Listen free for 30 days
-
The Biggest Ideas in the Universe
- Space, Time, and Motion
- Narrated by: Sean Carroll
- Length: 9 hrs and 55 mins
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wish list failed.
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Buy Now for $35.09
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
You may also enjoy...
-
The Many Hidden Worlds of Quantum Mechanics
- Written by: Sean Carroll, The Great Courses
- Narrated by: Sean Carroll
- Length: 11 hrs and 51 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In a field known for startling ideas, the Many-Worlds Interpretation (MWI) of quantum mechanics may take the prize. It holds that parallel to our own world are a large number of other universes, almost identical to ours but with small variations. Copies of each of us inhabit a myriad of these worlds. But they are not us exactly; they share our past history, but they are different people who have unique futures. Although these realms are invisible and can’t communicate with each other, prominent physicists are convinced they must exist.
Written by: Sean Carroll, and others
-
Existential Physics
- A Scientist's Guide to Life's Biggest Questions
- Written by: Sabine Hossenfelder
- Narrated by: Gina Daniels
- Length: 8 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Not only can we not currently explain the origin of the universe, it is questionable we will ever be able to explain it. The notion that there are universes within particles, or that particles are conscious, is ascientific, as is the hypothesis that our universe is a computer simulation. On the other hand, the idea that the universe itself is conscious is difficult to rule out entirely.
-
-
Enjoyed it greatly
- By James on 2023-06-11
Written by: Sabine Hossenfelder
-
The Big Picture
- On the Origins of Life, Meaning, and the Universe Itself
- Written by: Sean Carroll
- Narrated by: Sean Carroll
- Length: 17 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Already internationally acclaimed for his elegant, lucid writing on the most challenging notions in modern physics, Sean Carroll is emerging as one of the greatest humanist thinkers of his generation as he brings his extraordinary intellect to bear not only on the Higgs boson and extra dimensions but now also on our deepest personal questions. Where are we? Who are we? Are our emotions, our beliefs, and our hopes and dreams ultimately meaningless out there in the void?
-
-
Maybe angels are transgender...
- By Count Erklock on 2019-10-12
Written by: Sean Carroll
-
Something Deeply Hidden
- Quantum Worlds and the Emergence of Spacetime
- Written by: Sean Carroll
- Narrated by: Sean Carroll
- Length: 10 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Sean Carroll, theoretical physicist and one of this world’s most celebrated writers on science, rewrites the history of 20th-century physics. Already hailed as a masterpiece, Something Deeply Hidden shows for the first time that facing up to the essential puzzle of quantum mechanics utterly transforms how we think about space and time. His reconciling of quantum mechanics with Einstein’s theory of relativity changes, well, everything. Most physicists haven’t even recognized the uncomfortable truth: Physics has been in crisis since 1927.
-
-
In another world, this review is much better.
- By Brad Mills on 2019-11-26
Written by: Sean Carroll
-
Quanta and Fields
- The Biggest Ideas in the Universe
- Written by: Sean Carroll
- Narrated by: Sean Carroll
- Length: 10 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Sean Carroll is creating a profoundly new approach to sharing physics with a broad audience, one that goes beyond analogies to show how physicists really think. He cuts to the bare mathematical essence of our most profound theories, explaining every step in a uniquely accessible way. Quantum field theory is how modern physics describes nature at its most profound level. Starting with the basics of quantum mechanics itself, Sean Carroll explains measurement and entanglement before explaining how the world is really made of fields.
Written by: Sean Carroll
-
Black Holes
- The Key to Understanding the Universe
- Written by: Brian Cox, Jeff Forshaw
- Narrated by: Jeff Forshaw
- Length: 7 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
By the star physicist and author of multiple #1 Sunday Times bestsellers, a major and definitive narrative work on black holes and how they can help us understand the universe.
-
-
Doesn't play well as an audio book
- By Yousef K on 2023-11-29
Written by: Brian Cox, and others
-
The Many Hidden Worlds of Quantum Mechanics
- Written by: Sean Carroll, The Great Courses
- Narrated by: Sean Carroll
- Length: 11 hrs and 51 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In a field known for startling ideas, the Many-Worlds Interpretation (MWI) of quantum mechanics may take the prize. It holds that parallel to our own world are a large number of other universes, almost identical to ours but with small variations. Copies of each of us inhabit a myriad of these worlds. But they are not us exactly; they share our past history, but they are different people who have unique futures. Although these realms are invisible and can’t communicate with each other, prominent physicists are convinced they must exist.
