interlude: The Mystery of Other minds

    III. "A Fever Matter"
    7. The Dawn of Recognition
    8. The Arrival of the Fittest
    9. In Search of Complexity
    10. In the Eye of the Beholder
    Truchas Interlude: The Leap into the Unknown

    Conclusion: The Ruins of Los Alamos

    About George Johnson

    George Johnson writes regularly about science for The New York Times. He has also written for National Geographic, Slate, Discover, Scientific American, Wired, and The Atlantic, and his work has been included in The Best American Science Writing. A former… More about George Johnson

    About George Johnson

    George Johnson writes regularly about science for The New York Times. He has also written for National Geographic, Slate, Discover, Scientific American, Wired, and The Atlantic, and his work has been included in The Best American Science Writing. A former… More about George Johnson

    Product Details

    Paperback
    Published by Vintage
    Sep 17, 1996 | 402 Pages | 5-3/16 x 8 | ISBN 9780679740216

    Ebook
    Published by Vintage
    Oct 06, 2010 | 400 Pages | ISBN 9780307765444

    Also by George Johnson

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