The Art of Physics: Eight Elegant Ideas to Make Sense of Almost Everything

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"Exceptionally interesting"-Alain de Botton

Why are some relationships unstable, while others last a lifetime Why do the rich keep getting richer, and can it ever be any other way And why do we all make seemingly irrational decisions

People are messy. Science is methodical. Could ideas from physics allow us to solve our most urgent problems

For readers of Malcom Gladwell and Bill Bryson comes a book about the hidden, surprising, and sometimes beautiful ways in which ideas from physics are being applied to important questions facing our lives and society today; questions so complex or personal that they are normally considered beyond the realms of science.

For some of life's biggest questions and conundrums, the laws of physics offer new perspectives. Drawing on cutting-edge research and eye-opening insights from quantum mechanics, thermodynamics, chaos and complexity theory, materials science and more, The Art of Physics shows that science offers a rich vocabulary for tackling the chaos, contradictions and unpredictability that often seem to be the hallmarks of daily life. Not only does physics explain many aspects of our experience, it transforms them.

Author Bio

Zahaan Bharmal read physics at the University of Oxford. His early career was spent as a policy adviser and speech writer on Whitehall and at the World Bank, where he worked on a range of domestic and international policy issues. In 2005, he won a Fulbright scholarship to Stanford University where he earned an MBA. Since graduating, he has worked for Google, based in London and Silicon Valley and is currently senior director of strategy. Outside work, Zahaan writes about science for the Guardian and has won NASA's Exceptional Public Achievement Medal for services to science communication. He is a trustee of the National Autistic Society and lives in Yorkshire with his wife and two young sons.