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The Beginning of Infinity
- Explanations That Transform the World
- Narrateur(s): Walter Dixon
- Durée: 20 h
- Version intégrale Livre audio
- Catégories: Histoire, Monde
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The Fabric of Reality
- The Science of Parallel Universes - and Its Implications
- Auteur(s): David Deutsch
- Narrateur(s): Walter Dixon
- Durée: 14 h et 26 min
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Author of the New York Times best seller The Beginning of Infinity, David Deutsch, explores the four most fundamental strands of human knowledge: quantum physics, and the theories of knowledge, computation, and evolution - and their unexpected connections. Taken together, these four strands reveal a deeply integrated, rational, and optimistic worldview. It describes a unified fabric of reality that is objective and comprehensible, in which human action and thought are central.
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Deep discussion changing your views
- Écrit par Hossein le 2021-08-07
Auteur(s): David Deutsch
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Skin in the Game
- Hidden Asymmetries in Daily Life
- Auteur(s): Nassim Nicholas Taleb
- Narrateur(s): Joe Ochman
- Durée: 8 h et 20 min
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In his most provocative and practical book yet, one of the foremost thinkers of our time redefines what it means to understand the world, succeed in a profession, contribute to a fair and just society, detect nonsense, and influence others. Citing examples ranging from Hammurabi to Seneca, Antaeus the Giant to Donald Trump, Nassim Nicholas Taleb shows how the willingness to accept one's own risks is an essential attribute of heroes, saints, and flourishing people in all walks of life.
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Decent but scattershot
- Écrit par Steve le 2018-09-21
Auteur(s): Nassim Nicholas Taleb
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Six Easy Pieces
- Essentials of Physics Explained by Its Most Brilliant Teacher
- Auteur(s): Richard P. Feynman
- Narrateur(s): uncredited
- Durée: 5 h et 19 min
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Designed for non-scientists, Six Easy Pieces is an unparalleled introduction to the world of physics by one of the greatest teachers of all time.
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Sound quality is soooooo bad
- Écrit par DS le 2021-12-29
Auteur(s): Richard P. Feynman
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The Rational Optimist
- How Prosperity Evolves
- Auteur(s): Matt Ridley
- Narrateur(s): L. J. Ganser
- Durée: 13 h et 37 min
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Life is getting better at an accelerating rate. Food availability, income, and life span are up; disease, child mortality, and violence are down all across the globe. Though the world is far from perfect, necessities and luxuries alike are getting cheaper; population growth is slowing; Africa is following Asia out of poverty; the Internet, the mobile phone, and container shipping are enriching people's lives as never before.
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Good but Agenda-Laden, biased.
- Écrit par xeea le 2019-11-18
Auteur(s): Matt Ridley
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The Myth of the Framework
- In Defence of Science and Rationality
- Auteur(s): Karl Popper
- Narrateur(s): Martyn Swain
- Durée: 8 h et 30 min
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In a career spanning 60 years, Sir Karl Popper has made some of the most important contributions to the 20th century discussion of science and rationality. The Myth of the Framework is a collection of some of Popper's most important material on this subject.
Auteur(s): Karl Popper
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Reasons and Persons
- Auteur(s): Derek Parfit
- Narrateur(s): Peter Batchelor
- Durée: 29 h et 18 min
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Challenging, with several powerful arguments, some of our deepest beliefs about rationality, morality, and personal identity, Parfit claims that we have a false view about our own nature. It is often rational to act against our own best interests, he argues, and most of us have moral views that are self-defeating. We often act wrongly, although we know there will be no one with serious grounds for complaint, and when we consider future generations it is very hard to avoid conclusions that most of us will find very disturbing.
Auteur(s): Derek Parfit
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The Fabric of Reality
- The Science of Parallel Universes - and Its Implications
- Auteur(s): David Deutsch
- Narrateur(s): Walter Dixon
- Durée: 14 h et 26 min
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Author of the New York Times best seller The Beginning of Infinity, David Deutsch, explores the four most fundamental strands of human knowledge: quantum physics, and the theories of knowledge, computation, and evolution - and their unexpected connections. Taken together, these four strands reveal a deeply integrated, rational, and optimistic worldview. It describes a unified fabric of reality that is objective and comprehensible, in which human action and thought are central.