Written by: Sean Carroll, and others
-
Existential Physics
- A Scientist's Guide to Life's Biggest Questions
- Written by: Sabine Hossenfelder
- Narrated by: Gina Daniels
- Length: 8 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Not only can we not currently explain the origin of the universe, it is questionable we will ever be able to explain it. The notion that there are universes within particles, or that particles are conscious, is ascientific, as is the hypothesis that our universe is a computer simulation. On the other hand, the idea that the universe itself is conscious is difficult to rule out entirely.
-
-
Enjoyed it greatly
- By James on 2023-06-11
Written by: Sabine Hossenfelder
-
The Big Picture
- On the Origins of Life, Meaning, and the Universe Itself
- Written by: Sean Carroll
- Narrated by: Sean Carroll
- Length: 17 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Already internationally acclaimed for his elegant, lucid writing on the most challenging notions in modern physics, Sean Carroll is emerging as one of the greatest humanist thinkers of his generation as he brings his extraordinary intellect to bear not only on the Higgs boson and extra dimensions but now also on our deepest personal questions. Where are we? Who are we? Are our emotions, our beliefs, and our hopes and dreams ultimately meaningless out there in the void?
-
-
Maybe angels are transgender...
- By Count Erklock on 2019-10-12
Written by: Sean Carroll
-
Something Deeply Hidden
- Quantum Worlds and the Emergence of Spacetime
- Written by: Sean Carroll
- Narrated by: Sean Carroll
- Length: 10 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Sean Carroll, theoretical physicist and one of this world’s most celebrated writers on science, rewrites the history of 20th-century physics. Already hailed as a masterpiece, Something Deeply Hidden shows for the first time that facing up to the essential puzzle of quantum mechanics utterly transforms how we think about space and time. His reconciling of quantum mechanics with Einstein’s theory of relativity changes, well, everything. Most physicists haven’t even recognized the uncomfortable truth: Physics has been in crisis since 1927.
-
-
In another world, this review is much better.
- By Brad Mills on 2019-11-26
Written by: Sean Carroll
-
Quanta and Fields
- The Biggest Ideas in the Universe
- Written by: Sean Carroll
- Narrated by: Sean Carroll
- Length: 10 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Sean Carroll is creating a profoundly new approach to sharing physics with a broad audience, one that goes beyond analogies to show how physicists really think. He cuts to the bare mathematical essence of our most profound theories, explaining every step in a uniquely accessible way. Quantum field theory is how modern physics describes nature at its most profound level. Starting with the basics of quantum mechanics itself, Sean Carroll explains measurement and entanglement before explaining how the world is really made of fields.
Written by: Sean Carroll
-
Black Holes
- The Key to Understanding the Universe
- Written by: Brian Cox, Jeff Forshaw
- Narrated by: Jeff Forshaw
- Length: 7 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
By the star physicist and author of multiple #1 Sunday Times bestsellers, a major and definitive narrative work on black holes and how they can help us understand the universe.
-
-
Doesn't play well as an audio book
- By Yousef K on 2023-11-29
Written by: Brian Cox, and others
-
A Brief History of Black Holes
- And Why Nearly Everything You Know About Them Is Wrong
- Written by: Dr Becky Smethurst
- Narrated by: Dr. Becky Smethurst
- Length: 7 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Right now, you are orbiting a black hole. The Earth goes around the Sun, and the Sun goes around the centre of the Milky Way: a supermassive black hole—the strangest and most misunderstood phenomenon in the galaxy. In A Brief History of Black Holes, University of Oxford astrophysicist Dr Becky Smethurst charts the scientific breakthroughs that have uncovered the weird and wonderful world of black holes, from Hawking radiation to the iconic first photographs of a black hole in 2019.
