Free shipping on orders $35+
Shopping Cart
Life Is Simple
How Occam's Razor Set Science Free and Shapes the Universe
This item is a preorder. Your payment method will be charged immediately, and the product is expected to ship on or around September 28, 2021. This date is subject to change due to shipping delays beyond our control.
Description
A biologist argues that simplicity is the guiding principle of the universe
Centuries ago, the principle of Ockham’s razor changed our world by showing simpler answers to be preferable and more often true. In Life Is Simple, scientist Johnjoe McFadden traces centuries of discoveries, taking us from a geocentric cosmos to quantum mechanics and DNA, arguing that simplicity has revealed profound answers to the greatest mysteries. This is no coincidence. From the laws that keep a ball in motion to those that govern evolution, simplicity, he claims, has shaped the universe itself. And in McFadden’s view, life could only have emerged by embracing maximal simplicity, making the fundamental law of the universe a cosmic form of natural selection that favors survival of the simplest. Recasting both the history of science and our universe’s origins, McFadden transforms our understanding of ourselves and our world.
By clicking ‘Sign Up,’ I acknowledge that I have read and agree to Hachette Book Group’s Privacy Policy and Terms of Use
Praise
—Popular Mechanics
—Library Jounal
—Scientific American
—Jim al-Khalili, author of The World According to Physics and Life on the Edge
“For all its technical triumphs, science does not take place in a cultural vacuum. McFadden’s wonderful and thoroughly-researched account of the history of ideas reveals how simplicity as an overarching principle weaves through all the sciences, telling us something profound about the nature of reality. His vivid descriptions and clear exposition make the subject come alive, and resonate with significance. This is one of the best science books I have read in a decade.”
"Johnjoe McFadden’s delightfully lucid book is itself a model of deceptive simplicity. The words glide off the page in this trenchant analysis of nature’s complexities that brings fresh life to centuries of scientific discovery and also points the way towards a clearer future."
—Patricia Fara, Emeritus Fellow of Clare College, Cambridge and award-winning author of Science: A Four Thousand Year History