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Deep discussion changing your views
- Écrit par Hossein le 2021-08-07
Auteur(s): David Deutsch
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Skin in the Game
- Hidden Asymmetries in Daily Life
- Auteur(s): Nassim Nicholas Taleb
- Narrateur(s): Joe Ochman
- Durée: 8 h et 20 min
- Version intégrale
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Au global
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Performance
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Histoire
In his most provocative and practical book yet, one of the foremost thinkers of our time redefines what it means to understand the world, succeed in a profession, contribute to a fair and just society, detect nonsense, and influence others. Citing examples ranging from Hammurabi to Seneca, Antaeus the Giant to Donald Trump, Nassim Nicholas Taleb shows how the willingness to accept one's own risks is an essential attribute of heroes, saints, and flourishing people in all walks of life.
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Decent but scattershot
- Écrit par Steve le 2018-09-21
Auteur(s): Nassim Nicholas Taleb
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Six Easy Pieces
- Essentials of Physics Explained by Its Most Brilliant Teacher
- Auteur(s): Richard P. Feynman
- Narrateur(s): uncredited
- Durée: 5 h et 19 min
- Version abrégée
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Au global
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Designed for non-scientists, Six Easy Pieces is an unparalleled introduction to the world of physics by one of the greatest teachers of all time.
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Sound quality is soooooo bad
- Écrit par DS le 2021-12-29
Auteur(s): Richard P. Feynman
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The Rational Optimist
- How Prosperity Evolves
- Auteur(s): Matt Ridley
- Narrateur(s): L. J. Ganser
- Durée: 13 h et 37 min
- Version intégrale
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Au global
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Performance
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Histoire
Life is getting better at an accelerating rate. Food availability, income, and life span are up; disease, child mortality, and violence are down all across the globe. Though the world is far from perfect, necessities and luxuries alike are getting cheaper; population growth is slowing; Africa is following Asia out of poverty; the Internet, the mobile phone, and container shipping are enriching people's lives as never before.
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Good but Agenda-Laden, biased.
- Écrit par xeea le 2019-11-18
Auteur(s): Matt Ridley
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The Myth of the Framework
- In Defence of Science and Rationality
- Auteur(s): Karl Popper
- Narrateur(s): Martyn Swain
- Durée: 8 h et 30 min
- Version intégrale
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Au global
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Performance
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Histoire
In a career spanning 60 years, Sir Karl Popper has made some of the most important contributions to the 20th century discussion of science and rationality. The Myth of the Framework is a collection of some of Popper's most important material on this subject.
Auteur(s): Karl Popper
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Reasons and Persons
- Auteur(s): Derek Parfit
- Narrateur(s): Peter Batchelor
- Durée: 29 h et 18 min
- Version intégrale
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Histoire
Challenging, with several powerful arguments, some of our deepest beliefs about rationality, morality, and personal identity, Parfit claims that we have a false view about our own nature. It is often rational to act against our own best interests, he argues, and most of us have moral views that are self-defeating. We often act wrongly, although we know there will be no one with serious grounds for complaint, and when we consider future generations it is very hard to avoid conclusions that most of us will find very disturbing.
Auteur(s): Derek Parfit
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How Innovation Works
- And Why It Flourishes in Freedom
- Auteur(s): Matt Ridley
- Narrateur(s): Matt Ridley
- Durée: 12 h et 34 min
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Innovation is the main event of the modern age, the reason we experience both dramatic improvements in our living standards and unsettling changes in our society. Forget short-term symptoms like Donald Trump and Brexit, it is innovation itself that explains them and that will itself shape the 21st century for good and ill. Yet innovation remains a mysterious process, poorly understood by policy makers and businessmen, hard to summon into existence to order, yet inevitable and inexorable when it does happen.
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Worthwhile for a Modern Thinker
- Écrit par Amazon Customer le 2021-02-23
Auteur(s): Matt Ridley
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The Lessons of History
- Auteur(s): Will, Ariel Durant
- Narrateur(s): Grover Gardner
- Durée: 5 h et 35 min
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The authors devoted five decades to the study of world history and philosophy, culminating in the masterful 11-volume Story of Civilization. In this compact summation of their work, Will and Ariel Durant share the vital and profound lessons of our collective past. Their perspective, gained after a lifetime of thinking and writing about the history of humankind, is an invaluable resource for us today.
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Very dated
- Écrit par Jason Feddema le 2021-10-01
Auteur(s): Will, Autres
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Behave
- The Biology of Humans at Our Best and Worst
- Auteur(s): Robert Sapolsky
- Narrateur(s): Michael Goldstrom
- Durée: 26 h et 27 min
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From the celebrated neurobiologist and primatologist, a landmark, genre-defining examination of human behavior, both good and bad, and an answer to the question: Why do we do the things we do? Sapolsky's storytelling concept is delightful but it also has a powerful intrinsic logic: He starts by looking at the factors that bear on a person's reaction in the precise moment a behavior occurs, and then hops back in time from there, in stages, ultimately ending up at the deep history of our species and its evolutionary legacy.