-
-
Best history book
- By Anonymous User on 2022-12-02
Written by: Dr Becky Smethurst
-
The Quantum Universe
- (And Why Anything That Can Happen, Does)
- Written by: Brian Cox, Jeff Forshaw
- Narrated by: Samuel West
- Length: 8 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In The Quantum Universe, Brian Cox and Jeff Forshaw approach the world of quantum mechanics in the same way they did in Why Does E=mc2? and make fundamental scientific principles accessible - and fascinating - to everyone.The subatomic realm has a reputation for weirdness, spawning any number of profound misunderstandings, journeys into Eastern mysticism, and woolly pronouncements on the interconnectedness of all things. Cox and Forshaw's contention? There is no need for quantum mechanics to be viewed this way.
-
-
Failed attempt to explain the complex matter
- By Georgiy Zhukovskiy on 2023-07-04
Written by: Brian Cox, and others
-
On the Origin of Time
- Stephen Hawking's Final Theory
- Written by: Thomas Hertog
- Narrated by: Ethan Kelly
- Length: 12 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Perhaps the biggest question Stephen Hawking tried to answer in his extraordinary life was how the universe could have created conditions so perfectly hospitable to life. In order to solve this mystery, Hawking studied the big bang origin of the universe, but his early work ran into a crisis when the math predicted many big bangs producing a multiverse—countless different universes, most of which would be far too bizarre to harbor life.
-
-
Difficult
- By rmack on 2023-09-25
Written by: Thomas Hertog
-
The Edge of Knowledge
- Unsolved Mysteries of the Cosmos
- Written by: Lawrence M. Krauss
- Narrated by: Lawrence M. Krauss
- Length: 7 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Three of the most important words in science are I don't know. Not knowing implies a universe of opportunities—the possibility of discovery and surprise. Our understanding of science has advanced immeasurably over the last 500 years, yet many fundamental mysteries of existence persist: How did our universe begin? How big is the universe? Is time travel possible? What’s at the center of a black hole? How did life on Earth arise? Are we alone? What is consciousness, and can we create it?
Written by: Lawrence M. Krauss
-
Things That Go Bump in the Universe
- How Astronomers Decode Cosmic Chaos
- Written by: C. Renee James
- Narrated by: Wendy Tremont King
- Length: 12 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The violent birth of the universe was only the first bang of a very bumpy ride. This unfathomably cacophonous beginning has spawned blasts, implosions, cosmic cannibalism, collisions, and countless other fleeting energetic events punctuating the cosmos. Although often brief, these transient phenomena pack a powerful punch. Astronomer and science writer C. Renee James introduces us to her colleagues around the world, who are using pioneering research techniques to explore everything from the very first explosions in the universe to the dark energy that could destroy it all.
Written by: C. Renee James
-
The Fabric of the Cosmos
- Space, Time, and the Texture of Reality
- Written by: Brian Greene
- Narrated by: Michael Prichard
- Length: 22 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Space and time form the very fabric of the cosmos. Yet they remain among the most mysterious of concepts. Is space an entity? Why does time have a direction? Could the universe exist without space and time? Can we travel to the past?
-
-
Fantastic in any quantum reality!
- By Amazon Customer on 2018-06-06
Written by: Brian Greene
-
The Elegant Universe
- Superstrings, Hidden Dimensions, and the Quest for the Ultimate Theory
- Written by: Brian Greene
- Narrated by: Erik Davies
- Length: 15 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In a rare blend of scientific insight and writing as elegant as the theories it explains, Brian Greene, one of the world's leading string theorists, peels away the layers of mystery surrounding string theory to reveal a universe that consists of 11 dimensions where the fabric of space tears and repairs itself, and all matter-from the smallest quarks to the most gargantuan supernovas-is generated by the vibrations of microscopically tiny loops of energy.
-
-
Great love Mr Greene's work.
- By Vicki Nadine Callan on 2018-01-27
Written by: Brian Greene
-
The Search for Exoplanets: What Astronomers Know
- Written by: The Great Courses, Joshua N. Winn
- Narrated by: Professor Joshua N. Winn
- Length: 12 hrs and 17 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
As recently as 1990, it seemed plausible that the solar system was a unique phenomenon in our galaxy. Thanks to advances in technology and clever new uses of existing data, now we know that planetary systems and possibly even a new Earth can be found throughout galaxies near and far.
