Jim Holt

Expands the search for the origins of the universe beyond God and the Big Bang theory, exploring more bizarre possibilities inspired by physicists, theologians, mathematicians, and even novelists.

Why Does the World Exist?: An Existential Detective Story

"A collection of essays on philosophy, mathematics, and science, and the people who pursue them"--

Excursions to the Edge of Thought

When Einstein Walked with Gödel

Por Que o Mundo Existe? Um Mistério Existencial

'Why is there a world rather than nothing at all?' remains the most curious and most enduring of all metaphysical mysteries. Moving away from the narrower paths of Christopher Hitchens, Roger Penrose and Stephen Hawking, the celebrated essayist Jim Holt now enters this fascinating debate with his broad, lively and deeply informed narrative that traces all our efforts to grasp the origins of the universe. With sly humour and a highly original personal approach Holt takes on the role of cosmological detective. Suggesting that we might have been too narrow in limiting our suspects to God and the Big Bang, he tracks down, among others, an eccentric Oxford philosopher, a Nobel Laureate physicist, a French Buddhist monk, and John Updike just before he died, to pursue this cosmic puzzle from every angle. As he pieces together a solution - while offering useful insights into time, consciousness, and eternity - he sheds fascinating new light on the meaning of existence. A New York Times bestseller on first publication, this new paperback edition provides a much-needed new take on history's greatest conundrum, in the vein of previous bestsellers like Michael Brooks' 13 Things that Don't Make Sense.

One Man's Quest for the Big Answer

Why Does the World Exist?

In the fine tradition of "On Bullshit" comes this outrageous, uproarious compendium that traces the evolution of the joke, from the stand-up comics of ancient Athens to the comedy-club Seinfelds of today.

A History and Philosophy of Jokes

Stop Me If You've Heard this

Eine philosophische Detektivgeschichte

Gibt es alles oder nichts?

"Having explored humour's history in part one, Holt then delves into its philosophy. Nice jokes, naughty jokes, religious jokes, political jokes, meta-jokes, two-word jokes, jokes about musical instruments, jokes that you missed if you didn't go to a Catholic girls' school - all are fodder for the grand theories of the most brilliant minds of all time"--Cover flap.

a history and philosophy of jokes

Stop me if you've heard this

od Einsteina i Gödla po Turinga i Dawkinsa

Idee, które zmieniły świat

“Finally I understand what it is I’ve been laughing at all these years.”—Jimmy Kimmel From the best-selling author of Why Does the World Exist? comes this outrageous, uproarious compendium of absurdity, filth, racy paradox, and gratuitous offensiveness—just the kind of mature philosophical reflection readers have come to expect from the ever-entertaining Jim Holt. Indeed, Stop Me If You’ve Heard This is the first book to trace the evolution of the joke all the way from the standup comics of ancient Athens to the comedy-club Seinfelds of today. After exploring humor’s history in Part One, Holt delves into philosophy in Part Two: Wall Street jokes; jokes about rednecks and atheists, bulimics and politicians; jokes you missed if you didn’t go to a Catholic girls’ school; jokes about logic and existence itself . . . all became fodder for the grand theories of Aristotle, Kant, Freud, and Wittgenstein in this heady mix of the high and low, of the ribald and profound, from America’s most beloved philosophical pundit.

Stop Me If You've Heard This: A History and Philosophy of Jokes

Perché esiste il mondo, e perché ne facciamo parte? Perché c’è qualcosa anziché il nulla? Da secoli se lo chiedono in tanti, tra filosofi e scienziati, teologi e scrittori, ed è sorprendente scoprire quanto singolare, articolata e avvincente si possa rivelare, ai nostri giorni, una ricerca che prende le mosse da un interrogativo così semplice e potente; una vera e propria indagine, personale ed emozionante, condotta come una detective-story da un brillante divulgatore scientifico con un debole per i grandi misteri dell’esistenza. In questo libro Jim Holt indossa i panni del segugio cosmico e interroga, punzecchia, mette alle strette (o ascolta, rapito e incredulo) una schiera di intellettuali di rango assoluto: Nobel per la fisica come Steven Weinberg, giganti della letteratura come John Updike, matematici innamorati delle forme platoniche come Roger Penrose, teorici del multiverso e della realtà virtuale. Ogni colloquio è un viaggio in mondi nuovi, un confronto con prospettive sconvolgenti, un’immersione nelle teorie più avventurose e geniali del sapere contemporaneo, spiegate al lettore senza indulgere in tecnicismi e con grande affabilità, quasi come in un romanzo di formazione. Perché il mondo esiste? chiama in causa Dio, il Big Bang, la fisica classica e quantistica e altri cardini del pensiero scientifico e filosofico, ma il filo conduttore rimane la curiosità: la curiosità instancabile, la lungimiranza e l’ingegno di una specie come la nostra, che da millenni non è mai stanca di porsi domande su se stessa e sul mondo in cui vive. «Un capolavoro di divulgazione scientifica e filosofica» - Mario De Caro, Il Sole 24 Ore «Jim Holt spiazza, diverte, sorprende: provoca nel lettore l’antico e perpetuo stupore di fronte all’universo» - Alessandra Iadicicco, La Stampa «Leggere il libro di Holt mi ha dato un brivido filosofico» - Bruce Springsteen «Da Platone alla fisica quantistica, tra aneddoti di viaggio, bevute, buon cibo» - The New Yorker «Un’inchiesta, un romanzo picaresco, una detective story, un saggio filosofico» - Giacomo Papi, la Repubblica «Un gran divertimento intellettuale» - Amedeo Balbi, il Post «Un mix di teologia, scienza e filosofia in un linguaggio chiaro e piacevole» - The Economist

Jim Holt

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