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Overall Excellent, But Maybe Overly Broad in Scope
- Écrit par J. Horyski le 2019-11-16
Auteur(s): Robert Sapolsky
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Fundamentals
- Ten Keys to Reality
- Auteur(s): Frank Wilczek
- Narrateur(s): Sean Patrick Hopkins, Frank Wilczek
- Durée: 7 h et 31 min
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One of our great contemporary scientists reveals the 10 profound insights that illuminate what everyone should know about the physical world.
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Loved this book
- Écrit par Randy Holmes le 2021-11-27
Auteur(s): Frank Wilczek
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The Sovereign Individual
- Mastering the Transition to the Information Age
- Auteur(s): James Dale Davidson, Peter Thiel - preface, William Rees-Mogg
- Narrateur(s): Michael David Axtell
- Durée: 19 h et 20 min
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Two renowned investment advisors and authors of the best seller The Great Reckoning bring to light both currents of disaster and the potential for prosperity and renewal in the face of radical changes in human history as we move into the next century. The Sovereign Individual details strategies necessary for adapting financially to the next phase of Western civilization.
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not suitable for the dead of brain.
- Écrit par black-acid le 2020-12-24
Auteur(s): James Dale Davidson, Autres
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Antifragile
- Things That Gain from Disorder
- Auteur(s): Nassim Nicholas Taleb
- Narrateur(s): Joe Ochman
- Durée: 16 h et 14 min
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In The Black Swan Taleb outlined a problem, and in Antifragile he offers a definitive solution: how to gain from disorder and chaos while being protected from fragilities and adverse events. For what Taleb calls the "antifragile" is actually beyond the robust, because it benefits from shocks, uncertainty, and stressors, just as human bones get stronger when subjected to stress and tension. The antifragile needs disorder in order to survive and flourish. Taleb stands uncertainty on its head, making it desirable, even necessary, and proposes that things be built in an antifragile manner.
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So annoyingly biased
- Écrit par seekerHAP le 2019-05-11
Auteur(s): Nassim Nicholas Taleb
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Genome
- The Autobiography of a Species in 23 Chapters
- Auteur(s): Matt Ridley
- Narrateur(s): Simon Prebble
- Durée: 12 h et 20 min
- Production originale
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Arguably the most significant scientific discovery of the new century, the mapping of the 23 pairs of chromosomes that make up the human genome raises almost as many questions as it answers - questions that will profoundly impact the way we think about disease, about longevity, and about free will. Questions that will affect the rest of your life. Matt Ridley here probes the scientific, philosophical, and moral issues arising as a result of the mapping of the genome.
Auteur(s): Matt Ridley
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The Cold Start Problem
- How to Start and Scale Network Effects
- Auteur(s): Andrew Chen
- Narrateur(s): Andrew Chen
- Durée: 10 h et 28 min
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Although software has become easier to build, launching and scaling new products and services remains difficult. Start-ups face daunting challenges entering the technology ecosystem, including stiff competition, copycats, and ineffective marketing channels. Teams launching new products must consider the advantages of “the network effect”, where a product or service’s value increases as more users engage with it. Apple, Google, Microsoft, and other tech giants utilize network effects, and most tech products incorporate them.
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Mandatory reading for startup entrepreneurs
- Écrit par mochamalka le 2021-12-18
Auteur(s): Andrew Chen
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Hitch-22
- A Memoir
- Auteur(s): Christopher Hitchens
- Narrateur(s): Christopher Hitchens
- Durée: 17 h et 29 min
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Over the course of his 60 years, Christopher Hitchens has been a citizen of both the United States and the United Kingdom. He has been both a socialist opposed to the war in Vietnam and a supporter of the U.S. war against Islamic extremism in Iraq. He has been both a foreign correspondent in some of the world's most dangerous places and a legendary bon vivant with an unquenchable thirst for alcohol and literature.
