The Importance of Being Interested: Adventures in Scientific Curiosity

Author:   Robin Ince
Publisher:   Atlantic Books
Edition:   Export/Airside
ISBN:  

9781838954291


Pages:   400
Publication Date:   07 October 2021
Format:   Paperback
Availability:   In stock   Availability explained
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The Importance of Being Interested: Adventures in Scientific Curiosity


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Overview

Comedian Robin Ince quickly abandoned science at school, bored by a fog of dull lessons and intimidated by the barrage of equations. But, twenty years later, he fell in love and he now presents one of the world's most popular science podcasts. Every year he meets hundreds of the world's greatest thinkers. In this erudite and witty book, Robin reveals why scientific wonder isn't just for the professionals. Filled with interviews featuring astronauts, comedians, teachers, quantum physicists, neuroscientists and more - as well as charting Robin's own journey with science - The Importance of Being Interested explores why many wrongly think of the discipline as distant and difficult. From the glorious appeal of the stars above to why scientific curiosity can encourage much needed intellectual humility, this optimistic and profound book will leave you filled with a thirst for intellectual adventure. 'A delightful and scintillating hymn to scientific curiosity. Resolutely a non-scientist, Robin Ince discovers with awe that when science addresses the big problems and destroys familiar beliefs, it does not leave us in a cold, meaningless and de-humanized world, but in a one which is colourful, human, full of intensity and wonder.' - Carlo Rovelli, author of the million-copy bestseller Seven Brief Lessons on Physics 'A delightful and scintillating hymn to scientific curiosity. Resolutely a non-scientist, Robin Ince discovers with awe that when science addresses the big problems and destroys familiar beliefs, it does not leave us in a cold, meaningless and de-humanized world, but in a one which is colourful, human, full of intensity and wonder.' Professor Carlo Rovelli - author of the million-copy bestseller Seven Brief Lessons on Physics

Full Product Details

Author:   Robin Ince
Publisher:   Atlantic Books
Imprint:   Atlantic Books
Edition:   Export/Airside
Dimensions:   Width: 15.40cm , Height: 3.10cm , Length: 23.40cm
Weight:   0.605kg
ISBN:  

9781838954291


ISBN 10:   1838954295
Pages:   400
Publication Date:   07 October 2021
Audience:   General/trade ,  General
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   In stock   Availability explained
We have confirmation that this item is in stock with the supplier. It will be ordered in for you and dispatched immediately.

Table of Contents

1: Scepticism - From the Maelstrom of Knowledge into the Labyrinth of Doubt 2: Is God on Holiday? - Are There Still Enough Gaps for a God? 3: Armchair Time-Travel - Putting Out Your Beach Blanket on the Sands of Time 4: Big, Isn't It? - On Coping with the Size of the Universe 5: Escape Velocity - On Looking Back at the Planet from a Height 6: Why Aren't They Here? Or Are They.? - On Waiting for Our Alien Saviours 7: Swinging from the Family Tree - Inviting Yeast to the Family Reunion 8: The Mind Is a Chaos of Delight - On the Matter of Grey Matter 9: Reality, What a Concept - Can Anything Be What It Seems? 10: Imagining There's No Heaven - On Being Finite 11: More Important than Knowledge - On the Necessity of Imagination 12: So It Goes - Facing Up to the End of Everything

Reviews

A delightful and scintillating hymn to science. Resolutely a non-scientist, Robin Ince discovers with awe that when science addresses the big problems and destroys familiar beliefs, it does not leave us in a cold, meaningless and de-humanized world, but in a one which is colourful, human, full of intensity and wonder. * Professor Carlo Rovelli, bestselling author of Seven Brief Lessons on Physics * Robin is the most engaging of science communicators. As someone who also struggled with science as a child, still finds physics an impossible foreign tongue, and came late to the fulfilment of a curious mind, I found this book by turns challenging, entertaining and moving. * Steve Backshall, BAFTA-winning British explorer, naturalist, presenter and writer * Wonderful! A beautifully written elegy to science, combining wonder, mystery and humour. Curiosity dances across the pages. Robin's take on science is human, funny but also deeply enthralling. * Professor Alice Roberts, TV presenter, academic and bestselling author of Ancestors *


Joyfully entertaining. Full of warmth, wisdom and affectionate delight * Observer on I'm a Joke and So Are You *


Author Information

Robin Ince is the co-creator and presenter of the BBC Radio 4 show The Infinite Monkey Cage, which has won multiple awards include the Sony Gold and Rose d'Or. In 2019 he played to over a quarter of a million people with Brian Cox on their world tour which has put them in the Guinness Book of Records for the most tickets sold for a science show. He is author of I'm a Joke and So Are You and also won Celebrity Mastermind but forgot that calcium was the dominant element of chalk. He is currently trying to invent an effective satnav for people who believe the world is flat.

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