Booklab

It’s one of the oldest and most vexing questions in science and philosophy: Do we have free will? In this episode of BookLab, we take a close look at two books by two scientists who have considered the question at length -- and have been led to two very different conclusions.

The human mind is quite something. We can use it to reason; to envision past and future events; to ponder abstractions. But what other minds are out there? In Philip Ball’s The Book of Minds, we’re invited to explore the space of possible minds. And on the nightstand: The Darkness Manifesto, by  Johan Eklöf; and Existential Physics by Sabine Hossenfelder. 

The world around us seems incredibly diverse -- but what if beneath that diversity there was a unifying sameness? That’s the idea behind “monism” -- an ancient idea that physicist Heinrich Pas believes is due for a comeback. He explores the idea in his new book, The One. And on the nightstand: Sounds Wild and Broken, by David George Haskell; and What We Owe the Future, by William MacAskill.

Virtual reality has taken off in recent years. But what if the virtual worlds of VR are real -- just as real, perhaps, as the physical world we see around us? And... is it possible we’re living in a simulation right now? Philosopher David Chalmers probes these questions in his provocative new book, Reality+. And on the nightstand: A new biography of physicist Freeman Dyson, called Well, Doc, You’re In, edited by David Kaiser; and As Gods, by Matthew Cobb.

Featured book: Being You, by Anil Seth. A lot has been written on the subject of consciousness, but few are positioned to tackle the problem better than neuroscientist Anil Seth, whose new book examines how we experience “life in the first person.” And on the nightstand: The Monster’s Bones, by David K. Randall; and Quantum Legacies, by David Kaiser.

Featured book: Hawking Hawking, by Charles Seife. Charles Seife’s new biography of Stephen Hawking takes an unflinching look at the good and bad sides of the famous physicist. And on the nightstand: The Zoologist’s Guide to the Galaxy, by Arik Kershenbaum; and When We Cease to Understand the World, by Benjamin Labatut.

What is life? As Carl Zimmer shows in Life’s Edge, the more we try to pin it down, the more elusive an answer becomes. And in The Genesis Quest, Michael Marshall examines the age-old puzzle of how life began on our planet.

Featured Book: Seven and a Half Lessons About the Brain, by Lisa Feldman Barrett. Neuroscientist Lisa Feldman Barrett take a deep dive into our most remarkable organ – and explains why the brain is for much more than just thinking. And on the nightstand: Why Fish Don’t Exist, by Lulu Miller; and The Precipice, by Toby Ord.

We double up on the physics in this episode: First, Katie Mack looks at the universe’s end-game in The End of Everything (Astrophysically Speaking). Then we explore the universe’s most exotic objects in Janna Levin’s new book, Black Hole Survival Guide.

In this special episode of BookLab, we focus on COVID-19 by journalist Debora MacKenzie. Her book examines how this pandemic happened, how it might have been prevented – or at least mitigated – and what can be done to make sure a similar catastrophic public health crisis doesn’t happen again.

Featured book: Until the End of Time, by Brian Greene. Where exactly do human beings fit in, in this vast cosmos?  Brian Greene tackles the mysteries of life, the universe, and everything in an ambitious new book. And on the nightstand: Superior, by Angela Saini; and Moral Tribes by Joshua Greene

Featured book: The Feeling of Life Itself, by Christof Koch. A neuroscientist who’s spent decades studying the puzzle of consciousness explores the problem of how the brain gives rise to the mind. And on the nightstand: Supernavigators, by David Barrie; and The Math of Life and Death, by Kit Yates.

It’s one of the most provocative ideas in all of science – the notion that our universe might just an infinitesimal part of a much larger reality.  In this episode, we look at two new books that take us deep into the multiverse: The Number of the Heavens, by Tom Siegfried; and Something Deeply Hidden, by Sean Carroll.

Featured book: The Goodness Paradox, by Richard Wrangham.  Our species, Homo sapiens, is less violent than any of our primate cousins -- but how did we get that way? A Harvard anthropologist suggests an answer. And on the nightstand: The Overstory, by Richard Powers; and The Trouble with Gravity, by Richard Panek.

Featured Books:What is Real? by Adam Becker; and Beyond Weird by Philip Ball. Quantum physics has been with us for more than 100 years – but what is it actually telling us about the world?

Featured Book: Adventures in Memory, by Hilde Østby and Ylva Østby   Few things are as fundamental to the human experience as memory. But what exactly is memory?  How do memories actually work, in our brains? And why did we evolve to have memories?  And on the nightstand: Outside Color, by Mazviita Chirimuuta; and The Invention of Nature, by Andrea Wulf 

Featured Book:Lost in Math, by Sabine Hossenfelder Physics made enormous progress in the 20th century – but Sabine Hossenfelder says we’ve reached a dead-end in the 21st, because today’s physicists take their equations too seriously. And on the nightstand: Through Two Doors at Once, by Anil Ananthaswamy; and The Order of Time, by Carlo Rovelli. 

Featured Book:The Strange Order of Things, by Antonio Damasio How did emotions and feelings – and conscious awareness in general – come into existence? Neuroscientist and philosopher Antonio Damasio weighs in. And on the nightstand: Internal Time, by Till Roenneberg; and The Last Man Who Knew Everything, by David Schwartz.

Stephen Hawking’s first book aimed at a popular audience, A Brief History of Time, became a surprise bestseller and turned the world of popular science writing upside down. We look back at this remarkable book, 30 years after its publication.

Featured Book: Life 3.0, by Max Tegmark Artificial intelligence is set to change the world. Will humanity have what it takes to survive, in the age of intelligent machines?  And on the nightstand: Prehension, by Colin McGinn; and The Social Conquest of Earth by E.O. Wilson.