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Nor a self-indulgent foray into the
- Écrit par Auntie Mel le 2018-12-12
Auteur(s): Christopher Hitchens
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Reality Is Not What It Seems
- The Journey to Quantum Gravity
- Auteur(s): Carlo Rovelli, Simon Carnell - translator, Erica Segre - translator
- Narrateur(s): Roy McMillan
- Durée: 6 h et 7 min
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From the New York Times best-selling author of Seven Brief Lessons on Physics, The Order of Time, and Helgoland, a closer look at the mind-bending nature of the Universe. What are the elementary ingredients of the world? Do time and space exist? And what exactly is reality? Theoretical physicist Carlo Rovelli has spent his life exploring these questions. He tells us how our understanding of reality has changed over the centuries and how physicists think about the structure of the Universe today.
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Amazing!!!
- Écrit par Utilisateur anonyme le 2018-07-20
Auteur(s): Carlo Rovelli, Autres
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The Janus Point
- A New Theory of Time
- Auteur(s): Julian Barbour
- Narrateur(s): James Langton
- Durée: 13 h et 45 min
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In a universe filled by chaos and disorder, one physicist makes the radical argument that the growth of order drives the passage of time - and shapes the destiny of the universe.
Auteur(s): Julian Barbour
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The Almanack of Naval Ravikant
- A Guide to Wealth and Happiness
- Auteur(s): Eric Jorgenson, Tim Ferriss
- Narrateur(s): Vikas Adam
- Durée: 4 h et 53 min
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Naval Ravikant is an entrepreneur, philosopher, and investor who has captivated the world with his principles for building wealth and creating long-term happiness. The Almanack of Naval Ravikant is a collection of Naval’s wisdom and experience from the last 10 years, shared as a curation of his most insightful interviews and poignant reflections. This isn’t a how-to book, or a step-by-step gimmick. Instead, through Naval’s own words, you will learn how to walk your own unique path toward a happier, wealthier life.
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Released for free
- Écrit par Sarah le 2021-07-11
Auteur(s): Eric Jorgenson, Autres
Description
A bold and all-embracing exploration of the nature and progress of knowledge from one of today's great thinkers. Throughout history, mankind has struggled to understand life's mysteries, from the mundane to the seemingly miraculous. In this important new book, David Deutsch, an award-winning pioneer in the field of quantum computation, argues that explanations have a fundamental place in the universe. They have unlimited scope and power to cause change, and the quest to improve them is the basic regulating principle not only of science but of all successful human endeavor. This stream of ever improving explanations has infinite reach, according to Deutsch: we are subject only to the laws of physics, and they impose no upper boundary to what we can eventually understand, control, and achieve. In his previous book, The Fabric of Reality, Deutsch describe the four deepest strands of existing knowledge-the theories of evolution, quantum physics, knowledge, and computation-arguing jointly they reveal a unified fabric of reality. In this new book, he applies that worldview to a wide range of issues and unsolved problems, from creativity and free will to the origin and future of the human species.
Filled with startling new conclusions about human choice, optimism, scientific explanation, and the evolution of culture, The Beginning of Infinity is a groundbreaking audio book that will become a classic of its kind.
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- Mark
- 2019-08-11
enlightening book
Uses layman 's terms to explain incredibly complex theories and helps you to understand the universe and existence better.
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- C.
- 2021-07-29
very disappointing
while the ambition of the book is great, there's little in the contents that matches the expectations created. Instead of insights, reasonings, facts and references, one finds in this book quantities of assessments generously distributed by the author.
1 personne a trouvé cela utile
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- Cormac Murphy
- 2018-01-26
incredibly important book
I have listened to this 3 times and read It once. It will fundamentally change your worldview in a positive way if you let it. persevere
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- Scott Feuless
- 2019-08-12
Worthwhile if you have the patience
Listening to this book was one of those "good/bad" experiences for me. I'm going to start with the bad, so hang around if you want to hear the good. The first seven chapters were a monumental waste of my time, primarily because they are spent delivering a critique of many various schools of philosophical thought that Deutsch doesn't like. This is a clever approach, since it allows Deutsch to casually dismiss concepts with which he disagrees later in the book as instrumentalist, reductionist, empiricist, or whatever label he can most easily apply at the moment to get you to not consider counter-ideas very closely (there are lots of them). Where no such labels apply, he casually pronounces things "good" or "bad," or perhaps "parochial," which is a simple stand-in for "bad" and is dramatically overused throughout the book. He never, at least that I noticed, communicates the least uncertainty with words like "I think" or "my idea is this," even when discussing fairly controversial topics. This is a book of pronouncements from a truly gigantic ego. Though I frequently agreed with his positions on things, it was also common for me to think of objections that I would have liked to discuss, but the author had simply moved on. Things get better in chapters 8-12 and then meander around from one topic to the next with very little tying them together other than possibly the theme of evolution. That would have been fine, but some interesting topics were covered in a rather cursory way. Deutsch seems to accept, for example, the popular sci-fi saw that we will be able to upload our minds into computers, without any discussion at all of the difficulties this might pose when we don't currently understand either memory or consciousness very well. Indeed, it seems precisely like the kind of "prophesy" that the author dismisses elsewhere in the book, and yet the idea doesn't receive the same disrespect. When discussing climate change, his perspective is more or less to expect the problem to be solved, since that's what humans are good at doing - solving problems. He fails to examine the possibility that humans will invent excellent solutions, and perhaps already have, but that those solutions will never be implemented due to political and social forces that favor inaction whenever preventive, rather than reactive, measures are called for.
