![]() | Physics Meets Philosophy at the Planck Scale: Contemporary Theories in Quantum Gravity
Buy new: $67.15 / Used from: $38.00 A collection of essays. Excellent discussions of quantum gravity, spin foams, space-time as a topolgical graph. Probably fairly difficult if you do not have a physics background.
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![]() | The Road to Reality : A Complete Guide to the Laws of the Universe by Roger Penrose
Buy used from: $21.90 1000 pages, heavy on the math and physics - a lovely stroll through QM, GR, spinors, twistors, strings, unconventional ontologies.
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![]() | The Anthropic Cosmological Principle (Oxford Paperbacks) by John D. Barrow
Buy new: $25.60 / Used from: $10.90 A classic. It has some math and physics, but should be readable for a wide audience.
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![]() | God and the New Physics by Paul Davies
Buy new: $10.20 / Used from: $0.01 An enjoyable discussion of quantum observers, minds, free will, god, teleology. Davies is a physicist.
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![]() | Cosmic Evolution: The Rise of Complexity in Nature by Eric J. Chaisson
Buy new: $21.90 / Used from: $19.75 An elegant view of the evolution of complexity. Good discussion of the 2nd law and of evolution of galaxies, stars, planets, life, minds, civilizations. You need some math and physics.
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![]() | The Fabric of Reality: The Science of Parallel Universes and Its Implications by David Deutsch
Buy new: $10.88 / Used from: $4.83 Interesting discussion of evolution, realism/solipsism, Popperian epistemology, emphasizing life as a literal embodiment of knowledge and the future cosmic impacts of life.
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![]() | The Truth of Science: Physical Theories and Reality by Roger G. Newton
Buy new: $25.50 / Used from: $3.69 Good reading. The author is a physicist.
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![]() | The Unconscious Quantum: Metaphysics in Modern Physics and Cosmology by Victor J. Stenger
Buy new: $26.39 / Used from: $15.75 An excellent overview which argues for skepticism in considering the role of 'mind' (whatever that is) in quantum measurements. Covers Copenhagen interpretation, hidden variables, nonlocality.
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![]() | The Life of the Cosmos by Lee Smolin
Buy new: $16.47 / Used from: $9.74 I highly recommend this book. A wonderful discussion of cosmology, space-time, philosophy, and possible evolutionary scenarios for universes.
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![]() | Infinity and the Mind: The Science and Philosophy of the Infinite (Princeton Science Library) by Rudy Rucker
Buy new: $16.47 / Used from: $12.48 A classic. Discusses transfinite numbers, paradoxes, Tarski Truth Theorem, Goedel Incompleteness Theorem, issues of self-reference.
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![]() | The Shape of Space (Pure and Applied Mathematics) by Jeffrey R. Weeks
Buy new: $30.09 / Used from: $22.99 An interesting discussion of possible topologies for the universe - a wee bit mathematical. Good illustrations. Discusses testability at some length.
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![]() | From Complexity to Life: On The Emergence of Life and Meaning
Buy new: $35.00 / Used from: $17.60 A collection of essays on complexity, evolution, autonomous agents, entropy, information theory, and their relevance for the meanings of life.
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![]() | Cosmic Understanding by Milton K. Munitz
Buy new: $35.00 / Used from: $1.72 A philosopher looks at cosmology and its impact on our philosophies.
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![]() | Godel's Proof by Ernest Nagel
Buy used from: $10.78 Very readable. Not rigorous. If you are aware of the uniqueness of prime factorizations, then you will have no trouble with this.
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![]() | Speakable and Unspeakable in Quantum Mechanics by J. S. Bell
Buy used from: $46.75 A classic from John Bell. Truly elegant papers re the philosophical problems of QM. Difficult/impossible to read without a good physics background.
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![]() | The Comprehensible Cosmos: Where Do the Laws of Physics Come From? by Victor J. Stenger
Buy new: $21.16 / Used from: $11.90 Quite readable. Accessible to non-math readers, with supplements for those who need the math.
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![]() | The Nature of Space and Time by Stephen Hawking
Buy new: $13.57 / Used from: $8.58 A lovely book, but tough sledding if you don't have some basic knowledge (eg, GR metrics, thermo, basic QM, twistors).
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![]() | Three Roads to Quantum Gravity by Lee Smolin
Buy new: $11.66 / Used from: $1.25 Smolin takes on some very interesting issues: quantum measurement, the universe as processes (not things), areal density of information, spin networks, etc. Fairly general, no math.
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![]() | Beyond Measure: Modern Physics, Philosophy, and the Meaning of Quantum Theory by Jim Baggott
Buy new: $63.00 / Used from: $44.98 Good discussion of quantum phenomena, measurement, possible ontologies.
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![]() | The Elegant Universe: Superstrings, Hidden Dimensions, and the Quest for the Ultimate Theory by Brian Greene
Buy new: $10.88 / Used from: $1.89 An excellent non-mathematical discussion of string theory and its development.
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![]() | The Fabric of the Cosmos: Space, Time, and the Texture of Reality by Brian Greene
Buy new: $19.77 / Used from: $3.72 An excellent overview of current thinking. Well written.
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![]() | The End of Time: The Next Revolution in Physics by Julian Barbour
Buy new: $16.47 / Used from: $4.44 A physicist looks at time. Does time flow, or is it discrete? Aimed at the layman.
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![]() | Impossibility: The Limits of Science and the Science of Limits by John D. Barrow
Buy new: $33.54 / Used from: $6.02 Fairly light reading. Discusses limits to mathematical and physical knowledge.
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![]() | Introductory Readings in the Philosophy of Science by E. D. Klemke
Buy new: $17.43 / Used from: $10.75 A decent collection of essays in the philosophy of science. Relatively low information density.
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![]() | The Character of Physical Law (Messenger Lectures, 1964) by Richard Feynman
Buy new: $11.53 / Used from: $3.13 Vintage Feynman, aimed at a general audience.
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