Written by: The Great Courses, and others
-
Helgoland
- Making Sense of the Quantum Revolution
- Written by: Carlo Rovelli, Erica Segre - translator, Simon Carnell - translator
- Narrated by: David Rintoul
- Length: 4 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
One of the world's most renowned theoretical physicists, Carlo Rovelli has entranced millions of readers with his singular perspective on the cosmos. In Helgoland, he examines the enduring enigma of quantum theory. The quantum world Rovelli describes is as beautiful as it is unnerving. Helgoland is a treeless island in the North Sea where the 23-year-old Werner Heisenberg made the crucial breakthrough for the creation of quantum mechanics, setting off a century of scientific revolution.
-
-
An interesting presentation, but missed my expectations
- By Andrew on 2023-09-08
Written by: Carlo Rovelli, and others
-
Starry Messenger
- Cosmic Perspectives on Civilization
- Written by: Neil deGrasse Tyson
- Narrated by: Neil deGrasse Tyson
- Length: 7 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In a time when our political and cultural views feel more polarized than ever, Tyson provides a much-needed antidote to so much of what divides us, while making a passionate case for the twin chariots of enlightenment—a cosmic perspective and the rationality of science. After thinking deeply about how science sees the world and about Earth as a planet, the human brain has the capacity to reset and recalibrates life’s priorities, shaping the actions we might take in response. No outlook on culture, society, or civilization remains untouched.
-
-
There is really nothing deep about the book.
- By Client Kindle on 2023-11-16
Written by: Neil deGrasse Tyson
-
Before the Big Bang
- The Origin of Our Universe from the Multiverse
- Written by: Laura Mersini-Houghton
- Narrated by: Xe Sands
- Length: 5 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
What came before the Big Bang, and what exists outside of the universe it created? Until recently, scientists could only guess at what lay past the edge of space-time. However, as pioneering theoretical physicist Laura Mersini-Houghton explains, new scientific tools are now giving us the ability to peer beyond the limits of our universe and to test our theories about what is there. And what we are finding is upending everything we thought we knew about the cosmos and our place in it.
Written by: Laura Mersini-Houghton
-
White Holes
- Written by: Carlo Rovelli
- Narrated by: Harry Lloyd
- Length: 2 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Let us journey, with beloved physicist Carlo Rovelli, into the heart of a black hole. We slip beyond its horizon and tumble down this crack in the universe. As we plunge, we see geometry fold. Time and space pull and stretch. And finally, at the black hole’s core, space and time dissolve, and a white hole is born. Rovelli has dedicated his career to uniting the time-warping ideas of general relativity and the perplexing uncertainties of quantum mechanics. In White Holes, he reveals the mind of a scientist at work.
-
-
Beautifully Written
- By Scott Chambers on 2023-11-01
Written by: Carlo Rovelli
Publisher's Summary
"A porthole into another world."—Scientific American
The most trusted explainer of the most mind-boggling concepts pulls back the veil of mystery that has too long cloaked the most valuable building blocks of modern science. Sean Carroll, with his genius for making complex notions entertaining, presents in his uniquely lucid voice the fundamental ideas informing the modern physics of reality.
Physics offers deep insights into the workings of the universe but those insights come in the form of equations that often look like gobbledygook. Sean Carroll shows that they are really like meaningful poems that can help us fly over sierras to discover a miraculous multidimensional landscape alive with radiant giants, warped space-time, and bewilderingly powerful forces. High school calculus is itself a centuries-old marvel as worthy of our gaze as the Mona Lisa. And it may come as a surprise the extent to which all our most cutting-edge ideas about black holes are built on the math calculus enables.
No one else could so smoothly guide listeners toward grasping the very equation Einstein used to describe his theory of general relativity. In the tradition of the legendary Richard Feynman lectures presented sixty years ago, this book is an inspiring, dazzling introduction to a way of seeing that will resonate across cultural and generational boundaries for many years to come.
* This audiobook edition includes a downloadable PDF with equations and visual elements from the book.
PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.
More from the same
What listeners say about The Biggest Ideas in the Universe
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Anonymous User
- 2023-04-18
Fascinating book for anyone interested in math and science
I loved this one! I think I’ll be getting a paper copy because there are a lot of mathematical terms and expressions that can get hard to follow via audio. Overall though I think this is a great listen for anyone looking for a broken down version of current (listening to this in April, 2023) big ideas and methods used in science. There was also a thorough explanation of a lot of the origins and derivations of mathematical expressions that are used, and I found that SUPER helpful. 10/10
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!