The heart of the book is in chapters 8-11, which is where Deutsch is most in his element. He attacks the topics of quantum theory and the multiverse in a way that I found to be quite thought-provoking, and any book that provokes thought is, in my opinion, worth reading (or listening to). This should come as no surprise, since Deutsch has made his name in the field of quantum computing, but what really helps is the very clear voice that he uses throughout the book. He does have a talent for explanation, even when the subject matter is complex, so I would recommend the book for that reason alone. I think he managed to nudge my understanding of quantum theory forward a bit, and for that I'm grateful.
So the book gets three stars from me, which means that I found it a valuable listen, but it's far from perfect. Skip the first 7 chapters. Really. Once you get to the end of chapter 11, keep going as long as it holds your interest, but don't be afraid you'll miss something great if you don't finish.
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- S. Rasch
- 2016-11-15
Perhaps the most important book written so far.
Accessible language, a joy to listen to across the multitude of fascinating subjects. A complete software upgrade for your brain.
15 les gens ont trouvé cela utile
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- kevmoo
- 2014-01-19
A Perspective Shifter
This book has flaws. Dr. Deutsch makes a few generalizations that I found a bit unfair -- related to physiological research and sustainability as it relates to environmentalism.
BUT!
It's a perspective shifter.
I think about progress and humanity and our place in the universe differently.
I think about science and the scientific method differently.
It gave me glue to connect concepts I've found and liked from other books.
It's deep. It's complex. It's not "easy".
But certainly valuable.
Kudos.
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- Nigel
- 2015-06-30
Breathtaking
If you could sum up The Beginning of Infinity in three words, what would they be?
Formidable
Intellectual
Virtuosity
Any additional comments?
The Beginning of Infinity delivers a wonderfully dizzying display of intellectual virtuosity. I find it hard to conceive of the depth of preparation that must have gone into preparing the amazing synthesis that is provided by Deutsch in this light hearted, weightily significant masterpiece. At many points in the book, its depth of insight, its level of surprise, its ability to reach for the important in phenomena from sub-sub-sub-microscopic through to ultra-cold of deep space, from the soul-crushing impact of static societies through to the freewheeling exploration of world-views and universes had me exclaiming (sometimes to the surprise of others as I lived the book between my ear buds over several days). Deutsch tackles giants (Dawkins, Hofstadter and Dennet and many many more) without perceptible fear of authority - addressing the magic of their insights and the folly of their oversights with candid and calculated precision. I loved his portrayal of people as universal explainers / makers of meaning. I loved the picture he creates of the acceleration of possibility now that evolution is released from the constraints of the biological. I loved his firm hold on the possibility for repeatedly stepping beyond gloom that is available only to participants in dynamic society. I loved the brightly lit lobby of Infinity Hotel and its implications for metaphor in learning. And I was frustrated to all hell that Deutsch still failed to convince me on multiverses despite clearly thinking in the spaces where I always find objections (over the blithe extrapolations over orders of magnitude between observed phenomena in the quantum world to make proclamations about implications in the world of emergent phenomena we inhabit in our macroscopic lives) - perhaps I just need to listen to that section three more times ....
Dixon's consistently fresh presentation throughout this gargantuan task is a credit to him - a really great read.
My strong impression is that this is an audiobook that no English-speaking person anywhere should fail to listen to and luxuriate in - in this case, "life changing" is for real. Thank you both for slipping its explosive reality into my unsuspecting June 2015.
30 les gens ont trouvé cela utile
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- Gary
- 2012-05-22
Covers nothing to everything
One of my favorite books and provided me with many insights into our place in the universe and how we know the things we know. Deutsch explains the very small to the very large. He provides a reasonable explanation of the measurement problem in physics and a consistent theory on multiple universes. His survey of different schools of philosophies is one of the best I've read. He even has a detailed chapter on developing the most efficient election process which doesn't fully fit the theme of the book, but he explains it so well it becomes an intriguing chapter.
