This Explains Everything: Deep, Beautiful, and Elegant Theories of How the World Works
Every year, the website Edge.org&#x2014;a sort of online round table where experts in various fields trade ideas&#x2014;asks its contributors a specific question. The 2012 Edge question was, &#x201C;What is your favorite deep, elegant, or beautiful explanation?&#x201D; (A beautiful or elegant explanation is one that reduces a complex puzzle to a simple set of principles or assumptions.) The responses Brockman, founder of Edge, received range from the obvious (Darwin&#x2019;s theory of natural selection; DNA&#x2019;s double helix shape; the principle of inertia) to the obscure (the Higgs Mechanism, for example, or the Faurie-Raymond hypothesis). The more than 100 responses have a couple of things in common: they are clearly written, and their authors are enthusiastic, in some cases downright passionate, about selling their response as the one true answer to the Edge question. It&#x2019;s an eclectic collection of contributors, too: famed theoretical physicist Freeman Dyson is here, but also actor and writer Alan Alda; noted psychologist Susan Blackmore weighs in, as does musician and producer Brian Eno. A thought-provoking collection that should appeal to both general readers and trained scientists. --David Pitt