After reading the book, you will have an appreciation for the infinity and understand what is meant by 'everything possible will happen with certainty".
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- Zachary Crockett
- 2017-02-15
Momentous content, unfortunate tone
I had high hopes, as Deutsch's work came recommended by a thoughtful physicist friend I respect, but for the first several chapters I was turned off by the tone of the writing. However, as I continued listening, I gradually became convinced of the precision and truth of the knowledge Deutsch was sharing.
This book is philosophy, with dashes of physics. It is important. I wish more people believed as the author does. He is careful with his definitions and rigorous with his logic. I need to get some distance from this book and then read it again, probably in writing instead of audio. That said, the memes in The Beginning of Infinity would be better replicators if the author's tone were less aloof, snotty, and dismissive of, well, most people ever.
If you are the type who can listen past the veneer of an unfortunately off-putting tone to some deep ideas about the nature of knowledge, the nature of progress (in a true, not superficial sense), and a mindset of fundamental optimism through recognizing one's fallibility then please, please give this book a try. With that caveat, I do strongly recommend it.
If we hold these ideas, there is no limit to what we can achieve.
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- carl801
- 2012-09-24
This book is a wild ride!
Wow. I do not pretend to understand even the 20th part of the ideas in this book. Who would have thought that a physicist and mathematician could express himself so eloquently on so many disparate subjects? This book is all over the map; it's a wild romp through an amazing mind. David Deutsch's ego must be at least the size of the Milky Way Galaxy--no, wait, that's too "parochial", too provincial by N orders of magnitude! Well, I guess it does take some bravado to take on evolution, quantum mechanics, history, universality, even knowledge itself, and still find time for politics, philosophy, artificial intelligence, and a conversation with Socrates. Along the way, as Deutsch manages to drop an amazing idea you never heard before into just about every paragraph, his major theses boils down to two things: first, good explanations lead to an infinity of knowledge, while bad explanations have only the power to fool us; and secondly, there will always be problems, but they can be solved if we can separate the good explanations from the bad ones.
Doing that in the real world we live in every day is hard, way harder than I think Deutsch realizes. We are fallible human beings who more often than not ignore even the most elegant of explanations with impunity. That said, being inside his head for the last couple of days was a privilege indeed.
By the way, the reader did a great job of not being in the way!
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Au global
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Performance
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Histoire
- M. R. Mosall
- 2020-09-13
Boring!
Author spends the first one and one half hours explaining cup and ball games and the causes of seasons. The explanations are repetitive and boring. The rest of the book may have been wonderful but I could not see wasting any more time on the experience. Still waiting to hear about infinity's beginning. The sample on the sales page is very interesting and serves as the delicious bait promising a good read yet fails to relay the switch to a silly waste of words.
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Histoire
- Zach Mclean
- 2016-12-02
Infinitely interesting
Not what I'd call an easy read, but some very compelling ideas and new ways of thinking about not only scientific inquiry, but inquiry in general. I must say I've come away from this book having a fundamentally different concept of the universe and the knowledge within it.
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Histoire
- Nancy
- 2012-12-28
Brilliant but difficult to understand
Would you listen to The Beginning of Infinity again? Why?
I'd HAVE to listen to it again if I want to understand some of the many highly abstract intellectual concepts introduced by Deutsch. I think this is a compelling read anyway. I will listen again.
Were the concepts of this book easy to follow, or were they too technical?
No. I wouldn't say they were too technical, just above my intellectual and cognitive "pay grade" in some areas. I suspect most listeners will feel the same way. Though I personally have a PhD in an admittedly unrelated-to-physics but nonetheless a very analytical and technical field, I simply could not follow certain discussions, such as the one relating to Quantum Mechanics.
What does Walter Dixon bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?
He was competent and a clear enunciator. However, I think actually READING a physical book would be better in this case: It would enable one to go back to prior sentences or pages to reread them. The nature of his book is such that if you didn't understand the initial paragraphs of a topic he introduces, the odds are good that you won't understand the rest of the discussion. His arguments are like building blocks.
Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?
Yes, "Infinity Hotel" was one. Another was a discussion of his views, which I share, on how mankind should deal with the prospects of global warming.
Any additional comments?
Deutsch is absolutely a genius. I am not convinced he is necessarily right when he tries to extend his scientific reasoning to completely unrelated fields, but he definitely makes you think in a completely new light. I'd say "Bravo". This is a very important book.
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